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#1
05-03-2009, 06:18 AM
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__________________
Never argue with an idiot. They bring you down to their level and beat you with experience. 
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#2
05-04-2009, 07:22 PM
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wow... I just discovered something real amazing...good or bad I am not sure but...truely amazing.
It is now two days after I place the chemi-pure elite in the chamber two, the bottle says rinse lightly before putting in the tank, but i rinsed it a little more until i made sure the water that goes through the bag is no longer black(carbon)...and this morning I woke up, and I took a peak at the stick filter to see if there was anything i need to wash off. The water was clear as crystal for sure, but as soon as I took out the stock filter, i realized that it was pure black....and i mean black!! the floss on there was pure white when newly opened from bag...now its black, I took some time to rinse, but best I could do was to get it dark grey...no more than that...this sound normal at all? or maybe the chemi-pure media bag is broken(maybe?) I haven't checked, no time. Also, after I rinsed the stock filter, when I walk bak to the tank, it's looking a little white, as if the sand was stirred a little, not very blurry, but it does look white, compared to 3 minutes ago, it was crystal clear then... Anything I need to worry about? Side note, there are air bubbles on the green algae...is that the actual oxgen created by the photosynthesis process? Last edited by DACJ; 05-05-2009 at 03:53 AM.
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#3
05-05-2009, 05:44 AM
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Yay! I just did my first water test, day 6 , it was taken 1.5 hr after the floursent light went off, 30 min after the actinic light went off (actinic stays on an hour after flourscent light for me), the test result seems to be perfect,
PH 8.4 NH3/4 0 ppm NO2 0 ppm NO3 0 ppm I am gonna do another test tomorrow 1 hour after the flourscent light. According to the chart I have, I should also measure the Alkalinity, Calcium, Magnesium, Strontium, Iron, Iodine, Phosphate, Silicate.....but when I asked my LFS for a test kit, he gave me " API salt water test master kit" and said that is all I need...does that mean I don't really need to worry about all that mentioned in the chart? like as long as I keep that 4 things under control, rest will be fine? or did he mean that at this point it doesn't matter, I just need to test it after I get the corals and fish? BTW, the Diatom, or hair algae...I can't tell which is which, but anyways...brown-looking algae is starting to take over my precious white sand...it looked only a little before I left home for work, came home from work it still look okay, 1 hour after all the light went off, I looked again, it's like massive army just marched in the tank =.=" (maybe I just miss-looked when I came home) if I didn't miss-look, it's as it they were alive and all came out from their hide out in the night..... I am thinking maybe I will drop by the LFS on thursday to get my inverts instead of saturday, just incase if the diatom outgrows the tank..... I've seen on other threads where some people's skimmer actually gets some real nasty stuff....would I be needing it for a 29g sized tank? LFS said water change bi-weekly will be good enough, a skimmer so small like CPR SR3 isn't gonna really do much in BC29... Last edited by DACJ; 05-05-2009 at 06:31 AM.
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#4
05-05-2009, 07:28 PM
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#5
05-06-2009, 01:43 AM
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Congrats on your first tank! You have great natural aquascaping skills!
If you want corals you should test for calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium just before you start to add corals. You don't need to test for those until then. Be sure to use high quality test kits for these three parameters, like Salifert or Elos. A protein skimmer is optional on any size tank, but is a great help for novice reefers, so I would suggest you incorporate one if possible. It will help to buffer the mistakes you will likely make. You need to buy a quality skimmer though, as the cheap ones do very little. The Tunze Nano skimmer is one of the best skimmers you could buy for your tank, and conveniently fits into one of the chambers. Don't worry about the diatom algae right now, it will probably end up covering most of your tank for a couple weeks. Once your ammonia and nitrite levels hold 0 for a week straight you can add a small CUC to help get rid of the diatoms. Personally, I prefer snails to hermits. Keeping your lights off will help with the diatoms as well. There is no need to have the lights on until you add some critters. You may find some useful information in the links in my signature as well. 
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#6
05-06-2009, 04:01 AM
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So I did another water test on Day7, this time is 9 hours after "day light" compared to yesterday, and everything seems to be the same, as to someone said that PH will alter between day and night cycle if without refug...doesn't seem to affect mine at this moment....
I think I am off a good start right? I mean, it's day7 and things seems to be balanced itself considering that there are no chemical additives at all other than the stress coat conditioner to remove chlorine from tap water (my water source...) Anyways, I posted some updated picture just taken 5 min before this msg along with some more questions of course...please fill me in ! This picture is the test results for 9hrs after day light, pretty much the same as the test I did at night cycle.  These are the bubbles I was talking about, they're basically all over the algaes, and even on the algaes thats growing on my koralia. I assume they are from the photosynthesis, no harm right?    I believe this is the hair algae? but color is brown tho? Anyways...they are really growing...mainly on the rock at the far back end...and the most top one....I am really starting to afraid now since I won't be able to get any inverts for the next 3 days as the LFS are out of all that I want...and I don't think they can work their way up that top even if they were in stock...   Then are these....little small red Algae growing on a certain piece of rock...I know the pictures aren't very clear, and it looks like there is only a little, but when you actually look at the rock top, it's like..red red, algae growth maybe 80% of the rock top surface? thought they are tiny tiny grass...but I am worried they may not be so good? Should I be concerned?      My next concern is these flowerish algae is growing all over the place....it's like a flower but alive? it's " flower pedtal" sometimes retract and some times show...at beginning was only 1 on 1 rock, which I found amusing to watch, now they are starting to spread....and the one in the picture is the biggest one so far, maybe its a different species, but it looks like a "dandelion"...and does the samething...I mean they all look like dandelionISH flowers...should I be concerned?    And Finally...a full tank shot...which is by far the only good looking picture =.="  PLEASE PLEASE all you knowledgable people, help me out before it's too late >.<
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#7
05-06-2009, 05:02 AM
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If the 2nd test tube(blue) is Nitrite then you are definitely starting your cycle, patience. Don't worry about hitch hikers dying or what colour your algae is, just sit back and enjoy.
Remember that nothing comes fast in this hobby but failure. Keep your lights off as much as possible and test everyday. Don't add anything until after 4 weeks and tests say its OK to do so.
__________________
Last edited by Snaz; 05-06-2009 at 05:07 AM.
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#8
05-15-2009, 08:42 AM
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Well, some updates, but I am not sure if it is good at all...
I found a few tiny tiny worms, different looking ones, there was one which was black in color and white horizontal stripes all over it, and there was one like centipede, I googled online and I'd say the 2nd one may be a flat worm? but it is way too tiny at this point to tell I guess, it is like a thick human hair...no more than that...so it's really small at this point, the 1st one is acutally a little thinner than the 2nd. But anyways, I can't get a picture of any of them. But I thought miscallaneous worms will form during cycle, so I am not too worried about that... My main concern is.... there was one thing that looked like a clam, the kind that we use to make clam chowder, stuck in a LR I have...well, let's put it this way...one of my LR has a whole which fitted the THING perfectly, for the first week I thought it was maybe some rock stuck to it and didn't mind it very much, the 2nd week it started to open up a little like a clam would, so I wasn't much surprised if it was actually a clam...since the LR did not leave the water more than 20 min from the LFS to my place...but today, I found a little slime...snail like...SLUG i would say, in my tank, at first I was just looking at the LR looking weird, then it moved, immediately I realize it's a slug...but had no idea where it came from, then I looked into the place where the "clam" was stuck at...there is a hole in the LR...so I am very sure that it wasn't clam or anything like it, more like the slug was dormant, or maybe you could say that it was in a cocoon-like stage? I was very worried...since it is bigger than any turbo snails I've seen, and I googled online, most of the sea slugs people have it there tanks are relatively small, or even tiny, but mine is big...like big big I'd say, you all know what size a clam is...it's about that size... It's dark brownish, with brighter bottom, and I saw a white dot on the back of it as it tried to run away everything I use a flash light to shine on it, it is now hiding in places of LR where I couldn't get him out and I don't want to move around the LR just yet, I will wait till tomorrow morning and see if I can try to catch it and bring it to my LFS, in the mean time, if I can't catch him, could anyone please give me an insight on what it may be? Harmful or not? Thanks a lot! Wow...updated, I acutally caught it before I went to bed, it was on my top LR so I decided to take it out, its not as huge as it seemed to be, so I am thinking worse case, the clam-like size was maybe because there was two of them and they were sticked on to each other? I can't really get a clear picture, it moves quite fast compare to a snail, but it looks just like one, two black dot eyes, two very long and very flexible tentacles, and two ear-looking like things at its head, which will also twich when it is scared, its got very hard back with hair on it as well, 6 main back hair, which is about 1/3 the length of the two tentacles, and lots and lots of tiny hairs. the white spot I mentioned was long stripe diagonally on his back. Last edited by DACJ; 05-15-2009 at 09:10 AM.
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