New here...from NC. 55 gallon reef (pics)

Really? Did they stay kind of curled up before they started moving? I can't get them to latch on to anything, and I found a snail on one of mine earlier and it looked like it might have been eating him.

 

I had 3. One stayed stuck to the shell it was attached to when it came in for that time. Another stayed curled up and the third started moving almost instantly.

They all wound up waking up after 5 days. Though they only lasted about 4 months before they ran out of food...

 

One of the chitons is definitely dead Probably my fault for starting him in the sand instead of on a rock or something. I'm hoping John will be nice and send me a replacement with my mangroves.

CuC in action...

 

lol...well, no one from here knows how to drive, we're surrounded by pigfarms so anytime the wind blows it smells horrible, and any time we want to go somewhere and do something we have to drive atleast more than a half hour away because everthing is better outside of goldsboro lol... I'm also from a big city and going from that to goldsboro is a bit of a change. we went to jacksonville over the weekend, that marine base is bigger than all of goldsboro itself lol! but they are building an ihop in town so that will make it a little better haha. I really like Fish World, we go there and to Down Under often.

 

I just went to Down Under today...and I was really impressed. So impressed in fact that I had to buy about 16 lbs more liverock and an ocellaris clown . That brings me to around 55 lbs so I think I'm done putting liverock in the tank for a while. I broke one of the rules I initially intended to follow by leaning a couple rocks against the back glass (not the full weight, just kind of as a counterbalance for steadiness). I've seen it done before but is it something I should be avoiding??

I've been testing my tank the past few nights and all parameters are good with the exception of calcium (stuck at 380 ppm) and temp (stuck at 81). I've started dosing with Brightwell's 2 part alkalinity calcium supplements and I'm hoping to get my calcium up quickly as I think I've spotted at least three polyps on my liverock that I'm hoping will thrive and multiply. As for the temp, I think I'm going to have to get one of those fans that clamps on for my sump and hope I get good results. Any other suggestions for getting temp down without spending a small fortune on a chiller??

I was expecting to have copepods in my sump by now because the chaeto I got with my CuC was supposed to be seeded with them. How long does it usually take before they start to thrive?? Anything I can do to encourage them??

Here are pics. Please give your opinion on the aquascaping, it could still be subject to change....

 

more pics...

 

Ocellaris clown pics....

 

Also, I would like to put an anemone in the tank for the clownfish to hang out in, but from what I understand its not really a good idea to put anemones in reef tanks. Why is that? Anybody know of any anemones that might be an exception to the rule?

 

I have had a POD farm going for a few months now. After it was setup for two months or so, I began 'dosing' them into my tank. It's been a month or so since then and I am only now starting to really notice an increase in population in my tank.

My wrasse is a bit fatter

Aqua-scaping is looking good. Don't be afraid to keep working on it. Once you're established down the road you really won't want to rearrange then.

Because they are really sensitive to less than perfect conditions... new tanks inherently have fluctuations for the first several months/year... assuming care is taken. When they die, several species have quite the ability to knock out your entire tank (there are stories in both directions though). They also need exceptional lighting (don't recall what you have at moment).

Also, they move around and sting and kill coral in their path. Sometimes they move into a PH and get obliterated, spewing toxic death all over.

It's up to you how much risk you're willing to take... I like to keep my corals safe.

Exceptions? I have three rock anemones from the GoM that are about as wide as a quarter coin. No good for hosting though

These guys came on my rock and lived through the cycle. I think they're really great.

EDIT: also, the odds are the clown wouldn't host the anemone anyway...

 

Red mangroves showed up in the mail today. I put them in my sump with the root end down in the sand temporarily cuz I was on lunch from work and didn't have time to rig up something to suspend them. Is using a piece of styrofoam ok? Do they really have to be suspended in the water or can I just leave them sitting in the sand like in the pictures below? Any other suggestions on how to do it would be appreciated.