Hitchikers :)

The tank has now done its first 24hrs and the stats stand as follows..
Ph 7.9
Temp constant 80.5 day and night(no change under lights :)
SG 1.024
Amonia 0.5
Nitrate 0
Calcium approx 550
All pretty much as you would expect for a tank starting to cycle.
I took some pic of the hitchikers I could find last night. ..
Clams I have 3 of them :)
Lots of little tube worms
Mini feather dusters of different sives and colours. Some have attached themselves to the glass and others are still on the rock. One of the biggest is actually bedded into its rock and completly dissapears when you go too close to the tank :)

We Have Live Rock :)

Well My live rock arrived this morning. Sent overnight in poly box with heat pack it looked in good condition, but was a little suprised at the size as I had asked for a Nano pack and I got one large, one medium and one small piece plus my 1kg of rubble for the filter. Was hoping for alot of small bits to help with aquascaping.
The rock was lightly cleaned in a bucket of clean RO water to remove any debris and loose bits then arranged in the tank. The rest of the live sand was then added around the rock to give it stability. Its best to do it this way as if you place the rock onto the sand when your hermits and critters get in there they could cauce a rock collapse by digging under the rock into the sand. Posible causing death to corals and unsuspecting fish :(
Pics of tank with and without flash.
Water perameters and pics of my *hitchickers* tomorrow :)

Mixing & setting up :)

Next step is mixing the salt to get the correct salinity. Using my RO water which is churning out 15 ltrs in 2 hrs I add 500g of salt. These are placed in a large mixing bucket with a heater and small power head to aid with mixing :)
It took about 20 mins to get the salt mixed . This was then added to the aquarium with my reef bones. I did this twice making 30ltrs of water and used 1kg of salt as instructed in the salt tub. I then added a small covering of Fiji Live sand to start the cycle process and help stabilize PH etc. Please note at this point I'm not too bothered about the temperature as there isnothing in the tank to worry about.
The tank was then left overnight to run in the filter/powerhead and stabalize the temperature.

New 16 Nano Reef Poject :) Saltwater

Well I finally got all bits together, chopped of my arm and a leg and sold a kidney to pay for it all lol. So here goes what I have to date..
16 uk gallon tank with built in filter system, fan etc.. £80 (already had this from another project)
Heater 75w £12.99 (already had this)
4kg Reef Bones (left over from another project) approx cost £5
Interpet Powerhead £12.99
3 stage 50gpd RO unit £75.00
API Master Saltwater test kit £17.75
API calcium Test Kit £7.99
Red Sea Hydrometer + Thermometer £11.99 (will upgrade later when more dosh available)
Caribsea Fiji Pink Live Sand £22.99
Red Sea Coral Pro Salt 7Kg £19.99

I decided to get it all from the same place, worked out cheaper in the end as I paid no postage due to cost of order, plus its from a company I use all the time who do next day delivery for nothing and are just great!

Ordered 5kg fiji cured live rock £49.99 (delivered)
1 KG Rubble £14.99 (rubble for use in filter system at back)
These arrive Friday.

My RO unit is set up and running nicely with a good output. I got hubby to install it as he is a plumber.. he was very scepticle about fittings etc and expected it to leak..lol and it did!! So we played around with it and its running fine now Pic above. I'm intending to use my rock rubble for the built in 4 conpartment filter system at the back. This will be as follows..
Chamber one with inlets will have Live rubble in
Chamber two again will have live rubble
Chamber 3 will have Bagged carbon and filter floss in, that can be changed on a weeky basis so no nitrate trap issues.
Chamber 4 has the pump and the heater in.

My RO is working great and producing about a gollon every 1.5hrs, so I will have enough flow to throw away the first 30 litres or so , turn off tonight and restart in the morning so I have enough RO water ready and in the tank for when the rock comes on friday. Fingers crossed there are no disasters .
Any info suggestions comments most welcome..

New Project :)

Due to a million new projects on the go I never got around to doing anything with this, so I thought it would be perfect to use it for my new Nano Reef Tank :)
I'm going to do a diary to track my progress including lots of pics at each stage, to show how it should be, and when I make an ass of it, how it shouldnt be done lol.
Ive got my tank Heater Reef Bones and I'm just waiting on my other bits to arrive tomorrow before I order my Live Rock :) Cant wait.. pics later :)

First up I would like to introduce you to my Long Arm Shrimp Boris . Boris is one of three of these demon shrimp that I have living in a 30guk tank. According to the research I have done these were actually bred for eating hence the fast growing and large size. Boris is now approx 22cms long and his mate Zippy about 20cms and George about 15cms.

They are a very aggressive shrimp and managed to eat about 1 dozen of my tetras while in the main community tank.

You can see videos of these guys to get an idea of what they are about :) link in right hand margin.

New Blog

Ok so I'm not into punishment and it seemed unfair to turture my readers over on my other blog with my tropical fish/crustation addiction problem :) So Ive decided to do a fishy Photo blog. I love photography almost as much I do my fish so it seemed a good place to go with it.
Enjoy and please feel free to coment.