New to Hobby. Questions. Issues. Help Needed!!!

[Nitzanah]

Hi Everyone!

I'm completely new to this to please be specific if you answer any questions or offer an advice. I don't know the abbreviations of all the terms yet so, again, bear with me!

I recently setup a nuvo 16. It's the stock, out-of-the-box setup with the lights and filters and whatnot that came with it all. I also have a heater set to 78 and a Hydor Koralia Nano 240 Aquarium Circulation Pump 240 GPH on one side. I'm about to add a second circulation pump to the other side as soon as it arrives in the mail. The store mixed the water so I don't know the salinity. I'm in the process of getting a refractometer. The guy at the store told me to put some live rock in it and let it run for about 2 weeks. So I did.

Then we went back to the store and picked up some coral, 2 fish, an emerald crab, a yellow watchman goby and this ugly shrimp who appears to be MIA but I'm not sure yet.

So, we brought everything home and did the 45 minute thing and added water every 15 minutes like the woman at the store told us to do. The guy at the shop also tested my water
pH 8.0
Ammonia 0
Free Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

My fish and goby are doing great. They're eating, swimming and look great. Yesterday my coral was open and flowing and my crab was moving all over the place.

Today.... all the coral is pretty much closed and my crab is hiding in a hole in the live rock. I imagine the crab is more nocturnal since we bought him and brought him home yesterday around 7pm but he's filthy. I know he's a cleaning crab but the crabs at the store in the demo tanks did not look like this.

I don't know what my coral is called. Sorry. I'm going back to the shop in the next day or so to find out but I've uploaded some photos.

So my questions are:

Coral:
1. Should I be worried about the coral not opening up? It's only been in the tank for 2 days.
2. Does height placement matter? I know they need light but would placing the coral higher on the live rock make a difference?

Live Rock:
1. This rock is covered in white crap. It looks like sand stuck to the rock, which is fine. But there's also this stringy white stuff that looks like spider webs. There isn't a lot but I've not seen it in any tanks that we looked at while at the shop. I've uploaded a picture of it. What is it and should I be concerned?

Emerald crab:
He's also covered in white stuff on his legs. It looks like sand but the other crab in the shop was in a tank with the same sand and he wasn't all covered in filth.

Can anyone recommend a good book to explain how to maintain a tank so I'm not searching the web every time i have a question and coming up with 30 different opinionated answers?

Thanks for the help!!

[chefbill]

your corals are a GSP (green star polyp), that's the green one on the purple mat, the other looks like a xenia, pulsing xenia or pulsing hand, has a few names. Both are easy to keep, and should be ok no matter where placed in your tank, but with one caution: both are considered invasive and/or aggressive, they will spread fast if they are happy. The third coral is a zoanthid or palyzoa of some sort, again, easy to keep, will open soon, I'd expect.

Emerald crabs have hairy legs, I would think youre seeing sand or bubbles trapped in that hair, I wouldn't worry.

The white string stuff on your live rock, if traced back to the source, is probably from a vemeliad snail (I doubt I spelled that right), mostly harmless, too much can irratate nearby corals.

Books...lol I don't know. So much info on the net that it puts a mere book to shame, plus easier to search the web. My advice is to read the sticky's as a start.

The biggest concern I have is your 2 week "cycle". 4-8 weeks is much more the norm, the fact that you added 3 frags of coral, a crab and 2 fish is a pretty big bio load all at once for a nano that has that short a cycle. As soon as your refractometer comes, I'd suggest a large partial water change to rid the water of all the crud building up.

Remember nother good happens fast in this hobby, and 12g nano as your first tank could be a disadvantage. Slow down, research and welcome to the addiction.

[Roger30]

Spider web things maybe Digitate hydroids. I had lots of them, then one day, they disappeared. Follow the webs and you may find a little tube.

Keep a close eye on your water parameters, it may have been too soon to add livestock. Check your nitrate and ammonia levels. I also did this mistake.

I learned a lot on this website. Search the forums for any question you have and most likely you'll find the answer here.

[Nitzanah]

I was concerned about the load as well but the guy at the fish shop kept telling me it was ok and my tank had been up long enough.

I've tried to follow the white stringy stuff and can't find anything at the source. I noticed it developed on the live rock before i put anything else in the tank. If it is snails, how do i get rid of them?

[Nina51]

you have to remember, the fish store guy is in business to make money. he isn't going to discourage you from buying livestock and quite the contrary, may try to talk you into much more than your tank is ready for.

good luck with your tank and welcome to the addic...errrr...hobby! ;)

[Jersh]

Beware the advice of the local fish store.

[SwampyBill]

Anything written by Julian Sprung, or 'The Conscientious Marine Aquarist' by Robert Fenner, & 'The New Marine Aquarium' by Michael S. Paletta are all great sources of info. That's too much of a bioload too quickly for such a new tank. I doubt if it's even fully cycled yet. How did you cycle it so quickly? Dr. Tims 'cycle in a bottle', or just listened to what LFS said...? Do you have a good water testing kit? How many lbs. of live rock do you have?

[Nitzanah]

I have 9lbs of live rock and a API Saltwater Master Test Kit and API Reef Master Test Kit. I know its a little redundant but i got them at a discount where it was cheaper to buy the two than just one.

[Nitzanah]

Thanks for all the advice so far!!

I have 9lbs of live rock and a API Saltwater Master Test Kit and API Reef Master Test Kit. I know its a little redundant but i got them at a discount where it was cheaper to buy the two than just one.

I had two different fish stores tell me i only had to leave it up for a week. Then add in some "prime" and "stability" solution.

An update on the biolife... the green star polyp and xenia have opened and look better. The crab is moving around and cleaning but he's still covered in sand which looks odd and my clown fish is swimming around and both he and the goby and are eating frozen shrimp. I haven't seen the shrimp i actually bought since i put him in there but there's tons of holes in the live rock so I'm hoping he's hiding.

I'm going to get a refractometer in the next day or two. Can anyone recommend a good but affordable one? Is it worth it to go digital?

[flight50]

I was concerned about the load as well but the guy at the fish shop kept telling me it was ok and my tank had been up long enough.


I rarely trust anything anyone says from at a lfs. The net and forums such as this are way more beneficial than any lfs I have come across. Associates at lfs are nothing more than sales personnel for the most part. Visit the store, find what you like and go home and jump online. Don't get pulled in from sales pitches. I am not actually in marine hobby as of now but I have been doing freshwater planted tanks for about 12 years and if I shopped on impulse at lfs, 9/10 I would regret my decision.

[ca1ore]

Internet has made it tough on book publishing; consequently, most of the reef keeping books are quite old. Probably the best one to get would be the third volume in the Sprung/Delbeek Reef Aquarium series. It's only about 10 years old if memory serves. Beyond that you just have to sift through sites like RC and decide which posters you trust and follow their advice.