Noob turning fresh tank to reef - Page 2

Oiler3535 · 07/19/2017, 08:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sk8r

It's not what you buy---but how they grow. 5" to 12" adult size for a fish is not uncommon in this hobby. THink of a freshwater sunperch for one of the larger clowns...and they go up from there. Some are also speed swimmers (tangs) and need more room; others are highly territorial (damsels) and many need 100 gallons before they calm down. My advice is go for a mostly-invert and small coral tank at first, with a couple of fishes that stay tiny, under 3".

All fish I'm looking at are under 3". Going to start with a pair of Occellaris (sic), then depending on what I can get (live 90 minutes from fish store) and how good my parameters stay, I'll slowly add a Royal Gramma, Firefish, Tailspot Blenny, Banggai Cardinal, and PJ Cardinal. As I go I'll keep an eye online for a decent LED so I can slowly add some beginner corals (montipora, Xenia, green slimer, buttons, elegance, star polyps, Kenya tree, frog spawns, brains and mushrooms).

Oiler3535 · 07/19/2017, 06:50 PM

Getting my first Nitrates reading now

. Ammonia around 2, the Nitrites are the 3rd colour down, and the nitrates between the second and third. Yay! Cycling

Oiler3535 · 07/26/2017, 04:20 PM

How long does the cycle take? Ammonia has been around 2 for 2 weeks +, and Nitrates have been off the scale for a week almost. Some Nitrates but still only a little.

Oiler3535 · 07/26/2017, 04:23 PM

Nitrites off the scale, nitrates minimal.

sde1500 · 07/27/2017, 06:17 AM

Give it a couple more weeks.

Oiler3535 · 07/27/2017, 12:36 PM

Ya, that's kind of what I thought. Was just hoping for magic before Friday as I'm going to be near my 'local' fish store then and would have loved to be able to buy my first fish. Store is 1:40 drive away and don't go often. One plus is that today the Nitrates are much higher and the Nitrites colour is noticeably less purple (though still lowest colour, getting close to being closer to penultimate).

Oiler3535 · 07/27/2017, 07:23 PM

Are these white tubes little feather dusters? Came on the live rocks I got from my lfs to help cycle. Lots of little dusters seem happy. Okay long term in what I hope to eventually have corals in?

Oiler3535 · 07/31/2017, 09:36 PM

Sorry for the noob questions, but the amount of information around is overwhelming. What parameters are important to regularly test for? To this point (no fish yet):
pH 8.2
Alk 13 drops kh
Salt 1.026
Ammonia <.25 (colour vision issues...can't tell if the yellow or first green)
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10-20 (same colour issue, can't tell between the 2...will do 1/2 water change before adding fish to lower more)

What are pivotal parameters to measure for fish?
Which are pivotal once I add corals months from now?

sde1500 · 08/01/2017, 12:19 PM

Nitrate and Alk for fish, nitrate, phosphate, alk, calcium, mag for corals.

Oiler3535 · 08/01/2017, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sde1500

Nitrate and Alk for fish, nitrate, phosphate, alk, calcium, mag for corals.

Thanks. Calcium I figured for corals. Magnesium I didn't. Thanks.

Oiler3535 · 08/02/2017, 08:28 PM

Got my first fish! Didn't have any ocelaris (figure getting my wife's Nemo fish would have made her less annoyed at me paying more attention to my new tank than her after moving lol...ah well). So got the aroyak Gramma. Looks amazing. Picked a corner and the only time it has been over 10 inches away has been when the Scarlett crab has come over. Didn't like that. Tried nosing it away to no avail. Then just pushed between the crab and the glass and waited for it to move. Highly entertaining. Already eating happily. Sees its reflection in the side glass and bonking the glass. Guess that's why only 1 per tank! Also got a few small mushroom frags (well, attached to old snail shells but I'll call them frags). Wasn't planning on getting corals already, but got almost free. I guess they're False Florida Ricordeas by the looks of my google search. Very sharp looking. One is all green, the other is green outside and orange inside.

pfan151 · 08/02/2017, 08:45 PM

Definitely making a mistake not quarantining. Grammas are pretty prone to ich.

Oiler3535 · 08/02/2017, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pfan151

Definitely making a mistake not quarantining. Grammas are pretty prone to ich.

Was an empty tank before it. Quarantine what from what? Also, zero chance my wife approves a second tank. I know I'd be better with one, just not possible ATM.

pfan151 · 08/02/2017, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oiler3535

Was an empty tank before it. Quarantine what from what? Also, zero chance my wife approves a second tank. I know I'd be better with one, just not possible ATM.

You'd be quarantining the gramma so you can treat it for anything it is carrying. Once ich is introduced to your display it's not easy to get rid of. You may get lucky but in my experience at least, most fish that are prone to ich will have symptoms showing within 2 weeks of purchase.

It would also be a good idea to add more rock to give the fish somewhere to take shelter. A fish with no place to hide will be stressed and be even more likely to succumb to parasites.

Oiler3535 · 08/02/2017, 09:18 PM

I'd love a quarantine tank, I really would. But my option is no tank or 1 tank.

Oiler3535 · 08/18/2017, 09:36 PM

Went away for a week. Think the house sitters fed tank too much. Fish all fine (2 Ocellaris, 2 Banggais, and a Royal Gramma). Ammonia 0, phosphate nearer 0 than the first colour on API test, and Nitrates indistinguishable from the 0 colour. But tank covered in hair algae, and other algaes on sand and glass (orange spots?). Got a brown emerald crab (cousin to emerald?), but no snails at lfs. Going to bigger store Tuesday so hoping to grab a tailspot blenny (very unlikely), a few Astraea, a few zombie snails, and a few Trochus. Hopefully help. And yes, I scraped everything I could and did a 20% water change first thing. Kinda amused by the hermit crab with the Trump hair though.

Jon0807 · 08/18/2017, 10:27 PM

I think you're going way too fast on the fish stocking. And a QT can consist of a little 5 to 10 gallon tank. Heck, you can even use one of those plastic totes. It's not something you have to keep running, just enough to go through the quarantine process.

Oiler3535 · 08/19/2017, 09:34 AM

I realize about the stocking. But lfs never gets Banggais. Started with the gramma, then a couple of weeks later got the Banggais be they actually had them. Then a week later was given the clownfish. Wasn't planned.

schnebbles · 08/19/2017, 09:49 AM

I think you need a bunch more live rock. It's crucial for your tank from what I know. I also switched from fresh back in October. I've crashed it twice

2nd time I'm sure was me not doing my water changes and over feeding. I'm sill afraid I over feed but doing my wc's weekly.

The rock is so important to keep everything operating.

It's heartbreaking when you crash it and lose your fish. Not saying you will, just telling you my mistakes over the past year.

I'm so glad to see Sk8er told us how the canister is bad, I've been running one but I think I'll remove all of the bio balls/sponges from it and switch it to something else in it. I like it merely for the water flow at the top of the tank from the spray bar. I never understood just why they were bad. Now I get it!

Good luck!

Oiler3535 · 08/19/2017, 10:03 AM

Ya. I've got a good 50lbs of dead rock curing. Not ready yet though.

schnebbles · 08/19/2017, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oiler3535

Ya. I've got a good 50lbs of dead rock curing. Not ready yet though.

awesome! I think when I got mine I mixed my rock so it all went in right away. Never thought of that and if you mentioned it I didn't see it.

ps - starry blennies are the coolest fish! I lost mine in my 2nd crash and just got another one and I realize how I missed mine. they are cool. I got a flame hawk too and I'm awaiting him to get adjusted because they are pretty neat too but he's hiding around my skimmer (no sump). i got him Thursday so I'm hoping he comes out of hiding soon. I watched one at the store quite a while before I made my mind up to get one.

Oiler3535 · 08/19/2017, 11:36 AM

Never seen a starry blenny. I wanted a tail spot. Will look that one up! My lfs only seems to get bicolour or red lipped, and not sure how reef safe those are.

Oiler3535 · 08/19/2017, 11:45 AM

Starry blenny looks great, but says it gets over 4-5 inches and already near max bioload in my tank (yes I know many would say I've blown way past that already lol---seen many people say I should have 4-5 inches of fish total in my 46g)

Oiler3535 · 08/20/2017, 10:46 PM

Diatom bloom on sand. Phosphates and Nitrates negligible. Driving the 90 minutes into the city Tuesday, so hopefully my lfs (until closes in a month) has some good clean up crew in stock. Hoping for some Astraea, trochus, zombie snails, and maybe a shrimp or two.

Oiler3535 · 08/30/2017, 06:17 PM

Cannot find any snails anywhere. The couple of emerald crabs have decimated the hair algae, and I scraped the glass well before a water change and looking much better. Managed to get 1 Astraea snail, but always upside down and eventually a hermit got it. Never seemed to do a damned thing. LFS keeping snails on order for me and hopefully get some at some point. They will have a tiger blenny, which while I wanted a tail spot which they can't get, looks good.

07/27/2017, 06:17 AM	#30
sde1500 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Glocester, RI Posts: 3,336	Give it a couple more weeks. __________________ My build thread: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2548422 Current Tank Info: 65 gallon mixed reef, Eshopps sump and HOB overflow, RO-110int skimmer, Reefbreeder 32" photons V1.

08/01/2017, 12:19 PM	#34
sde1500 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Glocester, RI Posts: 3,336	Nitrate and Alk for fish, nitrate, phosphate, alk, calcium, mag for corals. __________________ My build thread: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2548422 Current Tank Info: 65 gallon mixed reef, Eshopps sump and HOB overflow, RO-110int skimmer, Reefbreeder 32" photons V1.

08/18/2017, 10:27 PM	#42
Jon0807 Registered Member Join Date: May 2016 Location: SF Bay Area Posts: 293	I think you're going way too fast on the fish stocking. And a QT can consist of a little 5 to 10 gallon tank. Heck, you can even use one of those plastic totes. It's not something you have to keep running, just enough to go through the quarantine process. __________________ 40g breeder DT, 40g breeder sump

07/19/2017, 06:50 PM	#27
Oiler3535 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: Ottawa Valley, Canada Posts: 90	Getting my first Nitrates reading now . Ammonia around 2, the Nitrites are the 3rd colour down, and the nitrates between the second and third. Yay! Cycling

07/26/2017, 04:20 PM	#28
Oiler3535 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: Ottawa Valley, Canada Posts: 90	How long does the cycle take? Ammonia has been around 2 for 2 weeks +, and Nitrates have been off the scale for a week almost. Some Nitrates but still only a little.

07/26/2017, 04:23 PM	#29
Oiler3535 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: Ottawa Valley, Canada Posts: 90	Nitrites off the scale, nitrates minimal.

07/27/2017, 12:36 PM	#31
Oiler3535 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: Ottawa Valley, Canada Posts: 90	Ya, that's kind of what I thought. Was just hoping for magic before Friday as I'm going to be near my 'local' fish store then and would have loved to be able to buy my first fish. Store is 1:40 drive away and don't go often. One plus is that today the Nitrates are much higher and the Nitrites colour is noticeably less purple (though still lowest colour, getting close to being closer to penultimate).

07/27/2017, 07:23 PM	#32
Oiler3535 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: Ottawa Valley, Canada Posts: 90	Are these white tubes little feather dusters? Came on the live rocks I got from my lfs to help cycle. Lots of little dusters seem happy. Okay long term in what I hope to eventually have corals in?

07/31/2017, 09:36 PM	#33
Oiler3535 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: Ottawa Valley, Canada Posts: 90	Sorry for the noob questions, but the amount of information around is overwhelming. What parameters are important to regularly test for? To this point (no fish yet): pH 8.2 Alk 13 drops kh Salt 1.026 Ammonia <.25 (colour vision issues...can't tell if the yellow or first green) Nitrite 0 Nitrate 10-20 (same colour issue, can't tell between the 2...will do 1/2 water change before adding fish to lower more) What are pivotal parameters to measure for fish? Which are pivotal once I add corals months from now?

08/02/2017, 08:28 PM	#36
Oiler3535 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: Ottawa Valley, Canada Posts: 90	Got my first fish! Didn't have any ocelaris (figure getting my wife's Nemo fish would have made her less annoyed at me paying more attention to my new tank than her after moving lol...ah well). So got the aroyak Gramma. Looks amazing. Picked a corner and the only time it has been over 10 inches away has been when the Scarlett crab has come over. Didn't like that. Tried nosing it away to no avail. Then just pushed between the crab and the glass and waited for it to move. Highly entertaining. Already eating happily. Sees its reflection in the side glass and bonking the glass. Guess that's why only 1 per tank! Also got a few small mushroom frags (well, attached to old snail shells but I'll call them frags). Wasn't planning on getting corals already, but got almost free. I guess they're False Florida Ricordeas by the looks of my google search. Very sharp looking. One is all green, the other is green outside and orange inside.

08/02/2017, 08:45 PM	#37
pfan151 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: FL Posts: 1,897	Definitely making a mistake not quarantining. Grammas are pretty prone to ich.

08/02/2017, 09:18 PM	#40
Oiler3535 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: Ottawa Valley, Canada Posts: 90	I'd love a quarantine tank, I really would. But my option is no tank or 1 tank.

08/18/2017, 09:36 PM	#41
Oiler3535 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: Ottawa Valley, Canada Posts: 90	Went away for a week. Think the house sitters fed tank too much. Fish all fine (2 Ocellaris, 2 Banggais, and a Royal Gramma). Ammonia 0, phosphate nearer 0 than the first colour on API test, and Nitrates indistinguishable from the 0 colour. But tank covered in hair algae, and other algaes on sand and glass (orange spots?). Got a brown emerald crab (cousin to emerald?), but no snails at lfs. Going to bigger store Tuesday so hoping to grab a tailspot blenny (very unlikely), a few Astraea, a few zombie snails, and a few Trochus. Hopefully help. And yes, I scraped everything I could and did a 20% water change first thing. Kinda amused by the hermit crab with the Trump hair though.

08/19/2017, 09:34 AM	#43
Oiler3535 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: Ottawa Valley, Canada Posts: 90	I realize about the stocking. But lfs never gets Banggais. Started with the gramma, then a couple of weeks later got the Banggais be they actually had them. Then a week later was given the clownfish. Wasn't planned.

08/19/2017, 09:49 AM	#44
schnebbles Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2016 Posts: 475	I think you need a bunch more live rock. It's crucial for your tank from what I know. I also switched from fresh back in October. I've crashed it twice 2nd time I'm sure was me not doing my water changes and over feeding. I'm sill afraid I over feed but doing my wc's weekly. The rock is so important to keep everything operating. It's heartbreaking when you crash it and lose your fish. Not saying you will, just telling you my mistakes over the past year. I'm so glad to see Sk8er told us how the canister is bad, I've been running one but I think I'll remove all of the bio balls/sponges from it and switch it to something else in it. I like it merely for the water flow at the top of the tank from the spray bar. I never understood just why they were bad. Now I get it! Good luck!

08/19/2017, 10:03 AM	#45
Oiler3535 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: Ottawa Valley, Canada Posts: 90	Ya. I've got a good 50lbs of dead rock curing. Not ready yet though.

08/19/2017, 11:36 AM	#47
Oiler3535 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: Ottawa Valley, Canada Posts: 90	Never seen a starry blenny. I wanted a tail spot. Will look that one up! My lfs only seems to get bicolour or red lipped, and not sure how reef safe those are.

08/19/2017, 11:45 AM	#48
Oiler3535 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: Ottawa Valley, Canada Posts: 90	Starry blenny looks great, but says it gets over 4-5 inches and already near max bioload in my tank (yes I know many would say I've blown way past that already lol---seen many people say I should have 4-5 inches of fish total in my 46g)

08/20/2017, 10:46 PM	#49
Oiler3535 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: Ottawa Valley, Canada Posts: 90	Diatom bloom on sand. Phosphates and Nitrates negligible. Driving the 90 minutes into the city Tuesday, so hopefully my lfs (until closes in a month) has some good clean up crew in stock. Hoping for some Astraea, trochus, zombie snails, and maybe a shrimp or two.

08/30/2017, 06:17 PM	#50
Oiler3535 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: Ottawa Valley, Canada Posts: 90	Cannot find any snails anywhere. The couple of emerald crabs have decimated the hair algae, and I scraped the glass well before a water change and looking much better. Managed to get 1 Astraea snail, but always upside down and eventually a hermit got it. Never seemed to do a damned thing. LFS keeping snails on order for me and hopefully get some at some point. They will have a tiger blenny, which while I wanted a tail spot which they can't get, looks good.