Thinking about getting dwarfs....

[KUDA]

I have done tons of research over about a years period. I was going to get them in the spring, but I backed off after having my tank set up because I was kind of afraid of them dying. I have a 4 bottle brine shrimp hatchery and I was going to buy decapsulated eggs to be safe. I want a simple set up. I have a minibow 5 that I got for free. I was going to add some sand crushed coral mix. I wanted fake plants. I didn't want any live rock or sand or corals. Do I need live rock? I would rather not buy treated rock and I don't want to add untreated live rock and introduce hydroids. For water, could I just mix it up normally and let it cycle for 2 months. I want 2 or 3 pairs of dwarfs after Christmas if I decide to go through with this.

[ReefNutPA]

You'll have to add something to get the tank cycling... I prefer using the "ammonia method" over the raw cocktail shrimp method. Just make sure the tank is cycled and cover the filter intake with a sponge and you should be good to go. Keep an eye on the temps, not sure if mini-bows run as warm as nano-cubes.

You don't need 'live rock' in the tank. If you want rock, simply purchase dry base rock or such from your LFS. Personally, I think you're very smart for setting up a simple tank until you gain some hands-on experience keeping dwarfs. They aren't quite as easy as some people believe.

Tom

[KUDA]

Thanks for the info. Could I use that Catalina water from the petstore instead of mixing my own? Would this be better, worse, or the same? I was interested in doing this instead because isn't that cycled already?

[ReefNutPA]

Water doesn't "cycle" per se. You would still have to let the tank cycle and allow the bacteria to colonize enough to handle the bioload of the tank.

Catalina water is fine to use - but you may want to dilute it with freshwater (RO water or distilled) to lower the SG from 1.026 down to 1.020 for dwarfs.

Tom

[KUDA]

Thanks.

[sixfins]

I used the Natures Ocean "Nutri-Seawater", together with their live sand and had an instantly cycled tank for my dwarfs. This stuff works very well from my experiences. I also used it in my nano tank with the same results.

[KUDA]

I have dry sand/crushed coral mixed that I think I am going to use. I was going to buy one jug of that water and add that. I am kinda just throwing this tank together with stuff that I have. I have literally hundreds of plastic plants from my freshwater tanks before I switched to live plants that I can use. I have a bunch of filters too.