Pics

10th February 2008


Almost a year since I started. Thought it would be nice (for me mostly) to have some pics of what the tank looks like now. So here they are ...





OK - I know that's only one pic - trying to get more up there but struggling with technology at the moment.
Incidentally, the curved green "worm" in the centre foreground is one arm of "Alvin The
Starfish".

OK - finally sussed it. Here are more pics.

First, a different shot of "Alvin".

A shot from the front of the tank, you can see "Margaret" (hermit crab) perched on top of the purple covered rock.

One of my "caves"

Shot from the side of the tank

Another "cave"

Still some way to go before I get what I hoped for when I started but it's making good progress (I think).

Update

Saturday 26th January 2008

Since mid November my Green Brittle has been moving to and from the fliter area at will. I cannot get the little b****r to stay in the main tank but since he is obviously quite happy in either area I'll leave him to it for now.
At some point I'll put some mesh over the hole he uses to get into the filter area, just to make life easier for me.
Wish I knew why he did it. He spends days in there then comes back into the main tank for a few days then goes back into the filter again. Odd.

Still not quite plucked up the courage to add fish. Seen some lovely specimens in LFS but refuse to buy without research now so have to come home and so far have either found out they would NOT be suitable or have not been confident enough to take them on. Soon perhaps.

If anyone actually reads this I'd be delighted to hear from you. Just add a comment. Might make me more interested in the blog and make me add more useful tips (as I learn them from others I expect).

Brittle Escape

Thursday 15th November 2007

My green brittle starfish, now considerably larger than when I got him and was assured he was "fully grown - oh how I have learned, has taken to the right rear filter chamber of my tank.
He is alive, alert (moves when light goes on) and I can get food to him.
He clearly got there by climbing through the return hole for water passing through the various filter stages but I have no idea whether he can get back.
He has been there for 2-3 days now.
Not sure how I could get hold of him (my hands barely fit into the chnaber let alone enough to see to get him) or even if he needs rescuing.
I intend to give him another couple of days then try and figure out a rescue plan.
Where are the thunderbirds when you need them?

While I'm here, here is a pic of my tank. Rather overrun with long green grass-like plant but I've not been able to get in there and rip some out as it is alive with small starfish at the moment (one of which I caught on the glass the other day and is the subject of the other pic).




If anyone knows what "type" the starfish is, please post.

It's been a while

Sunday 2nd September 2007



It's been a while since I've reported to the blog so this will be quite a long update.

The water probems I had have all gone. A few days after my last report the water levels were back to normal and my only casualty was one turbo snail (who fell on his back so it might not have been the water anyway).

I've now had the tank up and running for about 5 months. Other than that one scary spell in June it's all been pretty stable.

The tank occupants are currently :-

• Alvin Starfish, a green brittle star. About 6-7 inches across.
• Henry the second, a red-legged hermit crab (who has just moved to a new shell).
• Margaret, a blue-legged hermit who I am sure will be moving soon, she seems to be much too large for her current shell.
• Some turbo snails - having trouble keeping them alive at the moment for some reason.
• Approx 10-15 small starfish that live in the Live Rock. Rarely seen out in the open but always have one or two legs dangling out.
• A billion (well, a lot) of tiny shrimplike creatures.
• A lot of bristleworms. Some tiny, some very large indeed. Very active just as food is put in.

As well as the fauna, there is some green weed (which I am told might be macro-algae). I'm fighting a losing battle with it as it grows faster than I can remove it. I've recently returned from a two week holiday to find that it has taken over large areas of the LR. Time for some remedial scissor work.

The LFS (in Hampshire) has promised on more than one occasion to get back to me about the noisy fan in the lid of my tank but each time they have failed to do so. I'm pretty much resigned to the noisy fan now.

After reading a lot of advice from my new mates (i.e. people who know much more about this than me and are happy to help beginners) on fishkeeping.co.uk I threw away the black sponge filter that came with the tank (which was, in any case, full of bristleworms) and replaced it with some filter wool. Some "trial and error" was involved in sorting this out but I think I've got it about right now.

The main light stays off except for about an hour a day which I try and get about the same time every day. I also feed when the light is on and this has made everything react to the light coming on by appearing from their dattime hiding places. Makes it more interesting for me, though less "normal" for them.

I'll try and post a few pics with this as soon as I can get some.

Looking better

Friday 1st June 2007

Tests are much more like normal. Still above anything I'd seen before but moving in the right direction.

Starfish is brighter (in colour) and is moving more. Out in the open and sitting up on his legs, almost like his old self (I hope).

Missing crab (Margaret) has turned up and both are moving around more normally.

Another 7-8 litres of water changed tonight.

I'm off to Cape Town for a week tomorrow so worried what might happen to tank. Family will look after it but have never run tests or done a water change so I may have to leave it to chance.

Continuing remedial action

Thursday 31st May 2007

Tests looking better but still a long way from right.

Starfish still looking very unhappy but crabs are moving a bit more.
A lot of the bristleworms have been hanging out of their hidey-holes. Cannot be a good thing.
The two turbo snails are laying upside down and despite being put upright have not moved.

Slightly concerned about changing too much water (no idea why) so decided to limit change to just 5 litres tonight.

Remedial action

Wednesday 30th May.

Water is less cloudy today.
Tests are now only at the maximum on the scale. Better than yesterday but still basically fatal.

Have obtained 20 littres of RO water and changed another 10 tonight. This time I thought about it a bit more and added the salt (and mixed it well) BEFORE adding the water.

One crab has disappeared. Might just be hiding. Hope so.

Disaster

Tuesday 29th May 2007

Arrived home to find tank cloudy. Very cloudy. Thought something must be wrong so immediately ran full set of tests.
Horrifying. Ammonia off the scale. Nitrite off the scale. Nitrate off the scale. All bad.

Did an immediate water change (about 20%).
It was actually my first water change (probably shouldn't have been but until today tests had been fine). Made ANOTHER mistake by not thinking about salt and having to add salt AFTER I'd added the water. Ended up stirring as I added it. Far from ideal.

I also removed the black sponge (1st level filter) and found it, to my surprise, full of worms.
On checking with the guys at the fishkeeping forum I decided to bin this and replace it with filter wool (which luckily had just been delivered).

Alvin (the starfish) looks sick. Limp and moving hardly at all. The bright coloured stripes on his body have faded to almost nothing. I am most concerned about him.

Crabs have gone completely lifeless. Still living but not moving as they usually do.

Have read up on how to do a water change in a marine tank and feel I do not have enough kit to do it the recommended way but will definitely be adding salt to the water BEFORE adding the water to the tank.

New hermit homes and a squid supper

Monday 28th May 2007

Over the weekend I got a few different shells to give the hermits somewhere to move to if they wanted to. Once they were in the tank I realised they looked way to big but left them there in case.
Within 24 hours the larger crab (Henry) had moved out of his old shell into one of the larger ones. The smaller crab (Margaret) had moved into Henry's old shell. Never saw them move but pleased that they liked the additions.

Today I decided to give Alvin (the starfish) a treat and bought him a fresh squid. I chopped into what I thought was good sized but manageable chunks and put a few in. He jumped on it.

On reflection the chunks were a bot big but I figured that in the wild these creatures must be used to dealing with whatever they find so left him to it. The Bristleworms and crabs seemed keen too.

This is the first "extra" I've added so it'll be interesting to see how it goes down.

More New Additions - Clean Up Crew

Tuesday 22nd May 2007

Hard to believe the tank has been with me for almost 2 months.

The crabs (Henry and Margaret) have settled well. Quite amazed how they scuttle around. Constant movement under the shell. I've started adding some crab food (small pellets I got from LFS) to, hopefully, vary their diet a little. I'm looking to get a small selection of larger shells for them to move into when/if they choose to. Hard to tell what type to get and advice varies.

The number (and size) of the bristleworms is quite incredible now. Each time I add a bit of food (still using tropical flakes to keep ammonia ticking over) they all appear almost instantly.

Having been checking the chemical stats and finding nothing to concern me (ammonia spiked very very slightly just after crabs added but never a big number) I decided to add to the "clean up crew". Went to LFS and had a good look round. decided on turbo snails. Knew little about them except that everybody seems to have them as part of the CUC. Decided to take two.

Was chatting with LFS guy about the green starfish that were in the next tank. He explained that they were "common green starfish", they wouldn;t get much/any bigger and would make an ideal tank-mate for my crabs and snails, cleaning up "anything that hit the bottom of the tank". I usually like to do some research but in this case decided to take a starfish as well. It (not sure whether it is male of female) is a handsome brute (I'll post pics next time I'm at home). After a short struggle, he moved from his bag to my tank and I sat for ages watching him. He moves more like an octupus than a starfish. Incredible felixibility.
I was dead chuffed with it ... but read on.

NOW HERE IS TODAY'S LESSON.
LFS guy was not entirely accurate (put diplomatically).
There is actually no such thing, as far as I can tell, as a "common green starfish".
My starfish is in fact a "green bristle starfish".
A couple of hours after adding him to my tank one of my hermits went missing and strange lump appeared in the body of the starfish, almost hermit shell shaped. I later discovered the missing hermit well hidden in a rock but for some time I was suspicious that there had been a murder.
While posting to fishkeeping forum and searching through internet for info and to see if I had a problem, I discovered the truth.
The green bristle starfish will, many say, eat pretty much anything it can get it's hand on including small fish (which I do not yet have any of).
Lesson : LFS is there to make money (which is fine). Good, accurate, advice is a bonus, not a certainty.

I hope you'll agree, once you've seen the pics, that with a little care about what else I put in the tank, the amazing sight of this starfish moving around my tank is well worth the few hours of mild panic.

Quick update - he (the starfish) spends a lot of its time suspended up on it's legs inside "caves" in the rock - definitely looks predatory when it does that. Lump has gone, I saw a mass of fine gloop being expelled from under the starfish and assume it was getting rid of what it didn't want (cannot think of politer way to say it was "taking a dump"). Lump disappeared almost immediately. seems I have a lot to learn about this guy - looking forward to it.

Here is the tank as it is now. Looks a bit bland in the pic compared to how it looks "in the flesh".

I've got crabs

Sunday 29th April 2007

Not been posting but things have been going well.
All the readings from the tank are stable and all are showing minimum (i.e. ready for additions) and have been for weeks.

I decided a couple of hermit crabs would be the first life I added to the nano-reef. I already had hitch-hikers a-plenty though. Bristleworms and snails and miniscule shrimp all over the place.

Two red legged hermit crabs were purchsed from a good LFS I have used many times for tropical. Much care was taken getting them home and after about half an hour suspended in the tank (to level the temperature of the water, they were added. They settled right in, scuttling to the nearest rock and climbing it.

Good news and bad news

Wednesday 18th April.

Been a while since I had the time to sit and write in here so here's a quick catch-up.

Good news. The onslaught of algae has been held in check by the simple removal of light. I've turned off, and left off, the main lighting in the tank for several days now and the algae, though still there, is back to something that looks like a mess rather than a disaster. Advice from my new friends at fishkeeping.co.uk suggests this is fine and will sort itself out over time as the tank cycles.

More good news. Have spotted, in the new darkened tank (lit on by blue LED) 4 snail-like creatures (though they move fast for snails and have large mouths and long feelers) and any number of tiny shrimp (2-3 mm max) scuttling about in the algae "field".

Bad news. The anemone that hitch-hiked in is looking very sick. I have no idea what I can do to help it. I'll try putting the light on a bit to see if that helps.

More bad news. I have no idea whether the tank is cycling or not (or even if it's finished cycling). The readings are all stable and low and I'm feeding in tropical fish food to provide bacteria but no movement. Surely it cannot have already finished. VERY reluctant to add life until I am sure.

Sadly - when I add something, it is likely to eat everything I already have (i.e. mini shrimps)

Last night's readings.
Ammonia : 0.1 (stable)
NO3/Nitrate : 5 (stable)
NO2/Nitrite : 0.1 (stable)
PH : 8.4 (Stable).

Have to find out about the anemone - must try to work out how to feed it (perhaps that's the problem).

Brown Algae

Sunday 8th April 2007. Happy Easter.

Small patch of brown algae noticed on substrate.
By evening this had become a major attack covering large amount of substrate and quite a few areas on glass too.
Again my thanks to Fishkeeping.co.uk where Caz was able to put my mind at rest within a few minutes of my posting the concern. Thanks Caz.

Fed tank some "snow" mid afternoon.

Readings taken tonight.
Ammonia : 0.1 (slightly up on yesterday)
NO3/Nitrate : 5 (slightly down on yesterday)
NO2/Nitrite : 0.1 (Stable)
PH : Odd colour returned, almost purple. Assume about 8.5 (Stable).

Hitch-hiking anenome is looking even less well. Intend to stop the "snow for a few days and return to tropical fish food as ammonia source to see of that helps or not.

It's snowing

Saturday 7th April 2007.

Local Fish Shop (and they are pretty good generally) suggests tank might need some "snow" to feed inhabitants. Decided to buy some even though I am not convinced. The "snow" mimics plankton (apparently). Hoped this might buck up the anenome. Made sure I fed some near to it.

Red tube worm thing leapt into action extending long spiders-webs into water and lapping up snow.

Ran water tests today (before snow).
Ammonia : 0 (zero) - a slight worry perhaps.
NO2/Nitrite : 10
NO3/Nitrate : 0.1
PH : 8.4

Now I need to find out if this is OK.

Trundling along

Friday 6th April.

After some more excellent advice from the fishkeeping forum, I've started to add a little tropical food to the tank each night to act as an ammonia source (thanks "Coralline").
Each night I notice some new form of tiny life in the tank. Tiny snails, tiny shrimp-like creatures (very pale and very timid).

Today I bought myself a Hagen/Nutrafin Master Test Kit. My LFS had them marked up at £60 but were actually selling them for £40 (which is only a couple of quid more than I could get them from Ebay and I got it same day). I was suspicious of "best before dates" but they are fine. I like the kit - very simple and safe to use. Much better than a hundred small card boxes with individual test kits.

My only slight concern is the "anemone" (if that's what it is). It seems a bit lifeless to me. Nothing concrete, just looks a bit limp.

Skimmer Solved

Tuesday 3rd April (Update)

The skimmer had produced not a single bubble. Problem solved by removing the large wad of foam and straightening the air hose. A million bubbles filled the tank but I'm told by loads of people this will clear in time and is nothing to worry about.

In fact, all the bubbles seem to have attracted some of the flora/fauna to extend long tendrils which are like spiders webs.

This is a pic (not very professionally taken) of the tank as it stands now. It's not as crowded in reality as it looks.

It's life Jim but ...

Last night, my daughter announced she had seen something move in the new tank. I immediately jumped up and spent the next few minutes staring at the spot she described. Just as I was about to give up and tell her she had imagined it, a small piece of rock (well that’s what it looked like) started to move. Slowly and with no obvious legs, it slid up the lump of rock it was on and headed for some shadow. It’s about the size of a dried pea, though flatter. It is coloured exactly like the rock – probably covered in tiny algae (I’m guessing here). For the purposes of this blog, until I know better, I will call them tiny rock creatures. They remind me of tiny versions of the creature the original Star Trek crew found in a mine. It was made of silicon or rock or something and the good old doctor had to repair it with, what looked like, Polyfilla.

Of course, I spent the next hour sat staring at every inch of the tank in the hope of finding more life and I was well rewarded. Not only did I find another of the tiny rock (coloured differently from the first but still very like the rock it was on) I also found the most amazing hair/fan structure which I first took to be algae until it vanished suddenly. As I watched it slowly re-appeared and then after a minute or two, vanished again. It was snapping back into something (it’s in an area that’s difficult to see clearly). I don’t have any idea what it is but I have a feeling I’ve seen something similar somewhere in all the books and websites I’ve been looking through so I’m going to try and identify it. My next task is to decide whether I want to move the rock so it’s more visible – probably not (yet). It’s very fine in structure, about the size of a 50p piece when fully extended, white with brown tips to the fans. I am struggling to get a photograph of it but if I manage, I’ll post it.

I’ve also found something which might be (depending on how good my Google searching is) a Serpulid feather duster or perhaps a Vermetid. It’s a red tube which at some point in the past has curled around. It now looks like a letter “d”, the vertical has a mass of tiny “hairs” inside the opening of the tube which occasionally come out for a feel around (waving around) and then snap back inside the tube.

A mass of miniscule hair like fans (which I am assuming is some form of algae is sprouting up all over the rock. I hope they continue to do so, without taking over the place.

Some good advice from my new-found friends at fishkeeping.co.uk about my skimmer. Seems my initial fears may be correct. It should be producing a froth of bubbles and isn’t. Tonight’s job is to take it apart (hopefully) and try to see what is wrong with it.

A new source of information

Monday 2nd April 2007.

Have found an excellent forum with loads of info on the ORCA tanks.
For my later reference and for anybody reading this …

http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/modules/newbb/viewforum.php?forum=16

I intend, later, to ask a series of questions in this forum and hope that someone will have the answers for me. All that I have read there has been helpful and friendly to newbies like myself. Great news for me.

What does rock eat ?

Later on Saturday 31st March 2007.

The rock is in place (and yes I did remember to remove some water from the tank first). It looks great. Already making the tank look pretty good. As well as some large bubbles of algae (about the size of wine gums) and my polyp-like freebie, I have discovered some form of tube-creature has hitched a ride. The tube is solid and filled with hundreds of “hairs” a few of which extend from time to time (slowly) and then after a few seconds they SNAP back in. I intend to try and identify these creatures in the near future and can only hope that hey survive transplantation to my tank.

I confess I am really delighted with all this. A real bonus to have a couple of occupants already. It now occurs to me that these new tank-mates may be hungry – what on earth do they eat? Surely I’ll have to add something to the tank for them.

I need to do some investigation.

Live Rock !!

Saturday 31st March 2007.

I haven’t tested my tank water yet. I’m working on the assumption (which I hope is valid) that since all I have put in is RO water, marine salt and some substrate, I am unlikely to have problems with ammonia, nitrates, etc.

I spoke the people at the shop and they were in agreement. It is time to get some live rock. As luck would have it, they have a display model of the TL450 in the shop so I can gauge what amount of rock I “need”. I finally select some good looking lumps (one has a very nice looking hitch-hiker which I’ve yet to identify but looks a bit polyp like to my untrained eye). It’s all plumped onto the scales and it’s a bit over 6 kilos. Sounds fine to me. Luckily I had done some homework and was ready for the cost of “a few bits of rock”. Almost £70 in this case. A gentle enquiry led to a 10% discount (which was nice) as I had bought the tank from them a week earlier.

The advice they offered was to get the rock into my tank, watch it for a week, test the water then start adding something a bit more mobile. A crab or two perhaps. I’m nervous of this step and will probably leave it longer but we’ll see.

So the family and our new “pet rocks” set off home to get them into their new home.

A few niggles but generally delighted

Friday 30th March 2007.

The tank has been up and running for almost a week now. I am pretty pleased with it, though I know I have a long way to go. A couple of things are niggling at me about it’s design though which I’ll record here for posterity. None of them have put me off having the tank, I simply record them for the information of anyone considering buying an ORCA TL4550 (or perhaps for the information of the designers of these aquariums for future consideration).

First, the power leads. There are four of them. Four wires leave the lid at various points and only by some careful delving about did I figure out what was what. This allowed me to label the various plugs for future use. On top of that, the lead I decided was the pump did not reach to the floor (once the tank was on the stand). All the other did so why scrimp on a bit of wire. I’ll not worry too much about this just yet but it’s an irritation.

Second, the lights. I love the lighting, a choice of bright and clear or “night time” blue LED. I like the way they’ve built the switches into the overall design of the lid. What I don’t like is the fact that both appear to be powered by the same plug. This will make it impossible for me to automate the lighting using a timer. Not the end of the world but a pain.

Thirdly the skimmer. I’ve never had one before and the “instructions” (as I detailed in my previous post) are all but useless. I expected to see a froth of bubbles at the top of it but I have nothing. There is a small tube sitting on the sponge to the right of the skimmer unit which I am guessing will be an air inlet to allow the creation of bubbles but I cannot see how to “open” it. More fiddling required (and perhaps a call to the shop in case they know).

Final gripe, the lid is a clever design, basically allowing a tilt or slide opening. Tilt is as per any normal tank, the “slide” option allows the lid to slide down the back of the tank opening up the top of the tank completely. Brilliant, except for the condensation. No matter which way I open it, water dribbles from the lid all over the floor. It would be simple to fix with something to block the flow of droplets back along the lid allowing the condensation to fall back into the tank. It’s on my list of things to do but it would have been better if it had been part of the initial design.

Despite these niggles, I am still mightily pleased my new purchase.

Some good news. My hydrometer/thermometer reports perfect salinity (after a couple of small top-ups of marine salt) and temperature so I now feel ready to add some rock. This will be a new thing for me … LIVE rock. I’ve read as much as I can about it and will head to the shops tomorrow with my new-found knowledge, and my credit card (it isn’t cheap).

It begins

Sunday 25th March 2007.

Thanks to a handy cash bonus I received, I finally took the plunge and decided to buy myself a (small) aquarium in which I hope to build and keep a mini-reef. I've had a couple of tropical tanks for a number of years (currently running two, one of 190L and one of 55L) so I'm not a total novice though everything I've read suggests the marine tank will be much less forgiving than I am perhaps used to.

After a bit of thought, I plumped for an ORCA 450TL. A nice looking tank with pretty much everything contained within it making it much more acceptable to my wife. It also had a pleasing appearance - a bit like something out of the TV series STARGATE.

When I bought the tank, I also collected a few items the guy at the shop said were important - namely a hydrometer/thermometer, marine salt, substrate and 60L of RO water.

Got home and spent a happy hour or two deciding EXACTLY where the tank should be placed in our lounge, not as easy as I thought it might be. Having successfuly found "the perfect spot", I cleaned the tank with a new cloth and some of the RO water and then sat down to read the instructions (unlike me) to be absolutely certain I did everything right.

Anyone who has purchased one of these tanks will know the frustration I now felt as I attempted to translate the "English" into something meaningful. After a time (it seemed like hours) I finally came to the conclusion that the "instructions" were all but useless and I would have to rely on the little experience I had and some common sense. This blog is, in no small part, a result of the lack of any instructions. I want to be able to look back and see what I did when and perhaps pass on what I learn (good AND bad) to others.

So, I checked that all the flter parts appeared to be in roughly the right places, filled it with 55L+ of RO water, added the substrate, added the salt, set the heater to 25 degrees and sat back. I already like it but confess I was nervous that I may have made a terrible mistake somewhere along the way.

All seemed well as the week progressed. perhaps it was OK after all.