first saltwater tank

[mikeguerrero]

DaOracle,

Glad to finally see your pics up on the board, glad I could assist. If you haven't already done so, go purchase the surface skimmer cartridge for this tank.

It's very inexpensive and has a ton of value over anything else you might be wanting to purchase, trust me on this.

MG

 

[DaOracle]

Hey mike do you have a link for the surface skimmer cartridge? I was looking online and could not find one for teh biocube.

 

[mikeguerrero]

I thought you have a JBJ tank, I couldn't find one for the Biocube....

 

[DaOracle]

No i have a biocube 29 not a jbj. maybe some one has a diy mod to make a surface sjimmer mod. Also i found a third hemit crab in my tank, i am not sure where he came from i am guessing either the live rock or the shells i bought maybe verry slight posibility in the live sand but he is their and he is a little one legs looked light blue with orange joints any one know what hermit crab has those markings. also i think somthing else preaty big might be in the rock i thought i saw an antenal sticking out at night but it was gone in the morning.

 

[mikeguerrero]

If the hermit has orange on his leg, he should be a halloween hermit crab. They are aggressive and usually go after snails to kill them for the shell. Keep an eye on him.

I wanted to tell you that I really like your sand bed from the photo it looks straight out of one of my dives in Monterey as I approach the shore.

I like the way you have the shells and small rocks all scattered on the bed, it looks natural. Keep up the nice work.

I'm watching your thread grow...

MG

 

[DaOracle]

Hear are pics of the two different hermit crabs maybe you can tell me what type they are. Was suppose to be two blu leg hermit crab but got 3 instead and only one realy has any blu on it.

 

[mikeguerrero]

Yeah that is a halloween hermit grab.... They are among some of the best scavengers on the market, eating all sorts of hair algae and some types of slime algae, they are agressive towards snails because they went the shells... Just be sure to add extra empty shells to keep them happy....

Here is a pic of what they look like up close...

 

[DaOracle]

First i just wanted to thank everyone who has replied for their help.
Ok so it seems like my 3 hermit crabs are lossing the battle to a layer of green alge that is growing over the live rock and down to the sand. I was tninking of adding some more cleaner crew to the tank and was looking for recomendations. (what species , how many and why that species is a good choice).

 

[mikeguerrero]

DaOracle,

If you don't have red hermit crabs pick up 3 small/medium sized. If you don't have nassirus snails, pick up 3 small/medium sized, they will sift through the sand. If you find an emerald crab, I would pick up two small ones if possible, they are excellent at picking off all sorts of algae that other critters don't want.

Remember that your tank is cycling and so a lot of nuisance algae will burn out on it's own as the nutrients are depleted that make it thrive. Trust me on this. Your tank goes through cycles.

You need to be patient and let it run it's course with gradual water changes and a good clean up crew. Don't expect your tank to look like day one when it was sterile and so clean.

It takes a good 6 months for it to look like that again.

Mike G

 

[DaOracle]

Hi mike thanks for the info again. I went to the LFS today but unfortunatly they closed early today I plan to go back and get soem of those cleaners u recomended to me this friday. The good news is they got a new shipment in tonight and they should have the scarlet hermit crabs(is that the same as a red one?) some emrald crabs and as for snails they got teh star astreas in not sure if they have nassirus snails in stock will find out when i get their. I measured all my water perameters and they are the same as last week. Should i start measuring amonia nof that i have fish and inverts? and should i look for a low side nitrate test. Also wondering if you think its ok to add another fish on friday as my tank has been stable for 3 weeks(on friday) two weeks with the clowns and hermits. Was thinking of either a jaw fish or yellow watchman or royal gramma. well look forwad to your answers(if you have a different fish you would recomend please send it my way ps i do plan to add some corals in the future)

 

[mikeguerrero]

Hi mike thanks for the info again. I went to the LFS today but unfortunatly they closed early today I plan to go back and get soem of those cleaners u recomended to me this friday. The good news is they got a new shipment in tonight and they should have the scarlet hermit crabs(is that the same as a red one?) some emrald crabs and as for snails they got teh star astreas in not sure if they have nassirus snails in stock will find out when i get their. I measured all my water perameters and they are the same as last week. Should i start measuring amonia nof that i have fish and inverts? and should i look for a low side nitrate test. Also wondering if you think its ok to add another fish on friday as my tank has been stable for 3 weeks(on friday) two weeks with the clowns and hermits. Was thinking of either a jaw fish or yellow watchman or royal gramma. well look forwad to your answers(if you have a different fish you would recomend please send it my way ps i do plan to add some corals in the future)

If you have test kits at your house, I would go ahead and test for Ammonia and Nitrite, more Nitrite since your into the third week of cycling the tank.

Low Nitrate test will not be needed until you get some serious corals in there and require super low nitrates to keep them happy. So don't burn you money on the Low Nitrate tester, they are expensive.

Go ahead and get the cleanup crew first, remember to fight the urge to place another fish into the equation as once you meet your limit of fish, you cannot get any others.

Sometimes it's better to wait and decide what fish you really want in there like purchasing a Dog, you cannot change your mind that easy, right?

Have your LFS check your water for free, and thank them and don't buy any fish just yet, unless you are sure parameters are perfect and your tank is totally cycled.

Speaking about fish the Royal Gramma and Strawberry dottyback and Yellow Watchmen are all good fish but nothing spectacular.

Wouldn't it make sense to put something different in that tank of yours that other reefers don't have? It's easy if you are patient and wait, you will be rewarded later.

A nice place to look at pics of some really cool nano fish is, www.liveaquaria.com go ahead and check them out.

Don't order from them but just scan all the fish that would do nice in your tank, something rare is always something nice to have and bring to the boards, makes you a great caregiver to something exotic.

Hope this helps you out...

MG

 

[DaOracle]

OK I fleshed out my clean up crew today. Picked up 2 medium scarlet hermit crabs, 3 small nassirus snails, and 2 med star astrea snails(this might have been a mistake i dint relize they were that big and dont realy climb on rocks. the one star astrea has already bumped into a burried nassirus snail so i moved it to a different corner of teh tank). I dint see any emerald crabs at the time. Ill probly let these guys settle for 2-3 weeks before i decide to add anything else. Let the tank move through its cycles and see if the alge becomes better controled. Ohh i almost forgot i bought my first coral today. Its a small ricordea frag it was a nice shade of purple and blue. I put it in the tank and it seems to have closed up a bit. Is this normal or does it mean i picked a bad location for it? I have it at the base of the smaller rock pile would think water flow shouldnt be too rough their and it should get full light from the biocube compact lights. well looking forward to any replies. ps hope every one had good thanksgiving.

 

[mikeguerrero]

DeOracle,

Good job on the rest of the cleaning crew, let them to to work and be patient... Regarding the Florida Ricordea, nice pick, they are fairly hardy and easy to take care of....

They don't like a lot of water movement, very little if any and they will expand. They also like dispersed light, not directly on them, so on the bottom in a corner is a good choice....

Remember most corals will not fully expand when moved and adjusting to new parameters, so give it a day or two, you can try different areas trying to be as gentle as possible in the moving....

He should open up nicely when all things are aligned...

MG

 

[DaOracle]

Thanks for the helppicking out the rest of my clean up crew. I am trying to be patient and let these guys get to work cleaning up the alge. Yesterday i did a around 10% water change(not sure how mutch water is actualy in the tank i estimate 21-24gal) so i did a little over 2 gallons of water changed. After i got home i checked the water parameters and got the following results.
Specific Gravity-1.023
PH-8.2-8.4
Nitrate-0.0-5.0
Phosphate-0-0.25
Callcium-360
Hardness-143.2-161.1
Amonia-N/A

So i am a little worried about the calcium wich dropped by 100ppm. Hopping its from the water change and it will just take a bit for the calcium to leech back into the water.It allso apears as if the Florida Ricordea has oppened up. I turned off the power head and only circulation is the return pump do you think that is enough water circualation or should i play with the power head placement and the location of the Florida Ricordea.

 

[DaOracle]

here are some new picks.

 

[DaOracle]

a sad day

I think i lost one of my hermit crabs The little blue legged crab might have died . I was looking over my tank today and saw the astrea snail latched onto the verry small shell of the blue legged snail(was easy to notice as his snail was different from all teh other crabs) I sepperated them and put the snail on a patch of alge and looked in the shell and saw nothing. I then saw in the ruble zone by my tank somthing blue it looked like the crab but was out of its shell i put the shell by it and to my horror its legs floated away. It was hard to tell what happened hear are some possibilities.
1) the crab got scared by the snail its like 5-8 times its size and as the snail climbed over it it left its shell and got eaten by somthing mayve teh clown fish.
2) Maybe it chose a new shel last night and molted and is hiding and that was just the molt i saw in the ruble. only time will tell. currently only count 4 crab shells but their are some good hiding places(ps i got rid of what was left of the hermit crab.

To make things worse i saw an aptisa( i think that is spelled correctly) so i guess i need to get a peperment shrimp. Man when it rains it pours.

 

[DaOracle]

new fish

So I took everyone’s advice and waited and researched and finally got a new fish. I had originally set up my tank to house a jaw fish and that’s what I got a blue spot jaw fish. Wife didn’t like him but I think she is warming up to him. I got her to name the fish and he now goes by jimmy jaw. I had wanted this fish but was worried about the price, but when mike reminded me I couldn’t get many fish and to chose something I really wanted and/or something unique I new I wanted the blue spot jaw fish. In my opinion the online pictures don’t do him any justice. I got him today from the LFS and also got 2 more snails (as my hermit crabs ate all the smaller nasirus snails and the smaller blue hermit crabs). I also got a nice zoa frag. Most of the buds are yellow /green but 2-3 of the buds are orange and blue. I will post my pics l8. My current stocking list is:
2 false pecula clownfish
2 scarlet hermit crabs
2 peppermint shrimp(I might be getting rid of these guys they have gotten huge and I think might be the culprits behind the death of the smaller hermit crabs and snails as I didn’t loose anyone till their arrival)
3 troch snails
1 aster snail (might remove them for trench snail as they seem to bump into things more often than the trench snails)
1 med nasirus snail
And the star of the tank 1 blue spotted jaw fish