FSUAces said:
Do I need to add another filter or anything esle?
No, but your tank will be a little harder to mantain than a 20+ gallon tank in respect to water stability (some sites recomend daily testing on a tank this size, altough I'm doubtfull that's true once the tank matures; I'm suposed to be testing weekly on larger systems, but I rarely if ever have to test now that the tank is mature, becuase the water test almost always come up he same), and will also be a little harder to mantain than most marine tanks becuase of the lack of a protien skimmer ( I suggest your read this article
on filtration for the small marine aquarium. You might want to set up a ten gallong quarantine tank as well, becuase if one of the clowns or any other fish gets a disease, you cannot safely treat it in the main tank (read this
article on quarantining).
FSUAces said:
What esle can I add in the tank?
5 scarlet or blue leg hermit crabs (be sure to get atleast 10 extra shells that are similar in size to the hermit's shells, to prevent dead hermits/snails), 8 astrea sp. snails and maybe a pepermint shrimp.
FSUAces said:
Im only doing a 10 gallon tank just to learn before I setup my 29 gallon tank.
If possible, try and start out with a larger tank, as larger tanks are much easier to aquascape, manage, and stock with livestock. Larger tanks are also more forgiving of mistakes.
FSUAces said:
I'm letting the tank run for a week and half before I add anything.
It won't turn out good if you do that. You need to do a live rock cycle if you wish for your tank to go smoothly.
Taken from my reply to one of bukitimah's threads:
If you introduce fish or shrimps 2-3 days after setting the tank up I assure you they will die. However told you that knows nothing about even freshwater tanks, let alone salt water tanks, do not trust thier advice.
You need to cycle the tank with uncured live rock, wich can take over a month, before adding fish to the tank. Purchase 15-20 ilbs of live rock, and monitor amonia and nitrite levels (with an accurate test kit, I recomend you purchase an aquarium phamicuetical's slatwater master test kit). You should see a spike of amonia, followed by that dropping back to zero, then the same for nitrite. Once nitrite drops back to zero after a spike, you are ready to add your first fishes, preferably a pair of the clowns.
Please note: during the time period in wich you are monitoring amonia and nitrite, watch out for any pest hitch-hikers that may have came in on the rock. Some pests are cpable of eating your fish and anything else that moves (mantas shrmp), and some will take over your whole tank (aiptasia/glass anemones), so you need to keep a watchfull eye on the tank and take corective measures when nessisary.
bukitimah said:
According to the shop, it is just simple as long as you don't overload the tank with fishes. We need the experts tips.
Well, you do know the people at the shop are there to make a living, and not to insure there livestock ends up in the best of care, right?. Following there advice, you would most likely end up with dead fish, then you would go back to the fish store, buy more fish and possibly some "cycle" or similar products that don't work (all this is more money for the fish store) and then, the fish die again, and the cycle repeats itself for 1-2 months when one or two fishes live (although after this you would still be wanting more fish). Please read my above comments, they will really help you.
