josh0013
New Member
Hello everybody...
My father had a SW aquarium for years and I've recently decided to pick up where he left off. He was in Afghanistan for a year while I cared for the fish (didn't have to do much but check levels and feed with bi-weekly water changes) and now I'm addicted.
I have had a fresh water tank for a few years and I'm ready to move on. My girlfriend's niece loves my FW so much that I decided to give it to her for this xmas. We are gonna tell her that Santa dropped it off for her. I bought some new decorations so that she'll think its not mine.
Anyways, Dad decided to get out of the hobby since he's retired now and traveling. He gave away all of his fish except one, my new baby. I only have a 10 gallon right now and plan on getting a 29 or 55 in the near future (we live near campus in an apartment and currently are looking to move) when we get a larger place. Dad had the Damsel in his 10 gallon since he got rid of everything he had. So now I have the Blue Damsel with the tank already cycled. This has kinda been a lot for me to handle all at once. I read up for weeks about cycling the tank and getting live rock... next day I am here with a SW aquarium.
First question, I don't have any live rock though the water and fish did before. All of my levels seem to be fine except my nitrates are 10 right now. Plan on doing a change tomorrow so hopefully that will fix it. I only have the blue damsel and no other fish or invertebrates. No algae as of now and no live rock... should I purchase live rock (cured of course) or am I safe to just stick with the fish only and add some snails/cleaners later on? I'm not planning on any more fish until I get a larger tank so I"m happy with what I got.
Sorry to babble on, I'm just excited and nervous at the same time.
My father had a SW aquarium for years and I've recently decided to pick up where he left off. He was in Afghanistan for a year while I cared for the fish (didn't have to do much but check levels and feed with bi-weekly water changes) and now I'm addicted.
I have had a fresh water tank for a few years and I'm ready to move on. My girlfriend's niece loves my FW so much that I decided to give it to her for this xmas. We are gonna tell her that Santa dropped it off for her. I bought some new decorations so that she'll think its not mine.
Anyways, Dad decided to get out of the hobby since he's retired now and traveling. He gave away all of his fish except one, my new baby. I only have a 10 gallon right now and plan on getting a 29 or 55 in the near future (we live near campus in an apartment and currently are looking to move) when we get a larger place. Dad had the Damsel in his 10 gallon since he got rid of everything he had. So now I have the Blue Damsel with the tank already cycled. This has kinda been a lot for me to handle all at once. I read up for weeks about cycling the tank and getting live rock... next day I am here with a SW aquarium.
First question, I don't have any live rock though the water and fish did before. All of my levels seem to be fine except my nitrates are 10 right now. Plan on doing a change tomorrow so hopefully that will fix it. I only have the blue damsel and no other fish or invertebrates. No algae as of now and no live rock... should I purchase live rock (cured of course) or am I safe to just stick with the fish only and add some snails/cleaners later on? I'm not planning on any more fish until I get a larger tank so I"m happy with what I got.
Sorry to babble on, I'm just excited and nervous at the same time.
. I'd wait till you get the new digs for him before you start going big on the LR 
