I finally have a fish! A real, live fish! He's a Yellow Watchman Goby with the best face of any fish out there. He wears a perpetual frown and spends hours just guarding his burrow, watching me suspiciously. In fact, I think he might now be aware of the cat watching him. He rarely leaves his burrow except when the cat's around; then he swims to the glass and flares up. It's pretty funny. His name is Colonel (because he's a sentinel) Giles (because he looks like a serious Brit) Goberman (because he's a goby, duh).

I also have a lovely new feather duster. It's a little creepy thinking I have a 5-inch worm in the tank now, but the crown is so pretty in the water that I guess I can live with the worm.

The xenia coral that had been through the wringer is doing much better. It's still not filled out, but it's pulsing regularly again, and it attached in about one day to the rock.

The bad news is that something is wrong with the feather duster. A few days after I got it, I noticed part of its crown (the feather part) was missing. It looked black at the tip, almost the way that paper does when the corner is burnt. I thought something might have nipped at it. However, each day the crown is rotting away more and more, so now I suspect a parasite/disease. I've read that they can throw their whole crown off when feeling stressed, but this worm doesn't seem bothered by anything. It's not shy and stays out all the time. Also, I think I now see the same black coloring on the xenia, which really concerns me. I'm not sure how to deal with a disease.

Wouldn't it be nice to go an entire week without any tank drama?


Feather duster missing pieces of his crown.The missing portion grows each day. :(


Full tank shot


The Colonel guarding his burrow.


So frowny!


Watching the cat watching him.


Coral trifecta. Some hitchhiker polyps, my pretty pink preciouses (two of which haven't opened in a week,
not since I reglued their plug to a different rock), and the pulsing xenia. A small pistol shrimp has moved into the
xenia's cave, snapping at anything else that comes near, which is actually keeping the xenia safe. I think that
was why it was able to latch on to the rock so quickly and hasn't been knocked down in a while.

So, a lot's going on right now. Most notable was the sudden death of Pierre, the decorator crab. I found him lying on his back one morning, looking listless and unhealthy. He eventually flipped over and he was still breathing, but he remained motionless for most of the day. I was hoping that he might be molting, but nothing happened. By that evening, he'd stopped breathing, and a hermit crab had started to munch on the algae growing as part of his decorated leg. I sadly called the time of death. I'm completely bummed out. I don't know the cause of death. I checked water parameters, which were all fine. One clue is that one zoa polyp is missing a few pieces of skirt. Perhaps Pierre ate those and was poisoned? I'll never know.

The other significant event is that I'm fighting a losing battle with cyanobacteria (AKA red slime algae). It's on my substrate in the front of the tank, and it reproduces at an unholy rate. Within 10 minutes it doubles, no exaggeration. There won't be anything when the lights go on in the morning, but an hour later the sand will be covered with red slime. Ugh! And nothing in the tank eats it. I've been trying to attack it at the source by doing this:

1. Checking both source water and tank water, but phosphates are pretty low, and I've been making water changes regularly.
2. Running lights for 7 hours/day (as opposed to 10).
3. Adjusting water flow. Have tried giving front of tank both more and less flow.
4. Siphoning out the cyano before water changes.

I'm going to give it another week or two before I reluctantly dose the tank with Chemi-clean, which seems to get very good reviews in getting rid of cyano. I'm really wary about using an antibiotic that could cause the cyano to mutate to a hardier strain, though!

I also have a few new pieces of pulsing xenia coral that I got from Mike's tank. I know the stuff grows like a weed and can take over a tank, but it's so hypnotic when it pulses. It's very relaxing to watch it.

I finally decided that I will not be keeping a mantis tank after all. Sorry, Beaker, but Mike's going to take you to the local fish store so you can find a good home with someone else. I've just grown too attached to my current tank critters and don't have the heart to watch the mantis kill them.

In other big news, I bought my first coral! It's the teeniest little thing you ever saw, and it cost $65 after shipping. What an expensive hobby this is. However, it's the coolest bright pink shade. I thought the fish store's picture was photoshopped, but it's definitely true to color.

The coral (which isn't actually a coral, but close enough) is a zoanthid species, known as zoas or zoos for short. They are hardy and good for beginners, plus they come in a fantastic range of colors. A small colony will spread and make a great rock cover, almost like a plant bed. Zoas are also known for containing palytoxin, which is one of the most dangerous poisons in the world. Reports of poisoning range from mild headaches and skin irritation to death, so I'll definitely be wearing gloves and glasses when handling zoas.

Also, I have started to find more brittle starfish in the tank. Most are the tiny, but one seems to be a monster. His arms are as long as my pinky finger, and that's just what I've been able to see. It blows my mind to think he's been in there all along and I only saw him for the first time recently. Definitely makes me wonder what else will reveal itself later.


My pretty pink preciouses! This entire fragment is about the size of a nickel.

Since I can't bring myself to buy any fish products at PetCo -- their tanks look nasty and unhealthy, I tried a new fish store the other day -- Annandale Super Pets. They had a huge fish department with nice-looking tanks, but their saltwater stock was really depleted. They had good cleanup crew options, but their fish section hardly had anything in it. I'd wanted a simple blue damsel or maybe a royal gramma, but no luck. I did buy the rest of my cleanup crew. I now have the following:

2 blue-legged hermits
6 scarlet-legged hermits
1 astraea snail
3 turbo snails
5-10 limpets (hitchhikers)

I've been wavering in my commitment to make this a mantis tank. It makes me sad to think I can't stock it because the mantis will likely kill stuff. I can't make up my mind...

I made a trap and went ciro-hunting the other night but didn't catch anything. I haven't seen any more ciros since that spotting from the last post, and Pierre is doing fine, so I went ahead and introduced a small cleanup crew (CUC) to get to work on the sludgy detritus on the rocks from the die off during the cycle and the algae on the rocks and glass. Right now I have 1 astrea snail, 2 blue-legged hermit crabs, and 1 scarlet hermit crab. Just these 4 guys are doing a tremendous cleanup job already, so I can't wait to introduce a full crew to really get the tank looking great. One thing I'll probably struggle with is losing members of my CUC to the mantis shrimp.

Meanwhile, the tank has become Thunderdome because I've spent the last week killing things. Whelk-killing hasn't presented much of a challenge. Basically, it's a matter of picking them up with a tong or my fingers and flushing them. I've gone about 10 for 10 on whelks. However, gorilla crabs are a much worthier adversary. I'm about 3 for 100 on them. I really wonder what they're eating. There's a very big one that I'm dying to kill, because he could do some real damage, but he has eluded capture. His day will come. Oh, yes, his day will come.

I realized the other day that I've spent entirely too much time pondering and devising methods for killin' stuff. I'm even developing an arsenal of implements to dispatch the unworthy critters. So far, I have a chopstick (a promotional one from the movie Serenity, no less), a screwdriver, and a Hercules wall-hanger (as seen on TV). I could really use an icepick...

I spotted another nasty cironalid after lights out last night and tried unsuccessfully to net him. I'm going to have to try to make a trap and hope that there are only a few in the tank. This could potentially be a dire situation, as cironalids have no natural predators and one female can produce a large brood that can cause you to have to shut down your tank for months.

I'm bummed because I'd planned to add my cleaner crew of snails and hermit crabs this week, and maybe get a damsel, but now I have to wait until I'm sure the tank isn't infested. Very bad news.

I hope Pierre will be okay.

Tank is definitely cycling now!! Ammonia is finally very low, almost zero, and nitrite is on the rise. Bad tank smell is almost gone!

The next step is for the nitrite to become nitrates, similar to how the ammonia became nitrite. I'm enormously relieved. I've been so worried about the high ammonia levels, and the daily water changes were a huge pain!

Anyway, I realized I never explained what the "cycle" is that I keep talking about. Essentially, you want your tank to become a mini-ocean, in which the live rock becomes a natural, biological filter that keeps the tank clean for you. This is different from a freshwater tank, in which you manually have to remove fish waste and ammonia and use a mechanical filtration system.

Food/detritus --> waste/ammonia spike --> ammonia-eating bacteria (nitrites) grow --> nitrite spike --> nitrite-eating bacteria grow --> Nitrates --> nitrogen

In a well-established tank, nitrates will become zero as they are converted to nitrogen, as long as there are oxygen-deprived portions of the tank, such as in a closely packed sand bed. With my mini-reef setup, I may never have zero nitrates and will instead be doing weekly 10% water changes to remove nitrates from the water. Here's some more info about the nitrogen cycle.

The rock is definitely responding well to the lower ammonia levels. More fan worms are out, the barnacles (yes, there are actually some still alive!) are out more, etc. I'm still losing a lot of sponge, but the die-off isn't quite as alarming as it was at first, when the whole rock looked sick.

The decorator crab has really cleaned up the rocks -- a little too well. I'll be hand-feeding him once the tank cycles, although I might sneak him a little bit before that. I also want to feed the tank some phytoplankton so that all the filter feeders (things like barnacles who siphon the water for microscopic bits) can get some food.

Ammonia still high even though I did big water change yesterday. However, my nitrite and nitrates have risen, meaning something is finally happening with the cycle!

Lots of sponge is dying off now and the water is still stinky, but not as bad. I'd call it more vile than putrid.

The decorator crab is busy putting on a new outfit. He's stripped the tank of all remaining algae (except for the hair algae that's starting to grow) and stuck it on his forelimbs. He also destroyed my pretty white tunicate, the only one I've seen so far, and stuck that on his leg. He ATE the cool pink thingy I'd been trying to identify. I'm going to have Mike adopt him. He's very entertaining, but Mike's tank will be a better home for him. Besides, he might not last long in the tank with the mantis.

I've officially had the tank for a week. Ammonia continues to be dangerously high, my biggest problem. Still doing daily 25% percent water changes, but haven't gotten the level down much yet. Will try 50% water change soon. I don't want to use any ammonia-ridding chemicals but might if levels keep spiking. I know doing this soft cycle will prolong the overall tank cycle, but I really want to preserve the life on the live rock and keep the decorator crab alive. I expect the full cycle to take weeks now. I have patience to wait it out, but the daily water changes are a big pain, as I'm constantly worrying about how to match the water change water's parameters to the parameters of the water in the tank. It's never really exact, no matter how hard I try. I'm also hating the bad smell in the tank. I've read that's normal and makes sense since things are dying, but it's really foul. I'm having to rinse the sponge filters frequently.

The decorator crab is so cool. He's wearing a lot more now and has a stalk of algae on his head that looks like a mohawk. Pretty cute. He seems to be finding enough to eat. In true crab fashion, that's pretty much all he does.

The anemone didn't make it. I didn't expect him to, but his death was still discouraging. I also have a big section of sponge die-off. This also makes sense because this sponge is near the lights (they like the dark) and is exposed whenever I do a water change, even though I have water changing down to a minute or less now.

Despite the stress from the ammonia levels, there is still a lot of good life on the rocks. I've seen a few bristle stars, keep hearing pistol shrimp (pretty sure it's not a mantis at this point, but we'll see), and there are just tons and tons of little feather dusters and tube worms.

That orange thing I thought was a zoa is probably an anemone of some kind, but it's really cool looking. Unfortunately, I positioned the rocks with the boring sides facing frontward. That's the least of my problems now, though. Maybe I'll re-aquascape after the tank stabilizes. I'll probably take out the small piece in the lower right and maybe add a tinier piece or two.

I'm trying to ID the neat thingy pictured below. It's got a tube base, so maybe it's a worm, but I've never seen a tube worm branch out like this. Each stalk is pink, and there's a white "propeller"polyp-style thing at the end of each stalk. It's about 2 inches tall and stays open all the time.


Live rock on Day 7 of cycle. Note white/gray area of sponge die-off in top center.


Close-up of dying sponge. I also trimmed off the algae that looked unhealthy. I have some new
algae growth, but not sure what it is yet. Could be hair algae. Still have a lot of brown algae blooms,
but I keep reading that goes away when the tank cycles.


Identify me!

My ammonia levels have been at toxically high levels for days, despite daily water changes. However, the life on the rock still looks healthy, and nothing has died that I can see, although there is a funky smell in the tank. With this much ammonia, I thought the tank would have completely crashed by now, so I borrowed Mike's ammonia test kit to doublecheck everything. Last night, his top of the line test showed 0 ammonia. The tube water didn't even change -- there was no reaction at all. My test kit showed 1.5, very bad. I thought my kit was working because I'd done a test reading on plain distilled water to get a baseline reading (which was 0). And Mike also noted that he'd never had ammonia during his cycle; in fact, he'd had no cycle at all. I wonder if he had it all along, but his test kit was defective. I then tested Mike's kit using a tiny drop of something I knew had to contain ammonia -- use your imagination. Don't ever let it be said that I didn't go all the way in the name of science and this freaking tank! However, that test was inconclusive. In any case, one of the kits is messed up, so I'll buy a third kit today and give that a try. Obviously, I'm hoping that Mike's test was right!

This chemistry stuff is becoming annoying. And perhaps deadly? I'd really like a break from daily testing with these hardcore chemicals. My apartment smells like a morgue, and I've been queasy for two days. People who don't know me would say I'm getting sick; people who do know me would understand that it's entirely likely I've inadvertently poisoned myself. I think my friends would agree that I have no business around hydrochloric acid.

The good news -- pistol shrimp only have one large claw, like a deformed Popeye, so that little guy I saw is completely normal. I wonder if he's making all the noise. I'll be really impressed if so.

The bad news -- the anemone is looking ROUGH! He's been walking around the tank, his tentacles look like crap, and I think his foot might be damaged. I never really expected him to make it, but I'll still be sad if he goes.

Day three of the cycle. IT IS VERY STRESSFUL.

My ammonia level has been toxically high (above 3.0 at one point), so I've been doing daily 25% water changes to bring it down in order that the anemone and decorator crab have a chance at survival. I've never gotten it down to below 2.0, though, which is still crazy high. My pH, specific gravity, and other readings have been wonky as well, so I'm just trying to weather the storm at this point. I'd been striving for perfect parameters and a smooth cycle, but I think I might have to adjust my expectations.

What's odd is that the rock seems to be thriving, even with the awful ammonia level. So much stuff is out -- barnacles, tube worms, spaghetti worms, shellfish, etc. I'm not seeing any visible signs of tank distress. Not that I'd really know if I were, though.

I spotted a tiny pistol shrimp last night, the size of my pinky nail. One of his claws was broken, and he was wandering around on top of the rock instead of being holed up safely in a cave, the poor guy. I don't think he's the one clack-clack-clacking away in the tank non-stop. I haven't seen any other pistols or mantis yet, but I know SOMETHING is in there.

Seeing lots more gorilla crabs, but I should be able to smite them. I also spotted what might be an orange zoanthid polyp!! I only got a quick look. The large anemone is blocking him. 

I have live rock! TBS shipped it today, so Mike and I made a quick trip to Dulles. The flight was on time, the rock was actually on the right flight, and finding the air cargo warehouse was a breeze. I also got lucky because flights were grounded about an hour after we left due to unusually high winds today.

I’m glad Mike went to pick up the shipment because the boxes were heavy! I hadn’t factored in how much the water in the shipping container would weigh.

I got three pieces of live rock. One was huge, probably 20 pounds on its own, and wouldn’t fit in the tank. Mike took that one for his tank. The remaining three I used, but they’re pretty dense and big, so aquascaping has been a challenge. I finally got everything positioned as best as possible, being careful to keep the rock away from the sides of the glass. I’m not thrilled with the setup and may swap out a big piece for some smaller ones. I don’t feel like there’s much room for coral as is.

I had a special hitchhiker -- an ugly brown mantis shrimp, which was easily (!) caught and flushed down the toilet. The irony of killing a mantis shrimp to make room for a different mantis shrimp is not lost on me. I just really love the mantis that Mike’s got. He (she?) is inquisitive, nicely colored, and interacts with us. He’s almost got a personality.

Mike spotted a pistol shrimp in the big piece of rock. I wasn’t convinced it was a pistol shrimp and not a mantis…we’ll see. Something is clicking away in my tank. Time will tell whether it’s another mantis or a harmless pistol shrimp.

The rock has decent life on it, lots of sponges and barnacles, some shellfish. I don’t see many tunicates or feather duster worms yet. I haven’t spotted any bad gorilla crabs yet, but I’m sure they’re in there. I killed a teeny tiny one that was left over in the shipping water.

TBS included a pretty purple anemone and a great decorator crab that already has a tiny anemone stuck to his claws. They’re acclimating now and I’m about to introduce them to the tank! I hope they do all right during the cycle.



Catching the mantis


Flushing the mantis



Tank at 4:30 p.m. after adding rock and substrate

Tank at 7:30 p.m. after silt had settled


Anemone

Richard at Tampa Bay Saltwater might have great rock, but his customer service leaves something to be desired. His communication is just really unclear and terse. Today he e-mailed Mike and told him that he wouldn't be shipping the rock today. We were all set to pick it up at the airport. 

I've fixed my hose and pump as best I can at this point, but there's still a little low buzzing noise. I guess that's just from the design of the nanocube. The hood must amplify every little sound. I don't love it, but I can live with it, i.e., sleep through it at night. Note that I scraped my hand in the process of fiddling around in the tank, so there's now a bit of blood added to the water. Seriously, this will be the BESTWATEREVER!

Everything's hooked up now, so I've just been testing the water to make sure the parameters are fine for my LR shipment this weekend. I had been dreading testing, but it actually turned out to be freakishly enjoyable. Maybe it's the anal-retentive part of me, but I like fiddling with a pinch of this and a dash of that to get the numbers right where they should be. Or maybe it's the ferret in me that just likes seeing water change from clear to blue, or from blue to yellow, like magic! I didn't know the testing kit would be so exciting. OK, that's sad, I admit it.

My pH is at 8.0, a bit lower than I want. My hardness (heh) was at 6 dH, but I've raised it to 8 dH with some reef buffer. I'm going to add a tad more. Gravity is at 1.02, so I've added a bit of salt too. Temp is a steady 75 degrees. I'll test again later tonight, but everything should be ready for the LR.

Speaking of that, I'm using Richard at Tampa Bay Saltwater. His rock is known as the best around, with very little die-off, and Mike's 125-gallon tank had virtually no cycle because the rock was shipped so fresh. However, he's also not the most communicative businessman in the world, so I'm not entirely sure if the rock is coming tomorrow or not. At this point, I'd expect to get an email telling me that the flight/arrival time for the rock. I'm just keeping my Saturday schedule open for anything.

I can't wait to see something in the tank besides water!

I'd hoped to get my live rock shipped this weekend, but the guy has to make another dive to get it, so it will most likely be next weekend. I'll need to pick it up right from the cargo section at the airport -- knowing my luck, I'll get picked up by TSA for accidentally being somewhere I shouldn't. Mike's gone through this a few times, so he's offered to pick it up. I think he just wants his pick of the rock.

I'm still having powerhead problems. I received a replacement powerhead, a better model than the one that came with the cube, but it doesn't quite fit right so it also makes extra noise when it bangs against the tank. I'm going to Home Depot this weekend to see if I can find a hose and some clamps to adjust it better.

Now I'm worried that my water is bad quality because I've been fussing around in it so much for the last few weeks. I hope my critters like my body lotion and shower gel.

My only real progress this week was buying a light timer. Exciting.

Mike advised me that the powerhead should be pretty quiet and this noise was unusual. I fished around in the back compartment that houses the powerhead to see if I could adjust it or tell what was wrong. It’s a tiny space, so it was hard to see or maneuver my hand around, but I did discover a suction cup piece stuck near the powerhead. I consulted my manual and learned that the piece was supposed to anchor the powerhead to the bottom. I assumed that being loose was what caused the powerhead to rattle. I realized I’d have to drain the tank (ugh!) to expose that compartment so I could try to fix the problem.

I started my first siphon with my mouth and accidentally got my first taste of tank saltwater in the process. It was no big deal, but this was “clean” water – it will be less fun starting siphons with poopy, bacteria-laden water.

I saved all the water in gallon jugs and went to work fixing the pump. I reattached the suction cups, but when I looked closer, I saw that a small plastic clip attaching the powerhead’s motor to the return pump was broken off—that was what was causing the rattling noise. The return pump wasn’t secure and would just bang against the motor.

I called the supplier of the aquarium (MarineDepot.com, whose customer service has been fantastic), and they agreed to send a replacement powerhead. It’s not the one made for this tank, but it’s a slightly more powerful one. I’m nervous that it might not fit properly, but I’m pretty sure I can rig up something. I’m keeping the other powerhead in case there’s a way to MacGuyver it to work again. Having an extra powerhead (these circulate water) will allow me to keep corals more successfully.

The bad news is I’d been hoping to order my live rock (LR) to arrive next weekend, but now I’ll have to wait another week to make sure I get the new pump first. It seems like I’ve already had a lot of setbacks. I’m so eager to get the LR so I can begin to cycle the tank. I worry that, at this rate, it might be April before I can finally transfer Mr. Mantis to the tank.

The clip on the left is broken.

I set up drip loops, made sure I understood all the separate components that were going into the aquarium, and spent an hour customizing a stupid little rubber clip to hold wires in place in the back of the aquarium. I finally got the lid to shut properly with all the wires running through it.

Mixing salt water was easier than I’d thought. I used less salt than called for, because it’s easier to add more salt than to add more water. I filled the tank with 10 gallons (figuring the remaining water would go in after I’d added sand and rock) and used less than 4 cups of salt mix. I dumped in the water, plugged everything in, and waited. Would the glass leak? Would I be electrocuted? My paranoia level was through the roof.

Everything seemed to work exactly as it should. I felt pretty proud of my first small accomplishment. The pump and heater worked well, and later that night I checked the gravity/salinity of the water. At a temp of 74 degrees, the salinity was right around 1.023. Pretty good!

The bad news is the powerhead/pump seemed unusually loud. I wasn’t sure whether that was normal or not, but it was disruptive and annoying enough not to work as a permanent sound in my apartment.

I was still a little paranoid that the glass might shatter while I was sleeping, and I was alert for any strange event. I had trouble falling asleep because of the noise, and just after I’d finally fallen asleep, my apartment’s fire alarm went off! It’s the most obnoxious, jarring, ear-piercing whine you can imagine, and it’s scary as hell when it wakes you out of a sleep. I was so disoriented at first that I thought my fish tank had caught on fire.

Anyway, at 2:00 a.m., on the night of the coldest air we’ve had yet this winter, I threw my coat and hat on over my PJs and got ready to leave. I made a valiant but unsuccessful attempt to herd my cat into his carrier, but he was having none of it. I was pretty sure this wasn’t an actual fire, so I didn’t force him this time. (I would have tucked him under my arm like a football and run if I’d thought there were any real danger.)

Speaking of the cat, I’m having trouble keeping cat hair out of the tank’s water. I’m sure my little brother would not approve.

Mike’s reverse osmosis (RO) water filter worked more slowly to cure my faucet water than we’d planned, so I decided to buy distilled water at the grocery store instead. However, Safeway had only 2 gallons left. Doh! Safeway sucks. I had to make three trips before they restocked.

I checked back in at Safeway and bought a bunch of water, stood in line for 20 minutes to pay for stupid water (Safeway sucks), lugged them up three flights of stairs, and was ready to go.

Although the new aquarium arrived, I had a problem getting the old one out of my apartment. I had scheduled five separate pick-ups days with UPS and the driver never showed up for any of them. After calling UPS customer service several times (and being on hold for about 3 hours total), I finally got a driver to come get the damaged aquarium. It took nearly a month!

 All my miscellaneous supplies (e.g., heater, test kits, net) have arrived (at a cost of $130), so I’m ready to mix my saltwater.

My personal contribution to overflowing landfills.