Sk8r
02/29/2008, 05:48 PM
First, be it understood, you can keep tiny marine fish alive for a while in a two gallon glass bowl with a bubbler and a floating hydrometer [salt gauge], using tap water with water conditioner and feeding flake food.
Eventually you will have gotten fond of the fish just about the time everything goes south bigtime, and everything will go wrong at once. Yes, there are lot of things you CAN do and get away with for a while.
But let's talk about the most VIABLE answers to the commonest questions.
Q: can I use tap water? The real question is: am I going to be sorry if I...use tap water.
A: Yes, you almost certainly will regret it. Tap water is rarely problem-free, with phosphates, nitrates, even lethal ammonia, etc. Best if you never even wash your sand with tap water, let alone use 50 gallons of it to fill your tank. If you top off with tap water it gets worse rapidly, because only water evaporates: all the stuff IN water stays in your tank...all the phosphates, nitrates, and of course, the salt.
Q: why do they pack bioballs in the sumps if we're not supposed to use them?
A: I really don't know, except they're colorful and kind of indicate where the water comes into the sump. They make better cat toys than they do filtration. Your live rock and sand will do the job SO much better than bioballs: in fact, your live rock and sand will actually be hurt by bioballs---which will trap some of the nutrient they should be getting.
Q: where did my fish go?
A: it either jumped out or it's scared to death and in hiding. These are wild fish, mostly, and their instinct is to hide, fast, and not come out when anything is scary out there. Be patient. Moving your rockwork is a bad idea: you could accidentally trap your fish. You can also check your sump...fishes will follow currents and if you haven't blocked off all escapes, he may have sump-dived. Carpet surfing is even sadder. And if you let a fish get into a downflow on a corner tank, you're going to have a really interesting Saturday project.
Q: do I have to quarantine my first fish?
A: quarantining doesn't protect fish so much as it protects your tank. Since all useful ich medications kill your sand bacteria faster than they kill ich---you see why you can NEVER treat a fish in your tank. So...never put a new fish straight into your tank. QT the fish for a few weeks, then put him in, and you'll never have your tank sitting fishless, or worse time---have to watch your fish die a miserable death from a parasite you could have stopped cold if you'd spotted the first little bump on him in quarantine. If you've lucked out this long, start quarantining with your very next fish: Murphy says your luck won't last.
Q: should I add [fill in blank] additive?
A: all necessary elements are in your salt mix. That's why you do water changes: you're adding more salt with the trace elements. You should be prepared to add buffer [dkh buffer] when it tests low; and if you have stony coral or clams, you will need to add calcium and magnesium, too, when they test low. Those are the 3 tests you need.
Q: is a swing arm salt gauge ok?
A: they'll do, but mistakes with them are real easy; over time, crud builds up on them, and they get less accurate; and a salt mistake can kill things. Best get a refractometer, pricey, but it's like a telescope: it always works, needs no batteries, and tends to be very accurate. Floating hydrometers can break: you don't want little steel balls scattered through your sand.
Q: how many fish can I have?
A: forget everything you've ever heard about inches per gallon and fish only growing to fit their tank. Marine fish never quite stop growing, and many commonly sold fish top half a foot quite easily. Check out adult size, and give your fish ample room to have a territory where he can be safe and comfortable in his own area. Remember, even if he's little now, they grow very fast, and the template for the size area he needs to feel safe is in his little fishy brain. So if you want a healthy tank, do your research and don't impulse-buy a fish you later find out tops a foot in length or needs a long run to swim in. You know what happens when you try to keep a greyhound in an efficiency apartment. Same principle. Ask for info on a fish you propose getting: we're happy to say, where we've had experience.
Q: do I need a skimmer? Do I need a sump?
A: it's like question #1. Remember you can DO a lot of things and get away with them for a while, but stuff builds up. Skimmers live in sumps [the most efficient ones do] and having that ability to clean your water of amino acids [it's like froth on the ocean beach: that's skimming action] is a good thing. You want that stuff out of there, for a healthier tank. A filter won't get it. A skimmer will. They're two different things. Skimming involves froth/foam. A tank above 30 gallons really, really could use a skimmer and sump.
Q: do I need all my live rock now?
A: it's a good idea; your biological filtration won't be up to snuff until you have 1-2 lbs per gallon of porous live rock handling the waste. You can live---but don't push it hard.
Q: will I want a reef-ready tank? WHat's my alternative?
A: rr tanks are pricey: scarily pricey. So is drilling your own glass. Tempered glass can't be drilled, [it shatters into beads] so don't assume you can diy this unless you're sure which side of your tank is tempered: sometimes the bottom isn't; sometimes it is. Acrylic tanks are very much easier to drill. Attaching a bulkhead is itself a little nerve-wracking: how tight do I screw it without cracking the glass? If none of this daunts you, you're good to go; but drilling a tank is not dead easy, not guaranteed safe, and yes, people have lost a tank that way. Buying one already drilled, with the hoses and pipes needed to feed into a sump---really means you're set up to use a sump. Which is real nice. There are two more alternatives: a) an all-in-one, which uses no sump, is 29 gallons or less, and which is a pretty good deal for 300.00 or less. They run well, and under 30 gallons you can get away with no sump pretty well. They have a hangon skimmer. B) you can also get HOB [hang on back] downflows to hook on with a siphon to bring water down to a sump...and there are HOB skimmers as well.
Q: why do all new tanks start out with algae?
A: because they start out super-charged with phosphate. Using ro/di for setup helps eliminate it. Unfortunately you will still get some from your live rock. Phosphate is algae food. Never mind getting a test for it: it never shows anyway, if it's in the algae. And if you have algae you have phosphate. Your cleanup crew eats it, poos it, and it goes into solution---and grows more algae. There is only one way to get rid of algae: get rid of the phosphate. There are two ways to do that: get it poo'ed into the water and run some phosphate remover [do not use this stuff with clams, as I understand]; or get it poo'ed into the water and set up a refugium [a 'green' tank with algae, sand and rock, lit 24/7]. If you have a fuge, you can eliminate virtually all pest algae EXCEPT valonia [bubble algae] and red slime. Red slime, be it noted, isn't an algae: it's a bacterial sheet, an animal, not a plant. [algae is plants.] There is endless discussion on red slime: basically keep sunlight off your tank, feed only what is needed; don't feed flake or pellet food; keep your flow up; and just be patient: it comes and it goes, and most tanks get some sooner or later. It never hurts much, it just looks skuzzy.
Eventually you will have gotten fond of the fish just about the time everything goes south bigtime, and everything will go wrong at once. Yes, there are lot of things you CAN do and get away with for a while.
But let's talk about the most VIABLE answers to the commonest questions.
Q: can I use tap water? The real question is: am I going to be sorry if I...use tap water.
A: Yes, you almost certainly will regret it. Tap water is rarely problem-free, with phosphates, nitrates, even lethal ammonia, etc. Best if you never even wash your sand with tap water, let alone use 50 gallons of it to fill your tank. If you top off with tap water it gets worse rapidly, because only water evaporates: all the stuff IN water stays in your tank...all the phosphates, nitrates, and of course, the salt.
Q: why do they pack bioballs in the sumps if we're not supposed to use them?
A: I really don't know, except they're colorful and kind of indicate where the water comes into the sump. They make better cat toys than they do filtration. Your live rock and sand will do the job SO much better than bioballs: in fact, your live rock and sand will actually be hurt by bioballs---which will trap some of the nutrient they should be getting.
Q: where did my fish go?
A: it either jumped out or it's scared to death and in hiding. These are wild fish, mostly, and their instinct is to hide, fast, and not come out when anything is scary out there. Be patient. Moving your rockwork is a bad idea: you could accidentally trap your fish. You can also check your sump...fishes will follow currents and if you haven't blocked off all escapes, he may have sump-dived. Carpet surfing is even sadder. And if you let a fish get into a downflow on a corner tank, you're going to have a really interesting Saturday project.
Q: do I have to quarantine my first fish?
A: quarantining doesn't protect fish so much as it protects your tank. Since all useful ich medications kill your sand bacteria faster than they kill ich---you see why you can NEVER treat a fish in your tank. So...never put a new fish straight into your tank. QT the fish for a few weeks, then put him in, and you'll never have your tank sitting fishless, or worse time---have to watch your fish die a miserable death from a parasite you could have stopped cold if you'd spotted the first little bump on him in quarantine. If you've lucked out this long, start quarantining with your very next fish: Murphy says your luck won't last.
Q: should I add [fill in blank] additive?
A: all necessary elements are in your salt mix. That's why you do water changes: you're adding more salt with the trace elements. You should be prepared to add buffer [dkh buffer] when it tests low; and if you have stony coral or clams, you will need to add calcium and magnesium, too, when they test low. Those are the 3 tests you need.
Q: is a swing arm salt gauge ok?
A: they'll do, but mistakes with them are real easy; over time, crud builds up on them, and they get less accurate; and a salt mistake can kill things. Best get a refractometer, pricey, but it's like a telescope: it always works, needs no batteries, and tends to be very accurate. Floating hydrometers can break: you don't want little steel balls scattered through your sand.
Q: how many fish can I have?
A: forget everything you've ever heard about inches per gallon and fish only growing to fit their tank. Marine fish never quite stop growing, and many commonly sold fish top half a foot quite easily. Check out adult size, and give your fish ample room to have a territory where he can be safe and comfortable in his own area. Remember, even if he's little now, they grow very fast, and the template for the size area he needs to feel safe is in his little fishy brain. So if you want a healthy tank, do your research and don't impulse-buy a fish you later find out tops a foot in length or needs a long run to swim in. You know what happens when you try to keep a greyhound in an efficiency apartment. Same principle. Ask for info on a fish you propose getting: we're happy to say, where we've had experience.
Q: do I need a skimmer? Do I need a sump?
A: it's like question #1. Remember you can DO a lot of things and get away with them for a while, but stuff builds up. Skimmers live in sumps [the most efficient ones do] and having that ability to clean your water of amino acids [it's like froth on the ocean beach: that's skimming action] is a good thing. You want that stuff out of there, for a healthier tank. A filter won't get it. A skimmer will. They're two different things. Skimming involves froth/foam. A tank above 30 gallons really, really could use a skimmer and sump.
Q: do I need all my live rock now?
A: it's a good idea; your biological filtration won't be up to snuff until you have 1-2 lbs per gallon of porous live rock handling the waste. You can live---but don't push it hard.
Q: will I want a reef-ready tank? WHat's my alternative?
A: rr tanks are pricey: scarily pricey. So is drilling your own glass. Tempered glass can't be drilled, [it shatters into beads] so don't assume you can diy this unless you're sure which side of your tank is tempered: sometimes the bottom isn't; sometimes it is. Acrylic tanks are very much easier to drill. Attaching a bulkhead is itself a little nerve-wracking: how tight do I screw it without cracking the glass? If none of this daunts you, you're good to go; but drilling a tank is not dead easy, not guaranteed safe, and yes, people have lost a tank that way. Buying one already drilled, with the hoses and pipes needed to feed into a sump---really means you're set up to use a sump. Which is real nice. There are two more alternatives: a) an all-in-one, which uses no sump, is 29 gallons or less, and which is a pretty good deal for 300.00 or less. They run well, and under 30 gallons you can get away with no sump pretty well. They have a hangon skimmer. B) you can also get HOB [hang on back] downflows to hook on with a siphon to bring water down to a sump...and there are HOB skimmers as well.
Q: why do all new tanks start out with algae?
A: because they start out super-charged with phosphate. Using ro/di for setup helps eliminate it. Unfortunately you will still get some from your live rock. Phosphate is algae food. Never mind getting a test for it: it never shows anyway, if it's in the algae. And if you have algae you have phosphate. Your cleanup crew eats it, poos it, and it goes into solution---and grows more algae. There is only one way to get rid of algae: get rid of the phosphate. There are two ways to do that: get it poo'ed into the water and run some phosphate remover [do not use this stuff with clams, as I understand]; or get it poo'ed into the water and set up a refugium [a 'green' tank with algae, sand and rock, lit 24/7]. If you have a fuge, you can eliminate virtually all pest algae EXCEPT valonia [bubble algae] and red slime. Red slime, be it noted, isn't an algae: it's a bacterial sheet, an animal, not a plant. [algae is plants.] There is endless discussion on red slime: basically keep sunlight off your tank, feed only what is needed; don't feed flake or pellet food; keep your flow up; and just be patient: it comes and it goes, and most tanks get some sooner or later. It never hurts much, it just looks skuzzy.