10 gallon marine experiment

Sarra · Dec 24, 2007

I had a 10 gallon brackish tank, but I used (gasp) aquarium gravel. So, I bought another 10 gallon tank, including a filter, heater, hood, etc.

I moved my animals (mostly crabs of varying species) over to the NEW 10 gallon tank, and have it setup now with (sigh of relief) sand.

Now I have a spare 10 gallon tank, filter, heater, light hood, and light. I just set it up, 1.022 specific gravity and 2" of sand on the bottom.

I'm going to simply let it sit. I don't think there is enough bacteria on the filter element to properly cycle, so is there something that I could put in the experiment tank to cycle it? I'd like to get algae to grow, and hopefully little pods to eat the algae, then I may consider setting it up as a micro reef.

Perhaps I may go to the ocean and get a jar full of ocean unfiltered water and pour it in at a later time, just to see what will grow.

Ideas or thoughts? I'm just going to leave it alone, nothing will go in except a small critter/fish to get it cycling, then that would be moved to my brackish tank (thinking about a goby for this).

dorkfish · Dec 24, 2007

Sarra said:
I don't think there is enough bacteria on the filter element to properly cycle, so is there something that I could put in the experiment tank to cycle it?

Adding live rock will usually start a fishless cycle, with the die off from the hitchikers witch didn't take shipping and/or transport (from LFS to your home) to well supplying the ammonia, and this is probably the most commonly used method of cycling a marine tank (though some will throw in damsels to help out - don't do that!).

I'd like to get algae to grow, and hopefully little pods to eat the algae, then I may consider setting it up as a micro reef.

Most people would want to not have algae grow

. Algae WILL grow, and pods will probably do the same with no fish in the tank, but you will need to introduce the pods, which will probably follow the same course as algae if there are no predators in the tank. Algae growing and pods reproducing isn't really much to start with and get a feel for the hobby before deciding to go to reef or not, personally, I think I would start out more along the lines of getting a fish in the tank before making the decision.

Perhaps I may go to the ocean and get a jar full of ocean unfiltered water and pour it in at a later time, just to see what will grow.

Ideas or thoughts? I'm just going to leave it alone, nothing will go in except a small critter/fish to get it cycling, then that would be moved to my brackish tank (thinking about a goby for this).

Cycling with fish is never a good idea, the ammonia involved with the cycling process literally burns away at the fishes gills, not cool if your the fish

. And I'm guessing your planning on using a brackish fish, and putting it in the saltwater tank short term to cycle the tank? Not really a good idea to put a fish in a salinity it doesn't naturally come from, a brackish fish would be better suited for this plan than a SW, but regardless, you shouldn't be using a fish to cycle the tank anyway.

Might want to read this sticky on Cycling Methods & Procedures.

And the rest of the stickys throughout the marine section would be worth reading through, as well as the marine articles in our article corner.

Sarra · Dec 24, 2007

Well, as I mentioned, I'm using a used filter, so odds are it will cycle itself.

As for fish, the goby I would use is one that's used in brackish and marine, I believe a Violet goby. My brackish tank is actually 1.0175, so a marine fish would do fine in it. i actually have some "freshwater" ghost shrimp that are living, and indeed, growing, quite well. I believe they are actually marine shrimp that my LFS sells as freshwater feeders (hence 90% of their shipments die when they get them).

I find biology amazing. Having little pods running around and eating bacteria would be an enjoyment for me. I may do live rock, but I don't know if I want anything living in the water just yet.

Algae and little pods would be the food source for the emerald crabs I'd like to get for it if I do do live rock. The algae for food, the pods for entertainment.

The algae/pods really aren't related to doing a reef, directly. Maybe I'd do a reef if I got sick of a green/yellow tank sitting next to my bed all the time. I'd like to do a reef, but I don't know how successful I would be with a small reef. I don't know if I really want to take the plunge yet on that. Other than a test kit (PH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate), hydrometer, heater, and filter, is there anything needed?

And, last Q, where can I get some little pods?

dorkfish · Dec 24, 2007

It would be a good idea to throw in alk., calcium and phosphate test kits as well, though they wouldn't be nessesary. If it were a normal tank I would add in a small powerhead for extra circulation (or a larger/more filters), but an algae grow op. isn't exactly a normal tank

.

And actually now that I think of it, for what your planning, you wouldn't really need the tank to handle much of a bioload, so the filter would probably have all of the bacteria your would need.

You can get bottled pods from oceanpods.com and there's a few other places that sell them as well. Or you could just get them as hitchikers(from live rock etc.).

Sarra · Dec 24, 2007

Thanks very much. I don't suppose hermit crabs, larger crabs, or larger shrimp will eat them? Maybe I could add a few to my brackish system... I'm going to see if I can get some from my LFS.

Sarra · Dec 25, 2007

RE: Cycling with a fish. Why not toss a fish in, and pull the little thing out once the cycle starts? Easy cycle start, plus your fish doesn't experience ammonia.

jagr200 · Dec 25, 2007

Sarra said:
RE: Cycling with a fish. Why not toss a fish in, and pull the little thing out once the cycle starts? Easy cycle start, plus your fish doesn't experience ammonia.

Because your tank needs a constant source of ammonia. Thats why you use Live Rock, Pure Ammonia, or a fish

silly

Sarra · Dec 25, 2007

jagr200 said:
Because your tank needs a constant source of ammonia. Thats why you use Live Rock, Pure Ammonia, or a fishsilly

Ahh, I knew there was a missing piece of logic in there.

I'll try the fish method with some dead feeder fish (I ironically had a cycle happen due to bad food again, I moved my crawfish and it's feeders before it happened, but there's a bunch of dead and rotting blood worms in the tank now). One of the feeder fish hid from me when I was moving them over, so now it's dead on the filter, I'll toss it in the other tank to get it started.

Reefscape · Dec 25, 2007

Sarra said:
RE: Cycling with a fish. Why not toss a fish in, and pull the little thing out once the cycle starts? Easy cycle start, plus your fish doesn't experience ammonia.

One of the main reasons we dont advocate adding a fish to cycle an aquarium is because its cruel to the fish and its easy for the fish to get ammonia poisoning..

A great ammonia source is either pure ammonia or a raw shrimp/prawn..

Niko

Sarra · Dec 25, 2007

I've got some dead fish on hand that I just tossed in. They were supposed to be food for my crabs, but they died pre-maturely, due to some kind of disease I think.


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