New Salty: My 29

[56jman]

P.S. My dad preesured me to get something that was a elegant swimmer and something that will "pop". If he wasn't w/ me I would have gotten a clown goby that looked very skinny at my local petco (no ich so I wanted to rescue him) an he said- "I will not allow you to put THIS in your tank"........unbelieveable.. Geeesh

P.P.S Dads have alot of influence over a small boy

 

[crazyforcordoras]

You didnt have to get a fish. I added my angel after 2 months, and i was using established rock.angels love to pick at rock along the reef because of the organisms on it. Your angel should do fine, but you will have to get seaweed to feed it. Everything does look good though, the goby is awesome!

 

[SaltNoob]

just start with small pieces, wedge it in between a two rocks, or if you have a clip that is easier. Nothing bigger than a half dollar to start. Clown goby's do not swim much, they perch and just hang out so it really is not a fun or very active fish to watch.

-Tyler

 

[56jman]

Thanks! I have a piece of romaine rubber-banded to a big shell and the hermits love it already! I have some white mystery dot that I just noticed. They are about a couple mm long. They are oval and pure white with a raised dome back. Alot of snail venture there, eggs?

Also I wasn't gonna get a fish but it was suffering and my dad wanted a fish

 

[Donya]

You might slow down there cowboy. A flame angel should go into an established reef. I think your CUC is quite LARGE for your tank, and you are going to need to supplement with small bits of algae or greens to give them something to eat. Your rock contains NOTHING of value at this time (except your first two small Live Rocks) so the CUC is going to starve to death if you don't feed it somehow.

Just my two cents.

-Tyler

+1 to this, but also a tank that barren with so many omnivores/carnivores is going to need some serious meaty food or carnivore pellet action in there as well to avoid predatory behavior in both hermits & Nassarius (Nass in particular, as they cannot eat anything but meaty stuff). Both types of food will also contribute greatly to the waste production in the tank, so ammonia will need to be checked frequently and WCs will probably need to happen more often.

P.S. My dad preesured me to get something that was a elegant swimmer and something that will "pop". If he wasn't w/ me I would have gotten a clown goby that looked very skinny at my local petco (no ich so I wanted to rescue him) an he said- "I will not allow you to put THIS in your tank"........unbelieveable.. Geeesh

Your tank is no condition right now to help rescue anything - it is new and like to be unstable for some time. Skinny marine fish are also hard to rehabilitate, clown gobies being notoriously difficult to get back to being well-fed when they have arrived stressed and skinny. It often requires a substantial supply of live food like newly-hatched brine shrimp, since they are often that skinny due to having rejected the frozen & pelleted foods offered by the store.

I will have kale, romaine, and other greens in there for the angel

Get dried seaweed, either nori from the supermarket or the packets they sell at LFS - it's much safer than fresh veggies intended for human consumption. The last thing you want is to have the experiences I've had where even supposedly "organic" vegetables turned out to have trace nasty stuff left on them that made everything in the tank sick within minutes (even when thoroughly washed first!). I had many freshwater tank poisoning events caused by that in the past before I finally went to using only veggies that could be pealed - which won't really help for marine. There are plenty of other arguments against using terrestrial veggies in marine systems to do with the actual makeup of the plants vs. what marine herbivores would eat in the wild, but the contaminant issue is a big enough risk IME to just write it off as an option.

 

[56jman]

Should I spend my money on this

http/www.ebay.com/itm/MH-ADV-30-Metal-Halide-T5-Lighting-Aquarium-Light-Reef-Marine-Coral-346W-LED-/300737170678?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4605550cf6

or save up and get this

http/www.ebay.com/itm/MH-ADV-30-Metal-Halide-T5-Lighting-Aquarium-Light-Reef-Marine-Coral-346W-LED-/300737170678?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4605550cf6

 

[guppy_man]

You posted the same link twice.

 

[crazyforcordoras]

Get that light, its a good one.

 

[56jman]

Sorry Or this http/www.ebay.com/itm/T5-Quad-24-Aquarium-Light-Strip-Marine-Coral-Reef-Cichlid-LED-96W-4x-24W-Bulbs-/110891082630?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19d19fa386

 

[lljdma06]

Again, I reiterate.

Slow down. I think I said this a page back & I'll say it again.

L

 

[56jman]

So you're sayin' wait and do nothing when I could get a light that would be not harming my tank in any way and helping the inhabitants

 

[lljdma06]

So you're sayin' wait and do nothing when I could get a light that would be not harming my tank in any way and helping the inhabitants

Is the light that you have currently working for you? Are you growing the corals that you currently have fine with your current lighting? If the answer is no, then get the light, but if the answer is yes, then yes, wait. You got like a paly and a zoa, they'll be fine in your current lighting. Now...

Do you have a back up plan if something goes wrong with your tank? Do you have quarantine? Do you have medicine in case you have to treat a fish for disease? Do you have extra salt? What's your water source? You've added a lot of livestock in the past few months, a faster pace than I even went and I have A LOT more experience in this hobby than you. IMO, spend the money that you have now on items that'll help you out with these things. It is said, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Getting a fish or a coral is always fun, believe me, I LOVE getting pretty things to put in my tanks, but my best purchases for my tanks? An RO/DI unit, extra power heads, an extra cheap tank or two, and a good tube of aquarium sealant. Look at me, I took these precautions and I still got a macro bomb. I had extra power heads that I could've used if I had seen that the other had failed. My absence was the only thing that caused my macro bomb. If I had been present, I would've able to handle the emergency and I'd still have my 36g as a biotope.

I'm not trying to be harsh, I think it's great that you have this tank, and it's wonderful that you ask questions; you learn about how to care for these animals and I think this is extremely important.

L

 

[56jman]

Thanks for clearing that up. I have a 10 gallon tank that is empty and I have 50 more gallons worth of salt. Right now it seems that a good investment would be a light because my 6500k CFLs grow algae very well and I don't see much polyp extention or color in the corals, back up filtration (a protein skimmer or a AC 70/110 refugium) RO/DI system (where can I find a cheap one?), sealent, extra heater and powerhead and variaties of food for the inhabitance. That is what I hope to get over the coming months, not exactly in that order

Thanks for clearin' that up LLj

 

[SaltNoob]

try ebay, or DR Foster & Smiths. They have several. They are not cheap. You can get just an RO unit, but RO/DI is better. You can choose to do 4 stage or 5 stage w/e you want they all do basically the same stuff, some just filter more than others. We are not experts on them so plz don't swamp us about em. The best thing to do is find one in your price range, google it and add the word "reviews" to the end of the title. Read it, see what others experiences were and make an educated decision based on the data you find. GL, and let us know what you end up getting.

YES, ABSOLUTELY get a quarantine set up and ready. I have a 15H that came with this 90gal that will be used to quarantine if need be. This is a great hobby, and if you read my journal you will see how one stupid person or a simple mistake will kill your entire tank in only a hew hours. Oh btw, I like to have premixed salt on hand at all times just in case something DOES happen. When my tank had a drink dumped in... I had NO water, I had to empty it to like half and try and save stuff. It was horrifying. The LFS nearby said to call him if I have that problem again, but most won't let you have that luxury.

-Tyler

 

[lljdma06]

Use Drs Fosters and other big chains to get reviews of the product. Then hit eBay or Craigslist to see if you can find the same thing at a cheaper price.

I've got one that does 100gpd, but nobody except crazy people like me with a gazillion tanks actually needs this. You'll be fine with 35gpd or something around that.

Also, make sure that you have easy access online to replacement parts. The filters will need replacing from 6-12 months, depending on how lousy your water is. The membrane can go almost 2 years before it needs to be replaced. And... don't forget to purchase a TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) Meter. How do you know your RO is working if you can't measure the TDS? It should be at zero when you make water. You can get away with things to about 10ppm, but that's usually time to change the filters.

I should do a write up on this...