AlanM

Hah, me too. I like seeing the points add up. Can see the pile of tests I did last night and all of the secrets I dont post in my build thread.

It's a sump. It will get dirty in no time. Magic eraser is babying it. Teach it who's boss by giving it the hose, a green pad for big chunks and call it done.

I cant speak for him, but I think what Mattiejay was implying is that if you are taking water samples to Petco and relying on their advice of "congratulations you are now cycled" that you may be being misinformed. Rob (zygote2k) was making a similar point that no matter what anyone is telling you by looking at a cup of water, you are not cycled in a week, even if you used products that make guarantees that this is what will happen. There are multiple threads going on here currently if you search on cycling where folks have been at it for many weeks, some of whom have used similar products. Nitrates appearing and ammonia leaving is only part of it. Also, it would seem to be way more convenient to get some test kits. I used the Sea Chem saltwater Multitest which is really affordable, easy to use, and seemed to be pretty accurate. It would give you something to do while you are stuck there with two tanks that you are getting advice to just stare at and fill with distilled water from time to time as it evaporates.

What sponge are people using? I have looked around a few of my local stores for a "sponge filter" like Ive seen on the intarnets and none seem to carry such a simple thing which I think is just a round black sponge with an air pump tubing hookup on it.

Hardest part for me was getting the cone sealed up, but it got easier the more weldon I used. 8). I did do the slight mod on the effluent pipe bottom piece that Rob showed me to get it to sit closer in to the skimmer along the Sicce pump. Oh, the other hard part was accidentally using the bubble chamber pvc in the collection cup. They are the same diameter, but one is longer. Doh! Mine is now pulling out goop officially.

You're probably right. My crop of fur can definitely be taken down quickly by the first herbivore I put in the tank, so I'm not so worried about it.

I get you. You're probably right. I'm actually marching along what zygote2k said should happen and am not looking forward to the cyano phase and will probably start asking how to get rid of cyano even though I know that's the next thing that happens. 8) I was worried about having too little diversity in there with just Dr Tims. I had already compromised on the diversity that I really wanted by not going with Tampa Bay Saltwater rock and sand. I just couldn't afford that stuff. So now I'm adding micro life in dribs and drabs from various sources. So far that's a plastic sleeve of tisbe pods and green water from algagen, a few rocks from Congressional, some cheato from monkiboy with amphi and cope pods in it, zygote2k's huge fuge container and various pieces of sump rock from him, 3 turbo snails and conchs from QR, Richard at ERC gave me some of those black nassarius (or whatever they really are). Coral frags and fish will introduce pests anyway, even if I start from dry rock, so it probably won't make that big of a difference longterm, but I do wish I was seeing more pods than just these worms.

Sheesh, I really need to get some books. Most reef books are so expensive I'll have to ask for them for my birthday. Mine are nowhere near 5-10mm long, though. Max is 2mm.

Interesting. Short thread there, but one guy there seemed to say they were harmless. Longer thread here about eradicating them, but no discussion about if they are really bad or not: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/general-reef-aquarium-discussion/10054-flatworm-acoel-planaria.html By the way, the only place they could have come from is the "premium" live rock bin at Congressional Aquarium. That was the extent of the three small pieces of "live" I put in when I set up the tank and started the cycle. I assumed they were the copepod eating ones because I saw pods or something small white and faster moving for a while, but nothing now, just these. I had teeny hydroids on the glass for a while which Tom predicted would disappear, and he was right. They're all gone.

Yep. Pretty much. That may have more structure than I'm able to see in mine, but that may be because my eyes and cameras are not up to the task.

Here is the thread where flooddc had copepod eating flatworms, he thinks: http://wamas.org/forums/topic/50030-please-id-this-bug/ I'm trying to get a picture like his.

White. I cant seem to get a good pic of them, but will try. They look like slightly translucent little flexible white rocketships. Curved front, two points on back.

Basically I am using this period to learn how to keep parameters stable and in the correct ranges. Seems like as good a time as any to see how the system works and what affects what. There are correct ranges for alk, for instance, and carbonate is used up while cycling a tank, so it seems pretty appropriate to me to drop in buffer to keep the parameters correct regardless of fish in the tank. Well, I know they aren't acro eating flatworms or else they would all starve out (I got no acro), so I am not worried so much that these will bother coral. There are apparently approximately a bajillion different flatworms in the world, but these that I have are thriving on something so it must be algae eating flatworms or copepod eating flatworms heh.

By the way, I have piles of what I think are flatworms on the glass. About 1mm long and bullet shaped with bodies that curve as they move. Nothing that looks like pods. Flooddc sent a link to his copepod eating flatworms. They move really slow, but could these guys really be keeping down my pod population? Is it worth getting some flatworm exit to see them gone so I have pods showing up?

I think it is more unsightly than anything else, and there is no need to buy diatom eaters unless you want those animals to keep later. The diatoms wont last as your system matures. It is further evidence that the nano is still maturing and not an instacycle like you were told about biospira. Google "reef tank ugly period" and you will see that plenty of experienced people expect it as the microfauna sort it out. There are more things going on in a tank than ammonia to nitrite to nitrate.

So far Ive seen asterina stars and some other brown small starfish come out of the tub of grunge. Also some kind of snail who is now an empty shell do to Mr Crab I assume. My rocks and sand in the display tank are all turning green where the light hits it. Not super intense green like cyano, and not furry like hair algae, just green like someone painted it. It looks brown under the normal day spectrum which is royal blue heavy. I am running biopellets from Avast into the CS1 which I think I have finally learned to drive. I am also running some aluminum oxide based spheres from seachem for phosphate removal in an older style small MR5. No idea how long they last, but my phosphate is down to 0.1 and nitrates at around 2. I am using instant ocean salt, and it consistently mixes really high in mag and cal, but low in dKH. i get around 1500 Mag, 450 Cal, but only 3.0 in meq/L dKH. I seem to have to add around 0.75 grams per gallon of reef buffer from seachem to balance Cal and Alk. Does that make sense? Am I so far off from what I should be getting from IO salt that I may just not be using my test kits right? (titration pink to bloe kind)

Wow, that thing is nice.

I don't know about freshwater. I just wrote down what was on her slides. I think she may have been making a laundry list of what she has in her fish treatment cabinet. She also recommended http://nationalfishpharm.com/ as a place to get lots of the drugs. Looks like they have about everything. She also didn't mention Methylene Blue or Malachite Green which I've seen folks on WAMAS using at various times. I think I've seen freshwater dips with Methylene Blue added? Maybe I should start taking beta glucan too. From that article it sounds like they should put it in the pipes with fluoride. 8)

Nice, Steve.

Thanks for the nice reminder, Tom. But most of my best friends are a-holes. Not sure what that says about me. Maybe I like to be the nice one. Or maybe I just dont know myself that well, and I am running with a crowd just like me. 8)

My tank is now entering the next phase of the uglies with my cycle. Sand and rock are turning from brown to green with furry patches of orange and green. I got a few of these little black snails from Richard over the weekend and they're fun to watch like everyone says. They also seem to hang out together for some reason. I wrapped a little bit of nori around an small piece of rock with a rubberband and dropped it in and they all came up out of the sand like everyone said they would. Fun.

Apparently.

I'm preparing to start getting fish into my aquarium, and I was going over notes I took from the February WAMAS meeting where our speaker teleconferenced in from a snowstorm. Here's what I noted in two big sections, Emergency Kit and Medicine Cabinet Her list of things nice to have in the cabinet was: Prazi Pro (parasites) Formalin (parasites, dip) cupramine and a test kit for copper maracyn-2 (bacterial infections) kanamycin (better for bacteria) panacur, (internal parasites) beta glucan (not sure what this one was for) And I've also seen in other lists: chloroquine phosphate quinine sulfate Are there other medicines that you'd recommend someone have onhand for treating fishes? What do you think should be bought first and work up from there? Her emergency kit had: Sponge Filter in sump always Ed Nogas fish disease book Quarantine setup Battery powered airpump and stone or generator Carbon Dechlorinator and ammonia neutralizer Extra salt and fresh water Are there other things that should go into an emergency kit? Thanks. I feel like I'm getting closer to fishes. 8)

So this might be crazy, but since your fuge in the RSM is probably vertical more than horizontal could you: - get some clear schedule 40 PVC about 6 inches taller than your fuge with an OD that will fit, - glue a cap on one end so it's water-tight, - do a DIY LED build on some narrow tube steel like StevesLEDs uses, - blow air into the end of the steel tubing from above, - stick a threaded PVC cleanout adapter on the dry end with a threaded cap on it, - drill through the cap to pass the wires out and put a bit of caulk on it just to keep out splashes or use a probe holder like this: http://www.avastmarine.com/ssc/do/product/kalkstirrer-parts/Probe-Holder Then attach it to power supply and driver and you're ready to go. Stick the glued end down into the fuge and keep the wire end up.

Is everyone still liking these little black snails afterhaving them in your tanks for a while? What do they eat in your tanks?