First dip into saltwater.

[mykidsmylife]

Well....for almost a year I have been eyeing this beautiful reef scape nano cube at the LFS that I recently went to work for. I couldn't stand it and brought one home tonight for my first attempt at saltwater.

I bought my saltwater premixed at the store, the nano cube, heater, live sand (Fiji pink) and live rock (GEESH!! I never realized just HOW expensive that is! ) So now I wait for the curing right?? It was partially cured at the LFS.

What advice can you all offer for someone who really has NO notion what I have gotten myself into??? LOL. I have just fallen in love with some of the tiniest little things and can't wait to duplicate the gorgeous nano system at work. I know they say saltwater takes a lot of patience.

I am also fascinated about "hitchhikers" that come in on the live rock. I am pretty sure I saw some mysis shrimp in one of the little cranny's of a piece of rock. What are most common and what should start showing up first?

Thanks ALL!!! First post in the saltwater section....WOOOHOOO.

 

[mooman]

From one newbie nano reefer to another, the best advice i can give is to not let tapwater within 10ft of that tank. Not even for topoffs. Make sure the SW from your store is RO (it should be). Keep up on the topoffs. Weekly 25% WCs. If algae starts to "pearl" late in the day, then cut back on the photoperiod.

As soon as you show no ammonia or nitrites you can start stocking. I started with fully cured LR, brought it home in SW and was able to stock the very next day (I've done it twice since then when I upgraded and when I set a tank up for a friend so it was not a fluke, it's all in the live rock).

start with 4-5 bluelegs, an emerald crab, a couple of astrea snails (NOT TURBO) and some nasarius(sp?) snails.

Since you work in LFS keep your eyes open for what I call microfrags and stray polyps floating around sale tanks (my store lets me take em home for free). You can use Scotch Superglue Gel to attach them. Put a dob on a piece of LR rubble and use tweezers to push the polyp onto the glue, then submerse it in SW for a second (helps set the glue). I use a glass bowl just for this purpose. You can really populate a non reef this way for very little money.

Focus on corals (zoos, shrooms, stars) and think long and hard about your fish since you can probally only have two small ones. The nice thing is that you can throw as many cool shrimp and crabs in as you want.

have you taken a flashlight to the tank ten minutes after lights out yet? it will freak you out!

 

[mykidsmylife]

Thanks Mooman!!! I will keep all that in mind. Yep, it's RO water and they forbid to me get fresh near it for ANYTHING!!! I work with some really great guys who are saltwater freaks!! LOL They are great and are tickled I'm taking a try at saltwater...even if its just in small scale.

Since I just set it up last night I doubt that I will see much now, would I? The reasons I chose this tank was 1. I didn't want to haul more than ten gallons of water at a time. 2. I'm more fascinated with the non-fish part of reef tanks and I think doing it in miniature will be fun. I really can't wait to see what springs up out of the live rock and sand.

Funny you mentioned emerald crabs. The first "anything" salt water I ever got out of a tank for a guy was some emerald crabs. Geesh those guys can hold on to a rock can't they? lol. I LOVED them. Very cool. The shrimp...way too cool.

What do you mean by "blue legs"? Hermits? I notice that we had some at work with blue legs or ones with red legs. What's the difference?

Thanks a ton. This is going to be so much fun!

 

[mykidsmylife]

OH OH...Mooman. I did the light thing. I saw little bitty swimmy things. LOL. I think they are mysis shrimp but the look like baby guppies almost to me. I can't get a good look because they swim off to fast. LOL

 

[mooman]

the hermits we stock are labled
Blue leg
(they stay somewhat small and show what i call "respect for the reef" Meaning they will usually walk around a polyp instead of right over it, and don't knock stuff over)

Scarlet Red Leg (bright red!)
(get larger, but not super mobile, so again a good choice)

Cortez red leg
(also get larger, some red in the leg, also a good crab)

Left handed/zebra leg
These guys are murderous bulldozers that speed around the reef, knockin **** over and harrasing polyps. I swear they go out of their way to walk over a coral. Great for an invert tank though as they are very active and very pretty (I have some in my 1g on my desk)

I would get 3-5 small blue legs and one or two scarlet or cortez just for diversity.