Andrew323's New Tank!

[andrewasl]

Tank Specs

Display will be 4 x 2 x 2.

Crystal glass on 3 sides of the tank, front, back and left.

Black Oyama paper at the right side.

Black silicon, 12mm glass.

Black cabinet and hood.

Overflow box with removable filter net.

Dorsal pipings for overflow box.

Double Euro bracing top and bottom of tank.

2.5 ft sump tank with refugium compartment.

Ventilated chiller box with aluminium panels.

Equipment

Return pump, Eheim 1262

Lighting, Solarmax 4ft MH 2 x 150Watt, 2 x blue T5 54Watt per tube, Blue LED, Electronic ballast.

Skimmer, Reef Octopus Acrylic skimmer 135Int.

Chiller, Hailea Chiller 300A

Wavemaker, SEIO 4400

[andrewasl]

Got the tank from IWARNA yesterday. Here's some pictures of it.

[andrewasl]

Got the tank from IWARNA yesterday. Here's some pictures of it.

Can anyone tell me how to resize them? They're too big right?

[andrewasl]

I put in some food pellets yesterday and did the NO3 test today.. Still reads 0 NO3.. I was afraid of using the market prawn incase there'd be a foul smell.. I should still wait for a few more days just to make sure the cycling is done right? Or shd i just throw in the market prawn?

[yikai]

I put in some food pellets yesterday and did the NO3 test today.. Still reads 0 NO3.. I was afraid of using the market prawn incase there'd be a foul smell.. I should still wait for a few more days just to make sure the cycling is done right? Or shd i just throw in the market prawn?

you are suppose to be testing for ammonia. not nitrates.

nitrates is the final product of ANN cycle and will show 0 unless your cycle is over.

[AloysiusMun]

Just whack the Market prawn. You got so much water volume, no worries about it. Just drop one in.

Like what Lemon says, you should be testing for AMMONIA!

You gotta read up more, there's a lot of knowledge needed in this Marine hobby. Don't trial and error then cause your fish to up lorry!

[cedricang]

Hi Andrew, welcome to the reefing hobby and this community.

As Aloysius said it rightly, reading and doing some research is important and will help you to avoid painful mistake along the way.

There are few general principals you might wanna take note as regards to the initial phase of starting a marine tank.

All things works on the basis of eco equilibrium, your tank is new and there will be die offs in which the system is not able to take control of at this moment resulting in Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate issues. This is normal during start up. So you got to let your tank eco system take it's time to stabalise and eventually reach it's equilibrium.

What's important is to allow your tank to mature over time and allow the useful denitrification bacterial works it's way up for your tank system. Time and patient will be needed.

Have a good read up on creating a natural denitrification system will serve you well and happy for a very good long time.

Happy reefing.

[braincoral]

Ts using NSW ar?

Best is to cycle ur tank first till

it is really ready to welcome fishes,

corals..etc

Patience is the key to successful marine

hobby

All the Best and enjoy!!

[andrewasl]

Thanks guys. I just put the market prawn last night. And I'll wait for abt 3 weeks before I add any livestock into the tank. But when do I start testing the water to see if the cycling process is over?

[andrewasl]

Hey guys, i found something alive in the rocks. Can help me ID it? It opens in the day and closes at night.

[yikai]

majano anemone. it's a pest. kill it.

don't cut it or shred it or pull it as it will only multiply faster. inject it with some concentrated calcium solution to melt it.

[hahaha]

Hey guys, i found something alive in the rocks. Can help me ID it? It opens in the day and closes at night.

Its majano anemone. Most people view it as pest as it will chemical war with your corals..

[andrewasl]

Hey guys, i just got a pair of cleaner shrimp and they're pretty active.. Anyway, i've been noticing that the crabs that were in my live rock were just dying.. And sometimes the body of the crab isn't intact.. There'll be claws lying around on the sand.. What does that mean?

[limsc]

Hey guys, i just got a pair of cleaner shrimp and they're pretty active.. Anyway, i've been noticing that the crabs that were in my live rock were just dying.. And sometimes the body of the crab isn't intact.. There'll be claws lying around on the sand.. What does that mean?

They did not die... They just grow and shed their shell.. You will soon see the shell of your shrimps too (maybe a month time)..

[peacemaker]

They could just be molting. What you see could be shells of those crabs left after molting. Some videos of molting crabs:

Time Lapse Of Crab Molting

[andrewasl]

Yea.. U guys are right.. they're just the molted shell of the crab.. I've seen shrimp molt but not crabs.. Thanks guys!

[andrewasl]

Hey, heres some pictures of the fish i bought a few days back. 3 dispar anthias and 1 cleaner wrasse. The dispar anthias' weren't eating at first. i tried mysis shrimp and cyclopeeze but they still didnt eat. This morning i tried feeding mysis again and it worked. But they're still shy so taking photos or even going near the tank makes them hide.

[andrewasl]

Here's some of the pictures of the fish I've bought so far. There's 1 Royal Gramma, 3 Pseudanthias Flavoguttatus, 2 Bartlett anthias, 2 Resplendant anthias, 2 Purple Firefish, 2 Clown Gobies, 2 Fire Shrimp, 1 Copperband Butterflyfish and 2 Purple Queen anthias. I'm not too sure of the names of the 5 corals I bought. I couldn't get a nice FTS. The best i could get was one with the ugly reflection. I'm thinking of getting exquisite wrasse next. Will the colours of the exquisite wrasse fade as time goes by? I know that happens to some of the wrasses, but i can't remember which. Oh, the copperband's not eating the mysis shrimp I feed it. But it isn't hiding either. It swims around pecking at the liverock. The aiptasia that were in the tank disappeared after adding the copperband. That's good news right?

[FuEl]

I would'nt say much, only do try to stock slower than what you are doing now. Getting fussy feeders at this point in time and flooding your tank with food in hope that they eat is a recipe for disaster, especially in a relatively new setup.

[andrewasl]

I would'nt say much, only do try to stock slower than what you are doing now. Getting fussy feeders at this point in time and flooding your tank with food in hope that they eat is a recipe for disaster, especially in a relatively new setup.

Okay. Noted. Thanks for the advice. But just out of curiosity, what would the disaster be?

[braincoral]

Okay. Noted. Thanks for the advice. But just out of curiosity, what would the disaster be?

More Fishes = more Food needed = more decay matter.

Just make sure that your New Setup is able

to handle such bioload...

It is better to stock one fish at a time rather at one go...

"Patience is the key to Reef keeping"

[andrewasl]

More Fishes = more Food needed = more decay matter.

Just make sure that your New Setup is able

to handle such bioload...

It is better to stock one fish at a time rather at one go...

"Patience is the key to Reef keeping"

Oh, i stocked these fish over about 2 weeks. Is that still too short? I also did a water change over the weekend. How will i know if my setup cannot handle the bioload?

[FuEl]

Okay. Noted. Thanks for the advice. But just out of curiosity, what would the disaster be?

Ammonia spike. This can happen when you stock too fast or feed too much for the nitrifying bacteria to catch up. Your fish might survive, but they will likely be stressed by the levels of ammonia and can lead to reduced immunity. That is when diseases like marine ich can kill your fish. Most often fish diseases are directly linked to water quality.

[Soul]

From what i can see from pics your tank is at its algae boom stage, wavemakers also not enuf to circulate your water for a 4 footer. Get an algae blenny or turbo snails or blue hermit crabs to help with the boom & waste. U can also try getting some plants from Ah Beng LFS (@Pasir Ris farm if u dunno where) and put them in your sump if theres space & turn on a small light on them few hrs a day to help export the nutrients for now. Other than that dont stock anymore non-hardy fishes or corals til the stage is over or u gonna regret.

P/S : Most of us started off like u are now and some of us had to learn it the hard way

cos there wasnt much help or we were stubborn lol. So best thing is read the senior's threads

on how they first started the tank. You'll learn a lot, what to do and what not to do. Get

some Salifert testkits too, u need to know whet your water paremeters are weekly or in

some cases daily.

[MarcoVan]

Ammonia spike. This can happen when you stock too fast or feed too much for the nitrifying bacteria to catch up. Your fish might survive, but they will likely be stressed by the levels of ammonia and can lead to reduced immunity. That is when diseases like marine ich can kill your fish. Most often fish diseases are directly linked to water quality.

^ +1.

Go slowly bro, and I see a water change regime coming up real soon. Your algae on the sandbed needs attention