A new guy that got some horrible advice on the start up of my tank

[lilposeidon]

Hey,

I recently have fell in love with the awesome hobby of salt water aquariums.
i started out wanting a fresh water until the local pet store guy talked me into getting a salt water tank, i was sold, just the overall look of the tank and the fish got me i knew it was'nt the easiest thing but hey i've in search of a hobby for years.
when i say i was sold that jus what this guy was doing tryin to make a few bucks off me not caring it seems about the proper cycling and start up of a new tank.
anyways heres how i started my 10 gallon tank i know its small but i'am only puttin two small fish in there and eventually a cleaner shrimp.I put my RO water in added my marine salt got my salinity level to 1.021 perfect i thought now on to add my rock. Went down to the pet store got 10 pounds of some nice live rock which was already cured in a tank, went home had the rock set up to my liking the live rock was'nt even out of water for any longer then 20 minutes. next day Figured i'd phone the pet store well lets jus call this guy "schmo" and was double checking the length of time my tank needed to sit. Schmo said your good come grab some fish so i went down grabbed a false percula clownfish and a little green and blue damsel (not sure what kind) acclimated them to the water over a period of a hour and a half through them in. so i have a few questions to ask......

Schmo told me i should'nt have any bottom substrate so i took my black rocks out. i really want a bedding along the bottom it jus does'nt look the same without it what can i do to put some in now that the fish are in there ? and what kind can i put in there ? or whats my best bet for this situation ?

Are my fish going to die ???? i really hope they don't
I change out 3 gallons of water every 3 days just because Schmo had me put the fish in so earlier is this enough to keep them surviving ?

P.S. i do realize my fish are suffering and feel horrible because of this i jus want to have a happy but properly operating tank

thanks  <divclass="msgbox">Nofilesuploaded!</div>

[Bergy]

hey,

I dont know that your fish are suffering..

they might not be

I would check your ammonia daily and your nitrite daily.. (try to test at the same time of day)

Not sure what schmo was talking about with the base stuff/thing but it is okay to have sand or some type of base

typially  we like/prefer live sand.. it is ARAGONITE base.. this means it isnt silica based, or basially it is not playground sand...

Im not sure what you know or think you know about cycling but will leave that for now as for now, you at least know you need time...

for now, just check the ammopnia and nitrite...

try to change the water before you can detect any ammonia

if you can do this then you fish wont suffer


also tell us a little bit about your suystem


what type of filter and what type of light and heater and whatever else you might have


thanks for stoppin by


and no worries

[lilposeidon]

i have a aqua clear 20 hang off the back filter with jus a sponge at the top of the basket and little heater and a submersible marine turbo pump to similate the current and 1 light bulb nothing special just the oval screw in type, besides the live rock thats all thats in there.
and suggestions on what i should add or if i even need to add anything.

[saltwaterpunk]

thats what some guy did to me too.
my fish lasted 4 months. died of ich

[Bergy]

yea, you have atypical little tank..

you might want to keep an eye open for a better light.. not that you need somethign all powerfull. but a little more light and a better color will help


other then that, just kkeep testing your nitrite and ammonia and let us know

[lilposeidon]

Ok so i went and talked to "Schmo" and asked why he told me to put the fish in so early and he told me that the rock was already cured which was true and that a couple hardy fish would be good to help the cycling process. once he found out i was'nt in there to buy anything he pretty much told me to comeback when i had money but in a polite way. so yea but i do have a few more questions here :
when could i add a cleaner shrimp ?
and also how many fish could i put in there i actually would'nt mind adding one or two more but if theres not enough room then i obviously would'nt.

[Bergy]

well, his 'story' isnt that far off. this hobby has so many variables and different people do different things, it is hard to get someone to be WRONG...

but no worries.. we can work with what you got...

As to your last questions, I would not suggest you add anything until you are sure you can maintain and keep things from suffereing/dieing...

if after some period of time when you feel comfortable that whatever you buy has a good chance of success, then go for it..

This was my stumbling block.. it took me about six months before i felt comfortable I wasnt going to be responsible for killing somehing...

hehehe



cured rocks does not mean a cycled tank...

and i doubt that your rock was cured, at least not fully


the only way to tell whenn your tank is cycled is by measuring the ammonia and nitrites...

Let us know the results to those tests and we can figure stuff out

[OCtrackiepacsg1]

Welcom lil posiedon to the hobby, its a good one and its the only one I haven't dumped in like a week. I have to say, I convinced myself into the hobby though. Not a tank and reef expert but I think you have a cute little chromis (the blue green one) in your tank.

[lilposeidon]

ok heres another question before i gotta head outta town for a few days.
i want to get a better light one that really brings out the colour and life in the little ocean below it my tank is jus a 10 gallon so its about 20 inches long  and 10 inches wide and about 13 inches in height what would be my best bet and what size of light ?

[Just_Greg]

welcome...

what kind of lighting do you actually have?  a little fluorescent strip?  i aslo know they make little incandescent fixtures for small tanx as well.

your lighting really depends on what you're going to keep.  if you're only planning to keep a couple of fish and a shrimp + CUC, just run with NO (NO = Normal Output) fluorescent.  i'd recommend a 50/50 type lamp for good color in the tank.

Bill is correct, the LR may or may not be cured, and this amount of cure will have an impact on your cycle time.  how does the LR smell?  if the rock is fully-cured, which is doubtful (unless it has been tanked for awhile), it may have come from a hobbyist who has broken a tank down.  at any rate, if the rock is cured, your tank may indeed "short cycle", but the only way to know is to feed the tank and test it.  if you see no NH3 spike, test for NO2, and if you see neither, test for NO3.

don'tcha just LOVE LFS that go for the quick sale rather than building up a repeat customer?    >:(

[Bergy]

hey,

lighting is a very 'subjective' issue... It also has a lot to do with what you are wanting to keep.  If you know you arent going to kepe SPS coral or other light needing corals/critters, then you can go with most any type of light, but if you want or think you might want more SPS or more colorful corals then you might want to go with a Metal Halide or High Output flourescent fixture


Personally, I suggest you go with a metal halide fixture...  they make them in 70 watt or 150... (150 would be WAY too much for your tank, unless you were to go ALL SPS...   You can find them on Craigslist or ebay....

Try to find a fixture called VIPER metal halide

You can find Coralife fixtures also.  I see them on Ebay a lot

T5 fixtures are good, but in that size, (less then 24")  they will all be NO  normal output



the big issue might not be light INTENSITY,  but rather light color...


aquarium bulbs, (reef aquarium), tend to like blue colors... vs yello color...


and like a lot of things color is VERY subjective...

So, what i think is blue, some might think is green...

and although there is a NUMBER to define colors, it still comes down to sumbjective...

the number/color range I suggest you try to look at is 14000k  - 20oook


colors that are lower/smaller then 14oook are considered more yellow, which will lead to green  when it comes to reef tanks





BTW:  I know lights are expensive, but i tend to think of them like we used to think of speakers on stereo systems... buy and get the best you can afford...  if yo uhad the best/top of the  line speakers, then you can upgrade and do all kinds of things with the stereo system...

but, without nice speakers, ...

[Just_Greg]

i'd be pretty reticent to run MH on a 10 gal unless it was a full-blown SPS nano or frag tank.  they're pricy to buy, costly to run, and generate WAY too much heat, which means running a fan or a chiller, so either your evap rate or your electric bill goes up some more.

as for color...definitely a preference thing.  personally, i like the nice white light of a 10k in conjunction with true 03 actinics for a dawn/dusk effect, but for a single lamp strip in a little 10 gal FOWLR, a 50/50 is fine.

14k's just don't do it for me...i have a couple and i'm not impressed, and 20k is just WAY too blue for main lighting IMHO, but as Bill mentioned, no two peeps see color the same way.

PC's (power compact fluorescents) are another option for lighting, and yes, they're not as efficient as T-5's due to their inherent amount of restrike, and run a bit warmer, but most of my setups are running PC.

bottom line, as Bill and i both mentioned:  it's really dependent on what you plan on keeping.

the way i look at it is if/when you decide to "upgrade" to a larger, more advanced system, your 10 gal setup will make a nice little QT.

[Bergy]

yea, i agree with greg and will retract my reccomendation for the metal halide for you now..

maybe the next step..

but after, AFTER you get used to your tank and how things are supposed to run.

Stick with t5 or a good power compact...

[lilposeidon]

alright well i would like to one day put a anemone for my clownfish so as i've read i'll need a fairly decent light and plus i love te whole dusk and dawn thing i was wondering if i could get a specific kind of light to run for my tank from you expierenced salt water tank goer's lol
umm i want to see nice colour and get the right amount of lux to the bottom of the tank thanks guys you have been a huge help in my quest to gettin this hob by right

[lilposeidon]

cancel that i will not put a anemone in my tank because i have read a 10 gallon is jus to small for a anemone reason being something can go wrong witht the water and change within hours so i do not feel it would be wise to have a anemone unless you guys figure its do-able