I've owned FW tanks for years now and I just got my 1st SW tank about a week ago. Someone gave it to me. It's a 29g tall tank with a simple hob filter, a glass heater, and a standard 10,000k fluorescent light bulb. It has already been cycled and came with two fish and a crab. One fish was a 4" yellow tang and the other seemed to be a 6" bi-color dotty, the crab is unknown. Unfortunately both fish died the day after I set the tank back up. It was a horrible scene when I woke up to see the crab feasting on the fish like it was an all you can eat buffet. He had completely ate the 6" dotty and had just left the head.:nilly: I'm guessing they died because of the lack of water movement or surface agitation. When my dad brought me the tank, he threw away about half the water so there wasn't enough water to get the filter going again. I was going to buy some water or sea salt that day but I was to late.
Since I will no longer need a 100+ gallon tank for the yellow tang, I have decided to buy some smaller fish that won't need a bigger tank when fully grown. I plan to start off with a FO tank then move up to FOWLR and then eventually to a reef system.
I want to get:
2x Percula or Ocellaris or Maroon clowns,
1x Flame angelfish,
2x or more Banggai Cardinalfish,
1x Yellowhead Jawfish,
1x Spotted Mandarin or Green Mandarin,
1x Firefish or Catalina Goby or Redhead Goby or a pair of Helfrichi's Firefish (for breeding purposes),
and maybe 1x Fridmani Pseudochromis.
and some shrimp. Any recommendations?
I still haven't read up on compatibility issues with these species or compatibility with corals. I did hear that the Mandarin fish are hard to maintain, that the angel fish eats some types of corals, and that the Maroon clowns and the fire angel should be introduced last into the aquarium. Other then that I still have alot of reading left to do. Does anyone see any issues with the list above?
Before I do start stocking, I first need to learn a little about making the salt water. I plan on using DI water from my Tap Water Filter and I have already bought Instant Ocean sea salt and a Deep-Six Hydrometer.
First off, this might sound kind of stupid, but the Deep-Six Hydrometer says that I need to fill the hydrometer with saltwater and allow it to sit for 24-hours to season the needle before I use it for the first time. Do I just dip and leave it inside my aquarium with the old water or do I make new saltwater in a one gallon milk container and leave it there for 24 hours, does it matter?
I didn't have enough money to buy a saltwater test kit so I thought maybe what I would do is, filter the water and add PH Adjuster and Electro-Right until I get the water to a ph of 8.2 or so. Then I could test the water using my freshwater test kit. Then I'll add the salt, a pump and a heater to the mixing container and leave it for 24 hours right? Why do I have to leave it for 24 hours before I add it to the tank?
I heard somewhere that the salt adds minerals and trace elements to the fresh water and rises the PH, correct? In that case, do I not add the Ph Adjuster and the Electro-Right liquid to the RO/DI water or just add the Electro-Right? After I add the new saltwater I have no way of testing the old water (only with the hydrometer), so I won't know if I drastically changed the current ph or anything else. I'll have to wait until I get a new job before I could purchase the saltwater test kit. The only inhabitants in the tank currently are a 4" crab and these two really small weird looking black shelled hermit crab type things. They could be snails, not sure. :huh: There also seems to be hundreds of really really tiny white worms on the glass. Any ideas what they might be? Should I be concerned? I've also seen these in one of my freshwater tanks.
Since I will no longer need a 100+ gallon tank for the yellow tang, I have decided to buy some smaller fish that won't need a bigger tank when fully grown. I plan to start off with a FO tank then move up to FOWLR and then eventually to a reef system.
I want to get:
2x Percula or Ocellaris or Maroon clowns,
1x Flame angelfish,
2x or more Banggai Cardinalfish,
1x Yellowhead Jawfish,
1x Spotted Mandarin or Green Mandarin,
1x Firefish or Catalina Goby or Redhead Goby or a pair of Helfrichi's Firefish (for breeding purposes),
and maybe 1x Fridmani Pseudochromis.
and some shrimp. Any recommendations?
I still haven't read up on compatibility issues with these species or compatibility with corals. I did hear that the Mandarin fish are hard to maintain, that the angel fish eats some types of corals, and that the Maroon clowns and the fire angel should be introduced last into the aquarium. Other then that I still have alot of reading left to do. Does anyone see any issues with the list above?
Before I do start stocking, I first need to learn a little about making the salt water. I plan on using DI water from my Tap Water Filter and I have already bought Instant Ocean sea salt and a Deep-Six Hydrometer.
First off, this might sound kind of stupid, but the Deep-Six Hydrometer says that I need to fill the hydrometer with saltwater and allow it to sit for 24-hours to season the needle before I use it for the first time. Do I just dip and leave it inside my aquarium with the old water or do I make new saltwater in a one gallon milk container and leave it there for 24 hours, does it matter?
I didn't have enough money to buy a saltwater test kit so I thought maybe what I would do is, filter the water and add PH Adjuster and Electro-Right until I get the water to a ph of 8.2 or so. Then I could test the water using my freshwater test kit. Then I'll add the salt, a pump and a heater to the mixing container and leave it for 24 hours right? Why do I have to leave it for 24 hours before I add it to the tank?
I heard somewhere that the salt adds minerals and trace elements to the fresh water and rises the PH, correct? In that case, do I not add the Ph Adjuster and the Electro-Right liquid to the RO/DI water or just add the Electro-Right? After I add the new saltwater I have no way of testing the old water (only with the hydrometer), so I won't know if I drastically changed the current ph or anything else. I'll have to wait until I get a new job before I could purchase the saltwater test kit. The only inhabitants in the tank currently are a 4" crab and these two really small weird looking black shelled hermit crab type things. They could be snails, not sure. :huh: There also seems to be hundreds of really really tiny white worms on the glass. Any ideas what they might be? Should I be concerned? I've also seen these in one of my freshwater tanks.
I am sure others will have different ideas.
