New to the forum and to reefing

[Staaan]

Hey all..

Decided to take a small jump into reefing!

I scored a great deal on a JBJ 6gallon Nano Cube.

I recently got into the saltwater fish keeping, as I just established a 24gallon Aquapod FOWLR.

I just wanted to make sure I do everything right from the beginning so there would be no screw ups later haha..

So far I already have..

Ammonia test kit
pH high range test kit
Seachem Marine Buffer
Caribsea Purple Up

I assume I'll be needing a Calcium test kit of some sort?
And I assume that purple up is an acceptable calcium supplement? (as well as Iodine supplement)

I'm planning on purchasing (if I can find) a small 5lb bag of live sand
Hopefully about 10 lbs of Live Rock.. if I can find a place that sells smaller pieces.. I live near Fishtown, and they only really carry huge pieces.

I'm planning on going to that GC Reef place out on LI that quite a few people on this forum talk about, its actually not too far from my college.

As far as my water source.. it doesn't seem to be a choice to be using Tap Water. And I honestly don't have the finances to buy an RO Filter. I read on nano-reef.com that distilled water is just as good.

Fishtown actually sells 4.4gallon jugs of NutriSeawater I think its called.. I think for $17 each.. maybe that'll be worth it because it has a lot of bacteria already in it.

Oh and.. I'm not very creative could anyone point me to a site that has some good I guess what you'd call aquascaping techniques? I see all these beautiful coral tanks, with these cool layouts, and even small nanos like mine with these cool mountain like layouts... My 24 gallon FOWLR.. basically just has one big piece of Live Rock that doesn't look too appealing haha.

Sorry for all the questions, just would like to do everything right. Thanks for any help!

-Stanley

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Welcome to MR.

Lighting and summers are your biggest concerns. Make sure you have a good skimmer and adequate lighting for your corals.

Nutriseawater is good but for less $ at petco you can get a 5 gallon jug of catalina water and be very happy.

Test kits for calcium alkalinity and magnesium are also important salifert makes a great kit. Check out my aquapod thread and my solana thread also Nan reefs is a good site to look at.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Sorry BTW purple up isn't a good additive. Look into adding a quality 2 part solution and some quality magnesium.

 

[Staaan]

Is

Salifert All in One Organic Calcium

"All in One can make the use of the so-called A and B calcium and alkalinity supplements unnecessary. It contains almost everything required for growth by corals and the beautiful encrusting pink and red coralline algae. All in One will increase the alkalinity (carbonate hardness), calcium, strontium, trace elements (except iodine) and amino acids concentrations. We explain the necessity of these below. Calcium, strontium, carbonate (alkalinity) and amino acids are the major constituents of calcareous algae, skeletal material of hard corals and the skeletal needles of soft/leather corals. Growth and multiplication of these organisms means depletion of those substances. The trace elements included in All in One allow organisms to carry out many biological processes. Manganese for instance is essential for the many biochemical reactions, which make photosynthesis possible. Iron is essential to many organisms for absorbing nutrients. Cobalt is essential for the formation of several coral pigments. Zinc is, like manganese, essential for photosynthesis and is also used in the formation of calcium carbonate by corals. These are just a few of the trace elements present in All in One and we could give many more examples. This Supplement is highly concentrated and contains for example approx. 55,000 ppm calcium, corresponding amounts of biologically-activated bicarbonate and approx. 1000 ppm strontium. The calcium is acetate based and is converted within minutes to calcium bicarbonate. This is unlike gluconate-based products. All ingredients are of a pharmaceutical quality or even better. This ensures that no unwanted elements are added to your valuable aquarium. Some other requirements, occasionally an additional boost of alkalinity with our KH+pH buffer, is recommended to compensate for alkalinity lost by, e.g., decaying food. Also, iodine should be supplemented for excellent results."


better than purple up?

PurpleUp did help me with growing some coraline in my FOWLR tank.. however I assume there some other reasoning in stating its not good?

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

It is a combo iodine and calcium supplement. In a reef it is better to dose individually.

 

[Staaan]

Ah ok.. I get it.

As far as a skimmer goes, I thought protein skimmers weren't really needed in a small 6 gallon coral tank.

Do they sell a type of coral test kit, that has all the kits you need included?

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

For a 6 gallon frequent water changes will be ok in lace of a skimmer. Change 2 gallons per week and you should be ok. Salifert only makes individual kits not combo kits.

 

[Staaan]

Just in case I can't find the Catalina water, is the petco saltwater any good?

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

It is the same thing.

 

[masterswimmer]

Welcome to MR. Great information from Chief. I'll defer to his expertise

Enjoy all that MR has to offer.

Russ

 

[dubs]

welcome to mr

 

[JimmyR1rider]

Welcome to MR and about your coralline algae- keep your parameters correct and it will grow naturally- dont rush it as with everything in this hobby patience is key. As far as aquascaping goes- if all you can find is huge pieces you can act like your in federal prison and with a hammer you can make big rocks into little rocks, your aquascape is YOUR flare- no one elses there is no wrong or right to how it looks, is how YOU like it. Just try to have the base rock touching the bottom glass and sand around the rock so itll be as stabile as possible. Although once you rescape the rock again if you change it is sometimes a pain to swoosh the sand out of the way. Mines no longer 100% right anymore either but will be epoxying it cause I like the look of my rockwork now. Sorry about the longwinded reply just my 2 cents.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

The reason to have individual test kits on hand is to also dose as needed, just an FYI though, if you change 2 - 3 gallons per week you shouldn't need to really dose anything with the catalina water it has the stuff already in it. Furthermore that 6 gallon tank will probably have only power compact lighting and the keeping of SPS corals might prove to be a bad idea because they require more intense lighting.

 

[Staaan]

Yeah the JBJ Nanocube 6 gallon I bought has the PC type lighting, one fluorescent white errr rod? I guess you'd call it.. and one actinic blue. It also has 2 blue LED's for "moon lighting".. I remember reading somewhere that it aids in coral spawning?


As for the aquascaping.. I thought it was better to have the rock on the sand, but I guess you're right it is better on the glass.

So basically 50% water change once a week, should negate the need for any type of supplemental dosing?

As far as live sand goes.. is there any particular brand I should go for? Oh and 5lbs (if they make bags that small) should be enough?


Oh and I was planning on keeping possibly some sort of candy cane..possibly a blastomussa, green star polyps (they're 10 bucks at fishtown is that a good price?)
And I wanted an anemone, but I read that they were aggressive and need an extremely well establish tank? (they are also $10 at fishtown) oh and possibly some nice colorful zoanthids.. the only type I see at fishtown are these dull brownish boring looking ones.

Are all those corals ok for the type of lighting I have? Or am I totally off?

 

[Staaan]

I'm not totally sure what fish I want to get..

Would an Ocerllaris Clown and a Royal Gramma be alright?

Along with some blue legged hermits or red legged and some kinda cleaner shrimp? Or is that a total overstock?

 

[Staaan]

Oooooh and..the tank is fresh out the box, with the carbon and everything already in place, I should rinse it as is right?

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Anemone's in that type of lighting are not a good idea. I speak from experience. Also I would not put more than one fish in there. That gramma is a nice fish but the tank would be too small for him.

Ever think about a Goby and Pistol shrimp pair? That would be cool.

Rinse everything and get rid of any bioballs. The dosing SHOULD be replaced by the water changes but you need to test to make sure. More to come when I get to work.

 

[Staaan]

What kind of goby? I have a spotted mandarin in my 24g

 

[Awibrandy]

Hello Stanley! Welcome to MR!!

Great to have you here, and most importantly asking all the right questions! Chief has been giving you great advice therefor there is nothing to add.:hug:

Now that last post is going to get you a whole lot of critic. Please do not take us the wrong way. It is just that we love our animals here, and hate to see them die. You posted that you have a spotted manderin in a 24 gallon tank. This is a big no no! If you research manderin/dragonet fish you will find that they are strictly life (copepod) food glutons. On EXTREME rare occasions someone will be blessed with one that will eat frozens, but again that is extremely rare. A 24 gallon tank that come any where near the recommended 100 gallon well established tank that these little guys need for better chance for survival in captivity. There is simply not enough food in a 24 gallon tank for them.
I'm really sorry to have to be the one with such bad news, as I am sure you are extremely fond of your little fish. Please try to re-home him before he starves to death...:happysad:

 

[Staaan]

Really.. guys at fishtown said it'd be fine.

However my mandarin eats frozen blood worms no problem. I put them in a suction cupped feeder. And when the worms make their way down to the sand he'll jump up and catch them in mid flight. So I really don't think he's starving. He seems to be doing fine for the 1 month I've had him/her.

But thanks for the help.. I did do a bunch of research before I bought honestly.. however the guys at fishtown told me that everything I read was a bunch of bologna, and not to make my self crazy with all that stuff.

Oh.. and I was really hoping to keep some type of an Anemone possibly with an Ocelleris clown, I love watching them swim through it..

Is there any anemone that would be ok? I found $10 Anemones at fishtown, I thought that was pretty cheap as I expected them to be a lot more expensive.