Starting a Red Sea max 130d

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KillerKlownFish

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Where to place a frogspawn?
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KillerKlownFish

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To date I now have:
2-clowns
1-scooter blenny
1- cleaner shrimp
1-frog spawn
1-sebae Anenome
1 frag favia
A CUC aka housekeepers!
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caflyfisher

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Great start! Did the LFS give you any advice on what to feed your scooter? Pods maybe? just curious as i have been interested in getting one of these myself!
 
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KillerKlownFish

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Tank is about 6 weeks old.

Sebae Anemone died! It had all kinds of stuff coming out the side of it.

So I did a water change 10 gallons
Removed the media took a while to get it out. I thought you have to replace it so I got a new bag which is a bit smaller. Someone else just told me rinse it every month and replace it after 3.
I replaced the carbon bag that came w it but the only size bags I got at the store were two little bags.
I positioned my coral
Shrooms and ricordea at the bottom
Zoos at the mid point.
Not sure if I have an acan put it at the bottom in the gravel.
I got a tiny watchman... He's MIA sometimes I'll see him come out of a whole for a sec.

Ordered some more coral not sure when it will arrive.
 
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KillerKlownFish

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Great start! Did the LFS give you any advice on what to feed your scooter? Pods maybe? just curious as i have been interested in getting one of these myself!

I feed him mysis. He ate all the pods in the tank. I bought more pods but he goes to town.
They just got the ruby scarlet looking scooter $90
 
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KillerKlownFish

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what the heck watchman disappeared!
I'm thinking he died and the cuc ate him.
I'm not taking out my rock to see if he's alive.
I'm gonna write him off as Mia/Kia
 
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KillerKlownFish

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Ordered from reefs2go a few weeks ago and got the beginner frag pack. Everything is growing well!
I ordered a few more corals but this storm is pushing everything off. I added on some more coral and a pistol shrimp maybe the watchman will come out and befriend him. If he's dead then I'm gonna pick up another watchman. I am also looking into a blennie or a flame angel and eventually a BTA.
 
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KillerKlownFish

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So far nothing shipped out yet from reefs2go but they say it ships today!

Ok so I now know why they call them watchman gobies.
You watch them disappear. And you keep watching hoping that one day they will come out!

Picked up a rainbow (3 head) acan for $50
And a favia for $40 looks like a Christmas favia but the green is more metallic neon green and the red is more of a brown marrow color.
 
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KillerKlownFish

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I returned the flame angel.
I got a tiny royal gramma
And a tiny 6line wrasse
Now I'm at
2 clowns
1 scooter blenny
1 royal gramma
1 6line wrasse
A missing yellow watch man.

I think I can do 2 more fish
Flame tail blenny?
And
Pseudo chromis?
If I do 1"/gallon on a 34 gallon I'm at 21" if I add the 2 I'd be at 28.
Maybe I'll just add the flame tail and be at 25!

Constructive criticism is always appreciated!!!
Thanks!
 

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Nice start, however I can point a few things out to save some $...


First make sure you do your research before buying livestock... the clerks working at LFS just work there and most of them don't even have a fish-tank.... take any advice from them with a grain of salt... they normally scroll through some book and tell you if the fish is adequate for the size of the tank and that's pretty much their knowledge... always research or make sure you take advice from trustworthy people and not the LFS.

Mistakes:

- blenny in a 34g tank is not recommended especially in a new tank (look into nutramar ova and hope that fish starts eating frozen, although you said hes tiny, so perhaps start some brine shrimp hatcheries and add some selcon to the water)
- anemone in a 6 week tank... most reefers will tell you to wait a year before adding an anemone
- coral in a newly established tank ... again you're asking for trouble and will most likely end up flushing your $ down the drain. some easy coral will do OK like Kenya tree, leather corals and most soft corals, however Id suggest waiting on LPS and especially SPS until the tank matures
- API test kits are extremely inaccurate, I have a set and wish I would have saved my cash and bought the better test kits and testers to start out and skip the API.
- 6line is a awesome fish but aggressive especially in a 34gallon tank - again if the LFS suggested this fish for a 34g I'd question their knowledge. As the fish mature it will own that tank and stress most fish out
- flame angel... angels are beautiful fish but are typically reef safe with caution for some of the dwarf fish, meaning it can go both ways (id stay away from them if coral was involved)
- chromis are awesome schooling fish but don't typically do very well and they can kill each other in the long term, so personally id stay away unless you want to take a chance (they are cheap enough for this) - some reefers have good experience with them however
- Yellow wachman goby - I have two gobies paired with pistol shrimp (one in the display and one in the sump) and I think the substrate is not adequate for any sand shifting gobies as they like smaller grain sand so they can sift the sand through their mouth and out the gills... with that being said they can disappear for a few weeks as they make their burrows under the rocks so its not uncommon, if hes alive I suggest adding a tiger pistol shrimp as a watchman and pistol make a cool symbiotic relationship (make sure its a tiger pistol otherwise it will eat the goby)

What protein skimmer are you using on the system?


To me it seems like you're rushing in this hobby and that's never a good thing.
 
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KillerKlownFish

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Thanks for the info.
So far so good.
The owners son sold me the angel. It's a beautiful fish. I called and asked to return it he said no problem. The other guy I talk to there will tell me the truth he's got a bunch of different tanks.
All the fish I have are 1/2" to inch big. $10-$20 each.
I do a 10 gal water change every week.
My Params are always good.
Last time I cleaned it I readjusted the rock.
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There's a hole in my tank!
6Line wrasse disappeared! Must have followed the watchman.
Although the klowns look suspect. I think they held him above water till he died and had the clean up crew dispose of the body.
I'm keeping an eye on The Royal Grandma!!! Lol
 

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Can you possibly have a predator shrimp or something which came with the livestock killing the fish?

Do you ever hear any noises at night? If honestly try some critter trap.
I've had a few tanks from 10g to 75 and the only way I list fish was due to disease or carpet surf.
 
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KillerKlownFish

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I cleaned out the skimmer when I did a water change on Sunday. Also the fish can't fit through the opening screen and the sponge filter behind it.
I googled the hell out of this and found that the watchmen hide in rocks and wrasse tend to bury themselves in the sand bed. My two clowns are fine. I'm keeping an eye on the royal gramma. If the gramma disappears then I'll have to take out the rock and sand and search for a predator.
 
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KillerKlownFish

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So I added back a watchman and he's a bit bigger then the last still a bit small. He doesn't go over to the pistol shrimp but he might eventually. I got a bi color blenny who is awesome! He's a bit of a nut but fun to watch. Tank is coming along slowly zoos are growing like crazy so are the acans. I do miss the 6line. Currently I have 6 fish so I don't think I'll add more but hopefully the 6line is somewhere in the tank alive.
 

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Where are the updated pics? It's been almost a month! :)
 
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Updated pic
ImageUploadedByREEF2REEF1396146577.969691.jpg

I have a inferno BTA on the left side and a condy stuck in the middle back. I lost a ricordea. He fell off his frag and floats around the tank. He is in the sand bed next to the BTA. Got a few acro. Replaced the watchman he just found the pistol lol. So far so good tank is doing well. Looks great at night with the blue true lumen led strip on.
 
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