carolyn said:
As a newbie to the saltwater Nano Tank. I have a 12 gallon. Several stupid questions, but I need to know to understand.
Why is lighting important.
Why does the sand look brownish.
Why does some coral survive and others don't especially if they were fine for a while. I moved them several times while cleaning the tank.
How gentle to you have to be when you move the things in the tank while cleaning.
If you've only got fish crabs/snails in your tank lighting isn't important. However if you're tyring to keep corals then it's important because most of the colorful corals that people keep rely on photosynthesis for a large part of their energy.
Different corals have different needs. Just like different plants require different levels of light, or water, some corals need different food, different light, different water flow, etc...
Moving them can be problematic, it's certainly stressful for them to be touched, but if the tank is stable, and you put them back into the same areas then it shouldn't be that big a deal. However if you're moving them around the tank, then they have to acclimate to new current patterns, and new lighting levels at each new area of the tank you put them in.
Speaking of acclimating them. How are you acclimating your corals/animals before putting them in the tank? If you're just floating the bag for 15mins and then dumping them in, that would explain some of the deaths. Look up drip acclimating, or drip acclimation.
If your sandbed is brown, it's probably a diatom bloom. Generally you don't get these once your tank has gone through it's cycle. Did you setup the tank with sand and liverock and leave it alone for a month with nothing in it? If you didn't then your tank probably hasn't completed it's cycle. How long has your tank been set up?
carolyn said:
Well, yes I did jump in without any research. But, that's the way I operate with anything..
Sorry, but you'll have to change your attitude, and start doing some serious research, or you'll kill tons of stuff and spend a fortune unnecessarily. Or like lots of other people you'll find that it's frustrating because you can't keep anything alive and you'll quit the hobby.
This hobby is about patience and research. You're setting up a complicated biosphere for living animals. They all have different requirements and some will not get along with others. There's no way for you to be successful at this unless you do the reseach on what you're trying to keep.
carolyn said:
In my tank I have about 6 snails, 3 or 4 crabs, 1 starfish that stays under the sand and 1 red starfish that clings to the rock, 1 flowerpot coral, 1 lime green thing that looks like a huge golf ball with large nubles on it, 1 tall flourescent pink thing, 1 red brain, 2 feather dusters, different types, 1 fire gobie, 1 nemo, 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 blood red shrimp and a couple of other corals that I don't know the names of.
If you don't know the names of things, how do you know you have the right lighting, temperature, calcium levels, or enough flow to keep them alive? Are you just walking into the store and pointing?
carolyn said:
I change out 2 gallons of water every week, the ph is fine. I feed frozen brine shrimp and some beef flakes and squirt plankton in twice a week. Everything looks great - though I have had a couple of corals die I think because I moved them around trying to get the yeng and yang right.
The fact that you're doing weekly water changes is the first good thing I've read. Keep it up, that's great!
Brine shimp aren't nutritous. It's essentially the same as you trying to live off of popcorn. It's good for trying to get fish to eat, because it triggers a strong feeding response, but nutritionally it's worthless. Beef flake isn't worth a darn either. It doesn't have the right amino acids and fats in it to keep salt water critters going. The fact that you're feeding phyto is good. Your featherdusters and any other fine filter feeders will need it. You mention pH, but that's only one parameter. For a reef tank you have to be monitoring salinity, pH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, phosphates, and calcium, as well. These are just the basics...Lots of people also test for magnesium, strontium, iron, molybdenum, and other trace elements.
carolyn said:
Why would you use tap water to top off your tank. I use saltwater to top off when it is low. I don't make my own. I get it from a local fish store that gets it from Scripps.
RO/DI stands for reverse osmosis/deionized. This is a filtration process for fress water. At the very least you should be topping off with RO water. Your local fish store, (LFS), will probably carry it. You can NOT top off with saltwater and have your water quality be ok. You lose water to evaporation. When it evaporates it leaves the salt behind, so your salinity level slowly rises as the water level decreases because the same amount of salt is now in less water. When you add salt water you added more water, but you also added more salt, so your salinity levels are going to go through the roof.
The fact is if you're not willing to do some research and reading then folks online aren't really going to be able to help you much. If you are willing to do the work then you should check out the link that was posted earlier. Also check out the newbie forums and read all the sticky posts on these sites as well as the ones on here. All the boards have a search tool. Use it if you come across stuff you don't understand. Good luck.
B
www.reefcentral.com
www.nano-reef.com
www.reefs.org
