A
Anonymous
Guest
I thought I would throw this in for the sake of others new to the hoby
I started my 10 gallon tank early in may, pitifully unprepared information wise. The tank started out as such
10g plexi-glass tank
20 lb Live Sand
Fake rocks
Penguin Mini
Generic Powerhead
air-pump and air-stone
Everything was set up much how I would set up for goldfish with the exception of the live sand and the power-head. I (much to my chagrin) cycled the tank with 2 damselfish.
Chrysiptera parasema: Yellow-tailed Blue Damselfish
Stegastes Variabilis: Cocoa Damselfish
The cycle nearly killed the Cocoa (which at the time of purchace I thought was a lemon damselfish). Eventaully I moved the Cocoa to a 2.5 gallon "Hospital" with sterile water, while he convelesed for his ride back to the fish store. He was VERY aggresive as well as sickly. He got better and went back to the store I got him from when he was healthy and eating aggresivly.
Since the tank was done cycling, I thought adding one more fish would not be bad (since I only had a 3/4" damsel in there) so I added a 4 Striped Discilus, but this was only temporary until my Brother's tank finnished cycling (he has the advantage of watching me screw up first). Everything was going OK.
At this point I had snails and crabs crawling all over the place (almost more fun than watching the fish sometimes) and 1 healthy damselfish (My brother got the Disculus, which grew considerably in the short time I had him). I finaly bought some live rock. "Fully Cured" isn't always what it is cracked up to be. Barely alive may be a more appropriate description. This rock was pitiful. I had 6 living fanworms (extra tiny) when I got it, and it caused another small cycle (which I expected anyway), but I was looking forward to having a bit more life coming from the rock other than backteria and 1/2 doz fan worms...
I just gave away(edit: turns out the give-away fell through, LFS decided they didn't want it anyway, guess he is stuck for a while) a naughty naughty crab that ate all my fanworms and a couple of snails yesterday (I like Nasarius snails, they rise from the sandbed like zombies when I feed the tank). Last weekend I bougt a rock covered with mushrooms (Actinodiscus sp is my best guess, I'm mostly color-blind to red and green) which looked pethetic in the fish store (a whole nother story, great staff, mis-informed micro-manager) which the clerk sold to me at a discount, practically begging me to save it. Since it has moved to my tank the mushrooms seem to have spread further on the rock and look much healthier, and I can observe what seems to be feeding behaviour but only at night. I also added a Yellow Clown Goby (about the cutest fish I have ever seen (Gobiodon okinawae)). The tank is humming, but there are a few lessons I have learned from this. I will list them in order of my opinion of importance
1.) READ
2.) Be patient
3.) Live rock is not optional.
4.) Be consistent in maintenance (small systems change rapidly from cycle to crash)
5.) Observe your system often and with a critical eye toward the health of your wards
6.) if you have a stupid question ask it, Knowlege does not come from a vacum
7.) Most advice is good, but different things work for different folks (ie. dsp, plenum, fuge etc...)
8.) Care for your critters, they bleed too!
That said (proly by others a thousand times already) I have plans for future projects.
I have an empty 26 gallon that I will set up after I move in a couple of months, that will be the home of a couple (hope I can find a male and female) of Banggai Cardinalfish. I will also be adjusting a spreadsheet that I have started for a while that will be my main display tank (hmm... 75G or 120G Oceanic?).
Reefs.org has been instrumental both passively and actively to the sucseful start of my little nano system. So thanks to all that have helped, and happy reefing
I started my 10 gallon tank early in may, pitifully unprepared information wise. The tank started out as such
10g plexi-glass tank
20 lb Live Sand
Fake rocks
Penguin Mini
Generic Powerhead
air-pump and air-stone
Everything was set up much how I would set up for goldfish with the exception of the live sand and the power-head. I (much to my chagrin) cycled the tank with 2 damselfish.
Chrysiptera parasema: Yellow-tailed Blue Damselfish
Stegastes Variabilis: Cocoa Damselfish
The cycle nearly killed the Cocoa (which at the time of purchace I thought was a lemon damselfish). Eventaully I moved the Cocoa to a 2.5 gallon "Hospital" with sterile water, while he convelesed for his ride back to the fish store. He was VERY aggresive as well as sickly. He got better and went back to the store I got him from when he was healthy and eating aggresivly.
Since the tank was done cycling, I thought adding one more fish would not be bad (since I only had a 3/4" damsel in there) so I added a 4 Striped Discilus, but this was only temporary until my Brother's tank finnished cycling (he has the advantage of watching me screw up first). Everything was going OK.
At this point I had snails and crabs crawling all over the place (almost more fun than watching the fish sometimes) and 1 healthy damselfish (My brother got the Disculus, which grew considerably in the short time I had him). I finaly bought some live rock. "Fully Cured" isn't always what it is cracked up to be. Barely alive may be a more appropriate description. This rock was pitiful. I had 6 living fanworms (extra tiny) when I got it, and it caused another small cycle (which I expected anyway), but I was looking forward to having a bit more life coming from the rock other than backteria and 1/2 doz fan worms...
I just gave away(edit: turns out the give-away fell through, LFS decided they didn't want it anyway, guess he is stuck for a while) a naughty naughty crab that ate all my fanworms and a couple of snails yesterday (I like Nasarius snails, they rise from the sandbed like zombies when I feed the tank). Last weekend I bougt a rock covered with mushrooms (Actinodiscus sp is my best guess, I'm mostly color-blind to red and green) which looked pethetic in the fish store (a whole nother story, great staff, mis-informed micro-manager) which the clerk sold to me at a discount, practically begging me to save it. Since it has moved to my tank the mushrooms seem to have spread further on the rock and look much healthier, and I can observe what seems to be feeding behaviour but only at night. I also added a Yellow Clown Goby (about the cutest fish I have ever seen (Gobiodon okinawae)). The tank is humming, but there are a few lessons I have learned from this. I will list them in order of my opinion of importance
1.) READ
2.) Be patient
3.) Live rock is not optional.
4.) Be consistent in maintenance (small systems change rapidly from cycle to crash)
5.) Observe your system often and with a critical eye toward the health of your wards
6.) if you have a stupid question ask it, Knowlege does not come from a vacum
7.) Most advice is good, but different things work for different folks (ie. dsp, plenum, fuge etc...)
8.) Care for your critters, they bleed too!
That said (proly by others a thousand times already) I have plans for future projects.
I have an empty 26 gallon that I will set up after I move in a couple of months, that will be the home of a couple (hope I can find a male and female) of Banggai Cardinalfish. I will also be adjusting a spreadsheet that I have started for a while that will be my main display tank (hmm... 75G or 120G Oceanic?).
Reefs.org has been instrumental both passively and actively to the sucseful start of my little nano system. So thanks to all that have helped, and happy reefing
