Diving back into the deep end with a 135 gallon cube

[ScottD]

So it finally happened. Yesterday we took a trip to the lfs and picked out a couple clownfish to add to the tank. I’d like you to meet rhinoceros and toot as my son has decided to name them haha.

I have no idea where those names came from. My daughter is lobbying for one to be named coral. The kids had fun helping to put them in the tank and watching them swim around a little. Tonight I’ll have them help feed them.

Some more pictures from the day:

 

[ScottD]

So it seems that we’ve come to an agreement between the kids on names. One shall be called toots and the other is coral. I guess that’s what you get when you leave it up to a 3 year old and 5 year old.

 

[ScottD]

Not a whole lot to report other than seems that I’ve begun the ulgies.

I received my order from @Reef By Steele for pods and phyto today and put them in the tank. We’ll see how that helps with getting things started. I also plan on taking a trip to the lfs this weekend and picking up some snails and hermit crabs. I might be tempted to pick up a tailspot blenny if they have one in stock, but will probably wait a little longer. I’ve decided that’s going to be my next addition to the tank.

 

[ScottD]

Got a set of Hanna checkers yesterday for hr nitrate and ulr phosphate. Ran a test tonight and I’m sitting at 13.6ppm nitrate and .19ppm phosphate. The nitrate is around what I’ve been testing with the Red Sea test as best I can tell. I haven’t tested phosphate yet so we’ll see how that trends going forward.

 

[ScottD]

Small update, over the weekend I took a trip with my daughter to the lfs and came home with some new additions. We bought a royal gramma and 3 nassarious snails. I also got an email from TSB saying my sand is going to ship on Wednesday. I also talked to them about throwing in a couple pieces of rubble to help seed the tank with some coraline algae. Looking forward to getting that package.

 

[IceNein]

You and your family will love the tailspot blenny if you get one.

 

[ScottD]

You and your family will love the tailspot blenny if you get one.

It’s on my list. They didn’t have one at the store but will be keeping my eye out for one. Plus my daughter loves purple and I had been telling her we’d get a royal gramma and she saw it at the store. She wouldn’t have been talked into anything else, even if I bribed her with a million dollars.

 

[ScottD]

A few days ago I received sand and a few small rubble pieces from TBS. Put it in the tank and found a couple hitchhikers. I’ve got a lancelet, I tiny brittle star, hermit crab, and possibly a tiny calico crab.

I’m happy to report that the diatoms I’ve been watching has suddenly disappeared in the last 3 days. It had been slowly working its way across the tank before adding the sand and over the weekends started seeing small bright white spots in the middle of it. Then 2 days ago was looking and was like hey it kinda looks like it’s going away maybe. Tonight looking at the tank and it’s pretty much gone, hardly a trace left of it.