Taking the plunge: first marine tank 5.5 Gallon w/fuge

[pensiveone]

Well its been three weeks as of today! Nitrite has spiked and is finally starting to drop. It was at 5 ppm two days ago. Today down to 2 ppm. The base rock was bone white when I started and now has brown spots all over it, and green algea has started growing on it. I'm getting there!View attachment 1707

 

[TangPolice]

Well its been three weeks as of today! Nitrite has spiked and is finally starting to drop. It was at 5 ppm two days ago. Today down to 2 ppm. The base rock was bone white when I started and now has brown spots all over it, and green algea has started growing on it. I'm getting there!View attachment 1707

Yep your getting there , did you end up using Quik start ??? im guessing not
Bob



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[pensiveone]

No, I figure I don't need Quick Start at this point.

 

[TangPolice]

No, I figure I don't need Quick Start at this point.

Nope not at 3 weeks , you mentioned earlier in the thread you may give it a try
Bob









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[pensiveone]

Nitrite down to .5 ppm. Almost there finally!

 

[pensiveone]

As of this morning, Ammonia 0 ppm, Nitrite 0 ppm and Nitrate between 0 and 5 ppm. Tank officially cycled and ready for additions after 24 days. Yeah!


p.s. I thought the hermit crab was dead when I found what looked like a glob of dead crab next to it's shell. Threw it out and when I went back to remove the shell it had walked away! Guess it had just molted. LOL!

 

[pensiveone]

Well, I added a few more corals. Picked up a few from Jon (jm23) in Tinley Park the other day. He has some Awesome frags by the way! Picked up an orange Ricordia, Tyree Neon Green Toadstool and Nuclear Green frag he included for free, along with some baby snails. Looks like I picked up a tiny hitchhiker as well in the form of a starfish!

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[pensiveone]

Well, things are starting to look better thanks to SkullV's generously providing me with more frags! View attachment 2022

 

[Monty06]

There are mixed feelings out there about your starfish. The are astrea starfish and supposedly multiply like crazy. When I saw my first one I got excited, but shortly after I saw about 5 more and got worried so now when I see them I yank them out.

 

[pensiveone]

There are mixed feelings out there about your starfish. The are astrea starfish and supposedly multiply like crazy. When I saw my first one I got excited, but shortly after I saw about 5 more and got worried so now when I see them I yank them out.

It was there for a couple days, then has disappeared since then. Don't know if it died or is just hiding in the fuge.

 

[pensiveone]

Oh oh! Found some hitchhikers! Don't think its a good one either. On one of the empty snail shells I added recently from a LFS for the hermit crab I found something growing that look like an Aptasia. It is very tiny (about 1/3 inch long) but I took it out right away. I tried to photograph it but my camera could not zoom in clearly. See pic below.
View attachment 2060

I circled the area the "thing" is growing from. Needless to say I took it out. I'm also find lots of small white things clinging to the glass. I suspect these are pods? I also see some climbing around the LR that look like tiny shrimp. Very small but definitely there. Also found something growing in the fuge. I cannot see it directly; only through the Plexiglas where it is attached. See pic below. Looks kinda jellylike to me. Any ideas?
View attachment 2061

 

[Smith11]

those are def pods if they are climbing around, first pic is to blurry to tell what it was, 2nd pic looks like a bit of cyano algae.

 

[pensiveone]

those are def pods if they are climbing around, first pic is to blurry to tell what it was, 2nd pic looks like a bit of cyano algae.

Looks like the red clump is starting to break down and shrink...

 

[Smith11]

Looks like the red clump is starting to break down and shrink...

Thats good, that stuffs a bitch to get rid of if it takes hold in a tank

 

[pensiveone]

As per seveeral suggestions, I have replaced two of my white lights with blue ones bringing my total up for four blue lights. The greens really pop out now!View attachment 2158

 

[1000rrstunna]

How hard was it to make the false wall for the fuge area? I like the lil setup a lot

 

[Neebles]

I like how you have the lights arranged now, it looks awesome!!

 

[pensiveone]

I like how you have the lights arranged now, it looks awesome!!

Thanks! Much better this way.

 

[pensiveone]

How hard was it to make the false wall for the fuge area? I like the lil setup a lot

Not hard. You can get everything you need from Home Depot. The acrylic sheet was like five dollars and the aquarium safe silicone was for sale there too. Just have to cut the acrylic by scoring it, and of course drill a hole for the powerhead. Took me about an hour from start to finish.

 

[pensiveone]

We had a power outage in the south suburbs last week and I was without powers for nearly three days. In that time I lost three corals; my pulsing Xenia, Kenyan Tree and an SPS coral frag given to me by SkullV. The last one hurt the most because it had been doing so well in my little tank much to my surprise and delight. I guess it could have been worse. We actually bought a portable generator so if this happens again I should be able to keep the tank running long enough to keep the corals alive. Live and learn!