Well I’ll not be able to pick up till Thursday - it lands Tue evening and I’m working Wed! I got some RO so I can keep the tank topped up and have added a partial make shift cling film lid to further help here.
Oh and more importantly I got the critters
(well not quite fish yet!)
Going clockwise in the photo from top left
1. Cerith snail, algae eater, also eats other detritus and buries intro he sand keeping it from going anaerobic
2. Banded Turbo snail (not that you can tell due to the Corraline algae on its shell - it’s a good algae and will eventually cover nearly all the rockwork - a sign of a mature and stable system) which is an algae eater
3. Red legged hermit crab (fully aquatic and max size 1 inch - super cute - my absolute favourite already! I could hear him skuttling about earlier on the sides of the tank
4. Macro algae - not 100% sure on IDs but suspect Caulerpa Serrulata and Gracilaria Mammillaris - already really liking these too and will definately be getting more - currently wondering if I might end up preferring it to coral
Added half an algae wafer (as I had them). And have seen everyone eat. Worryingly I think the hermit has already got desires for a new shell - or it may well have simply been hungry - removed it forcibly from the Cerith snail earlier (they can kill snails and steal their shell) - I’ll get it some alternatives, free from snails to choose from! I have some Hikari crab cuisine on order for everybodies next feeding.
I really need to get my nitrate to come down now - time to see how good the macroalgae is!! Even after a water change I’m still at 30mg/l. I’ll need to at least double the water volume when I get the tank so that will no doubt help. Got my KH up using bicarbonate of soda to maintain ph above 8 as is desired on the Marine side!
Got a royal gramma reserved for pick up in a couple of weeks time assuming all is still well. They really are stunning fish especially when seen in the flesh. I’ll post a photo from the web of that too...