10 Gallon Nano Journal

[slowleak]

ok so i started a nano tank on 2/15/08. the tank was a freshwater tank, and had been sitting for about a month just running. it already had a 75 watt heater, and a pump/filter combo for a 10 gallon tank. i went and got the salt, and added it in untill i got 1.026 sg. once i got the sg right, i balanced off the temp at 78ish, and let it sustain there overnight. on 2/16/08 i added four damsels, 1 blue devil damsel and 3 white/black striped ones. one of the black striped ones died within a couple hours. after reading some i discovered i wasnt doing things in the right order lol. today, 2/18/08, i added 7 lbs of live rock, a dozen snails, and a dozen tiny crabs. i will now let the tank sit for a while.

the rocks have a pinkish rd growth on them, no clue what that is. all the snails seem to be piggy-backing each other, and cleaning each other's shells. the crabs are all just roaming around picking at all the stuff on the rocks. all in all, everyone in there seems happy, including the fish who would never swim around before. they are now all over the place and are really enjoying there new home.

i have no idea what kind of crabs or snails i have and i also dont know what kind of fish the white/black striped fish are. they were in the damsel tank at the lfs, but i dont think they are. although im normally wrong.
sorry for the long post, everyone feel free to criticize my tank and steer me right.

 

[SkiFletch]

Heh, step 1, slow down and read the stickies... Gotta have some basic understandings of what you're doing here . When you added the damselfish they likely led to an ammonia spike, probably why one of them died.

Now that you've added live rock, you have biological filtration capacity to process ammonia. Unfortunately, LR also comes with some dieoff and ammonia production itself, so you may still have toxic levels in your tank. Solution... Stop adding things, and go buy a basic saltwater test kit

I'd love to give more advice, but its bedtime now. Read those stickies

 

[slowleak]

Heh, step 1, slow down and read the stickies... Gotta have some basic understandings of what you're doing here . When you added the damselfish they likely led to an ammonia spike, probably why one of them died.

Now that you've added live rock, you have biological filtration capacity to process ammonia. Unfortunately, LR also comes with some dieoff and ammonia production itself, so you may still have toxic levels in your tank. Solution... Stop adding things, and go buy a basic saltwater test kit

I'd love to give more advice, but its bedtime now. Read those stickies

lol i read them all. after i had done most of the stuff to the tank. i think th damsel died cause it had a problem from the lfs. all four came from the same tank, and went into the same tank. he was pretty much dead from the start. sunk straight to th bottom on his side. the other 3 havent even looked like thy wanted to get sick. anyway, i am leaving the tank as-is, for at least 2 weeks, to let everything settle. the only thing i might add is LR, since i can get it from right down the street and it has minimal die-off cause im transporting it in water, and it only takes me 3 minutes from my friends tank to mine.

does that sound ok?

 

[SkiFletch]

Sounds like a start. Are you considering waterflow here in this tank? Remember, marine systems require a hefty amount of flow for proper health, way more than people are used to with freshwater.

 

[slowleak]

yes. the way this pump is set up it dumps right into the middle of the tank and creates a good bit of turbulance, but nothing compard to what it should be. my main concern right now is making it through the amonia spike, then lighting. then circulation. i also need to get some more cleaners sooner or later. but fishes health comes first

 

[littleme1969]

To be honest you should have done all that before you even though of adding anything alive. If you did read all the stickies then you could have not got it wrong. I learnt from reading this forum and nowhere else, everything you need to know is here. Just read through the journals in the journal page and it will give a blow by blow break down of how to do it and in what order. There is a link in my sig to my own journal that gives a good breakdown.
Good luck with it

 

[@ombomb]

yes. the way this pump is set up it dumps right into the middle of the tank and creates a good bit of turbulance, but nothing compard to what it should be. my main concern right now is making it through the amonia spike, then lighting. then circulation. i also need to get some more cleaners sooner or later. but fishes health comes first

Circulation should be top of the list.

Ligthing is unimportant untill you start thinking about corals etc

An ammonia spike is a huge issue, but more water circulation means more water in contact with the rock giving the bacteria more of a chance to take it out of the water column.

 

[slowleak]

just an update, everything in the tank is still fine. i have now been at work for 72 hours straight, tommorrows shift makes 96. so i havent been able to see my tank, and the info im going on is my gf's from when she feeds them for me. i NEED to test for ammonia, i will have to wait till saturday though.

gf said all the snails are at the top of the glass, the crabs seem to be very happy, and the largr damsel's black stripes are a silvery color. the blue devil is very happy along with the other black/white. she also said ther is stuff starting to grow on the rocks. so far so good i geuss. saturday will be the big day