tlhood's first tank - 34g RSM 130D

[tlhood]

In addition to replacing the lightbulbs, I replaced the heater with a 150W Eheim.

After the holidays, I stopped by Big Al's and Pisces. I was looking for replacement bulbs and thought I would participate in the Boxing Day sales. Unfortunately, no one seemed to have the stock bulbs for the RSM, and I had to order them online. Speaking of which, they are supposed to be delivered today, making it about 11 days since I ordered them from Big Al's online. Hopefully they aren't frozen and busted.

I purchased a couple Scarlet Hermits from Pisces, along with a few Astrea snails, and I bought two Nerite snails from Big Al's. I drip acclimate everything religiously, even though I've heard some people say you can just plop snails in. To my disappointment, and what seems to be a recurring theme, the snails I bought from Big Al's died. I later went back to Big Al's to get some Cerith snails since Pisces didn't have any, and of the three only one survived. I did get a super speedy Nassarius from Big Al's which survived, and is probably one of my favourites in the tank so far. I get attached to things really fast, and was bummed that I already lost so many snails. I fixed my sadness by naming my remaining dudes. Hermits are Herman and Hubert, the Nassarius is Scooter, and the Cerith is being referred to by myself and my mom as "the little black one".





They have been in the tank just over a week.

A few nights ago I was passing the tank and literally freaked out. THIS was sitting on a rock staring into my soul.



Some suggested it was a porcelain crab, which apparently hitched a ride from Wai's. It doesn't really matter what it was now, as I found its body and insides splayed across my sandbed yesterday. He either died from starvation, or Hubert killed him.

I bought a little 2g Fluval to serve as a QT tank, and set up shop for my newest additions, two black ocellaris.






And here are some pictures of my crew that assists in water changes and tank inspection.

[reeferfulton]

looking great .
good call on geting yourself an RODI ,

your story remind me of my first salt tank .. picked up a JBJ nano in the girlfriends CRX lol was a hoot ..

[tlhood]

Thanks!

I looked at your tank thread, looking good!


I just got my lights, one of them was cracked and didn't light =[ But at least I have one of the old bulbs and a new bulb that work. It would be nice to find someone in town who sells the bulbs I need so that I don't have to ship them from ON.

[tlhood]

The "Lepto" – Has darkened consciderably. Since I don’t know what it is, it’s tough to tell what colour it is actually supposed to be… Is it supposed to be this dark tan ish colour, or does it need more light? The flesh has started growing down the sides, and under the edge.
January 20ish

March 10

Monti 1 – When I got it is was a sad little brown decaying thing. Trimmed it up and band-aided the receded base. Growing well.
January 20ish

March 10

The “Fungia” – Has grown, now has a neon green hue to it, and eats like a pig.
Jan. 20ish

March 10

The favia
Jan 20

March 10

[tlhood]

Here is a current FTS of my RSM 130D. The GHA, diatom, and cyano blooms from February and March are over, and everything is nice and clean. I also trimmed my garden of banana algae on the back of my base rock. I have started running GFO (given to me by riceboy) to try to help resolve my phosphate problems.

Currently the only coral that I am having a lot of trouble with re: colour is the pink birdsnest, and the bird of paradise could be more vibrant too.

I received the two toadstools and the blue mushroom (center rock at the front) from tobysmurf on Tuesday. The toadstools are currently shedding a bit, but are getting used to the tank nicely.

I decided I wanted more versatility with colour ratios and brightness in the tank, so I pulled out the stock t5's and installed the Rapid LED DIY retrofit kit, and the Storm controller. All was well for about a month, but unfortunately, the controller I received was a dud, and I am currently waiting on Coralux to send me a new one.

Because of the controller issues, my LEDs are at max, and I can't control the ratios .



Current Stock:

2 Black and white clowns
1 purple firefish
1 yellow watchman goby
1 sapphire damsel

1 RBTA
5 narites
3 astrea
1 cerith
1 fighting conch
1 nassarius
5 red hermits
2 porcelain crabs

red maze
green and purple favia
green monti cap
red monti caps
blue mushroom
two toadstools
GSP
purple/tan and green torch
spacemonster zoas
purple and green zoas
green button polyps
bird of paradise sps
pink birdsnest sps
small plate-like coral thing
leptoseris type frag

and next week I am getting
aussie green and red blasto
aussie multi coloured maze
dragon soul favia
needle in a haystack sps
blue and green sympodium

The large red monti and the two frags on the sand behind it are pending pickup from Steve...

[Bugger]

How are you liking that 2 gal fluval tank. Im thinking of getting one for brine shrimp. Is there a pump that connects the back to the front

[tlhood]

The 2 gal is ok. I more or less just used it for short and cheap QT for my fish, but since I'm not getting any more its been sitting there empty.

There is a small pump that comes with the system that sits in a tiny separated compartment behind the black overflow which pushes the water from the back to the front through a slightly flexible direction outlet on the right side. There isn't much room for a thermometer though (unless you want to put it in the display part of the tank), and the two I have managed to find to fit in the back crapped out on me within a week.

The lights are nice and bright, but the lid has a huge hole in it for the light to shine through, so with fish in there/ having cats, in order to stop jumping or paws going where they shouldn't be, I had to cover it with mesh.