Jervis' Percula 90

[jervismun]

U want jervismun to wait a mth !?

I betcha he can't wait a mth.

He so excited & see the speed of his nano cube ....

How to wait 1 mth !?

But .... What jonathen81 say also good advice lah.

Maybe U should leave town for a few wks.

Go holiday !?

Cheers bro !

Update us after the scaping ah.

(its gonna be another back breaking session)

Hehe bro... although I only been in SRC for 2 months... all the bros here already know me so "damn" well!!! Hehe... ok this time I will practice yoga... or just imagine that the tank is not there

Yeah... tonight's gonna be "Brokeback Mountain"... err... hopefully I will not end up with 2 mountains... "Twin Peaks"... but again having a large plain filled with macroalgaes is gonna recreate "Jurassic Park"... perhaps leaving rooms for fake plants and pirates ships like "Finding Nemo"... and for sure include a few "Predator" and "Aliens" into the tank for amusement sake... but most importantly must be very very patient so that Perc90 will not end up being a "Terminator"... self destructing to create "Armageddon".

[jervismun]

May I know what r your findings on the Nitrifying Bacteria product

Maybe useful to restart my tank

Hi bro... I just poured in 1/3 of the bottle, waiting for my LR today to pour in another 1/3, then the remaining 1/3 tomorrow morning... still can't tell yet, perhaps allow me another week to observe the entire process... do tune in as I post all the time

[jervismun]

Hyper or hypo treatment ah ....

Dun think it will kill coraline. Bacteria i not sure.

I can tell U the worms will not give up easily.

Flip the LR as you work on it & pluck them out.

(wear gloves in case loh)

I think it will work for the crabs & shrimps.

All the best !!!

Yes... gloves and tweezers... I have 2 extra long stainless steel tweezers... muahaha Also will get ready a pair of sharp-sharp WMF scissors... if can't pull out... I will at least cut it into pieces and use Epoxy to seal the hole... (err I think a bit extreme here, lol)

[jonathen81]

dear jervis,

great to know that you are taking so much effort to remove the unwanted critters.. i didn;t do it before i added my LS. It was really a headache to remove them after that. your effort will certainly be rewarded.

jon

[jervismun]

Hehe after 2 hours of brokeback session... here's my mountain!!! The scaping is by no means final coz I still need to transfer 10+kg of LR from my Nano...

[jervismun]

Here's a closer look at my main cave... I know the rocks are a little too tighly packed (especially the top portion)... running out of large pieces... so must go look for some larger pieces already. I want to create a large overhang to create a really deep and mysterious cavern

The water is still very murky (as expected)... poured in 1/3 of Nitrifying Bacteria into the tank... can detect rotting smell already Good news I guess

[jervismun]

A few caves at the bottom... once I transfer my corals over to the "mountain", all the ugly rock formation will be covered

I am not very good at rockworks especially with small pieces of rocks

Emm.... Ammonia = <0.25 Nitrites = <0.3... will have to wait a while longer I guess... the smell has disappeared...

[Maxstar81]

I can visualise the effect you wanna make but no point lah.

After the cycling process is over & U empty your wallet for

corals etc. U will have to rescape. Thats what i learnt. So

just roughly arrange 1st loh. Anyway, IMO i think U have

too many small pieces of LRs. They dun look too nice now

but will be useful later to plug in gaps & for delicate arrangements !!!

Sit back & if hands itchy, sketch & plan your tank loh.

1 more thing .... How come got 1 rock of mushies inside

while cycling !? I know they're hardy but dun need to

prove to us this way leh.

[jervismun]

Can't get the cycle started... just hope that tomorrow Ammonia can be high enough to kick off the cycle. I think introducing so much matured cured rocks may not be a smart idea... coz they are so clean and cured.

Bro Maxstar, yeah I agree that the rockscape somehow doesn't looks right... too many small rocks at the top, will scout for some larger pieces. I got 3 pieces of pretty large LR in my Nano.

The Shrooms were there temporary only, already transferred back to Nano. That large colony of Shrooms were blocking me as I need to scoop out some sand from my Nano. Hehe... don't worry, I'm not that

Yes, I will follow ur advice and plan for another scaping next weekend. By then, hopefully I will be able to transfer more LR from my Nano. I will transfer the LR slowly, 30% a day to minimize the impact on my Nano as I expect it to run for another 2 weeks before I transfer my LS over.

Good nite guys

[jonathen81]

hey jervis, looking good...keep it up.

jon

[jem]

looking great

but honestly it is hard to place corals on your liverocks with your current formation.

[jervismun]

Hi Jem, agree with you... I really need to learn how to master the art of rock scaping... yeah will do some scaping tonight, a kind bro offer me some large "our-of-water" rocks. Will collect later since my tank is still cycling.

[jervismun]

Decided not to collect the "out-of-water" (aka dead) rocks from the kind bro as it will only lengthen the process. I spent the whole day today reading... reading... and reading... I seriously think I am very confused for the past few days... about the ANN cycle... about the LR... about a lot of issues. One of the reasons is I am getting different directions from all the kind bros here... so when mix together... confusion loh!

Even different sites or books got different methods... so what I've decided to do is to follow 1 author, 1 book. I will reveal my plan in just a little while... shower time

[jervismun]

I chose to follow:

"Reef Invertebrates, An Essential Guide to Selection, Care and Compatibility" by Anthony Calfo & Robert Fenner.

I selected this book because it offers a very comprehensive readings on tank startup (30 pages) and there is a section very similar to my current situation... as I bought matured LR from fellow reefers.

According to the authors, the ANN cycle may or may not be as obvious as we expect them to be... since I am introducing matured LR and transferred some elements from my old tank, the cycle may not be as structured as 123.

I am relieved by the writings as previously, I tried too hard to hope for an Ammonia spike which may not even be necessary... to start with.

So I've changed my strategy a bit. Right now, what I need to do is to target for optimum water level all the way. Starting with the right Sg, right pH, right KH. Have sufficient light for coralline to continue growing, but not too much till encourage algae growth.

Skim skim skim... do not let things rot in my tank that can cause water to go haywire... any spikes can wipe out the already cultured bacterias in my LR. So maintain everything at optimum level and the biotope will be stabilized in 2 to 4 weeks.

That's all for tonight... I will still work out what to do next as I am still not very happy with the sand bed... might add argonite or something to better buffer water conditions.

[hammy]

jerv , i think ur rockwork a bit unstable equilibrium. like can topple anytime .

or u epoxy already ?

the rockwrok can be better seriously .backbreaking ar ? it's like that . when it come to scaping , i can just stand there for more than 1 hour just to make it correct even for nano .

yup , i am picky . but for viewing leisure sake .

[jervismun]

Bro Hammy... I know, a bit "langgar"... will do another major round once my Nano LR is ready to be transferred over... right now, just let it settle first. No epoxy... I hope no need to... coz very hard to do rescaping next time.

Yeah... I am picky too... so will do a better one next week.

[RockLobster]

Bro I am not running my skimmer

My bad

Keep the posts coming, and good job so far.

Cheers

[jervismun]

Hehe I am now running the Turboflotor... water quality is almost at optimum level

[iori_del]

HI bro, ur tank and equipement are so top notch, how i wish i have a deep pocket like u.

Edited April 10, 2006 by iori_del

[hammy]

hey bro , i am thinking of hooking my classic 2215 with AM phosfilter . how is the result so far ? and how long do u think it can last ?

[jervismun]

HI bro, ur tank and equipement are so top notch, how i wish i have a deep pocket like u.

Hey bro, u got a H&S... and I don't think it's a poor man's equipment for sure... I always believe in the best equipment I can afford... as the saying goes "if wanna do, do it properly". I must try my very best to avoid crisis in this hobby... or else will give up for sure... so I hope with good equipments + good husbandry + passion = good results

[jervismun]

hey bro , i am thinking of hooking my classic 2215 with AM phosfilter . how is the result so far ? and how long do u think it can last ?

I have not hook up the AM Phosphatfilter yet... but as long as ur pump pushes out 750l/h to 1000l/h should be fine. Remember u shouldn't use any pump stronger than 1000l/h. Good luck and do let me know the results ok? Bought some stuff from AM just now... will post an update shortly

[jervismun]

2nd day of running the Turboflotor Quite confident that this protein skimmer will remain faithful to its owner for many years to come... good boy... now suck suck suck

[jervismun]

New stuff...

1. Polyfilter... yeah never run a tank without polyfilter, lol. Promotion at AM, 3 pieces for the price of (slightly more than) 2!!! Need to replace for my Nano... will add to new tank once I start stocking LS.

2. Aqua Medic Hydrocarbonat - to be used as substrate. Got the inspiration from "The Tank of The Century" where the owner actually filled the substrate with Calcium Carbonat. According to him, it releases calcium slowly, provides pH buffing, increases KH and algaes tend not to grow on them. But must refill every 1 to 1 1/2 years. Quite expensive for a tub, so can't fill up the entire tank using it Will sprinkle on top of my sand bed once the scaping is complete (this weekend).

3. Aqua Medic Carbolit - actually more for my Nano... but will add a bag into my new tank once the water stabilizes. First time using...

Yeah I am really investing heavily... just hope my tank won't crash... or else surely become SRC Laughing Stock of the Month... Decade... Century

[jervismun]

Emm.... according to Aqua Medic:

"Carbolit may also be used as a long-term filter material. After a short period, bacteria settle on the pellets making the carbon work as a biological filter - aerobically and anaerobically. Carbolit is pH neutral and can be used in fresh and salt water aquaria."

Long term biological filter medium??? Em... not sure about that leh... what's your take on that? I though the pellets will slowly get dissolved???