Hermit Crabs

A couple of days after buying 2 Hermit crabs i noticed what looked like the larger one attacking the smaller one.

After about an hour it looked like the larger crab had killed the smaller one and completely ripped him out of its shell.

Later on it turned out that the small crab had just molted and the other one was probably trying to eat the molt as it is high in calcium and they are supposed to eat it anyway. Now the smaller crab i hiding apparently waiting for his new skin/shell to harden. Then he should eat the left overs of his molt and be fine.

As the Hermit crabs grow they do out grow their shells they carry around on their backs. You can buy replacement shells on ebay. it a good idea to have a couple scattered around in the tank for when they need to change. So ive been down the beach and picked up a few.

First Live stock

Now my Nitrates are under control ive decided to try some live stock. 2 Common Clownfish and 2 Red Hermit crabs.

New Comers

Starting to notice a few little critters sprouting from the shop bought live rock. Some tiny little shrimp looking things…

And also a few baby feather dusters…

Set Back!

So far all the Ammonia and Nitrites have gone and are at 0ppm which im really happy about. it means my Nitrogen cycle is working and my rock is becoming live, or at least building up good bacteria. Im having a major problem with high Nitrates and newly formed hair algae.

I should be seeing a weekly drop in the Nitrate levels even if its only slight! but so far its staying the same or even going up after water changes. Ive decided to start doing some major water changes to physically remove the nitrates. Ive been making trips to my local fish store and buying my pre mixed salt water 25 litres at a time.

After a couple of weeks im still not seeing a drop in Nitrates! and the levels have actually have risen. Im starting to wonder what im doing wrong! So just out of curiosity (being a complete novice) i decided to test the water fresh from the shop….

To my surprise the new water id been buying had a Nitrate level of 80ppm, which i could not believe. I sourced another local shop called south coast marines and took a sample of my water into their shop. He tested the water i had with a digital tester and, the look of shock on this guys face! 185ppm was the real Nitrate level of my shop bought water, which he could not believe. The guy in south coast marines tested some of his water in front of me which showed a reading of 0.01ppm completely pure! so of course i bought some of his water and took it home to test myself.

0ppm on my test with the new water. Unfortunately i have a tank full of high nitrate water which will set me back but at least i know it was not something i was doing wrong and my Nitrates were lower before doing water changes with the bad water, which means my Nitrogen cycle is really starting to work.

Moral of the story is always check shop bought water

Mini Refugium

Now the ammonia has spiked in my tank and im waiting for the rocks to work their magic by turning the Ammonia to Nitrites, Nitrites to Nitrates and finally Nitrates to Nitrogen. I have removed the fish food and the filter pad it was sitting on and replaced it with some dead rock rubble to cycle into live rock rubble. Obviously this is on a tiny scale as refugiums are supposed to be set up in the sump of a large tank but it should have the same effect. Im hoping as the water passes through the rubble slowly it will aid my biological filtration as well as oxygenation.

Water Testing

Got the testing kit now to test the water for Ammonia, PH levels, Nitrates and Nitrites. A lot of people are saying that keeping a Marine reef tank is more like caring for water rather than the animals you keep in it! but then it is really because the healthier the water is the better results you should get from the live stock.

So far the fish food in the tank is causing an Ammonia spike which i am recording using the testing kit. hopefully that should drop soon as the good bacteria builds on the rock and starts acting as a natural filter. When the Ammonia levels drop i should see a rise in Nitrites and then in turn that should drop and Nitrates will rise. When i have high Nitrate levels i will do a large water change to reduce it. After all this and my water is steady at PH 8.2/8.4 Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrite 0ppm, and Nitrate 0ppm. (ppm-parts per million) i will add a couple hardy fish like Damselfish to test it tank system.

My PH Levels at at 8.2 which should be OK.

Cycling

Now everything is in and ready to go. The tank “Cycle” begins. Again with the research I’ve done there are a few different ways to cycle a tank and get my dead rock loaded up with good bacteria.

1. With 80% dead rock and 20% live rock (which I’ve done)
2. Using a hardy fish to raise the ammonia levels which will also kick start the bacteria in my rocks. Although this is pretty cruel as the ammonia levels in the tank will get high and could burn the gills of the fish. Not recommended but some people do it.
3. Using a dead shrimp, prawn or adding fish food to the tank. This will also raise ammonia levels.

I’ve gone for the live rock and fish food option. I already have the live rock in place so i just need to add the fish food. apparently you can add any kind of food, i have some flake food that i got free with a Hydrometer (Ill come to that later) which i will add. Most people on the net are saying just to add it to your tank but it will make a bit of a mess as it decays on the sand. I don’t want this so I’ve added some flake food to one of my pads in the filter…

Hopefully this will decay and the ammonia will pass into the tank without any or the mess. Then after i can just replace the pad. the small rena pads next to the poly filter are for removing green algae in the water which is sometimes a problem in cycling, so i thought id beat it before it starts. Its not essential and probably not necessary but I’m over cautious.

No protein skimmer and lighting

I’ve been doing a lot of reading about protein skimmers and the filtration benefits. Unfortunatly my tank will not allow one unless it is modified, which means id have to loose the trickle filter as parts would have to be drilled out for an external filter and protein skimmer. If i decide to go down the protein skimmer route it would add another hefty cost of the tank.

Also there are a lot of opinions on the net that the standard lighting in my tank is also inadequate. People are saying that the entire lid needs to be removed and replaced with a LED, Metal halide or fluorescent hood lighting system. This again is possible but will carry another even larger cost!

I was starting to reconsider the whole thing as costs were starting to spiral out of control as all i was reading was doom and gloom…and then i saw a youtube video of a professional fish keeper in Australia. Listening to this guy was a breath of fresh air! I’ve since looked him up (Paul Talbot) on youtube and his websites. He has given me a load of new ideas and alternatives to the normal.

Here is the video i mentioned before, the tank in the video is very similar to mine…

Salt water and Live rock

Just been to my local fish store and bought myself the RO/DI salt water for the tank and the storage container underneath, 150 litres. Also I’ve bought 25 litres of fresh RO/DI water to add in replace of evaporation. You cannot replace evaporated water with more saltwater because its only the water that leaves the tank, the salt stays in.

Also i have bought 2kg of live rock to seed my dead rock. You’ll notice the live rock in the tank is covered in coraline algae that is coloured purple.

Filter

After cleaning out all the old media and crap left over from the previous owner I’ve decided to go for a thin carbon sheet and a think poly filter sheet in the trickle filter. The trickle filter in my tank is situated in the lid behind the light unit. there are a lot of different opinions about the trickle filter not being adequate for the aquarium.

I’ve done a lot of reading about different filters and sumps. sumps seem to be the ideal way to go as it acts as i secondary tank which you can have all of you kit in along with filter, protein skimmer, refugium ETC… but for a sump you need plumbing going through the bottom of the tank so water can trickle down and a pump sends it back up.

I’m just going to start with my trickle filter and 10% water changes every week and see how things go.