29g Saltwater Nano Tank

[PheonixKingZ]

Just moist. When they ship it in the mail they don't ship it in water.

How long would it be ok in a moist bag?

The only opportunity I have to get live rock this week, is on Friday, but I have to go to a party right after I get it.

 

[OliveFish05]

but I have to go to a party right after I get it.

You just HAVE to go to a party, poor you

 

[PheonixKingZ]

You just HAVE to go to a party, poor you

Well, I don’t have to - I bet it’ll be fun! (It’s an older gentleman that’s turning 60 [I believe], at my work)

——

After a little research, it seems like the moist bag or paper towels will work well for the live rock.

Should get live rock in the tank by Friday!!

 

[OliveFish05]

Well, I don’t have to - I bet it’ll be fun! (It’s an older gentleman that’s turning 60 [I believe], at my work)

Sounds fun!

After a little research, it seems like the moist bag or paper towels will work well for the live rock.

Should get live rock in the tank by Friday!!

So exciting!!!

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Is a GPS a good starter coral?

 

[Jbram]

Oh no no, not a drum in a marching band, drums:
View attachment 134515


Anyway, back to the journal please.

Rock on, always good to meet a fellow drummer!

 

[Colin_T]

@Colin_T, when I get the live rock, does the rock need to be completely submerged in saltwater all the way home? Or does it just need to be moist, like in a bag?

Live rock should be wrapped in wet paper and put into a plastic bag with a small amount of water but it doesn't need to be completely wet for a half hour trip home.

Live rock can last for a few hours in wet paper but the longer it's out of water, the more chance of things dying on it and causing ammonia levels to rise.

If you are going to a party afterwards, take a couple of buckets or an esky and put the live rock in that with some water. Then when you get home, put the esky in the room and add an airstone. Leave it bubbling away and it will be fine until the next day.

--------------------
What is a GPS coral?

 

[Jan Cavalieri]

I just purchased a 32 gallon Biocube, which has the overflow thingy and, from what I could tell from pictures, a fairly large about of room for filter media and has a skimmer. It's intended to be a beginner's salt water tank, supposedly so you don't have to invest so much money in it. Well that''s quite a laugh. I paid about $500 for the tank and stand. Then there will be all the media (much of which I can get from my leftover AquaClear media I have in storage - I've learned to hate those filters with a passion. I know they are supposedly one of the better HOB filters but the biggest problem is that they warp over time so lids don't fit, intake tubes don't fit (when they are not being busy getting all clogged up all the time). LOT's of people have floating plants. I have two tanks each with the same floating plants and both with the same size Aqua Filter. One runs smoothly with only occasional clogs in the intake tube while the other one produces a hurricane like flow and sucks the floating plant into the intake tube about immediately after I clear it. I finally removed all the floating plants and it no longer clogs but the entire box is bent into a strange shape and the inside basket that holds the media has one side that keeps rising up and knocking the lid off (that happens on both of them. I also just bought a 90 gallon tank for my Dojos that no longer fit in a 50 gallon. I've bought a canister filter for the new 90 gallon tank and if I like it I plan to buy one for the 50 gallon tank as well. ALL my 29 gallon aquariums will be retired! I pay somebody by the tank to clean my tanks so as tempting as all these empty tanks are, I only want to spend so much money a week to have them cleaned.

Boy did I digress, anyway back to the Biocube. I have 40 lbs of live (life) rock - it's kind of a fake live rock where they take certain kinds of rocks and put them in some coastal waters for a couple of years, then harvest them and spray them with that pretty purple color a certain type of bacteria usually make as well as soak them in water with a lot of beneficial bacteria. It dries and the bacteria go into dormancy until you put them back in salt water. Anyway - so the tank cost $500 but I kid you not, I've spent $1500 on all the OTHER stuff I need to have a coral tank, not to mention about $800 for the new 90 gallon tank and stand. Then I needed 2 heaters (plus I always have a spare one), , test kits, refractometers, calibration fluid, substrate for both tanks (live sand for the Biocube) , putty and glue to assemble the 40 lbs of rock. I've been watching videos to see how various people work with their rock - all far more skilled and artistic than I am. Of course, then you have to cycle the tank, start buying coral and other animals for the Reef and little Nemo fish for the tank

I also bought a PORTABLE RO/DI water filter that makes upto 70 gallons a day and I realized that I needed somewhere to store it, and some place else to turn it into saltwater. Both my assistant and I are getting VERY TIRED of hauling buckets of water from the bathtub and to the fish room, so I bought 4 - 20 gallon Rubbermaid Husky trashcans (the only brand that is food safe because they don't leech nasty chemicals when wet, each trash can will have a little dolly. So we can fill up the entire trash cans with either fresh tap water (with additives), fresh RO/DI water for water changes on the salt water aquarium and finally one to mix and hold salt water. This is because my only sink with the type of faucet that will work with the RO/DI system is in the kitchen (just like my Python which I hate btw) and then roll the trash can to the other end of the house to the fish room (and keep them stored there because I don't have room for all these trash cans in the kitchen. Obviously we'll have to use a bucket or siphon to get the water into the fish tanks so not a perfect system but a LOT easier than what I've got now. I'm lucky that my entire duplex has hardwood floors. This should be quite an adventure! Other than buying a car or a house I've never risked this much money on anything in my life so I'm a little scared that I'll be a failure - but I've been researching and researching and have watched hours of youtube videos so I feel pretty well prepared - but getting questions answered is just like freshwater - people can have some very different opinions about certain things - so I'll just have to decide and take the risk!

I thank my dear husband every day for dying which allowed me to win a wrongful death lawsuit and have enough money to have "playthings" like this in moderation as well as enough to cover the time I will likely spend in a care home of some type due to my rotten lungs. When he was alive and we were first married, out of his divorce settlement he had agreed to pay $65,000 of his 1st wife's back taxes (she was a realtor and never set aside enough money to cover her taxes) this was in lieu of alimony because he knew if she was awarded alimony ($1.200 a month) she wouldn't ever remarry so he would get stuck paying it forever - while the 65K was to be paid off in only 5 yrs then it would end. So he and I had a very rough financial start to our marriage and I basically had to cover a larger part of our housing an other expenses than if he didn't have to pay the IRS $1,275 a month. Plus after 5 yrs of doing that we ran up a lot of credit card debt to cover things like Christmas and sometimes to cover food or prescriptions and doctor's bills. Just before he died we finally had nearly everything paid off - but then he had his accident (he slipped on a patch of ice at a car dealership and hit the back of his head, bursting a large blood vessel. He was on 3 kinds of blood thinners, and 2 of them could be reversed but not the third one so if they had attempted surgery he would have bled to death. ) As it was it stopped on his own and for a few days we thought he would just require some intensive physical therapy, but then the bleeding came back and destroyed even more brain tissue. After about two weeks his kids and I made the hard decision to take him off of life support and he died 30 minutes later. I sued the car dealership for parking the car we just bought in an area that still had ice which is why he slipped and we settled out of court. I'm not a millionaire by any means but I paid for the new car with cash and all the credit cards were paid off the rest of the way - and I actually have a pretty good Pension on top of Social Security Disability (I'm only 60 and went on disability about 6 yrs ago). My dear husband always felt terrible that I had to help him pay off his ex-wife's taxes but in the end he took VERY good care of me. (but I'd really rather have him back). So sorry if this was TMI but I wanted to explain how I could afford to purchase all this stuff. This is really the end of the money I set aside as "play money" - It's too complicated to travel when you're on oxygen so I thought I'd bring the ocean to my house!!!!

 

[PheonixKingZ]

What is a GPS coral?

Opps, I meant GSP. (Green Star Polyps)

I just purchased a 32 gallon Biocube, which has the overflow thingy and, from what I could tell from pictures, a fairly large about of room for filter media and has a skimmer. It's intended to be a beginner's salt water tank, supposedly so you don't have to invest so much money in it. Well that''s quite a laugh. I paid about $500 for the tank and stand. Then there will be all the media (much of which I can get from my leftover AquaClear media I have in storage - I've learned to hate those filters with a passion. I know they are supposedly one of the better HOB filters but the biggest problem is that they warp over time so lids don't fit, intake tubes don't fit (when they are not being busy getting all clogged up all the time). LOT's of people have floating plants. I have two tanks each with the same floating plants and both with the same size Aqua Filter. One runs smoothly with only occasional clogs in the intake tube while the other one produces a hurricane like flow and sucks the floating plant into the intake tube about immediately after I clear it. I finally removed all the floating plants and it no longer clogs but the entire box is bent into a strange shape and the inside basket that holds the media has one side that keeps rising up and knocking the lid off (that happens on both of them. I also just bought a 90 gallon tank for my Dojos that no longer fit in a 50 gallon. I've bought a canister filter for the new 90 gallon tank and if I like it I plan to buy one for the 50 gallon tank as well. ALL my 29 gallon aquariums will be retired! I pay somebody by the tank to clean my tanks so as tempting as all these empty tanks are, I only want to spend so much money a week to have them cleaned.

Boy did I digress, anyway back to the Biocube. I have 40 lbs of live (life) rock - it's kind of a fake live rock where they take certain kinds of rocks and put them in some coastal waters for a couple of years, then harvest them and spray them with that pretty purple color a certain type of bacteria usually make as well as soak them in water with a lot of beneficial bacteria. It dries and the bacteria go into dormancy until you put them back in salt water. Anyway - so the tank cost $500 but I kid you not, I've spent $1500 on all the OTHER stuff I need to have a coral tank, not to mention about $800 for the new 90 gallon tank and stand. Then I needed 2 heaters (plus I always have a spare one), , test kits, refractometers, calibration fluid, substrate for both tanks (live sand for the Biocube) , putty and glue to assemble the 40 lbs of rock. I've been watching videos to see how various people work with their rock - all far more skilled and artistic than I am. Of course, then you have to cycle the tank, start buying coral and other animals for the Reef and little Nemo fish for the tank

I also bought a PORTABLE RO/DI water filter that makes upto 70 gallons a day and I realized that I needed somewhere to store it, and some place else to turn it into saltwater. Both my assistant and I are getting VERY TIRED of hauling buckets of water from the bathtub and to the fish room, so I bought 4 - 20 gallon Rubbermaid Husky trashcans (the only brand that is food safe because they don't leech nasty chemicals when wet, each trash can will have a little dolly. So we can fill up the entire trash cans with either fresh tap water (with additives), fresh RO/DI water for water changes on the salt water aquarium and finally one to mix and hold salt water. This is because my only sink with the type of faucet that will work with the RO/DI system is in the kitchen (just like my Python which I hate btw) and then roll the trash can to the other end of the house to the fish room (and keep them stored there because I don't have room for all these trash cans in the kitchen. Obviously we'll have to use a bucket or siphon to get the water into the fish tanks so not a perfect system but a LOT easier than what I've got now. I'm lucky that my entire duplex has hardwood floors. This should be quite an adventure! Other than buying a car or a house I've never risked this much money on anything in my life so I'm a little scared that I'll be a failure - but I've been researching and researching and have watched hours of youtube videos so I feel pretty well prepared - but getting questions answered is just like freshwater - people can have some very different opinions about certain things - so I'll just have to decide and take the risk!

I thank my dear husband every day for dying which allowed me to win a wrongful death lawsuit and have enough money to have "playthings" like this in moderation as well as enough to cover the time I will likely spend in a care home of some type due to my rotten lungs. When he was alive and we were first married, out of his divorce settlement he had agreed to pay $65,000 of his 1st wife's back taxes (she was a realtor and never set aside enough money to cover her taxes) this was in lieu of alimony because he knew if she was awarded alimony ($1.200 a month) she wouldn't ever remarry so he would get stuck paying it forever - while the 65K was to be paid off in only 5 yrs then it would end. So he and I had a very rough financial start to our marriage and I basically had to cover a larger part of our housing an other expenses than if he didn't have to pay the IRS $1,275 a month. Plus after 5 yrs of doing that we ran up a lot of credit card debt to cover things like Christmas and sometimes to cover food or prescriptions and doctor's bills. Just before he died we finally had nearly everything paid off - but then he had his accident (he slipped on a patch of ice at a car dealership and hit the back of his head, bursting a large blood vessel. He was on 3 kinds of blood thinners, and 2 of them could be reversed but not the third one so if they had attempted surgery he would have bled to death. ) As it was it stopped on his own and for a few days we thought he would just require some intensive physical therapy, but then the bleeding came back and destroyed even more brain tissue. After about two weeks his kids and I made the hard decision to take him off of life support and he died 30 minutes later. I sued the car dealership for parking the car we just bought in an area that still had ice which is why he slipped and we settled out of court. I'm not a millionaire by any means but I paid for the new car with cash and all the credit cards were paid off the rest of the way - and I actually have a pretty good Pension on top of Social Security Disability (I'm only 60 and went on disability about 6 yrs ago). My dear husband always felt terrible that I had to help him pay off his ex-wife's taxes but in the end he took VERY good care of me. (but I'd really rather have him back). So sorry if this was TMI but I wanted to explain how I could afford to purchase all this stuff. This is really the end of the money I set aside as "play money" - It's too complicated to travel when you're on oxygen so I thought I'd bring the ocean to my house!!!!

Good information! My tanks are so small compared to yours, lol. I just use 1g milk jugs and 5g buckets for mixing the salt.

I’m also sorry to hear about your husband.

——

I plan to drain the tank today and refill it with RO/saltwater.

Getting live rock tomorrow!

(speaking of live rock...)

I just called my LFS, and their dry rock is only $2/lb. Compare that with their $6/lb live rock.

I will get mostly dry rock and some live rock pieces to add on top.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I hear GSP coral is bad, because it spreads so fast? Is this not a good beginner coral to get?

What are some other good beginner corals?

Also, do I need to feed the corals anything? Or do they use photosynthesis?

 

[Colin_T]

Corals normally get their food from the symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae) living in their cells. The algae photosynthesises and produces food for the coral. The coral produces ammonia that the algae use.

Having said that, you can also feed them finely cut up meat like prawn, fish, squid or give them newly hatched or even adult brineshrimp (depending on coral). Corals only need a little bit of food but it can definitely help them do better if they get something to eat every day or two. However, don't feed them too much because they will puke it back up a couple of hours later and you get ammonia problems.

Star polyp corals don't spread that fast.

I would get the tank cycled before adding any corals.

Leather corals and corallimorphs are pretty easy to keep.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Ok, then I will most likely get GSP as my first coral.

——

“Theoretically” speaking, am I already full on stock? Or is there another stand-alone fish I could get to go in this tank?

Up-to-date stocking list:

• 2x Clownfish
• 1x Watchman Goby
• 2x Scarlet Skunk Shrimp
• Pistol Shrimp (possibly)

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I’m going to pickup dry rock and live rock from my LFS in a little bit!

I will probably get 15lb of dry rock and 4lb of live rock - does that sound good?

 

[Colin_T]

I’m going to pickup dry rock and live rock from my LFS in a little bit!

I will probably get 15lb of dry rock and 4lb of live rock - does that sound good?

LOL, I have no idea how much that is. I live in a society that uses the metric system, not pounds and ounces.

Don't get pistol shrimp, you never see them but you hear them all night long with their clicking. And you don't want to mix different species of shrimp in marine tanks because the big ones eat the small ones. In a big tank you can have several species but in a small tank, just have one species.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

LOL, I have no idea how much that is. I live in a society that uses the metric system, not pounds and ounces.

Don't get pistol shrimp, you never see them but you hear them all night long with their clicking. And you don't want to mix different species of shrimp in marine tanks because the big ones eat the small ones. In a big tank you can have several species but in a small tank, just have one species.

Lol, forgot:

15lb = 6.8kg
4lb = 1.8kg