Saltwater Fish Keeping and Help.

[.21Rc10GT]

My lights are t-12 antinic blues and antinic whites (2 of each). The tank looks a lot better with the live rock. I saw my first life today... They were both in the pre-filter in the overflow. It was a little shrimp and a crab. The shrimp i guess fell into the hole while i was taking the foam off. The crab made it into the tank. Even though there really isnt anything to be excited about, I'm excited!

 

[jetmechG550]

Moonlights are just LED's, it's makes a lighting system a 24 hour system. I have a 48" 396w power compact system and it has moonlights incorporated into the hood. The come on right before the other lights go out and are on through the night to simulate moon light. It's really cool looking and you do get the nice shimmer effect with the light on the waves.

 

[.21Rc10GT]

Yeah i just got my 36" hood with the 4 VHOs so i think ill let that go for a while before i think of upgrading, if ever... If i get a bigger tank, it'll have Halides prolly.

BTW, my water is super clean. Looks clear as ever. Even after i added my last bag of live sand, there wasn't much of a cloud. I have read that the live rock is supposed to make the water really cloudy for a while. Its not happening! The water is clear!

 

[jetmechG550]

Patience grasshopper! It will cloud up. My first NaH2O tank I thought the same thing, after about a week you could barely see from one side to the other.

 

[.21Rc10GT]

Its been roughly 2 weeks since i started the tank. Still nothin. I found a lobster in there today... About 1/2" long. Its getting exciting.

 

[Bouzouki]

Hopefully its not a Mantis shrimp......

 

[.21Rc10GT]

Hopefully its not a Mantis shrimp......

Dunno. It was a clearish color with a long lobster-like tail and two claws up front. Dunno what a mantis looks like. :shrug:

 

[Bouzouki]

A Mantis will have its two claws tucked underneath it self, like a preying mantis on land.

 

[jetmechG550]

www.blueboard.com/mantis
Lots of info on mantis at that site. A peacock mantis is one of many but are very colorful and worth some $$$$. If it is a mantis, get it out and post that you have one, someone may buy it off you. Reefcentral has a mantis forum. If it is a lobster, you probably don't want it around either, after it gets bigger it will be a pain in the ass. As far as two weeks, you just added the rock, that will get things going. Did you put a shrimp (cocktail for eating not live) in there? Once it starts to decompose it will get your cycle going. You can also add a small pinch of food to get things going. Since there's nothing in there to eat it, it will start to break down and help start things out. With the 40+ lbs of rock you put in and having it shipped in, you should start to see some movement on your tests.

 

[.21Rc10GT]

I will throw a shrimp in there next time i go to the grocery store. How long should i wait to take it out?

 

[jetmechG550]

When it's good and rotten or after your Ammonia / nitrIte spike. Put it in something like the foot of an old pair of nylons. Good way for your mom to contribute to the tank other than funds! BTW, they will look at you funny when you ask for 1 shrimp. Oh yeah there may be a smell but it will only stick around for a couple days.

 

[.21Rc10GT]

Well, about 2 weeks ago i went and talked with my LFS and took a water sample as well. They said the water was perfect, and i could add some fish. Well, i went and ordered 2 clownfish from live aquaria, along with some snails and plants. The order got here and one of the clowns was dead, the other looked happy though. I acclimated everything and put everything in, of course following the company's directions. Everything went smooth, but the fish died 5 hours later. I checked the water before and after i put the fish in, and it was fine! I suppose it could have been the stress and stuff of shipping, but it was a bad first experience. I ordered 4 clownfish (2 tomato and 2 regular) hoping they would arrive alive this time... Well, they did, but they all picked on one of them. It went on for a day, then i wake up the next morning, and the most aggressive one was dead, at the bottom with a snail munching on him... I thought it was kinda funny, and i didnt like the fact he was the meanest, so it didnt bother me he was gone. Its been 2 weeks since they were introduced and everything is going great! The fish are alive, and eating. The algea is growing and looking nice. Today, i added a fish and a shrimp, along with a couple snails. The fish is a yellow tang, and he seems to fit right in. The shrimp is eating some of the food i put on the bottom of "his" cave. I got a Tiger Crowie snail, which is a monster. This thing must be 3 inches long, but he is really neat looking. Everything is going great, i have changed 20% of the water 3 times so far... Been keeping the viewing pains clean with my algea scrubber... everything is lookin awesome, to me. Thank you all for your help! I will try to get some pics up here in a few days.

 

[bustedgears]

I recently converted my freshwater tank to saltwater, and I can relate on the growing pains of setting one up.

I'd suggest keeping your fish cost to a minimum, as your tank is not yet matured. I'd wait at least 6 months before adding anything expensive.

 

[jetmechG550]

.21 don't you have a LFS? Ordering livestock like fish is really hit or miss (more miss), plus it's double the stress from shipping. 4 clowns (or 6 depending how you look at it) was kind of a pricey first venture into fish. Also adding 4 fish at once to a new tank was a little rough. In the case of clowns I wouldn't add more than two and at a time. In the case of most other fish, no more than one at a time and usually wait 1-2 weeks between additions.

 

[.21Rc10GT]

.21 don't you have a LFS? Ordering livestock like fish is really hit or miss (more miss)

Yeah, my LFS is about 50 miles away... It is about the cost of gas to ship em to my door, and i dont have to leave the house... The first batch of fish was a real dissapointment, so i tried em again, and it turned out fine, with the exception of that dead clown... I'm thinkin that I'm about to my limit (space wise...) maybe another fish, but thats about it. I'm thinking a Coral beauty dwarf angel for the final addition. They dont get too big, and i just got a look at one at Petco the other day... (i dont want to try Petco again for fish...) I dont really know of anything else i could get... Any suggestions?

 

[VelvettFogg]

Fastest way I've found to cycle a tank is to add a little household amonia every now and again. Make sure you get one that DOES NOT have any soap in it. I usually a cap full or two every other day or so, testing the water every day. You want to watch the amonia spike, then start to drop. Continue to add the amonia so you are feeding the bacteria.

 

[jetmechG550]

Hey .21 I'd stay away from IchCo unless you want bad fish. I know some are different than others but for the most part I have heard and seen nothing but horror stories and sick fish at Petco. Most are taken care of by the minimum wage high school kid who doesn't know the difference between a fish and a dog. Anyway, you are probably close to being maxed, you'll probably want to wait another week or two before any more fish to let your tank adjust to that bio-load. Coral beauty's are nice fish and your right, they won't get too big.

 

[.21Rc10GT]

Yeah, those two plecos i bought from Petco killed my 7 year old goldfish... some damned disease they brought in... My dad keeps fighting me on how they died... He maintains it was the new gravel and plants... I still think its the new fish that did them in... Anywho:

Everything is doing fine... The readings are perfect, still. The water did cloud up for a half day, just out of no where, but the readings said the water was fine. I have been fighting algea (well, not really... i have lots of snails to do that for me). Even when i added the new fish, i didnt see any changes in chemistry... Maybe the tank matured already??? I dunno...

 

[jetmechG550]

It will be several months before you can consider a tank mature. Most will say no sooner than 6 months some will say 1 year before a tank is considered mature. New tanks are notorious for algea blooms, the tang will pick, most likely and the snails and crabs will help too but your best bet is reduce your photoperiod. How long are your lights on during the day?

BTW, tell your Dad there's more bad fish stories about Petco on the net than anything else. They are just aweful!

 

[.21Rc10GT]

Lights are on maybe 10 hours a day, but i have live plants in there too, so I'm assuming thats about how much light it needs (according to Live Aquaria). The tang picks at all of the algea, and I'm letting the algea grow on the back of the tank for a food souce and oxygen replenisher. Yeah, my dad still argues about that... I think he just doesn't want to take responsibility for his suggestion... he suggested getting the new fish, so i did... i had put new plants and gravel in there about 3 weeks before that, and there were no signs of the fish having trouble, then all of a sudden, i put the new ones in there and they all die within a week and a half... I think the fish are the culprits.