Update and first fish

I have noticed there are many bristleworms of all sizes living in my tank. There are thousands of copepods on the glass and sand. There are many amphipods living in the rock, they are growing and shedding. I see them moult quite often. The diatoms are almost gone, and there is a dusting of green algae on the glass, and quite a bit on the intake. I am still just letting it grow, it will balance in time. The coralline algae on the rocks has became a deeper purple color, so it seems healthy. There is no coralline growth on the glass as of yet. Altogether everything seems stable, ph still drops a little low, but I think with regular water changes it will balance. When I do a gallon water change ph is stable for a few days. I have been feeding my bristleworms with a piece of shrimp every now and then. The ammonia level has remained zero despite these feedings, so I decided the tank had cycled. I was doing some research on the web and found out that black mollies live in fresh, salt and brackish in their native habitat. So I decided to try one out as a test fish. I added the molly, ammonia rose to .5 overnight. Then it dropped to 0 in a few hours. So it appears that my tank is cycled, so I may start adding a few corals. I still need to finish my rock. I have made two rocks, and I am not too pleased . I am hoping with practice I can make decent looking rock, my first two attempts are not encouraging though.

A few days ago the hermit crab got really lethargic. He would not move, just kind of lay there. I was becoming concerned, then he started moving around a lot inside his shell. Then I saw his legs come off, I was really worried I thought he had died. Then a little while later, I saw him come back out, he was fine. He had moulted, and now he is a bright red color, he has been really active ever since. He climbs up on the rocks, and explores the entire tank. He cleans the algae off of the rock pretty good also.

The snail is active, he cleans the glass and the rock, of course they can not keep up. The tank is large for just a snail and hermit. I will be adding more snail soon. The molly is really active as well, she picks algae off of the glass and rock. She comes out and swims for a few hours, picking algae off the tank, and then hides unde the rock for a while.

It is very odd seeing a black molly and a live coral in the same tank. Mainly because you are so used to seeing them in fresh water.

Parameters are:

Ammonia, nitrites, nitrates 0 PH 8.2

As soon as I figure out how to stabilize my PH I will be ready to add coral. I will start doing a daily 1 gallon water change soon and see how that affects PH.

More critters!

Since I last blogged, I have acquired a few more things. First of all I have, I have noticed another bristle worm living in the second rock. There is also an asterina star fish on the rock. I saw it like the second day after I got the rock. I have not seen it since but it is amazing how well things can hide in the crevices of the rocks. I went to a fish store a couple of days ago, I was in shock at how unhealthy all of their corals looked. This used to be THE store for corals, now everything appeared to be dying. Very sad, I am not sure if it is under new management or if the owners just quit caring. I debated about whether I wanted to do business with them, and decided I would risk it and buy a snail and a hermit crab. The problem is, there are only two stores somewhat close to me that carries saltwater animals. The other store is a much better store, prices are cheaper as well. But his selection of snails is not so great. I really wanted a nerite snail, so I got one here and also got a scarlet hermit. The hermit shed today, and has not been very active. Hopefully the shed will make him more active, if it does not then I will be worried about him. The nerite is pretty cool, he eats a lot of diatoms. The nerite is very active. He has polished a lot of the coraline patches on the rock, so there are some really purple areas showing again. I was concerned that the diatoms were going to smother the coraline before it had a chance to grow.

I found an incredible website today also, www.reefstewardshipfoundation.org , it is devoted to promoting the breeding of reef invertebrates for the hobby. The great thing about it is, most of the breeders are willing to let go of some of there captive bred invertebrates for very little to other breeders. This is something that I am very interested in, so I have been trying to get a group of snails from them to breed. I am also trying to get a breeding pair of banghai cardinals. These will be bred, and passed on to other breeders, and possibly sold or traded at a fish store for store credit to get other critters or equipment. Hopefully doing things like this will help to keep the cost down some.

Tank parameters are looking good.

Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates all at 0. PH 8.3, specific gravity 1.024, temo right around 80.
This has been pretty stable, so it is time to start slowly adding more critters. Anyway, this is my update, not much happening, I will get pictures posted soon.