Nano... 5 weeks into cycle

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Ok, so I'm into week 5 of cycling.

Great fun just watching lifeforms appear .
The tank setup is now stable in terms of flow in the tank , LR positioning and lighting.

The skimmer is still not functioning properly. Only skims approx 1/4 cup of skimmate every 5 days ( Yellow/brownish colour). Must get this fixed :p

Water parameters as of this morning are :

Temp = 27 deg
SG = 1.025
KH = 14 ( Raised from 9 - 14 to control bryopsis growth)
pH = 8.4
Ammonia = 0.01
Nitrate = 10
Nitrite = 0.2
PO4 = 0

Raising the Alkalinity to 14 has proven very useful in controlling / eliminating the bryopsis I had growing on my LR. ( Thanks Viper, Jaquesb , Mike) :thumbup:

Lots of GHA growth has however started on the top rocks.
Will keep an eye on this before it gets out of hand.
 
Got some white button polyps that are starting to grow on the LR.

Will post pics as soon as the photobucket site is up and running again.

Also have a very strange looking worm on the LR . Only appears at night. It has a white body with banded stripes and is able to elongate itself up to 5 cm.
Once the light comes on it quickly retracts into its hole again.

Pics to follow. :)
 
your skimmer wont really make more as the bioload is not that big
 
Right, as promised some more pics:

One of the button polyps that appeared over the last few days . Pic is a bit blurry... sorry !

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This is the strange looking worm-like thingy that lives in one of the top LR's.
Very difficult getting a shot, since he is quick to react to any light.

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nice
 
Some nice liverock you got there.

How bad is the GHA? Try running the tank for 3 days without lights to see if that will stem the growth of the algae.
 
Hhhhmmm - Apollo - I am not so sure mate..... Let's wait for some of the other "guru's" to chrip in....

Pic 1) COULD possibly be some type of nemmie - OR as you said polyp....
Pic 2) Could possibly be a leg of a tiny micro brittle star - OR a worm..... IF it is a worm, it could only be a bristleworm....
Pic 3) Hhhmmm - dunno - same worm as in pic 2??
 
Some nice liverock you got there.

How bad is the GHA? Try running the tank for 3 days without lights to see if that will stem the growth of the algae.


Thanks Viper,

The GHA is not that bad . I'm probably being a bit overcritical about the appearance of the GHA, but rather safe than sorry. The GHA has spread to one of the adjacent rocks already ( very small patch)

Below are some pics of the GHA on my top LR. I also have some other interesting green and red "plants" growing on the rock. They are all in a high flow area. I use a turkeybaster twice a week just to blow any settled detritus off the top LR. I will only be doing my first water change this weekend.

Strange thing is : I raised my alkalinity to 14 and this caused the bryopsis I had to almost dissappear in approx 4 days. It also caused the initial GHA to thin out significantly, so this appears to be working nicely.

The LR I got is indeed great quality, but I think it was also loaded with decaying matter and there are probably still a huge amount of nutrients leaching from the rock into the water.

I'll try and run with lights off for a few days and see what happens.


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Hhhhmmm - Apollo - I am not so sure mate..... Let's wait for some of the other "guru's" to chrip in....

Pic 1) COULD possibly be some type of nemmie - OR as you said polyp....
Pic 2) Could possibly be a leg of a tiny micro brittle star - OR a worm..... IF it is a worm, it could only be a bristleworm....
Pic 3) Hhhmmm - dunno - same worm as in pic 2??


Thanks jacquesb,


The worms appear to be nocturnal only. I found another one last night. They are extremely sensitive to light and retract with lightning speed if even an LED light from my torch shines on them. The worms are able to extend their bodies to almost wrap around the entire top section of LR ( approx 15 cm).

Strange critter . Hopefully some other members can help ID this. :p
 
The GHA doesn't look too bad, but it's certainly there, I think once your cycle is finished and you get a clean up crew and some fish in there it will probably slowly get eaten and disappear, hopefully, monitor it's growth.

When you do a water change this weekend, put the old water into a bucket and remove some of the rocks (one at a time) and give them a good swish around in the bucket of water, you'll probably find a load of gunk come off the rock.
 
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