FIRST SALTWATER TANK, NEED HELP

[1epauletteshark]

I wouldn’t add the anemone for some time because they require excellent/stable water parameters and unless you know what your doing you may have issues, or the anemone will.

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just check the tank is correctly cycled and salinity, temperature etc is all stable and at the correct levels and if there is anything your unsure of just ask.

And welcome to Reef2Reef as well by the way!

Ok will do, thanks everyone

 

[1epauletteshark]

I'd also rethink the sea star. Very few species do well in aquaria, and most will die quickly in a small tank.

And six fish for that tank is quite a high bioload for your aquascape, and the clowns, if territorial, may certainly act aggressively toward the other, more timid fish. You'll also need a lid for the firefish, or it will go carpet surfing.

Ohhhh yeah thanks so much that is actually a life saver I’m not sure where to get a lid so I think I’ll skip the Cardinalfish and the Firefish and that brings me down to 4!

 

[1epauletteshark]

What make/model light did you get? Where did you get your “live rock” from?

Oh… the live rock is a bit dodgy…
I got it on a bit of a dodgy website bc my LFS only sells whole boxes of it and I was on a bit of a budget, it seems almost a bit too “live” but so far has not done anything bad to the tank

 

[1epauletteshark]

I would personally wait for the anemone as mentioned above .
next the mandarin will fit in your tank but sadly if the tank is not mature or has a very heavy population of pods it will starve to death .
the odd one will eat prepared foods but ideally you want the system to be larger , stable and mature , as well as having plenty of live rock to provide reproducing place for pods ( ideally a sump with cheato

Oh I had a question about pods, what are they exactly? I know they are food for fish and they are alive and reproduce and everything but I still don’t understand them

 

[1epauletteshark]

You definitely don’t want to add a BTA until the tank has matured a lot more than 1 week.

Oh ok

 

[Rmckoy]

Oh I had a question about pods, what are they exactly? I know they are food for fish and they are alive and reproduce and everything but I still don’t understand them

Pods ….. copepods are a tiny crustaceans

 

[1epauletteshark]

Pods ….. copepods are a tiny crustaceans

Ok thanks

 

[1epauletteshark]

Update

Fish plans:
2x Ocellarus clownfish
Yasha hase goby
Yellow clown goby


Invertebrate plans:
2x Blue leg hermit crab
1x Pistol shrimp
1x Peppermint shrimp
5x Sexy shrimp
5x Nassarius snail
1x Cheeky hitchhiker porcelain crab

And i still plan on getting the bubble tip anemone

(17 gallon tank)



Any problems?

 

[1epauletteshark]

Could someone please confirm there are no problems here?

 

[death-by-reef]

Should be fine would cut it down 2 1 hermit tho

 

[1epauletteshark]

Should be fine would cut it down 2 1 hermit tho

Oh why is that?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi, I am here to make sure I have everything thing I need and also that I am not planning on adding too many fish.
17 gallon rectangular tank

Equipment purchased:
Small protein skimmer
Light fixture
Waterfall filter
Thermometer
Chiller
Frozen mysis shrimp (I bought them very early)
Heater (arriving today or tomorrow)
Ammonia test kit (already tested and so far at 0)
PH test kit
Seachem new tank stabilization
Live rock
Live sand
Salinity tester


Livestock plan:
Two small ocellarus clownfish
A Banggai cardinal fish
A yellow clown goby
A fire fish goby
And finally a Yasha Hase goby and pistol shrimp pair

Invertebrate plan:
Five nassaurius snails
Two blue leg hermit crabs
Peppermint shrimp
A small red starfish (I forgot the name)


I also plan on having one singular bubble tip anemone

My plan is to add the bubble tip anemone and the invertebrates after a week (it has been two days) but also add the two clownfish then wait another week and add the rest does that sound good?

(Side note, my LFS sells mandarin fish and they are about two inches long, is my tank big enough?)

This is a basic setup and I will assure you- you will want to do weekly water changes as your skimmer will help but you have a mechanical filter (power filter) and lack chemical and biological filtration and are running basic, and will want to monitor water quality closely. If you are relying on API kits- it may further future issues- Hanna and salifert are best test investment- Fish dont talk, test kits do.
Rock does NOT look like typical live rock- Was it in tank display when you purchased it?
While cycling, do add 1.5ml per 10 gallons of Liquid bacteria daily such as Micro Bacter 7 or XLM
A typical cycle period is 14-21 days and you want to stock very slowly to allow denitrifying bacteria to keep up with new bioload as tank matures.
when ammonia rises thn falls and achieves a steady reading of Zero for at least 5 days and when nitrate rises and falls and holds at 20 or below- you are cycled.

 

[death-by-reef]

the hermits will fight

 

[1epauletteshark]

the hermits will fight

Oh ok thanks

 

[1epauletteshark]

This is a basic setup and I will assure you- you will want to do weekly water changes as your skimmer will help but you have a mechanical filter (power filter) and lack chemical and biological filtration and are running basic, and will want to monitor water quality closely. If you are relying on API kits- it may further future issues- Hanna and salifert are best test investment- Fish dont talk, test kits do.
Rock does NOT look like typical live rock- Was it in tank display when you purchased it?
While cycling, do add 1.5ml per 10 gallons of Liquid bacteria daily such as Micro Bacter 7 or XLM
A typical cycle period is 14-21 days and you want to stock very slowly to allow denitrifying bacteria to keep up with new bioload as tank matures.
when ammonia rises thn falls and achieves a steady reading of Zero for at least 5 days and when nitrate rises and falls and holds at 20 or below- you are cycled.

Yeah I thought so I got t the live rock online so I had no way of seeing it before I do add 3/4 of a lid of seachem new tank stabilization every morning

 

[1epauletteshark]

This is a basic setup and I will assure you- you will want to do weekly water changes as your skimmer will help but you have a mechanical filter (power filter) and lack chemical and biological filtration and are running basic, and will want to monitor water quality closely. If you are relying on API kits- it may further future issues- Hanna and salifert are best test investment- Fish dont talk, test kits do.
Rock does NOT look like typical live rock- Was it in tank display when you purchased it?
While cycling, do add 1.5ml per 10 gallons of Liquid bacteria daily such as Micro Bacter 7 or XLM
A typical cycle period is 14-21 days and you want to stock very slowly to allow denitrifying bacteria to keep up with new bioload as tank matures.
when ammonia rises thn falls and achieves a steady reading of Zero for at least 5 days and when nitrate rises and falls and holds at 20 or below- you are cycled.

Is 20% water change what I should do?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Is 20% water change what I should do?

10-20% should be sufficient
This is a budget tank and CAN BE DONE
Stay ahead of the tank- don’t let it get ahead of you

 

[1epauletteshark]

This is a basic setup and I will assure you- you will want to do weekly water changes as your skimmer will help but you have a mechanical filter (power filter) and lack chemical and biological filtration and are running basic, and will want to monitor water quality closely. If you are relying on API kits- it may further future issues- Hanna and salifert are best test investment- Fish dont talk, test kits do.
Rock does NOT look like typical live rock- Was it in tank display when you purchased it?
While cycling, do add 1.5ml per 10 gallons of Liquid bacteria daily such as Micro Bacter 7 or XLM
A typical cycle period is 14-21 days and you want to stock very slowly to allow denitrifying bacteria to keep up with new bioload as tank matures.
when ammonia rises thn falls and achieves a steady reading of Zero for at least 5 days and when nitrate rises and falls and holds at 20 or below- you are cycled.

I also forgot to add I am not using API kits my ammonia kit is SALIFERT and my PH and Alkalinity kit is RED SEA

 

[1epauletteshark]

10-20% should be sufficient
This is a budget tank and CAN BE DONE
Stay ahead of the tank- don’t let it get ahead of you

Sound good

 

[1epauletteshark]

Update

Fish plans:
2x Ocellarus clownfish
Yasha hase goby
Yellow clown goby


Invertebrate plans:
2x Blue leg hermit crab
1x Pistol shrimp
1x Peppermint shrimp
5x Sexy shrimp
5x Nassarius snail
1x Cheeky hitchhiker porcelain crab

And i still plan on getting the bubble tip anemone

(17 gallon tank)



Any problems?

Also once again everyone will eat frozen mysis shrimp correct?