My 15 gallons of the ocean!

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Today is an exciting day!

I just got back from my trip, I tested my water, and ammonia was 0, nitrites were 0, and the nitrates were between 5-10ppm.

I went to the fish store, and they said I could get fish! They said I could get 1 clown, but that would be the only thing I could put in the tank, so instead they said I could get a firefish and 2 clown gobies. I went with that even though I really wanted the clowns.

Right now, the fish are acclimating and I will post pictures once they are in the tank!

 

[Abyzter]

Hey everyone.

This is my official build thread for my 15g innovative marine AIO cube. I made one before, but I didn't do it correctly, so this is my official one. To sum it all up, I was gifted this tank for my birthday, and I did an insane amount of research, day and night. I was always interested in the ocean since the day I first stepped foot on a beach, so I was very excited when I received it. Right now it's in the cycling phase, so it's very boring. Lol. I have a set date to get fish, 2/17 which is about a week away.

I have already finished the aqua scape, and I have been dosing beneficial bacteria, and I have also been adding Dr. Tims ammonium chloride. I did a full dose about a week ago, and it went down to .25ppm and for some reason stayed there for maybe 3ish days. I added half a dose 2 days ago, and yesterday I tested again, and it was down to .25ppm, which means it went down 1ppm!! Huge accomplishment for me! Today, I tested again, and it is still around .25ppm?!? Anybody know why it just stays at .25? Hopefully tomorrow it will be 0ppm, but who knows.

So far, nothing has grown. I have had it running for a little over two and a half weeks, so I don't really expect any algae do grow, and I hope it never does lol.

Right now all I have for mechanical filtration, is a filter sock. I don't know if that's all I need, maybe besides a protein skimmer. This is a pretty small tank, and considering that I am only going to add 2 to 3 fish, and a CUC, I think I might be ok without one, and just do water changes weekly.

I am still kind of all over the place with my livestock list. I know my while cleanup crew, besides maybe a few snails, but here's what I am thinking:

- 1 scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp
- 2-3 blue legged hermits
- 2-3 nassarius snails
- other snails (TBD)

For my fish, it really depends on what my LFS has, and what they say will be ok. At first, I really wanted a pair of clowns, but after doing further research, I realised that they are complete bullies, so in such a small tank, I might just get those 2. But if I don't get clown fish, then I have 3 open spots. I think one of them would definitely have to be a firefish, maybe a single clown, but other than that I don't really know.

Ok, well I think that is pretty much it. I wrote a lot lol, took me about 2 days to write. Let me know of any suggestions that you have for me!

Here is a picture:

I'm excited to see how your tank turns out!

 

[Ollie67]

Today is an exciting day!

I just got back from my trip, I tested my water, and ammonia was 0, nitrites were 0, and the nitrates were between 5-10ppm.

I went to the fish store, and they said I could get fish! They said I could get 1 clown, but that would be the only thing I could put in the tank, so instead they said I could get a firefish and 2 clown gobies. I went with that even though I really wanted the clowns.

Right now, the fish are acclimating and I will post pictures once they are in the tank!

OMG so excited to see them! Hopefully they acclimate safely!

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Awsome

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

OMG so excited to see them! Hopefully they acclimate safely!

I hope so too. I added about half a cup of my water every 5 minutes, to slowly acclimate them. I lowered the salinity in my tank because the salinity of the fish's water was about 1.020, so I lowered mine from 1.026 to about 1.024 and got the fish's bag water up to 1.024 over about an hour.

I just put them in the tank, and the firefish swims around, exploring a little bit, and then he goes back behind the rock. He has darted across the tank one time so far, which was kind of cool to see.

The clown gobies had a dramatic time getting out of the bag, they got stuck in it, but they eventually came out, but that probably stressed them out. Right now they both have found their spots and have done nothing. I know that they don't like to swim as much, but at the store, they were swimming like any other fish, so I thought they would be pretty active, but I will have to find out after a few days once they have gotten more comfortable. I will try to get pictures later tonight, to see if they are more comfortable and come out and swim a little.

 

[lil sumpin]

Clown gobies are awesome! At least you wont have to worry about getting your fingers bit by a territorial clownfish or two every time your hand goes in the tank

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Clown gobies are awesome! at least you wont have to worry about getting your fingers bit by a territorial clownfish or two every time your hand goes in the tank

I assume that's yours, so do you mind if I ask a few questions?

 

[lil sumpin]

I assume that's yours, so do you mind if I ask a few questions?

ask away

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

ask away

Thanks.

How long do you think it took for yours to become comfortable?

Are they active? I know that they don't swim much, but mine haven't moved since I added them to the tank... Lol.

 

[lil sumpin]

Thanks.

How long do you think it took for yours to become comfortable?

Are they active? I know that they don't swim much, but mine haven't moved since I added them to the tank... Lol.

When I introduced it, the yellow clown goby instantly jumped into the big toadstool leather coral I have and claimed it. He spends 50% of his time in and around there and the rest of the time perched on and around the rocks. Activity wise, he's very food motivated. Whenever I put pinches of food into the tank he'll burst around chewing it up. Good idea to let the food soak a little so it's easier for them to chew up.

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

When I introduced it, the yellow clown goby instantly jumped into the big toadstool leather coral I have and claimed it. He spends 50% of his time in and around there and the rest of the time perched on and around the rocks. Activity wise, he's very food motivated. Whenever I put pinches of food into the tank he'll burst around chewing it up. Good idea to let the food soak a little so it's easier for them to chew up.

I don't have any corals now, but I was thinking of getting a few this weekend, will that be ok?

BTW, one is swimming around the tank now, exploring it!

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Also, anyone know how I can make my power head more safe? I feel like the clown gobies can easily get sucked in to it, and also it seems pretty strong, it's off right now but when I turned it on I could see the fish struggled to swim in it. It's a SICCE voyager nano, with a 270GPH flow rate.

 

[lil sumpin]

No need to rush getting corals, especially if you just got fish. I think you may want to see what it's like to care for them first. Slowly get them eating, you'll see them swim around more confidently and surely

 

[lil sumpin]

I dont think those powerheads are variable, it might be hard to achieve a turbulent, random kind of flow with it. Maybe try and see if attaching it 3-4 inches below the water line and aiming at the surface creates some more sporadic flow? Ultimately you want something like this thing for your nano or this. If you want the higher end stuff get you a nero 3 or mp10 even

 

[ralquist]

I don't have any corals now, but I was thinking of getting a few this weekend, will that be ok?

BTW, one is swimming around the tank now, exploring it!

That's so great! What was your LFS reasoning behind not letting you have 2 clown fish just out of curiosity? It has me perplexed lol
I would think that's a great idea for a few at most easy corals but maybe give it a week just to make sure nothing unexpected happens, by no means spend a bunch but a few $10-$20 range. Zoas, duncans, mushroom, candy cane, green star polyps, or xenia would be perfect, your return pump should be plenty for flow on those if your not using your powerhead yet, think of them as tester/confidence builders and not your dream coral! Your tank parameters will be ever changing for a while as things settle in, you'll need to look into testing Alk, Phosphate, Nitrate pretty often with the addition of corals to get a ballpark #. Salifert makes some good ones that are inexpensive(Amazon). Again nothing will be super stable most likely for a while so your testing to make sure things are not way off to irritate your new corals. Learning what little differences you can make to adjust these #s over time without dumping bottles of chemicals into the tank will get your very far! Once you get a few more miles on the tank, you can start to perfect those numbers to be within the range you would like. Your way for fixing unstable numbers for while will be water changes!
*This is just my opinion, there are plenty of reasons to wait longer but I don't see the harm
Sorry kinda long

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

That's so great! What was your LFS reasoning behind not letting you have 2 clown fish just out of curiosity? It has me perplexed lol
I would think that's a great idea for a few at most easy corals but maybe give it a week just to make sure nothing unexpected happens, by no means spend a bunch but a few $10-$20 range. Zoas, duncans, mushroom, candy cane, green star polyps, or xenia would be perfect, your return pump should be plenty for flow on those if your not using your powerhead yet, think of them as tester/confidence builders and not your dream coral! Your tank parameters will be ever changing for a while as things settle in, you'll need to look into testing Alk, Phosphate, Nitrate pretty often with the addition of corals to get a ballpark #. Salifert makes some good ones that are inexpensive(Amazon). Again nothing will be super stable most likely for a while so your testing to make sure things are not way off to irritate your new corals. Learning what little differences you can make to adjust these #s over time without dumping bottles of chemicals into the tank will get your very far! Once you get a few more miles on the tank, you can start to perfect those numbers to be within the range you would like. Your way for fixing unstable numbers for while will be water changes!
*This is just my opinion, there are plenty of reasons to wait longer but I don't see the harm
Sorry kinda long

Wow, thanks for the advice!

When I first went to my LFS, I was getting help from this guy, and he said I could definitely get a pair of clowns and a firefish... Together. I later did research and found out that was NOT a good idea... Today when I went to get my fish, I was with this one person, who was super nice, but she admitted to me that she was still learning about saltwater fish, which kind of concerned me. She kept asking the head person who was always running around helping customers, testing water, bagging fish ETC. That person, is very intelligent in saltwater, but she had a opinion that was very strict on fish in smaller tanks, so she told the person helping me that I could get 1 clown, but then I would have to upgrade later in the future?!?! Anything I have read says that you could have 2 in a 15g, it would just be tight, but anyway of course the person helping me was going to say no to getting clown fish unless I was planning to upgrade in the future. I am a little disappointed, but there was no way that I was going to get a pair of clowns, at least today... Lol...

I have salifert test kits coming tomorrow! I got 4, Phosphate, Magnesium, kH, and calcium. I believe that is everything that I need to test for a reef tank, correct? I do have pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate test kits as well.

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

@lil sumpin, about an hour ago, the bigger goby came up to the smaller goby (I recently realized that the smaller ones fins looked like they had been nipped- multiple times. Most likely from the fish store, but it is a victim of bullying.), the bigger one kind of checked out the smaller one, but the smaller one darted into the rocks, and has been there ever since. Is this bad? Will they pair up, or should I keep it to just one in the tank?

 

[ralquist]

Nice, everyone has different ways about it so as long as you’re happy that’s all that matters!

For your test kits I would get a nitrate test, I can’t speak to the accuracy of the API test kits. They will mainly get you through the initial cycle. API pH is good enough, wouldn’t waste money on an extra test kit for that, mine lasted quite a long time until I upgraded to a digital probe.
As for Nitrite, you shouldn’t have to check that much longer. Might check a few times just to confirm your tank is cycled. Say tomorrow check ammonia and nitrite, see if your tank is handling the new fish bioload. Don’t think I would be uncommon to have a slight temporary rise in both short term.

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Here is a picture of the bigger clown goby

 

[lil sumpin]

It is possible that that’s what’s been going on. From what I’ve read even peaceful fish can become territorial and bully their own kind