Yoshi's Set Up!! **R.I.P. Yoshi**

[goldielocke76]

And the test results are in!!

Ph: 7.8
Ammonia: .25-.5
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 0
SG: 1.020

Thank you seven for all of your help with the water!! That one bucket of SW helped. 3, 64 oz buckets of SW, mixed at 1.029 sg, mixed with 3, 64 oz of ro water made the water a perfect 1.016! I just kept mixing the water in small portions this morning to make sure that the SG didn't drop too fast. Then, I added about 3 extra 64 oz buckets to the tank and it made the sg at a perfect 1.020. =D

[sevenyearnight]

1.020 is a tad bit low, raise it up to 1.022. Unless that is a typo and you meant to type 1.022.

[goldielocke76]

1.020 is a tad bit low, raise it up to 1.022. Unless that is a typo and you meant to type 1.022.

Ok good to know, because I have some salt mixing as we speak just in case that's what you thought. I won't be able to put it in until later this evening, but I wanted to have it as back up lol.

Sorry, I am doing this blind. Should new salinity be at about 1.024 or so?

[sevenyearnight]

Use this calculator:
http://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calc ... linity.php

[goldielocke76]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQgJ5h4X ... ture=share <--- WTF?! Seriously?

[goldielocke76]

So, went to the LFS to get a few hermits and maybe a crab or two, and he was asking me questions about the tank. Because the tank is so new, he didn't want me to sell any of them saying "the nitrite cycle is going to kill everything anyways, and that the rock hasn't cured, and they would have nothing to eat in the tank." He also mentioned that leaving the shrimp in the tank would produce the wrong kind of ammonia and encourage the wrong kind of bacteria to grow. So, I came home empty handed because "they needed time to close," and we were escorted out of the store. wth? Can anyone shed some light on why they would say these things?

[sevenyearnight]

I would wait 2 weeks to allow time for everything to stabilize.
I wouldn't leave the shrimp in. Ammonia is ammonia, but in this case it's not necessary. The transport of the rock will have some die off, that will produce ammonia in an unknown amount. There is no reason to put any creatures in the tank until this curing process is over.

[sevenyearnight]

This is a good read on the subject: http://www.reefland.com/forum/saltwater ... post153094

[goldielocke76]

Awesome!! Thank you!! LoL now I gotta go fish this damn thing out ><

[chuckfriedrice]

I would wait 2 weeks ,like seventy said . Let all the die off from the live rock to settle . Even after it settle you will still need to feed the hermits once and a while .

[goldielocke76]

I would wait 2 weeks ,like seventy said . Let all the die off from the live rock to settle . Even after it settle you will still need to feed the hermits once and a while .

Okie dokie. Two weeks it is. I am in no big hurry. I am super excited, and I can barely contain my self, but wow, the LR has exceeded my expectations. Never having had a saltwater tank before, The LR is super interesting....

I keep finding hitchhikers! I don't know if they are alive after sitting in a circulated trash can for so long, but now that the water has cleared up, I am seeing all kinds of things that I didn't catch on first glance.

http://denzil.smugmug.com/Pets/Puffers/ ... V6HCB-A-LB <-- I don't know if you can see them, but the rock right in the middle of the photo has some little squishy things on the right side of it. They are sticking out and pointing to the right. I know they are squishy because I accidentally touched them while picking up the rock, not knowing they were there.

http://denzil.smugmug.com/Pets/Puffers/ ... 11_VSKqSD6 <-- not sure what this is, but it's definitely gotten greener over the last 24 hours or so

http://denzil.smugmug.com/Pets/Puffers/ ... jhL8D-A-LB <-- this actually opened while I was taking pictures, then closed really quick. It didn't open very far, but it did open. (Look in the little hole, there is a mussel (?) in there)

http://denzil.smugmug.com/Pets/Puffers/ ... 08_xnTC8Qn <-- the clear stuff on the rock was actually a little bulb that looked like a green marble. It popped during transit so I will never know what it was =(

http://denzil.smugmug.com/Pets/Puffers/ ... fwwKf-A-LB <-- the purple you see was actually grayish white when I first picked it up. I am taking this as a good sign as most of the grayish white stuff is now purple

http://denzil.smugmug.com/Pets/Puffers/ ... RhhzK-A-LB <-- can anyone tell me what this stuff that floats at the top of the tank is? Its on the side where the koralia is pointed more downwards than the right side.

http://denzil.smugmug.com/Pets/Puffers/ ... HbNQ2-A-LB <-- is this enough surface ripple? Does it actually need to break the top of the water? I am still very unsure of how the koralias should be positioned.

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And I have some questions (sorry for the long post). Will the purple on the LR eventually cover everything? Some pieces are more purple than others, so I am kind of hoping that they all get purple-ish.

- How do I know that the LR is flourishing?
- How do I know that the LR is getting enough flow?
- With the 2 65 w daylight bulbs by Odyssea shining on them during the day, and the moonlight (that is what I assume that they are, I really don't know for sure) lights shining on the rocks at night, is this going to promote fast R growth/seeding?


Anything else that I need to know? Sorry again guys, This is my first experience ever, and I still have lots to learn. Thank you for taking the time to read my long surlaW (I actually wrote that out LoL) post.

[goldielocke76]

What's a good temp for the aquarium to be at? Mine stays at about 77.5 F or so. Is this ok?

[Tim]

What's a good temp for the aquarium to be at? Mine stays at about 77.5 F or so. Is this ok?

I keep mine at 79F with the GSP. I am sure 77.5F will be fine too.

[xrayjeeper83]

I keep Bacon at 80ish

[sevenyearnight]

I have my tanks 76-78°