Current question

[nynikki]

WooHoo, we now have fish! We settled on a clean up crew (as if on queue, in came brown algae all over the sand and a few small spots on the glass) 12 small hermit crabs and 5 snails of 3 different species (I'll have to look these up). Along with an Arrow Crab, who is supper cool and seems to have made himself right at home, already working on some hair algae :)

We also settled on a pair of clowns. Everyone seems to be doing fine, but the clowns are hovering around a corner of the tank and seem anxious. We shut the lights out, and I have even covered the tank with a dark cloth to make it more subdued in the tank, but every time I peak, they are still cramming themselves into the front corner of the tank. We have a Fluval canister and since we didn't think that was enough current, we added a power head. Is it possible we are giving them too much current? And what about the airation? Should there be more/less bubbles? I should have paid more attention when I was the store, but was so overwhelmed by the 100 other things I had in my head.

Any thoughts, opinions, or advice?

[Ace25]

Air bubbles in SW are bad for several reasons.. makes really bad salt creep on the outside of the tank and worse, can harm the fish if they suck in the air bubbles since they are much finer in SW than in FW.

Extremely hard to give SW fish "too much" current unless they are pasted to the side of the glass and unable to move. Remember.. ocean=much more current than we could ever replicate in a tank.

Covering the tank is a bad idea. Lights off is good for new fish to reduce stress. Covering the tank will reduce the air/oxygen exchange than happens at the surface, which is a big reason tops on SW tanks are not that good, although sometimes a necessary evil for "jumping" fish like firefish and wrasses. Clowns are not known to be a jumping type though. One good way to increase oxygen in a tank without a sump is to just put a fan blowing across the top of the water. Think of it like a fan blowing across a sweaty arm.. it cools your arm quickly and evaporates the sweat.. in a tank it cools the tank and pushes excess CO2 out of the tank and lets O2 back in. If you had a sump, some people put an airstone in their first chamber to increase oxygen (ORP/Oxygen Redux Potential) if they have a sealed top, but I don't think that is something you would need to worry about right now.

It is almost impossible to tell how a fish is doing in the tank the first 24 hours because they are stressed out as it is. Just give them time to adjust.

[nynikki]

Thanks Ace. I'm a little concerned about not having a lid on my tank. I've lost fish in the past like that, none nearly as expensive as what I just put into the tank. Also, living in Phoenix, we have a very high rate of evaporation. Is there another option?

[nynikki]

I wanted to clarify, the bubbles are coming from the power head, not an air stone, so they aren't very fine.

[Almondsaz]

Thanks Ace. I'm a little concerned about not having a lid on my tank. I've lost fish in the past like that, none nearly as expensive as what I just put into the tank. Also, living in Phoenix, we have a very high rate of evaporation. Is there another option?

I live in Arizona also and on my 125 I have eggcrate over the top of the tank. It allows you to get the gas exchange and also "helps" keep carpet surfers at bay. I have to say that I lost a Cirrhilabrus solarensis (Painted Fairy Wrasse) because it jumped through the eggcrate and stayed on top. I have no idea how it did it, but it jumped on top of the eggcrate. You can get it at any Lowe's or I have purchased the black from About the Reef.

The evap is a killer....are you using an ATO to help keep on top of it? I use the ATO system and a 5 gallon water container and it works great.


As for the air bubbles/current. What kind of powerhead did you get. Typically I have at least one powerhead in my system angled towards the surface to facilitate the gas exchange but not to the point where it generates bubbles, only surface turbulence. If you know the "gph" for your cannister filter and the powerhead, add them together and divide by the gallons in your tank - that will give you your turnover rate. What you keep and is the flow adequate to move all the detritus so that it doesn't stagnate in the system are factors as well. Aquascaping can also add a layer of complexity to the flow. Generally you strive for at least a 6 to 10x turnover rate.

[nynikki]

I hadn't even heard of an ATO until this very moment. I have only ever kept freshwater fish in the past, so there are some really new things to me here with the salt tank. If my only option is to leave the canopy off, I'll have to look into one of these, but geeze what a PITA!

On a side note, our clowns seem to be doing fine this morning. Exploring the entire tank and happily swimming around. It amazes me how attentive they are to us, I guess they think they're getting fed every time we approach the tank. Meanwhile, we just want to check them out :)

[wantvws]

My clowns have spent 90% of their time huddled in one corner of my 210....but I've had them for coming up on two years so I guess they're ok. I would definitely get some egg crate on top of your tank...one of my clowns has jumped out of the tank on three occasions. He has managed all three times to get through some minor gaps in my egg crate.
Robbie