Please tell me if it is Bad or Good ...

OldandNew · 12-08-2004, 01:34 AM

It is the end of Day three for the tank. As listed below, 110gal, 110 lbs live sand, 88 lbs live rock, 80+ Gals NSW.
Red Brain, Green Metalic open brain, Green Donut, Opaque Green Bubble.

The rock is great stuff. Lots of holes. Lots of coraline algae. Brown and Green as well as more plant like growths. I figure the fish will tend to the garden when they come to the tank.

As far as critters go, all I have seen till tonight were a couple tube worms. Tonight I saw two brown crabs, hairy like a spider, maybe a half inch across the back. Both were grazing on brown and green algae. I also saw one shrimp, maybe 1/4 inch. Albino white. I figure the fish will also have him for lunch. There are a couple suspicious looking things. One, all I see looks like a cluster of translucent arms, maybe 16 or more. They appear to come from the opening of a hole, maybe 1/8 inch in diameter. Another is a reddish brown, like the coraline algae. It seems to be standing on its own, not in a hole. Please don't tell me, it is the dreaded a...........!!!!!!

Anything I should be mindful of? Are any of these critters a bad thing? OH, rock and everything is from the Thsound Islands north of Java, Indonesia. I'll take pics on Saturday when I have time to. Till then it will just be observations. Hopefully the crabs and other critters yet to be found won't be so shy as they were this evening.

Cheers,
Ray

allaboutfish37 · 12-08-2004, 01:41 AM

how old is the tank ?pictures would be good

Save_the_Reef · 12-08-2004, 09:16 AM

it is the end of day three as he said in his first sentence

hoodoo · 12-08-2004, 02:39 PM

you put corals in an uncycled tank?

somethingfishy · 12-08-2004, 02:49 PM

I believe he pulled LR, LS, and NSW strait out of the ocean. This would cause an instant cycle and the rock would have minimal die off.

hoodoo · 12-08-2004, 03:31 PM

well, I would still look and wait a few days to see if there really aren't any spikes. But it's too late for that anyway.
(just a thought, are you sure you are allowed to collect your own liverock? In the US there is a 10.000 dollar fine on doing that)
But now to the things you found. The thing with the lof of arms should be a spaghetti worm (look it up on google). As for the crabs, there are just too many to identify them, but I think, if it has hairs, it's not real good. With the shrimp it's pretty much the same. But, does it click in your tank?
and then, (maybe i'm stupid), but, what is the dreaded a...?

Craig Manoukian · 12-08-2004, 06:15 PM

It sure sounds like you have the dreaded aiptasia! They can be from clear to red to brown and also varigated in those color ranges.

You should be fine idf you moved the rock directly from the ocean to your tank. I would wait a full month of having stable water parameters before adding fish.

If you did not have an ammonia spike you will be too low in denitrifying bacteria to add fish without risk of a dangerous ammonia/nitrite spike.

Can't wait to see your pictures and welcome to 3reef!

JohnO · 12-08-2004, 07:24 PM

Selamat pagi Ray :-)

Some pictures would be terrific to see :-)

I would also introduce a good pinch of flake food twice a week to keep some of the hitchhikers fed and to also bring them out into the open.

Check Ammonia and Nitrate levels for sure to make sure that the Nitrogen cycle is in place

Cheers

John

allaboutfish37 · 12-09-2004, 01:07 AM

3 days mmm was thinking a type oooooo heheehe..all that stuff in 3 days lets us know how it goes. GOOD LUCK....

OldandNew · 12-09-2004, 02:07 AM

Hoodoo: You know, I had issues to begin with considering LR, LS, L NSW cycled when I first read about it, (either here or in another wellknown reef.com), but then I read the results and there are some caution, and hey, I figured what the heck, it can't hurt the rock. THEN while talking with my LFS John he mentioned a few pieces of coral too boot and I was taken aback. He does it all the time, makes enough for his hobby as a LFS and his stuff looks like it comes out of a GQ for SW freeks. His place is immaculate, tanks immaculate. You could eat off his floors. And this is Indonesia. Anyway, you gotta trust success.

I then asked about fish, and he said that a small cycle could happen and that he would hold off on the fish for 10-14 days. Looking at the rock, there is a white crust where I would have expected purple from coraline algae. Some of that is turning green. There is purple right up next to it. There are a few spots of white fluffy stuff I figure is decomposing stuff. Not a lot, so I will just let nature do her thing. I measured ammonia today and it is at 0.25 ppm or mg/ltr however you want to call it. Same value. I'm adding 1/4 tsp Biozyme everyday and feeding Coralife Invert Smorgasbord for the coraline algae odd days and Combovital (I know most think it is Voodoo Food) for the corals on the even days. What isn't used feeds the bacters. I'm watching the ammonia and do not expect it to get much higher. If I see a rise, I cut back on the food.

Craig Manoukian: Aptasia, sounds line anti-pasta to come candy shrimp. Actually, I could not find the red one today, and the other one was pulled back into its hole and looked more like a type of worm. Time will tell.

My LFS guy is an ex-pat Brit who has this as a hobby. He sets up SW tanks in businesses. And he has some awsome setups. Check out his website at aquarium-laut.com

Anyway, he handpicked the rock at the wholesaler and we picked over that what he brought. I was the third place he set up on Sunday. So the rock was not the freshest, but in all counts, fresh enough. Shoot, I have two small crabs running around.

JohnO: Malum Pak. Apa kabar? I'm doing pics on Saturday. RIght now the only hitchhicker I see seem to be eating the algae. I have been adding this Coralife Invert Smorgasbord every other day, and Combo Vital on the other days. That should keep them happy while feeding the bacter and not throwing the system a loop, meaning causing a major cycle. I'm tossing in small (1/2 dose) of bacter just for good measure. Misery loves comapny. Watching the ammonia as well and it is only 0.25 ppm and today is the end of day 4. Tomorrow I'll look at the nitrites as well. If I need to change out 50% of the water for nitrates nown the road, no prob. It is only about $10 USD. I can handle that.

allaboutfish37: Thank you for you well wishes. <VBG>. I did this in the old days when UGFs were the filter of choice and busted up puka shells the substrate du jour. I had a very happy LTA in pink and bought what I was told was live rock, it has about 8 polyps of polyp coral on it, but it turned out to be truely live. It, being some sort of clam, decided to burry into my crushed puka shells about half way leaving the coral polyps exposed and was a very happy camper. I've been through cycling a tank. When someone successful with the total ocean brought into a box concept said try it, well, I have stuff to look at and play with. It isn't perfect and I have to wait for my fish, but the inverts will have no problem if I have a small bump in the ecosystem.

Don' worry, be happy.

Thanks all for all the input. The crabs are being shy tonight, but then I havn't had the time to patiently look for them.

Pics come Saturday.

Cheers,
Ray