Wednesday, July 30, 2003
Went to the LFS today on my day off to see what they got in their shipment, and I noticed they got a couple of anemone, which would be good for my clown to live in. So I picked one out seeing the size of it in their tank, being about the same size as a closed fist, thinking that was the approximate size it would be. Got it home, put it in my tank, and turned the lights on. About 3 hours later, the anemone has at least tripled in size, almost overtaking the tank. I am not sure wether or not it is going to get any bigger, but it is freakin huge. The LFS sold it as a long tentacled anemone, so if anyone knows what it actually is called, please tell me. Here are a couple of pictures of it.
anemone
tank with anemone in it
anemone
tank with anemone in it
Saturday, July 26, 2003
It seems as though the stilts for the canopy are working very well, the only problem I could foresee is that the light now has a chance to escape before it has a chance to hit the aquarium. So I think we might put a panel of metal over the front, so there is more lighting going into the aquarium.
Thursday, July 24, 2003
During this long heat wave we have been having, I have noticed that the temperature in the tank is getting way to high, especially when the lights are on. The heat from the tank was actually warping the plexiglass splash shield we installed, so we decided to raise the lights a bit more and place the canopy on some wooden legs. At the 2 front corners, we used a "L" shaped piece of wood and made corners for the canopy, so it wouldnt fall off the sides, and on each side towards the back of the tank another piece of wood like that to help hold it in place. Over the next couple of days, I will keep an eye on it and see if that helps any.
Sunday, July 20, 2003
I went looking for an anenome at the LFS for my clownfish, but there were no good ones, but while I was there I noticed a really good price on a zooanthid rock, so I got that, and an emerald crab. I also forgot to mention that when I bought the peppermint shrimp before, that one of them was pregnant, and it has now released all its babies, so hopefully they will survive. here are some more pictures stuff in my tank.
new pic of growing coral
emerald crab
overall tank
overall tank1
urchin
zooanthid rock
new pic of growing coral
emerald crab
overall tank
overall tank1
urchin
zooanthid rock
Friday, July 18, 2003
The coral that I bought from the LFS is almost completely dead now, except for one branch which looks like it might make it through. However, the coral that I got with the piece of live rock that I was talking about earlier is doing extremely well. Before, when I just noticed it, the ribs of the coral were extremely white and looked exactly like the dead branches of the other coral. Now, the coral is more flesh colored, and the green arms of it have probably quadrupled in amount, and about doubled in size. I am now also manually feeding the coral so it will grow quicker. Today I fed it a whole piece of shrimp from the frozen food I bought. Hopefully if I keep fedding it manually, it will grow quick and will maybe replace the dying one. Tried taking a picture of it, but the camera wouldnt focus for me, so I will try again later.
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Got a few really good pictures of that worm I have in one of my rocks. I still have not seen exactly how long he is, as the pictures I just posted show the longest I have him yet, and there was still more of him in the rock. I would venture top say that the worm is about 7-10 inches long.
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Do you know what kind of worm this is? is it a bristle worm?
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Do you know what kind of worm this is? is it a bristle worm?
Sunday, July 13, 2003
This summer heat is sure stressin the fish. I got home from work today and the tank was at 87.3 so I quickly added some ice to a bag and put that into the tank to lower the temp. Got it down to 80.3, so that is much better.
Friday, July 11, 2003
I have absolutely no idea what this creature is. I got him with the same piece of live rock that has the coral on it. He is a very dark red, maybe even bordering on purple, and he has little light spots on the end of his antenna or whatever they are. He almost looks like a snail that has no shell. If anyone knows what this is please let me know.
pic of the animal
pic 2
pic 3
pic 4
please looks at all the pictures to get an understanding of what it is.
pic of the animal
pic 2
pic 3
pic 4
please looks at all the pictures to get an understanding of what it is.
Wednesday, July 09, 2003
I have finally figured out how to add pictures to the site,so please check em out. I also added a counter to the site.
Tuesday, July 08, 2003
This is a Canadian site that sells coral frags, here are a few that I would like to get from them.
Hard Frags
Brown Acropora
Red Stylophora Pistillata
Pink Birdsnest
Pink Acropora
Hard Frags
Brown Acropora
Red Stylophora Pistillata
Pink Birdsnest
Pink Acropora
July 8
After talking to the people at the LFS about the problems with the coral, he suggested to test the calcium amount in the tank, and if it was low, add a calcium supplement. So I bought the calcium test ( btw I purchased the ph/alkalinity,ammonia,nitrate, and nitrite test already) and tested the water. The calcium level was at 300ppm and it should be 400-450 when there are corals in the tank. So I added what is called Aragmilk, which is a calcium buffer, and I will test the water again in a couple of days since it takes about 1-3 days for the calcium supplement to finally level out in the aquarium. I also purchased a digital thermometer for the tank because the ones that you just stick to the side of the tank are not very accurate at all. I compared the temperatures of 3 different types of thermometers. one was the floating type, and it was almost 4 degrees off the actual temp. the stick on kind was about 1-2 degrees off. So depending on how accurate you need to be, go for the digital one.This is my tank now
After talking to the people at the LFS about the problems with the coral, he suggested to test the calcium amount in the tank, and if it was low, add a calcium supplement. So I bought the calcium test ( btw I purchased the ph/alkalinity,ammonia,nitrate, and nitrite test already) and tested the water. The calcium level was at 300ppm and it should be 400-450 when there are corals in the tank. So I added what is called Aragmilk, which is a calcium buffer, and I will test the water again in a couple of days since it takes about 1-3 days for the calcium supplement to finally level out in the aquarium. I also purchased a digital thermometer for the tank because the ones that you just stick to the side of the tank are not very accurate at all. I compared the temperatures of 3 different types of thermometers. one was the floating type, and it was almost 4 degrees off the actual temp. the stick on kind was about 1-2 degrees off. So depending on how accurate you need to be, go for the digital one.This is my tank now
July 8
On one of the pieces of live rock that I purchased, I have noticed that there is a part on the rock that looks like someone ripped off a coral before the live rock was sold to me. it is round and has the same interior ribs that my piece of torch coral has. I think the coral is still alive because there are minute green arms growing all over where the coral use to be, and right in the middle of it, there looks to be like a mouth on it. And when I fed the fish tonite, the ripped coral captured a piece of food that was floating by and moved it to the mouth, and the mouth ate it. now my friend thinks its a dead piece of coral with algea or something growing on it, but since I saw it eat with my own eyes, I think im going to disbelieve him and hope that I got a free coral from the LFS :PHere it is
On one of the pieces of live rock that I purchased, I have noticed that there is a part on the rock that looks like someone ripped off a coral before the live rock was sold to me. it is round and has the same interior ribs that my piece of torch coral has. I think the coral is still alive because there are minute green arms growing all over where the coral use to be, and right in the middle of it, there looks to be like a mouth on it. And when I fed the fish tonite, the ripped coral captured a piece of food that was floating by and moved it to the mouth, and the mouth ate it. now my friend thinks its a dead piece of coral with algea or something growing on it, but since I saw it eat with my own eyes, I think im going to disbelieve him and hope that I got a free coral from the LFS :PHere it is
Monday, July 07, 2003
Jul 06
here are a couple of sites that I have found while surfing that are very informative and have a great selection of products. A couple of people I know have purchased some stuff from JL aquatics and absolutly love the stuff they received, from live rock to fish.
Reef Central Online Community
About Saltwater Aquariums
Welcome - Aquarium supplies, Fish food, Saltwater aquarium fish and aquarium filters from JLAquatics.com
here are a couple of sites that I have found while surfing that are very informative and have a great selection of products. A couple of people I know have purchased some stuff from JL aquatics and absolutly love the stuff they received, from live rock to fish.
Reef Central Online Community
About Saltwater Aquariums
Welcome - Aquarium supplies, Fish food, Saltwater aquarium fish and aquarium filters from JLAquatics.com
Jul 05
The torch coral I was talking about earlier is doing ok, not the greatest, but I think it will survive. there are 4 branches on the coral in total and 2 of them are thriving in the new lighting, and 2 of them are struggling, have absolutly no idea why, but im hoping that it will change now that the lighting is on a timer and everything can get used to a schedule. As for the polyps, almost all of them have died, except for a select few on the either end of the piece of rock it is on, however with the new lighting, I am seeing more of the blue sponge that makes more polyps growing quite rapidly, so hopefully they will make a full recovery. There are also some polyps on some of the live rock which seems to be doing great, even though it isn't directly in the light. Coral
The torch coral I was talking about earlier is doing ok, not the greatest, but I think it will survive. there are 4 branches on the coral in total and 2 of them are thriving in the new lighting, and 2 of them are struggling, have absolutly no idea why, but im hoping that it will change now that the lighting is on a timer and everything can get used to a schedule. As for the polyps, almost all of them have died, except for a select few on the either end of the piece of rock it is on, however with the new lighting, I am seeing more of the blue sponge that makes more polyps growing quite rapidly, so hopefully they will make a full recovery. There are also some polyps on some of the live rock which seems to be doing great, even though it isn't directly in the light. Coral
Jul 01
While we were building the hood I purchased a nice flame scallop. I very interesting creature indeed. his lips light up with an electrical current in a pulsing manner, very cool to watch. Until one day, I woke up and he was all shriveled up and dead. I have absolutly no idea what killed him, probably either the no light for a couple of days, or there wasnt the proper type of food for him to eat. either way I scooped him out of his shell and kept the shell in the tank for the fish and other animals to play with.
Now that I have the new lighting installed and painted, I decided to go ahead and buy a few more things. I bought another piece of live rock nice and covered in growth, and lots of holes for stuff to live and grow. Also picked up a red urchin, and 2 peppermint shrimp, 10 Hermit crabs, and 10 turbo snails. So now I have a nice rounded aquarium and hopefully everything survives.
While we were building the hood I purchased a nice flame scallop. I very interesting creature indeed. his lips light up with an electrical current in a pulsing manner, very cool to watch. Until one day, I woke up and he was all shriveled up and dead. I have absolutly no idea what killed him, probably either the no light for a couple of days, or there wasnt the proper type of food for him to eat. either way I scooped him out of his shell and kept the shell in the tank for the fish and other animals to play with.
Now that I have the new lighting installed and painted, I decided to go ahead and buy a few more things. I bought another piece of live rock nice and covered in growth, and lots of holes for stuff to live and grow. Also picked up a red urchin, and 2 peppermint shrimp, 10 Hermit crabs, and 10 turbo snails. So now I have a nice rounded aquarium and hopefully everything survives.
June 25
This project was quite complicated, so I will try to get into as much detail for you as possible for the people that want to do the same thing, instead of shelling out hundreds or sometimes thousands of dollars on a premade hood.
We started out with 1/4 inch poplar making the basic box shape to fit the tank snugly, with the back panel slightly higher than the rest of the box, as the box wont be covering the entire tank, because you need to leave room for the filter and the heater on the back. then, on the inside of the box you install a length of square wooden dowling, for the box to sit on the tank. then you need to put in about 2-3 pieces of larger lumber like a 1x2 for the ballasts. I went to home depot to pick up the ballasts, and the end caps, as well as a piece of 3/8 plexiglass to cover the tank, so that is anything happens to the lights accidently, the glass wont go into the tank. Next thing to do is get a piece of metal, the shinier the better, since you are putting that above the lights later on to reflect the light into the tank. now you want to bend the metal to the shapre of the box so it fits snugly but not too tight as it might warp the box you build as it did with mine at the beginning. if that happens, use some screws to hold the box together. after you have bent the metal to the right shape, you ned to cut notches out of the side of the metal for the end caps. here is a diagram of how to do that
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0 xxxxxxxxx|
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the x's are the part that you cut out
the 0 is where you place the screw when you install the end caps.
hopefully you get the basic idea here. there are notches in the end-caps for the metal to slide into, and you slide the end-cap into the slot, then when the ballast is in, you just place a screw at the back of the ballast so it cant move when it is installed.
Ok now that you are done bending and cutting the metal ( I forgot to mention that we used sheet metal for ours) you should install the metal into the wood box. make sure it fits correctly and install the end-caps into the slots. once you are done that, you need to install the ballasts. Now for me this was difficult, becuase i have absolutly zero expeerience in wiring anything, unless you count I.A. class in junior high experience :P so I got my friend to do that part, but basically you just follow the diagram on the top of the ballast and connect it appropriately. once you have that finished, you are basically ready to test the hood. It took us a couple of tries, because some of the end caps broke, so we had to take the back cardboard part of the endcap and fix it. it is very easy to do if your endcap isn't working. once you get everything working, all you have to do is paint it. I painted my hood black, since everything is for my aquarium is black. Now for the paint itself I would recommend a latex based paint since you want a water-resistant coat, if not waterproof. The only other thing I would like to mention is that if you do not want to use a plexiglass cover for your tank for whatever reason, make sure you use all waterproof items, especially the end-caps, and also make sure you buy the plastic sleeves for the lights themselves, because if for some reason your light decides to explode, you dont want the glass to go into the tank. I will try to post pictures for you so you can understand everything i have talked about.
The ballasts I purchased at Home Depot (model # RL-2SP20-TPC)
The metal cutout you need to make for the endcaps
another view of the metal cutouts
A clearer view of what I mean
These are the endcaps I purchased form Home Depot as well
another view of the encaps
This picture will give you a better understanding of what did with the actual hood, and how it is offset
This is a general overview of the lighting side of the hood
This is how the hood fits onto the back of the tank. you can also see the plexiglass I used as well
This is how the tank looks with the hood on
hopefully with these pics I have provided you will give a better idea of what I am talking about. I'm using 2 ocean sun bulbs and 2 actinic bulbs. Also in the "lighting" picture you can see a yellow piece of plastic. We used that plastic to cover the part of metal that was exposed so that we wouldnt get cut by it. The square dowling that you install will cover the other side of the metal, so don't worry about that.
This project was quite complicated, so I will try to get into as much detail for you as possible for the people that want to do the same thing, instead of shelling out hundreds or sometimes thousands of dollars on a premade hood.
We started out with 1/4 inch poplar making the basic box shape to fit the tank snugly, with the back panel slightly higher than the rest of the box, as the box wont be covering the entire tank, because you need to leave room for the filter and the heater on the back. then, on the inside of the box you install a length of square wooden dowling, for the box to sit on the tank. then you need to put in about 2-3 pieces of larger lumber like a 1x2 for the ballasts. I went to home depot to pick up the ballasts, and the end caps, as well as a piece of 3/8 plexiglass to cover the tank, so that is anything happens to the lights accidently, the glass wont go into the tank. Next thing to do is get a piece of metal, the shinier the better, since you are putting that above the lights later on to reflect the light into the tank. now you want to bend the metal to the shapre of the box so it fits snugly but not too tight as it might warp the box you build as it did with mine at the beginning. if that happens, use some screws to hold the box together. after you have bent the metal to the right shape, you ned to cut notches out of the side of the metal for the end caps. here is a diagram of how to do that
|
|
|
==|
xxx=======
xxxxxxxxxxx|
0 xxxxxxxxx|
xxxxxxxxxxx|
xxx=======
==|
|
|
|
the x's are the part that you cut out
the 0 is where you place the screw when you install the end caps.
hopefully you get the basic idea here. there are notches in the end-caps for the metal to slide into, and you slide the end-cap into the slot, then when the ballast is in, you just place a screw at the back of the ballast so it cant move when it is installed.
Ok now that you are done bending and cutting the metal ( I forgot to mention that we used sheet metal for ours) you should install the metal into the wood box. make sure it fits correctly and install the end-caps into the slots. once you are done that, you need to install the ballasts. Now for me this was difficult, becuase i have absolutly zero expeerience in wiring anything, unless you count I.A. class in junior high experience :P so I got my friend to do that part, but basically you just follow the diagram on the top of the ballast and connect it appropriately. once you have that finished, you are basically ready to test the hood. It took us a couple of tries, because some of the end caps broke, so we had to take the back cardboard part of the endcap and fix it. it is very easy to do if your endcap isn't working. once you get everything working, all you have to do is paint it. I painted my hood black, since everything is for my aquarium is black. Now for the paint itself I would recommend a latex based paint since you want a water-resistant coat, if not waterproof. The only other thing I would like to mention is that if you do not want to use a plexiglass cover for your tank for whatever reason, make sure you use all waterproof items, especially the end-caps, and also make sure you buy the plastic sleeves for the lights themselves, because if for some reason your light decides to explode, you dont want the glass to go into the tank. I will try to post pictures for you so you can understand everything i have talked about.
The ballasts I purchased at Home Depot (model # RL-2SP20-TPC)
The metal cutout you need to make for the endcaps
another view of the metal cutouts
A clearer view of what I mean
These are the endcaps I purchased form Home Depot as well
another view of the encaps
This picture will give you a better understanding of what did with the actual hood, and how it is offset
This is a general overview of the lighting side of the hood
This is how the hood fits onto the back of the tank. you can also see the plexiglass I used as well
This is how the tank looks with the hood on
hopefully with these pics I have provided you will give a better idea of what I am talking about. I'm using 2 ocean sun bulbs and 2 actinic bulbs. Also in the "lighting" picture you can see a yellow piece of plastic. We used that plastic to cover the part of metal that was exposed so that we wouldnt get cut by it. The square dowling that you install will cover the other side of the metal, so don't worry about that.
June 25
Hi there everyone. I thought I would post this blog to share my experiences with setting up a 10 gallon salt water aqarium. I purchased a brand new tank for the setup since i only had a tiny 5gal or my huge 33gal, which are both being used for a freshwater tanks. After buying the hardware and getting everything set up for the tank, I took a trip to the LFS and purchased some fine aragonite sand, and a friend of my gave me 2 small pieces of live rock.
talking with my friend who gave me the live rock, he told me that the cycling process will probably take about 1-2 weeks at most. so i waited patiently, seeing what kind of life I got on the rock. the rock was covered in little tiny white brittle stars, probly about 15 of em.
After about a week, there was still no signs of even the beginning of the cycling, so i decided to add a little bit of bio-zyme to the water to help it get started. Also I went to the LFS and picked up a few fish and a piece of new live rock as well. I got a blue damsel, a goby, and a clownfish. The live rock I got was covered in what looks like red and green growth all over it. there are also plant looking things as well, but they only have 1 "leaf" and they are very short baout 1/8" long. After putting everything into my tank, I noticed I had a really cool looking worm in the new piece of live rock. it is approximatly 4-5 inches long, green, and has was looks like legs, but they are more like tiny pipe cleaners, very fine and fuzzy. he is really cool, and after some looking all i could find on it is a picture on a site. and now the picture has been replaced by a fish. If anyone knows what it is, message me.
this is the worm im talking about except mine is blue/grey
Another week and a half has gone by and still no signs of the cycling being started. now this is really weird because almost everyone I have talked to has said within a 2 week period. so I am starting to think this cycle isnt going to happen. so I decide to add a little bit of bio-zyme to help kick start the cycle process. And since it still hadnt started, I thought it might be safe to get a tiny bit of pollups and a piece of torch coral and see how they do. So I went to the LFS and got a small piece of star pollups and the coral and put that into my tank.
My tank in the beginning
At this point in the tank, there is a tiny bit of algea growing on the back panel of glass and bit on my powerhead. so it has finally started. Now my friend says that the light fixture that came with the tank probably wont be enough for the tank, so we decide to custom build a lighting hood.
Hi there everyone. I thought I would post this blog to share my experiences with setting up a 10 gallon salt water aqarium. I purchased a brand new tank for the setup since i only had a tiny 5gal or my huge 33gal, which are both being used for a freshwater tanks. After buying the hardware and getting everything set up for the tank, I took a trip to the LFS and purchased some fine aragonite sand, and a friend of my gave me 2 small pieces of live rock.
talking with my friend who gave me the live rock, he told me that the cycling process will probably take about 1-2 weeks at most. so i waited patiently, seeing what kind of life I got on the rock. the rock was covered in little tiny white brittle stars, probly about 15 of em.
After about a week, there was still no signs of even the beginning of the cycling, so i decided to add a little bit of bio-zyme to the water to help it get started. Also I went to the LFS and picked up a few fish and a piece of new live rock as well. I got a blue damsel, a goby, and a clownfish. The live rock I got was covered in what looks like red and green growth all over it. there are also plant looking things as well, but they only have 1 "leaf" and they are very short baout 1/8" long. After putting everything into my tank, I noticed I had a really cool looking worm in the new piece of live rock. it is approximatly 4-5 inches long, green, and has was looks like legs, but they are more like tiny pipe cleaners, very fine and fuzzy. he is really cool, and after some looking all i could find on it is a picture on a site. and now the picture has been replaced by a fish. If anyone knows what it is, message me.
this is the worm im talking about except mine is blue/grey
Another week and a half has gone by and still no signs of the cycling being started. now this is really weird because almost everyone I have talked to has said within a 2 week period. so I am starting to think this cycle isnt going to happen. so I decide to add a little bit of bio-zyme to help kick start the cycle process. And since it still hadnt started, I thought it might be safe to get a tiny bit of pollups and a piece of torch coral and see how they do. So I went to the LFS and got a small piece of star pollups and the coral and put that into my tank.
My tank in the beginning
At this point in the tank, there is a tiny bit of algea growing on the back panel of glass and bit on my powerhead. so it has finally started. Now my friend says that the light fixture that came with the tank probably wont be enough for the tank, so we decide to custom build a lighting hood.
