Tank Update
 

Hey guys, need some advice. Yes, again.

I haven't checked water parameters for 10 days - they weren't changing fast enough. But today is test day - because I remembered.

Day 26 Readings

Salinity: ~ 1.023 (average 2 cheap hydrometers)
Temp: 80 F
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: ~5 (those yellow shades are so close...)
pH: ~ 8.6

Coral ideas: moon, xenia, blue or red shrooms, toadstool or finger leather, colt, red brain, green button polyps.

Fish ideas: requisite pair of false percs, royal gramma, then ???

Inverts: pair cleaner shrimp.

Please give me your thoughts. Thanks guys, I respect your opinions above all else, for better or worse. :D [img]smile.gif[/img] :rolleyes:

Alan

Tank Update
 

The numbers are looking goooood!

I keep my SG at 1.025. I prefer to keep things on the saltier side of the scale. It's just a subjective kind of thing ... but I feel that things do better in "slightly too salty" compared to in "slightly not salty enough." I can't really offer any concrete evidence to back up my claim ... like I said it's just a subjective kind of thing I've observed.

Hmmm. Also. Can I maybe try to steer you away from the blue mushrooms? I know they're cool at first but at the moment I just hate them. There is no other single organism that has caused so much havoc in my tank. Every single piece of rock in my 50 has a solid dozen to a few dozen of these on it.. and I started off with one. It was cool at first when they spread. But it has not been cool watching them do damage to my LPS and SPS! It's amazing -- I don't know how they do it, but anything they touch ... dies or gets badly damaged. I don't know what I'm going to do with the rock in my 50 -- none of it is going into my 75. I have a bad feeling my rocks are going to be giveaways at some point. And I won't let anyone with a serious reef take them -- they'll have to go to fish-only setups where lighting is minimal and there are no other polyps at risk. Who knows, maybe some coral-nipping fish will love them!

The rest of the plan sounds awesome. You're going to have a great setup soon, I just know it.

cheers!

Tank Update
 

Wow, thanks - scratch the shrooms off the list!

Should we advertise a frag swap for Tuesday? I'm hoping to be spoiled already thanks to Jon and yourself (are you still planning on bringing xenia as well?)

Another question: fish or corals first? If I know that there may be a few corals coming Tuesday, would it be unwise to add a pair of percs Saturday before?

Again, relying on your experience. My salinity reading, BTW, is 1.026 on the swingarm and 1.020 on the el-cheapo floating unit. Perhaps I'm closer to 1.025, which is my goal.

Thanks for the input.

Alan

Tank Update
 

I don't know if you saw my posts in the main forum about my feelings on swing-arm hydrometers ... I don't have 100% trust in them. Mind you, their error tends to be consistent, so if you know it's reading "0.003 low" then it's safe to assume that it's "consistently 0.003 low" so just add the 0.003 to the reading and THEN you're set.

Figuring out that error though is the hard part! You have to have a hydrometer you can compare to, whose values you trust as "100% correct."

I like the glass bomb types, even if they're cheap, because they go down to 1.000 -- so if I get a 1.000 reading on freshwater then I'm happy. Not a perfect validation, mind you, but better than no validation at all. My swing-arm type only goes down to 1.010 -- so I have no means to calibrate myself to it. Maybe there is another swing-arm type that does do down to 1.000, just not mine.

Maybe as a club project we should all bring our hydrometers! And see what kind of range of readings we get. It might be a real eye opener (or not ... but until we try we won't know!)

As for corals vs fish first .... In my 75, I seem to be putting my corals in there first. However I'm not sure if it matters one way or the other, but I think I'd wait about a week in between new additions, just in case you do spike your system. A few frags, though, shouldn't really spike the system, so I don't know if that would count.

Tank Update
 

Hi Alan, I agree with Tony that you can add fish or corals in any order. But it's the order in which you add you fish which matters most.

I wait two week betwen additions.

Tank Update
 

I third that notion. Corals dont matter it's the fish that does.
So you sure you dont want my rock covered with shrooms ALAN? hmmmmm.

Numbers looking good for your tank. Cycling done!
Let the reefing begin.
I will bring my hydrometer to the meeting.
And some other goodies.

Tank Update
 

Alan you might reconsider the Cleaner Shrimps right now. There appears to solid evidence that they like to eat your Bristleworms. There is a pst on Canreef that they do so. I am not sure if the guy was talking about Amboinensis , or Peppermints, but probably the first.

Tank Update
 

Has yours shown such tastes? Even if they snack on the odd worm, I still want 'em!

'Cause they're so purty!

I think they are one of the most appealing creatures available, and if I need to feed them now and agin, as mentioned in the aforementioned post, no biggie. Biodiversity NOW!

AJ :D

Tank Update
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Odd worm is not the problem!! I don't have a worm left in my tank!
If you're looking for biodiversity, skip the shrimp.

Tank Update
 

Just passing it on old chap. The guy that posted said the shrimp had decimated his entire worm farm. As you have seen, my tank has a number of areas not accessible to the shrimp, so I am not really concerned. In addition my shrimp feeds right along with the fish even running around upside down on the surface to eat flake food. He is probably not hungry enough to go out a-hunting. [img]tongue.gif[/img]