Complete Noobie Exploring Unknown Territories

[seffieuk]

well i am picking up one clown and 2 cleaner shrimps tomorow as that was supposed to be coming with the live rock but i decided to set the tank up first and let it settle down for 2 days.

then introduce the fish. i checked the stats and
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 20
ph 8.3
salt 1.023

does that look good. the live rock was established in a tank for 2 years and was out of the water for a minimum amount of time as possible. i will be running my external alongside the liverock aswell for extra filtration and water movement.

Sounds like you are getting a mini cycle, so before you put any fish or shrimps in do a large water change

i wanted to add some anemones. would this be possible and how fish friendly are they.

It's possible, but not yet

once the algae is visible i think i will add the clean up crew then. i may introduce a few snaills though for the left over food.

Essential

but seeing as the rock is established and i will be having fish in there would it be a problem if the CUC were added in a weeks time.

Nope

thanks

young fisher. hows your changeover going to marines.



on my wish list is to have a pair of clowns. as i am getting one on sunday i will need to see whether i need a male or female.

just buy the smallest juvie you can find

i wanted a clean up crew and also some chromis. would like a type of dwarf angel fish and maybe a couple of grabs.

at the moment thats all i want. but i will continue to look out for something

You are doing the right thing - don't make rush decisions, you will regret them

what would you recommend that would be suitable but something brightly coloured and not aggressive.

Scarlet hawkfish
purple firefish

thanks

Seffie x

 

[Trod]

If you add a juvie Clown then one of them will become female

A purple firefish is always a winner in my eyes

 

[superman1]

wow.. didnt know that about the clowns.

yeh ive just read a pinned topic regarding anemones.. think i will stay away from them... im just happy with my fishes and crustaceons.

ok so how does this sound

a pair of clowns
clean up crew consisting of snails and hermits and maybe a crab.

i will check out the recommendations and see if they take my fancy.

am soooo excited.. lol

i found a weird worm like creature in the rocks. that must have died on transit. looked like a millipede.

just had a look at the hawkfish and firefish and have to say they look cool. will defo consider them.

will do a bit of research while im bored at work..

but regarding aquascaping does the tank look ok.

thanks

 

[seffieuk]

I'm liking the way it looks - but then i would say that as it looks almost identical to mine

Seffie x

 

[Trod]

Yes scape looks good
The worm you found is most likely a bristleworm You'll get lots of them over time.

Have to agree with you there, it is so exciting isn't it, little tip, if you have a red torch, once you have turned your lights out, wait an hour, then shine the torch into the tank and you will be amazed at what comes out to play.

 

[rabbut]

Something the others haven't picked up on. You have 20ppm Nitrates. This could be from a mini-cycle, but more likely IMO it's from your tap water... Mix up some salt to the correct salinity in a bucket, with some new tap water, and then test the Nitrates. If they are at 20ppm or above, you have a slight issue as far as many inverts go. Certainly for long-term keeping of shrimp and corals, you want the Nitrate below 10ppm, though they can tolerate higher for short periods of time. If your freshly mixed salt+tap water mix gives a higher reading than 10ppm, your plans of a full reef as scuppered, unless you can get RO easily from a LFS or get your own RO unit

If you plan of corals eventually, you'd be better off allowing the salinity to go up to 1.025-1.026. I'd get it up before adding the fish - fish aclimate up a salinity gradient better than they do down one

That is a good start, though it looks empty without stock in it...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[seffieuk]

Something the others haven't picked up on. You have 20ppm Nitrates. This could be from a mini-cycle, but more likely IMO it's from your tap water...
Rabbut

ahh, good point

Seffie x

 

[superman1]

hello

yeh no matter what i do its always between 10-20ppm. thats how it comes out the tap.
the colour on the chart reads between 0-20. how can i lower this is is RO water the only route to take.

yeh what i will do is raise the salt slightly. i can get RO water from my LFS although not sure on how much it costs there will have to find out tomorow. so are my best plans to completelty refill with RO water if i want to be nice to my Crustaceon friends and obviously when i plan to try reef..

yeh it does look very empty at the moment appart from that one tiny snail.

by the way what is RO water exactly. and what kind of kit and prices am i looking at for a reverse osmosis kit. as i would rather purchase one of them if i can get hold of one at a good price.

thanks

I'm liking the way it looks - but then i would say that as it looks almost identical to mine

Seffie x

hello seffie

do you have any picks of your tank.

thanks

 

[Trod]

hello

yeh no matter what i do its always between 10-20ppm. thats how it comes out the tap.
the colour on the chart reads between 0-20. how can i lower this is is RO water the only route to take.

Good call rabbut Yes if you have 10-20ppm before it goes in tank, then RO water is your only alternative

yeh what i will do is raise the salt slightly. i can get RO water from my LFS although not sure on how much it costs there will have to find out tomorow. so are my best plans to completelty refill with RO water if i want to be nice to my Crustaceon friends and obviously when i plan to try reef..

I would Check the RO water from your LFS too, I used to buy mine, untill I discovered it too had high nitrate

yeh it does look very empty at the moment appart from that one tiny snail.

I would rather have an empty looking tank for a while than rush to get fish in and kill the lot

by the way what is RO water exactly. and what kind of kit and prices am i looking at for a reverse osmosis kit. as i would rather purchase one of them if i can get hold of one at a good price.

Reverse Osmosis water is basically pure water, it has all the crap taken out of it. have a look at RO man http/www.ro-man.com/shop/product_info.ph...6a011a6ca894568 this one has a DI unit on it which I would highly recommend, you are looking to achieve 0 TDS (total dissolved solids), this means the water is completely pure
You will need to get a TDS meter too. I know on the face of it, it seems a huge expense, but it is worth it and will in around a year pay for itself

thanks

I'm liking the way it looks - but then i would say that as it looks almost identical to mine

Seffie x

hello seffie

do you have any picks of your tank.

thanks

 

[superman1]

hello Trod

sorry if i sound stupid but i now understand that the RO unit makes the water pure but how does it work

i.e is my #### water connected to it some how or is it a separate unit so do i use it to create clean water and then put in the tank or does it filter my tank water as i go along...

sorry never really looked into these..

thanks

 

[Trod]

Don't apologise its a good question

You connect the unit to a mains fed pipe, (it must be mains fed otherwise the water pressure won't be enough) you can do this in 2 ways, if your washing machine is mains fed you can connect it to this, using the exsisting pipe work and a 'Y' connector http/www.ro-man.com/shop/product_info.ph...87fbfa09d51fcb6 and this http/www.ro-man.com/shop/product_info.ph...87fbfa09d51fcb6 or you can fit it to any mains fed pipe using a needle clamp http/www.ro-man.com/shop/product_info.ph...87fbfa09d51fcb6 this screws onto the pipe, then get some ball valves http/www.ro-man.com/shop/product_info.ph...87fbfa09d51fcb6 so you can turn the water off easily without using needle clamp.

The unit comes with all the tubing you need, to connect the pipe to the unit, all the extras you need, I have given you the links to, depending on which route you take

Once you decide which way you will connect it, we can give you more detailed instruction on how to do it

God I hope that makes sense

Sorry forgot to say, you make the RO water collect it into containers, 25L ones are usually the best, then you heat it, salt it and then add to your tank

 

[superman1]

thanks for that Trod

it did make complete sense. only problem is persuading the father for me to put that where the pipework is. that might have to be done a little down the line but just a quick update.

i got some RO water from LFS and now have gotten the nitrates down between 0 and 10ppm so thats good eh

PH 8.4
salt 1.025
ammonia 0
nitrites 0

i had a slight increase in ammonia to 0-1ppm but everything seems to have dissapeared. dont know where that came from. water has all cleared from disturbing the sand and looks crystal clear.

i have also purchased a 6 way extension for the plugs and also a double socket timer plug with LCD screen for £7 off ebay and also blue LED lighting which will go across the whole tank

i will be setting a timer for the main lights and will then have the LED lights come on abou 30 mins before the main lights turn off then will have the LEDs turn off about an hour later... does that sound good

how does everyone else have theres set.

thanks

 

[rabbut]

My halide is on for 8 hours strait, from 4 o'clock. My LED rig *currently under construction* will have the blues come on at 12:30, the whites at 13:30, then whites off at 21:30, then blues at about 23:00

All the best
Rabbut

 

[superman1]

My halide is on for 8 hours strait, from 4 o'clock. My LED rig *currently under construction* will have the blues come on at 12:30, the whites at 13:30, then whites off at 21:30, then blues at about 23:00

All the best
Rabbut

wow that sounds way more complicated then what i had planned. because of the way my room is i hardly have the lights on during the day. is this a big problem.

i was planning to have the purple and blue light come on at about 8 at the moment and then just before the main lights turn off the blue LEDs will come on so that when the main lights turn off they dont surprise the fishes..

think i might do a 50 Litre water change later on today depending how bored i feel.

but from the stats i think i would be ready to add my first fishes.

ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrates between 0-10ppm
p.h8.4
salintiy 1.025 (just what i was aiming for)

i was thinking of adding 2 yellow tailed blue damsels and was thinking once they are in for a few days i will add in about 5 snails and 2 hermits... does that sound ok.

thanks

also ive been thinking of taking my external off.. and replacing it with about 8 kg of liverock bring the total upto about 30kg. of lr. would this be more benificial then running the external as i dont like the look of the tubes and pipes on the back of the tank and would prefer to save on the power so i can eventually run a protein skimmer.

 

[rabbut]

The plans sound OK, just be careful with Damsels. They are territorial, and will likely pick on new fish, particularly if tey are from the same family (other damsels and Clownfish...)

All the best
Rabbut