Welcome to Reef2Reef!
New to the hobby and having a blast, a few questions
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- Thread starter IcarusCantSwim
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Jimbhoy13
7500 Club Member
Welcome to R2R and the salty world. It’s good that you’re taking things slowly. Your tank is looking good. Lots of knowledgeable and helpful people here who will support and advise you when needed.
Emrava
New Member
Welcome to the Reefing life! I see you found out the hard way that this hobby has it really highs and it’s really lows. It feels like most of the times you will be loosing animals but once your tank matures is an easy smooth ride, most of the time hahah
It’s really a process when it comes to building a reef in your tank. It will take time for all the right living organisms to make the perfect ecosystem. Really enjoy the process and you won’t regret it.
Keep reading the old treads they are really helpful.
Blessings!
It’s really a process when it comes to building a reef in your tank. It will take time for all the right living organisms to make the perfect ecosystem. Really enjoy the process and you won’t regret it.
Keep reading the old treads they are really helpful.
Blessings!
Hello and Welcome
OP
OP
Happy spooki day friends, its been fortuitous for me. Traded a few bucks with a pumpkin and got a BRS 4 Stage 75GPD RO/DI. I went ahead and ordered another set of filters just so I've got it "out of the box" but the water I got out of it is already looking pretty nice, was impressed with how fast "75 GPD" really came out.
Mr Pumpkin was kind enough to include a TDS meter
From my understanding, I want this to read 0ppm, but is some variance okay, as long as the number is not WILDLY high? And from here, I can use this water for daily top offs, or can add salt mixes to create water for water changes?
Still trying to figure out phosphate issues in the tank. Been doing water changes with provided water from LFS, was using saltwater for both top offs and 10% changes, so I expect my salinity is probably high as well right now. I have a meter coming in tomorrow to test for certain.
Phosphates remain high, sitting currently at about 2.0ppm, and has been stuck there since I first tested about 10 days ago. Have done 1 10% change, and will do one tomorrow as well. Should there have been a drop after the first 10% removed?
Gonna try to swing through LFS tomorrow and pick up a juvie clown pair to run around. Should I get snails as well? I only have 5 hermits in there currently, and they do a good job right now keeping everything clean, but I dont know if they can keep up once I add fish. Or is it better to have a cleaner shrimp? Start small and go bigger, is the general consensus of everything I've researched, but no clear guidance how how much you need for a tank per se.
Loving the process regardless, learning more every single day, feels like my head might explode but its been so much fun. Talked my parents into letting me utilize some living room space and putting in a big tank. Not so sure how big I want, but Im looking at a footprint of something like 3' deep x 5' long x 5' tall including stand + lights. I know I want a bigger tank, something like 75gal, and I see a few of them occasionally on FB market near me. Is it worth to risk to grab one of these tanks that are 75+ gallons for ~$400-600? Or is it better to just buy a barebones kit from a store with a big tank and good stand?
I know I said in the title I had a few questions and I definitely find an answer to a ton of them AFTER I post the questions here, so pardon my rambling.
Much love to anyone who made it this far, here's a cookie.
Mr Pumpkin was kind enough to include a TDS meter
From my understanding, I want this to read 0ppm, but is some variance okay, as long as the number is not WILDLY high? And from here, I can use this water for daily top offs, or can add salt mixes to create water for water changes?
Still trying to figure out phosphate issues in the tank. Been doing water changes with provided water from LFS, was using saltwater for both top offs and 10% changes, so I expect my salinity is probably high as well right now. I have a meter coming in tomorrow to test for certain.
Phosphates remain high, sitting currently at about 2.0ppm, and has been stuck there since I first tested about 10 days ago. Have done 1 10% change, and will do one tomorrow as well. Should there have been a drop after the first 10% removed?
Gonna try to swing through LFS tomorrow and pick up a juvie clown pair to run around. Should I get snails as well? I only have 5 hermits in there currently, and they do a good job right now keeping everything clean, but I dont know if they can keep up once I add fish. Or is it better to have a cleaner shrimp? Start small and go bigger, is the general consensus of everything I've researched, but no clear guidance how how much you need for a tank per se.
Loving the process regardless, learning more every single day, feels like my head might explode but its been so much fun. Talked my parents into letting me utilize some living room space and putting in a big tank. Not so sure how big I want, but Im looking at a footprint of something like 3' deep x 5' long x 5' tall including stand + lights. I know I want a bigger tank, something like 75gal, and I see a few of them occasionally on FB market near me. Is it worth to risk to grab one of these tanks that are 75+ gallons for ~$400-600? Or is it better to just buy a barebones kit from a store with a big tank and good stand?
I know I said in the title I had a few questions and I definitely find an answer to a ton of them AFTER I post the questions here, so pardon my rambling.
Much love to anyone who made it this far, here's a cookie.
Peair
Active Member
Welcome to: The Reef
And upon seeing this, I instantly wanted a mantis shrimp and was determined to learn what it took to keep one. Strange way to get into the hobby, probably, but its been so much fun from day one.
I did what any impulse decision driven individual does and drove myself to Walmart and got the biggest tank they had (10 gal) and then went to my LFS and asked what it would take to "get this thing goin'" (probably verbatim). They handed me 10 lbs of wet live rock/ 5 lbs of sand from one of the tanks they had lost from Hurricane Helene, 10 gal of saltwater, a bottle of Dr Tims, a Clarkii Clownfish, and a Zebra Damsel. I took these proudly home, aquascaped, aquascaped again... and a 6th time later, I settled on a design, dumped everything in and let the fish loose after a short temp acclimation. Fish took to tank cleanly, both settling under rocks to figure everything out. I went to bed a happy man, with a new tank and 2 happy fish.
Day 2, I wake up and behold a terrible sight. My damsel dead on the ground, the clarkii shovelling its corpse around. My LFS had assured me in a 10 gal, the clarkii and damsel would be fine together, but I chalked it up to maybe I should have done better research of my own, and just got hoodwinked by the LFS for a quick sale on a clueless new hobbyist. Honest mistake on my part, and I felt terribly it had come at the expense of my fish's life, so I wanted to make sure my clarkii was given the best possible life as a solo fish in her 10 gal, so I began to research what water parameters I would need to keep it healthy. Ran a quick water test, and discovered my ammonia was creeping up at .1ppm from where it had been at that morning at .05 which was concerning, but I had figured because I had a dead fish in my tank overnight. I did a 10% water change, and went to bed.
Day 3, I wake up and the clarkii isn't doin too hot. She's bumping around the bottom of the tank, and then darting to the top of the tank for a gulp of oxygen. I took a video of the behavior and asked reddit (oh boy what a choice) what's goin on with my fishy?? About 3 hours later of (some not so) gentle scolding from many hobbyists, I have learned that while TECHNICALLY correct, my tank is "instantly cycled" because my liverock and sand from the LFS came from one of their fish tanks, I still need to cycle the tank through its own nitrogen cycle because anything in the sand may have died and now stirring it up could cause massive ammonia spike (probably what happened). During my period of learning, my clarkii tragically perished, because I was an idiot and didn't have a separate bowl for an event like this. Having felt terribly that my lesson came at the loss of two fish lives, I determined to learn what else I needed to know before ever putting anything else back in the tank.
A week later of ghost feeding, my tank is clean of ammonia, nitrates are sitting at about 20ppm. Fantastic! I did a 10% water change and 3 days later we are sitting at 5ppm nitrates.
So here we are today, with this glorious little nano reef I have started. I dont think I'll get a mantis in this tank ever, its been too much fun just figuring out what I can grow in it. Currently have 5 little blue legged hermits, and I love the goofy little guys, watching them crawl around and cleaning the sand.
The tank in all its glory
Light is a Red Sea50
Generic powerhead, moves 1000GPH
50W heater from walmart
HOB Filter
My question now is, all of my parameters are acceptable for fish, which I do want to put in there, but I have elevated Phosphates. Currently sitting around 1ppm, and Im doing small water changes every 3-5 and my LFS recommended a filter swap to a phosphate reducer one. I forgot name brand, but that's in the tank now. Do I need to wait for fish before I get my phosphates under control? As I understand it, phosphates really only come into play once you want to put corals in, which I do want eventually, but fish are going to throw it all out of balance again anyway, right? HELP???
Anyway its been a total blast to write this, and even more fun learning. I spend late nights reading old threads in bed with my laptop while my wife grumbles next to me when I gasp at a pretty fish. Can't wait to get space for a bigger tank, as this 10 Gal is all I can fit.
B&CinB.C.
Active Member
I'm not an expert but I won't use water that is not 0 tds . You should probably check the calibration on that tds meter if you haven't already done soHappy spooki day friends, its been fortuitous for me. Traded a few bucks with a pumpkin and got a BRS 4 Stage 75GPD RO/DI. I went ahead and ordered another set of filters just so I've got it "out of the box" but the water I got out of it is already looking pretty nice, was impressed with how fast "75 GPD" really came out.
Mr Pumpkin was kind enough to include a TDS meter
From my understanding, I want this to read 0ppm, but is some variance okay, as long as the number is not WILDLY high? And from here, I can use this water for daily top offs, or can add salt mixes to create water for water changes?
Still trying to figure out phosphate issues in the tank. Been doing water changes with provided water from LFS, was using saltwater for both top offs and 10% changes, so I expect my salinity is probably high as well right now. I have a meter coming in tomorrow to test for certain.
Phosphates remain high, sitting currently at about 2.0ppm, and has been stuck there since I first tested about 10 days ago. Have done 1 10% change, and will do one tomorrow as well. Should there have been a drop after the first 10% removed?
Gonna try to swing through LFS tomorrow and pick up a juvie clown pair to run around. Should I get snails as well? I only have 5 hermits in there currently, and they do a good job right now keeping everything clean, but I dont know if they can keep up once I add fish. Or is it better to have a cleaner shrimp? Start small and go bigger, is the general consensus of everything I've researched, but no clear guidance how how much you need for a tank per se.
Loving the process regardless, learning more every single day, feels like my head might explode but its been so much fun. Talked my parents into letting me utilize some living room space and putting in a big tank. Not so sure how big I want, but Im looking at a footprint of something like 3' deep x 5' long x 5' tall including stand + lights. I know I want a bigger tank, something like 75gal, and I see a few of them occasionally on FB market near me. Is it worth to risk to grab one of these tanks that are 75+ gallons for ~$400-600? Or is it better to just buy a barebones kit from a store with a big tank and good stand?
I know I said in the title I had a few questions and I definitely find an answer to a ton of them AFTER I post the questions here, so pardon my rambling.
Much love to anyone who made it this far, here's a cookie.
OP
OP
I tested it against RO/DI water from my LFS and it read 0 on their water, so I'm trusting it. The water that reads 3ppm is just from curiosity how the filter worked. I won't put any of this into my tank till I get new filters in the mail sometime next week and see if it will 0 out. May need to get an upgrade stage. Humph.
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