Newbie Log: U P D A T E

[RSanders]

Well I’m off and running so I thought I would share some thoughts and feeling since alot of what I know now comes from the feedback from the boards.
Just to give a little history, I bought my Dad’s 75g setup he used for freshwater: Tank, stand, two Mag350 canister filters, heater, a large airstone w/ pump, and net.

DAY 1:
I ordered online from a few diff sites- 90# of Fiji LR, 4x65 FL, Blue to Black Background, (also a guitar for my Daughter for Christmas), and a SeaClone150 skimmer. Totaling around $680-$700 so far.<less the GEEtar> Then I took a ride to the LFS w/ my GF and picked up 60# of LS, 3 bags of salt, and a tester for salinity, another $220. Got home, and started filling the tank w/ tap water and salt. After tweaking the salt a little, got it to the right salinity. Set up the mag filters to circulate the water.

I continue reading and reading to make sure I’m ready for this. So then guilt sets in and….
DAY2:
Ordered RO/DI 6 stage water filter for the good of the fishies. Another $200 <damn>

DAY3:
After letting the tank sit full –o- water for a day, added the 3 bags of LS (60#).

DAY4:
Checked levels w/ test kits and everything looks fine. LFS says I may not go through a full cycle since I put in all the LS so I picked up two Damsels and threw ‘em in.<after proper acclimation>

DAY5:
UPS dropped off the lights. After opening them up, I have to take it apart somewhat to get the moonlights in the proper places. Total install of the lights and timers took around an hour and a half to two hours. My little Damsels are rocking and rolling around this tank. They look funny.. two little fish in a big empty 75 gal w/ LS. They dug little holes in the sand like bunkers that they live in. My kids are loving them.

DAY6:
I knew the LR was coming today so before the rock arrived, I ran out and picked up two 38 gallon Rubbermaid trashcans with lids, $8each, and an extra heater from the LFS. FEDX dropped off the 90# of LR. Up until this point in time, I haven’t really been getting very excited about the whole thing. A little while at the fish store admiring some of my future livestock, but it all still feels far away. Until I opened up the boxes of LR. I expected them to not be very good since I budget shopped but boy was I surprised. The rock looked great! It looked right on the pix of the Fiji premium stuff on the sites. The smell of the opened boxes reminded me of the ocean. I know that doesn’t seem like much but I grew up a surfer in Florida and moved here to Ohio two years ago. 8O SHELL SHOCK. So smelling these boxes got me excited. Now I can see the goal getting closer. . I was ready so I scrubbed the rock, cleaned it off in one can then rested it in the other. While doing this UPS dropped off my skimmer so as soon as I finished getting the rock scrubbed and in the can w/ water, I put together the skimmer and tossed it on the can to help move the water. I also tossed in the heater and airstone to keep it heated and moving. Right now it’s about 81 degrees in there and I’m keeping the lid on it best I can to keep any light out.

SHEEW… hard day. :? Hands are raw from the rock and arms and back are sore from carrying everything. So before I called it a day, I cleaned out the two 5 gallon buckets and trash can. Then I mixed some fresh saltwater so it can age a few days before using it for the rocks water change. My plan is to take the rocks out of one, give them a little scrub, then place them in the fresh one. Then move over all the equipment to the can with the rocks, and clean out the used one and get it ready for the rocks to come back.

So that’s where I’m at… End of day six. I’m exhausted. I have a seat to admire the two Damsels in the tank for awhile. They seem to be getting along great and doing well. Both eating and swimming about. One is a Blue Devil, the other a Domino. We named them Blue Steel and Magnum.

NEXT:
My son and I are planning to change the rock in a few days and just wait for it to cure. The tank seems to be doing fine. I am checking the levels and I’m not sure what’s going on. Everything is reading just fine. I have been slightly overfeeding to help the tank cycle but I’m not sure if it is or not. I’ll keep you posted. 8)

~R

 

[RSanders]

The Tank and Curing LR

 

[jmrugo]

Nice to see your log. Thanks for sharing.

Major rule of aquarium keeping: do not name your fish and do not fall in love with them. Fish die easily no matter how much or little they cost, or how long or short a time you have them. View the entire ecosystem as your pet, not the component parts.

At least thats what I think, and of course I could be wrong.

 

[RacinRabit]

Keep us posted on how things develop! Remember to be patient and not rush to throw in all of the brightly colored fish you see in the LFS. Do your homework before you add each new memeber of your aquarium family to ensure they will get along, will be easy to feed and will be hardy. I agree with the earlier posting too - watch out for the damsels as they become more and more agressive as they get comfortable with their new digs!
:lol:

 

[jmrugo]

I agree with RacinRabbit. Take it from someone, me, who made many mistakes along the road.

I would go even further: do not trust the LFS. They want to sell.
Do your research here first.

And patience, patience, patience. If I was starting over, I would let the tank mature 6 months or more without fish, maybe some snails only. Figure a year before adding corals.

Make your equipment first rate, the skimmer most important of all.
Invest in Salifert test kits. Work hard at getting the right water flow in the tank.

This is a serious, complicated hobby in which to be successful you will have to become an amateur marine biologist.

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a helluva week. Welcome to the hobby!!!

 

[RSanders]

If you haven't yet, you may want to do a search on SeaClone skimmers. Some people have some...errr...heated opinions on them...

I did read that many ppl think that they don't do a very good job. I have also read a few threads where ppl actually had them in the same tank as another <can't remember the brand> skimmer that was supposed to be much better and said they each had equal amounts of crap(?) in them at cleaning time. Another reason I went w/ that one is I am running the Mag350's and thought they would help out.

Damsels are decent starter fish, but consider that they are very territorial, and just plain mean...[/quote

Ok. Honestly I just wanted action in there.. however little it may be. I wasn't planning on putting anymore fish in there for awhile so I will prob just leave em in till that time. Then take them back to the fish store on a trade in.

Thanks for the info..
~R

 

[RSanders]

Major rule of aquarium keeping: do not name your fish and do not fall in love with them.

I do agree with that as far as feeling the loss and shorter lifespans and such. Honestly though... I think I would feel the same loss with either "Aww looking at sparky swimmin' around" vrs "Aww look at that spotted fish swimmin' around". Not to mention since I don't believe in an"afterlife" I think it would help display "life and death" to my kids. Plus is just fun!!

Who knows... I might just change my mind though if I loose a tank full one time.

~R

 

[RSanders]

I agree with RacinRabbit. Take it from someone, me, who made many mistakes along the road.

I would go even further: do not trust the LFS. They want to sell.
Do your research here first.

And patience, patience, patience. If I was starting over, I would let the tank mature 6 months or more without fish, maybe some snails only. Figure a year before adding corals.

Make your equipment first rate, the skimmer most important of all.
Invest in Salifert test kits. Work hard at getting the right water flow in the tank.

This is a serious, complicated hobby in which to be successful you will have to become an amateur marine biologist.

Thanks for the info. My flow rate right now is around 900GPH in my 75g tank so I'm thinking thats correct. (yes?)

Thanks for the info on the test kits. I think I will do that as the little strips I have seem to be overly simple as in not very specific. They use ranges and so forth instead on exact numbers so I think that will be my next purchase.

On the skimmer, will see what happens.. I know there are mized reviews on the SeaClone but thats why I went with the larger of the two hoping it would pick up the slack.

~R

 

[RSanders]

Sounds like a helluva week. Welcome to the hobby!!!

Thanks Chris, I'm excited to be here!!

~R

 

[Anonymous]

Fish die easily no matter how much or little they

Not totally true..Fish can live several years under proper care and conditions..Its all about maintanence and research of the animals you plan to keep. I have fish several years old because i have kept proper care to them..I recently lost a fire fish after nearly two years only due to the fact i shorted out my surge protectors and the cold of the aquarium killed it..and nearly my clowns too..You would die to if kept in unkept and maintained conditions...This kind of mentality is a setup for failure..Ive been in the aquatics hobby for 16years and going on three in SW...Sorry for sounding so angry but I believe in giving the best care for your animals as you would yourself...
And I have made my mistakes in keeping aquatic life that just makes me more vigilant on the conditions i keep in my aquariums..But RSanders, you're on the right track..this is a hobby of patience and research..and do research here on those sea clones...there are some nasty opinions on their performance...

 

[krullulon]

Major rule of aquarium keeping: do not name your fish and do not fall in love with them.

i have to say that i totally disagree with this... i have 5 fish, 3 shrimp and an RBTA, all have unique personalities and each one has a name:

Alpha -- this is my orange bar fairy wrasse and was the first fish in my tank. he's the largest fish i have and he keeps the peace between my mated pair of clownfish and my mated pair of fridmani pseudochromis (that is, he's very chummy with the clownfish and keeps the fridmanis from annoying everyone).

The Tramp -- this is my female oscellaris, thus named because she left her husband and flew into the welcoming tentacles of Carl, my RBTA, the day after he joined the tank. The Tramp and the male clownfish have rebonded and spawn like clockwork, but it's obvious that Carl is the first man in her life.

The Cuckold -- this is the male oscellaris, the name should be self-evident. he spends most of his time either pining for The Tramp or doing that weird vertical mating shimmy trying to tease her away from Carl.

Frith -- this is the female Fridmani. "Frith" is gaelic for "sour look". She's always pregnant and generally angry about it. She's much more bold than her husband and usually will dart-out and try to steal food from Alpha and the Clowns.

Garg -- this is the male Fridmani. "Garg" is gaelic for "bitter". He's fairly secretive and only darts-out of hiding for food. He's bitter because Frith doesn't want anything to do with him unless she's in the mood for lovin' (which is actually pretty often). When Frith isn't in the mood she chases him away when he tries to hang-out with her.

Divine -- this is one of my 2 scarlet cleaner shrimp, named after the plus-size drag queen from John Waters movies. So-named because after I first put the two of them in the tank, Divine grew to twice the size of the other cleaner shrimp in about a month and developed a flamboyant personality. The cleaner shrimp are wickedly cool -- they're very social, friendly with all of the fish, love to be hand-fed and have the run of the tank.

Pete Burns -- Pete is the other of my 2 scarlet cleaner shrimp, so named because i needed a suitable, smaller, gender-bending counterpart to "Divine".

Mr. Doom -- is my peppermint shrimp, so named because he's the only critter in the tank that's completely secretive, spending virtually all of his time hanging upside-down under a rock in a hidden corner of the tank and only coming out for a few seconds when I put food at the base of his cave. Mr. Doom gives me the impression that he's one of those survivalists constantly preparing for the end of the world. Mr. Doom is worth his weight in gold, however, because he eliminated every aiptasia from the tank in about a week and has kept it completely clear since he arrived in June.

Carl -- is my RBTA so-named because the thought of naming an anemone "Carl" made me guffaw. He's been in the tank for about 4 months and settled-down in exactly the right spot -- front and center. About 2 months ago he decided to go wandering one day but ended-up right back where he started.

so... there you have it. sure, i'm hopefully going to outlive these critters by a significant margin, but treating them as individuals and taking the time to bond with them has been and continues to be really rewarding. ;-)

 

[RSanders]

Awesome krullulon! Great names for what sounds like great livestock.

I can't wait until I get my tank going. I'm like a kid on Christmas eve.

~R

ps. as stated I am excited, but that doesn't mean I'm going to rush anything.

 

[krullulon]

Awesome krullulon! Great names for what sounds like great livestock.

I can't wait until I get my tank going. I'm like a kid on Christmas eve.

I'm constantly surprised at how much happens in my tank. In addition to the above there's so much other stuff going on pretty much anywhere you look -- a healthy tank has a ridiculous amount of life and activity, from worms to snails to sponges to brittle stars to tiny copepods and amphipods... I'm stocked pretty light for my 90g and haven't added anything for the last 3 months but still find new stuff popping-up all the time.

And yeah... patience is good -- not just restraining yourself from moving too fast, but also in realizing that most tanks take time to mature and stabilize, and even with conscientious husbandry may go through a number of less-than-attractive phases during the first year.

 

[ChrisRD]

Major rule of aquarium keeping: do not name your fish and do not fall in love with them. Fish die easily no matter how much or little they cost, or how long or short a time you have them.

I heartily disagree. There have been many long-term hobbyists who have kept marine fish happy and healthy for 10-15+ years. There's even been some cases where folks had stuff longer than 20 years!

IME marine fish are generally VERY hardy if you know how to care for them and pay attention to water quality, feeding, stress levels, etc. I've had very few fish die or even get sick over the years. I've always ended-up selling/giving them away when I have to move (which has happened every few years for the past decade)...

 

[RacinRabit]

BTW - where did you get your live rock on-line? I am searching for a good source of CURED live rock (I need about 200#) and have heard mixed opinions about getting it in a LFS (where you can see what you are getting) vs ordering on-line. It sounds like you had a good experience. $4 vs $8/pound at the LFS makes on-line sources tempting.

 

[SnowManSnow]

hey good luck!

 

[RSanders]

BTW - where did you get your live rock on-line? I am searching for a good source of CURED live rock (I need about 200#) and have heard mixed opinions about getting it in a LFS (where you can see what you are getting) vs ordering on-line. It sounds like you had a good experience. $4 vs $8/pound at the LFS makes on-line sources tempting.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... pCatId=397

Got it from these guys. Was the cheapest around and yes.. I feel like I got a GREAT deal. The guy at the LFS tried to scare me away from it saying you can't see what your getting. They (LFS's) all wanted between 8-12 per #. Seriously though.. I thought the selection I got was BETTER than the LFS. Some pieces were as big as 18#! I was VERY happy. Only downside is having to cure it again here. But I paid $307.00 for 90# shipped to my door.

If you want I can post some more detailed pix of the rock tomorrow. I have to change water and can do it then.

~R

 

[RacinRabit]

Thanks for the info! I have seen some good prices at saltwaterfish.com too and their LR is cured and prices include shipping.
Good luck with the curing! LR is so cool to look at once it is established in the tank!

 

[RSanders]

Thanks for the info! I have seen some good prices at saltwaterfish.com too and their LR is cured and prices include shipping.
Good luck with the curing! LR is so cool to look at once it is established in the tank!

I did compare prices w/ both and SWF.com ended up almost 100 higher in price for the Fiji. <for me w/ shipping>

Just remember though.. no matter what you buy, it WILL need to be cured again. No matter what you will have some die off on the trip from SWF to you, thus needing to be cured. From what I've read, the ONLY way to truly get "cured" rock that you can put right in the tank is buying it from your LFS, keeping it moist for a SHORT drive home, then putting in RIGHT in the tank.

Again I'm no pro, I just read alot. Good luck!

~R