life rock

[Max]

No, that's not bad at all for what you got.

i put them is the clowfish looks great but the other one is a little bit shy and he has darker coloring on his face, maybe from being a bag for like 3 hours...

had to... had to cycle it evan though i used RO water, i cycled it for about 3 hours... did i do the right thing?

 

[Teelie]

You mean acclimate them? You're supposed to drip water from your saltwater tank into a bowl or bucket with the fish in it until the salinity in the container and the tank are the same. Usually it takes about 2-3 hours depending on the salinity difference. Usually you'd use airline tubing to accomplish the drip btw.

 

[Max]

oh... well i put then in there bag and put a bit of the water from the tank into the bag evey 10 mins or so while i watched tv...

 

[Max]

oh and pictures are on the members aquariam section...

 

[Navarre]

Just looked at the tank. Looking good so far!
Watch that damsel, they can be absolute nightmares when they finally establish their territory. (they dont call them devil fish for nothing )

The Algea looks like a form of Halymenia to me.

 

[Teelie]

oh... well i put then in there bag and put a bit of the water from the tank into the bag evey 10 mins or so while i watched tv... (every break from the show AKA:comercails)

That way works too though IMO the other way of using a drip tube is better and provides more accurate measurements.

 

[ste2k3]

i got some today, i bought a filter/protein skimmer, it has a bubble thing and a sponge on top of it... then the water goings though more filtration.... working good... i use RO water and bought a damsel and a clowfish.

also i got crushed corral and shells for gravel...

Price list

10G- 9.95$
filter- skimmer-25$
live rock-25$
clownfish-25$
damsel- 5$
red alge plant thing(help me id please)- 1.50$
salt- 8$

total is 106$ with tax, not bad at all...

so let me get this straight, you went out and bought all this in the same day and added the fish the same day?

ste

 

[Navarre]

If you had more live rock then i would say that the tank will be ok as it wont need to cylce and can take the bioload. However, i feel that you will be getting spikes and this will put your fish under extreme stress.

Monitor your water perameters very closely and if possible add more liverock asap.

 

[ste2k3]

although the live rock will be "mature", you will have no chemical stability in the water. why go out and do this all in the same day, it would have been no harder to set up the tank and wait a few weeks. This is NOT the correct way to go about keeping marine life. 10 gallons is on the small side but is just about possable but I'd definatly not go about it like this.

ste

 

[Navarre]

I agree totally that its not possible to do this successfully in 10 gallons (US gallons are even smaller than UK gallons).

However a larger tank with live rock at the ratio of 1kg per gallon or even high would be able ot hold livestock immediately as long as the live rock is fully cured and as long as the bioload is not too great.

Live rock needs waste products to keep its own bacteria poluation alive. If you place excellant quality live rock in a tank which it full of well matured airobic and anerobic bacteria then they need a supply of waste material or they wil die off. No waste products and your live rock begins to lose its efficiency.

Therefore people ofetn make the mistake of waiting a week ormore then add a fish. Then they see a smal to large spike in the bioload. thisis because the bacteria is now having to play catchup when they didnt need to if the fish were added earlier.

Now dont read me wrong, i am not saying go out and fill the tank with a shoal of chromis or anthias right away but its good practice to fill the tank and place good quality cured live rock into the tank. then (probably the next day to give the tank a chance to let the sand settle and clear the water) its possible to place a coupleof small fish. I can assure you that you will get no spike in ammonia, nitrite or nitrate if the rock is good.

In fact its probably even easier for people in the US as the rock doesnt have to be shipped as far, this rock is far better quality thaan we have in the UK so i would say the chances of doing thisis even high. In the UK we have to have rock shippd over to us and then cured for at least 6 weeks so as to make sure the rock is stable. Once this is done the rock is stable enough to take on stocking levels.

Living close to the NAtional Marine Aquaruim and having reliable contacts in there has assured me this is no problem in larger tanks.
All my tanks have been setup and running within 48 hours by using hand picked good quality live rock.

Sorry to sound controversial but it does work )

 

[spanair]

I waited over a month before I added fish, although what I did then is add flake food and different types of food which would rot and cause the bioload to grow, since i've added fish i've only had but a mere tiny spike. So far all the water parameters are perfect. And even then I lost 1 clown due to it being bullied and damaged by one damsel, got another one and all seems fine.

Damsels are a bit territorial and can cause damage, but so far mines have calmed down a bit and aren't as aggressive any more.

Anyways Best of luck with your tank!

 

[hyrookin]

hey navarre, that definitely makes sense,but when you say that this
is done for larger tanks, what size tank is the minimum?

 

[Navarre]

Good question Hyrookin!
I guess its really down the experience of the fishkeeper. THe more experienced keeper will be able to cope with any early problems that might occur. And of course, the larger the tank the more forgiving it isas the water quality will take longer to change.

I have used this sytem on a tank that is 40 Gallon (UK) (Juwel Vision 180) and it worked fine. I have also used this on my 135 Gallon setup (100 gallon tank with 35 gallon sump).

My son has a 30 gallon setup but i didnt use the same tactic with this as it is being filterd in a different way. (mainly a sand bed filter with live rock support)
Using food is a good idea and will achieve the same effects. The bonus of this of course is that you dont lose sleepless nights wondering if the fish are ok. The downside of this is that detrius can accumulate in corners and under rocks which is not desirable. but either way can will work.

Hope this makes sense.

 

[Max]

i got some today, i bought a filter/protein skimmer, it has a bubble thing and a sponge on top of it... then the water goings though more filtration.... working good... i use RO water and bought a damsel and a clowfish.

also i got crushed corral and shells for gravel...

Price list

10G- 9.95$
filter- skimmer-25$
live rock-25$
clownfish-25$
damsel- 5$
red alge plant thing(help me id please)- 1.50$
salt- 8$

total is 106$ with tax, not bad at all...

so let me get this straight, you went out and bought all this in the same day and added the fish the same day?

ste

eh... yeah? well i used RO water if that helps ... nitrates are at 1 so little high but not TO bad...

 

[Max]

oh and another question, im going to egt corrals, in a month or so... well actuly maybe not cause im going to get a larger tank in a month or so... ANYWAYS... would a 175W hadlide light 10k lunems be ok over a 10G to qualify as moderate lighting for corral?

or would a 60W light, a 25W light (blue spectrum) and a 120V light work?

what is V volt?