my 10 gallon endeaver begins....

[laurahammock]

Ok, so, last night, I treated my tap water, pre-mixed with salt, and put a hob filter with no filter media (just to circulate the water til my powerheads come).
Well, I ordered them yesterday and they came today--AMAZING!!

Then, I added a black background, which I'm not too sure about just yet....and the powerheads....

I also bought a tiny peice of live rock today....turns out there is a lfs nearby that sells it for $6.99 per pound...is that a good price? Anyway, I have 12 pounds more coming, but this peice was really nice, so I got it.

When I get the rest of the lr, I'm gonna add sand. This is really exciting!

Did some tests just to see where I'm starting:
temp--75*
sg--1.127 (high? should come down when I remove some water for sand and lr and top off with fw right?)
PH--8.4
nitrite--0
nitrate--0
ammonia--0

Well, am I off to a good start? I can't wait to get more lr and try my hand at aquascaping!

Oh, and just in case I ever figure out how to upload my pics, this is just temporary lighting just so I could see what was in the tank--till I get a good one! Thanks for all the info guys....I'm sure I'll need more!

 

[sweetpickles7]

Well sounds like your off to a good start. Your sg is just a little high, i like to keep mine about 1.023-1.025. Your lr isnt that expensive, i spend that much a pound where i live.

 

[laurahammock]

K, so, there are some tiny little whispy algae, looking things flowing from the little crannies in my lr...it's sort of clear/white...I'm assuming it's algae--my crappy camera won't take a close-up of it...

 

[Lotus]

I think you've either misread or mis-typed your SG. Is it 1.0127 or 1.027? Or something else?

You should bump your temp up to around 78F.

 

[laurahammock]

your right, I had a typo--the sg was 1.027! When I first posted this, I had only had the heater in for about 1 hour or so.

 

[Lotus]

Yes, the salinity is a little on the high side. You can reduce it by removing a couple of cups of saltwater and replacing with freshwater. It's not in the danger zone, but with evaporation, it could get that way pretty fast in a 10g.

By the way, you should check your tank water level daily and top off as neccessary. It can go down pretty fast in a 10g tank, and raise salinity to dangerous levels.

 

[laurahammock]

Thanks....will do!

 

[SALTY WATERS]

Your safe anywher between 1.023-1.028

IMO 1.026 SG at 78 degrees fahrenheit is ideal... that is what I kept my reef tank and as well what our coral and invert system at the store is kept at

 

[laurahammock]

When I turned off the light for a while, the temp came down to 78 and is holding steady...I got a timer today, so I won't do that again cause this morning, the temp was around 86!!

So, what's the whispy whiteish feathery stuff growing outta my lr? It's very small, but it apperars some has dislodged and is floating around...a couple of peices are stuck to the heater....can't get a good pic...

 

[Big Jay]

It might just be die off? It's always really hard to tell with out a picture.

 

[laurahammock]

well, I think it's some type of worms!!