New tank, new reefer

[nycfishy]

about 4 months ago a walked into a pet store intending to buy a small tank and a couple of goldfish for my kids. Long story short I walked out with a biocube 8 some assorted accessories (including a plastic
'coral' tank decoration) and lots of bad advice. I usually do lots of research before jumping into to something like this but I had always wanted a salt water tank and the pet store guy sold me a line about once you add the salt water and get it running it's easier than fresh water.
Anyway lots of reading later I?ve learned much and somehow become attached and understand why people say it's an addiction.
attached of pic of my tank. the fish were "free" with the tank. Put a peppermint in a few days ago to try and get ahead of aptasia i have growing on the two small pieces of live rock I got from pet store.
any suggestions (coral placement, rocks, beginner tips, etc. ) would be great.
Already talking myself into idea that I "need' a bigger tank. See you are at the frag swap.

 

[FMF0331]

Nice start, you'll be needing a bigger tank soon. Get the biggest tank you can afford. This way you won't have 4 different size tank sitting in your garage. I started with a 55 then moved on to a 75 .. 90..now i'm up to a 200 gallon

 

[nycfishy]

I put a peppermint in the other day, is it normal to put them in and not see them again?

 

[skene]

yes they will usually hide... they aren't much for hanging out.. if you want a shrimp that stays out in the open... get a cleaner shrimp.

 

[nycfishy]

can I put any more fish (would love a goby and a firefish) and shrimp in that little tank?

 

[dherrera83]

Cleaner shrimp are crazy!!... Mine jumps on my hand everytime i put my hand it. If i close my hand i can grab it... lol funny guy.

Tip: Get a good test kit and make sure all your levels are good. If you live in an apartment dont get a bigger tank unless your like on the first floor or ground level. you dont want issue with the people downstairs when a leak/over flow happens; and that happens to everyone. Also, dont feed into the name hype; buy what you like and prefer in your tank. I hate seeing people pay a 100 for a one polyp frag and then break the tank down a few months later complaining that its too expensive to maintain. Good luck and like always stay salty my friend (XXX voice)... :smoker:

 

[dherrera83]

You need nano fish, dont put in a tang or something. Otherwise, the tang police will arrest you and you will forever be known as the guy that kept a tang in an 8g tank....

GO to like liveaquaria and check out there nano fish selection. You can get an idea from there and if you like to order from them just ask a fellow reefer to split shipping. OR you can just check out other vendors on here and ask them about your desired nano fish. Just keep in mind you dont want too many fish in there as that will increase your bioload.

You can also check other nano tank threads for ideas.

 

[nycfishy]

have an API salt water test kits, plus calcium and kH, all levels look good.
dherrera83....can;t reply to you (not enough posts yet)...but yes that's a plate coral on top of rocks over to the right...is that a bad place for him? he seems ot be moving closers to the edge and taking the plunge.

 

[nycfishy]

can a 8 gallon support 3 nano fish?
do shrimp count as fish?

 

[andylee]

What's the lighting situation in there?

 

[skene]

yes take the plate down and put him on the sand.

 

[dherrera83]

the plate is gonna take the fall for sure. he needs to be one the sand bed like skene just mentioned. if he doesnt look good put him in the center but closer towards the rock so he gets a little shade. he will then move to the front of the tank once he feels better. Atleast that what i did with mine and hes pretty happy..

 

[rookie07]

Your lighting is the first issue.....All but a few Coral use algae in their tissue to produce energy via photosynthesis...thus lighting is very important. What type of lights do you have on your tank? Luckily all your coral (That I can see) have low light requirements, so you should be ok for now.

Everything in your tank poops. Inverts (Snails, crabs, etc) eat and poop, fish and coral eat and poop...thus, when determining how many fish you can keep in a tank, you must also consider all living things in tank. I think you are maxed out in regards to additional fish, only b/c you have picked two fish that get decent sized....if you had 2-4 firefish or tiny type fish it would be a different story. The fish you have chosen are hadry, tough fish...good choice for a nano where temp/salinity will be fluctuating (a good controller will help steady the temp)

When adding livestock to a tank you must add slowly, as the tank must build up a proper system to handle all waste (bioload) and brake it down....this happens when all the waste/crap in the tank gets broken down by bacteria and returned back into the system via gases/etc. It takes a long time for your tank to build up this "system" to properly handle waste...take it slowly so you don't have a sudden crash. Water changes help alot on a new system, helping overcome the lack of a proper "system".

If you can, a small fuge (Refugium, basically a area for algae to grow without any predators) in the rear with a small light on reverse schedule would help maintain PH and keep levels in normal range.

 

[basiab]

Loks nice to me.
The plate coral belongs on the sand.
I would remove the fish you have and replace them with some really small and peaceful fish. Clown goby, firefish and possibly a blenny.

Before you buy any fish or coral make sure you know their requirements.
For fish it is how much room they need and how difficult it is to feed them and compatibility with what you already have.

For corals it is what kind of lighting, waterflow and if they need feeding. I would try to avoid too much of a mixture of coral types. This is a small volume of water. Corals fight by giving off chemicals that are toxic to ther corals and sometimes even to fish. They are less likely to do it if the other corals are in the same family.

 

[nycfishy]

36W of compact fluorescent split between white and antic.
stock lighting for a biocube 8

 

[nycfishy]

thanks for all the feedback. I'll move the plate to the sandbed tonight.
lighting is 36W of compact fluorescent split between white and antic
I tried running a small reverse cycle refuguem in the media basket with an underwater light but my temps were getting to high. Also the Chaeto I had in there would get covered in brown sludge (assume I was over feeding?)
What other coral is good for a nano?

 

[andylee]

How long have you been up and running? Don't take this the wrong way, but it's OK to slow down a bit. Add one coral, wait a bit, see how everything responds, then another a few weeks later. With a small space, you need to plan a bit so everything has some room to expand and grow.

 

[nycfishy]

fish added 3 months ago when cycle finished
button polys came with the live rock I bought to seed the dry rock
CUC 2 weeks later
candy cane coral about 4 weeks after that
plate coral, peppermint shrimp and GSP added this past weekend.

this is all new to me so not sure how big this stuff gets or how fast it grows.
trying to go slow but its not something I'm good at.

 

[skene]

oh and btw... SW is definitely easier than FW. Other than testing out your water once in a while.... or for the freak testers... every day.
Yeah I would take a step back and just allow the system to really try and catch up.
Going crazy with a small setup can be a recipe for disaster.

 

[Awibrandy]

Welcome to your new addiction!

Welcome to the MR family! I think you will like it here. Really nice people around.

You have gotten very good advice already in all the previous post. I will only add that you need to get better test kits, such as "Salifert, Elos, LaMotte, Hannah Checker" to name a few.
I use API only for a quick ammonia, nitrate, or PH to compare to my hand held PH tester.