15 Day Mark - Questions As Mov'en Along

[salinero]

Hello All, here is where we are at. Many of you might prefer a slower pace but things seem to checking out fine so far:
28 gal Nano with 20 gal of water. HQI 150w 14,000 k
Live sand, LR, LFS sea water & RO
Test have been great, cycled and now -
(ph - 8.4) (am - 0) (Ni - 0) (Na - 0) (salt - 1.022) (temp - 77.4)
water change seemed best with 3/4 ocean 1/4 r/o - otherwise too salty

Last week we added - 1 emerald crab, 1 sally lightfoot crab, 1 arrow crab, 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 camel shrimp, 1 astraea snail, and 1 trochus snail. We found a hichhiker crab a small brown fuzzy (maybe emerald) crab as it shell looks just like our new emerald but he has black pincher tips.
< Our LFS recommened the sally lightfoot and arrow crabs and all seems great so far but we are reading warnings about these two as they get bigger. The arrow crab is on his third bristle worm so I guess he can stay for now.)

This week we added 1 green star polyp, 1 mushroom, 4 astaea snails and 4 nassarius. We have been testing with two kits - salwater and reef, everthing looks good. We lost our trochus snail and chaulked it up to our acclamation process which we have now bumped up to 2 hours and more drip time. This morning we were sad to see the tiny hitchhiker crab dead. I also saw a bristle worm what appeared going after our snail.

So here are some questions for today
1) bristle worms do damage to snails?
2) Lots of tiny tiny white creatures buzzing all around, okay?
3) Losts of new tiny light green tuffs clinging to glass and substrate, we knock them off the glass but do you lightly stir substrate?
4) we have colorful rocks with lots of purple, red, light green and dark green. The snails are going after the dark green, is the red stuff bad ? or just part of life on the reef, not much of it but there.
5) we laid our green star polyp towards the top of the tank in a very cool spot it just nested in nicely, is this too close to HQI or can it flourish here?
6) one more, how much light for these two corals in the begining? They seem to open up more when light was put on for awhile yesteday (only two days home now).
Looking forward to hearing from the crew - Thanks for Reading.

 

[dnjan]

I'm a bit confused about the comment that the NSW you got from the LFS was too salty, and you had to add 25% RO water. How are you testing SG?

As it is, 1.022 is a bit low. Most people run reefs at closer to 1.025 (at 78F).

 

[returnofsid]

If your hitchhiker crab has black tipped claws....remove it ASAP. That's one of the standard things to look for with BAD crabs.

Bristle Worms are fine.
Tiny White creatures need better description but sound like Mysid Shrimp or Pods...both good.
GSP coral doesn't need a lot of light and keep in mind that it needs to be placed FAR away from where you'll eventually have other corals. It's very toxic to SPS especially.

From your test results...I wouldn't say that your tank is doing fine...IMO, your tank hasn't even started cycling yet. Watch your levels closely and I wouldn't add anything else until you are SURE your tank has COMPLETED it's cycle. This usually takes at least 6-8 weeks.

 

[salinero]

dnjan - we tested salt water with an "Instant Ocean Hydrometer by Marineland Labs"
(The cheap plastic one you see everywhere). We got readings of 1.026 which on their chart is out of the "zone". Their highlighted ranges are from1.020 to 1.024 so we thought we were doing the right thing aiming for the 1.022 to 1.023.
I have heard since that these can be off a point so maybe LFS is coming in at 1.025.

 

[james734]

I'd recommend a Refractometer at some point for testing. It's not required but is more accurate then the good old swing gauge. If not at least confirm with someone nearby (LFS?) that owns a refract the swing is accurate. You are correct the swing gauges have been know to be 1 point off on a few. I had one and it was off by a point on the low side.

 

[dnjan]

By my calculations, if you take water from the LFS at SG=1.025 and add 25% (of total) of DI water, you should end up with a SG of a bit under 1.19

If your water change was very large, that could have been a pretty drastic change in SG.

If you can't afford a refractometer at this time (and it really is a good investment), at least get a real hydrometer. The kind with a glass bulb and a long neck like a thermometer. The real ones are about 12" long (or possibly a bit longer). Not a little 8" one.

 

[trido]

Here is a map of the worlds oceans surface salinity. As you can see, MOST of the reefs are ranging from 35ppt/1.026S.G. up to 39ppt/1.029S.G in the Red Sea. IMO its better to start high because your skimmer removes SW and daily top offs with RO replacing that little bit will slowly lower your salinity.

From your test results...I wouldn't say that your tank is doing fine...IMO, your tank hasn't even started cycling yet. Watch your levels closely and I wouldn't add anything else until you are SURE your tank has COMPLETED it's cycle. This usually takes at least 6-8 weeks

Not necessarily. If the LR has been fully cured at the LFS and was brought home quickly there likley will be no die off causing any cycle at all. The down side to this is that there really isnt enough bacteria to support a large bioload if added too quickly. Ive set up four tanks in just over two years and have never had a testable cycle on any of them.

Just be sure to procede slowly and keep a close eye on things so you dont kill off the whole tank. The reason everyone warns so strongly about a cycle is that in the begining without enough bacteria to handle the bioload your fish and corals may be fine as you leave for workin the morning and and then half dead when you get home.

Also, I agree with everyone about the refractometer. For $30 it sure does releive the stress of wondering if the old swing arm really is working right.