Just started

[pinocchio]

Is this a bristle worm? just wanna confirm.. its so big!!!!

and i saw a crab hide in his hole... cant seem to get him out also..

got a small starfish get sucked into the pump le... a mini crab also went into tt pump.. man tt pump is acting like the black hole..

[pinocchio]

and what's this? safe to grow or shd i pluck it out? hmm

but it looks quite nice leh.

[pinocchio]

ive started the cycling stage!! finally!

but i dunno if my rocks r enuff.. hmmm but not much space leh.

as long as got cave for fish to hide tt's sufficient is tt right?

[marcvelous]

Why do you need a powerhead in your tank when your canister is rated at 1200l/hr? What is the method of return? Did you install your rain bar above the water level? That means there'd be splash and you cannot make full use of the canister's power to circulate the water.

What is the rating of your powerhead? If too powerful, you may have livestock casualty when your fish and other stuff get sucked into the powerhead and killed. Worse, if you intend to keep anemone, if the anemone gets killed by your powerhead, your tank will be nuked.

It is not necessary to hang the prawn on a thread.

Hitchhikers like bristleworms and crabs are part of the package that comes with liverocks. Beware, bristleworms can grow to be very large and when they do, they attack fishes, as do your crabs. That is why people think of many creative ways to catch/trap crabs. These buggers have good way to hide in the rocks's internal maze and is almost impossible to eradicate. That is why I have sworn by dead rocks ever since.

Somehow, the ammonia spike will NOT kill your bristleworms or crabs. There is no good way to remove bristleworms. People tried hupo-salinity, freshwater dips, airing, oxygen deprivation, etc. I tried a combination of all the above mentioned methods and after removing more than 30 worms, still find some that survived!

Is are the rocks and sand the way you want them to be? One scaping idea to push the sand to the back so that you have thicker sandbed at the back to create some visual depth to your tank.

Yes, so long as your fish got place to hide and you are happy with the way it looks, then it is good enough.

[marcvelous]

Can see from your pic that your rain bar installed above water level. This will cause splashes and you will find salt crusted in the area around your tank. Things also tend to rust faster.

Also, power is lost and that's why you need the powerhead which can be dangerous if it's as powerful as you described.

You don't need to use this method to aerate the water as your skimmer will do that for you.

Furthermore, having to install the rainbar above the waterline also means your water level lower.

I'm no expert but just want to share my setup in the pic below.

I have 3 water intake, the green column on the left is the surface skimmer, can suck water from both top and bottom ends. Skimmer intake is the dark grey in the centre (directly behind nemo) and lastly on the right is normal water intake pipe for canister filter.

Rainbar is installed below the water line to fully utilise the power of the 1000l/hr rated canister so that there is sufficient circulation and no need for powerhead. Look at sandbed!

juz me two cents and limited experience

[pinocchio]

okay i've pushed the rain bar down into the water.. haha didnt noe its supposed to be under!

Also, i've pushed the sand back a bit already and ohh.. the prawn decomposed finish already.. is it supposed to be that fast?

My ammonia alert shows purple in color so I guess its still not ready.. I still have to wait for the ammonia to drop and no2 to rise and then drop and no3 to rise again right?

THink i shd get my test kits soon?