Reefers4Hire?????

[BlackMoor]

HI, I'm new here. Been lurking for a bit and finally joined. I'll get right to the point...any experienced reefers want to charge for housecalls??? I have a 54 gallon corner tank with 75lbs of LR, 20lbs. of LS, a cleaner crew of 6 Mexican turbos, some red leg hermits and a few Nassirus snails. Tank is long cycled and I'm scared to death to put some fish in there. This is a little daunting and to top it of I;m pretty sure I have flatworms. My LFS, doesn't have anyone that does housecalls any more and I'm insanely busy to try trial and error to this degree right now. Looking to pay someone for their time until I can get better accustomed to SW fish keeping. Weird request, I know but, I might just pack it up otherwise.

 

[Lenny718]

Try sending a private message to Tobin his screen name is bob1000, he is very knowledgeable and I'm pretty sure he is still doing aquarium maintenance.

 

[albano]

Try sending a private message to Tobin his screen name is bob1000, he is very knowledgeable and I'm pretty sure he is still doing aquarium maintenance.

+1...really good guy!



.

 

[CIA]

There are vendors here that can help you.

 

[jrobbins]

Whitestone is kind of far, but if you want to drive in and pick my lazy butt up, I will help ya for a sixer of red stripe

 

[JimmyR1rider]

Give it a shot yourself. You have to learn someday might as well be now. If no fish or corals howd you get flatworms? Get some Salifert Flatworm Exit a few of them and follow the instructions on the box. You got into the hobby. You knew enough to let the tank cycle and you you got right about the right amount of LR youre not off to to bad of a start just take the plunge and start off with inexpensive fish-----NOT DAMSELS--- theyre only a pretty blue till they become nasty buggers.

Get 3 Bangaii cardinals or maybe a couple of chromis' because theyre both schooling fish and will pretty much stay together and co exist very nicely---or whatever hardy fish you like how they look and let them settle in and the system get all caught up and in a month or so add another fish. Experience is worth a million dollars. This way also when you come home youll look at YOUR tank that YOU got going and YOU maintain. Much more gratifying I would think.

Plus you dont want to not learn anything or very little and when a situation arises you have to rely on a phone call- if its an EMERGENCY then your screwed if he or shes tied up and be freaking out, if you learn as you go when anything happens youll go into the mode of ok lets fix this not the oh my god i gotta call so and so and if its at midnight well you know how that would go. Just my opinion do what you like and what youre comfy with. Best wishes.

 

[seldin]

Black,

Here at MR, you will finds ton of great info. However, having a local reefer over for a house call, would be a great idea, if you can find someone.

I can tell you, that when I got a co-worker into the hobby, he was able to save a bunch of money by "just doing what I told him" and then he became very knowledgeable on his own and has a great tank.

I just wish I knew someone like that when I started. Would have save me much $$$, aggravation and I would have learned a lot quicker.

For me, my savior was MR and Reef Central ( LIRA).

Excellent to learn from others and it is just time consuming to research. But, that can be fun too.

Good luck,

 

[mr_X]

buy the fish you like (after properly researching them to see their compatibility and tank size etc..), and do weekly water changes and you'll be fine. flatworms don't hurt fish. if you want to use flatworm exit, follow the directions closely.
my suggestion would be not to worry about them. just get yourself a wrasse. maybe a yellow coris, or one of the fairy wrasses. they will help with the flatworm control.

meanwhile, do weekly water changes and you'll be fine. 20% would be excellent. as long as you keep the water clean, everything will be ok.
people make this out to be rocket science, but it's not that hard to keep most marine life that we see for sale at the LFS.
you can call me if you need help. i'm not close but i'm pretty sure i can walk you through any problems that might arise.
215-264-2306
Doug.

 

[Bob 1000]

Thanks Lenny and Al.. The worst thing any one in this hobby can do is listen to too many people.. Especially self proclaimed know it alls,,,lol.. The forums have plenty of them.. But very few run the systems they'd like to..

 

[BlackMoor]

Guys, thank you all for the offers. I decided to step up to the plate and do what I gotta do. Flatworms are gone, water has been changed, 10K light and actinic purchased along with a nice crocea clam,1 yellow, 1 Naso, 1 blue tang and 1 maroon clown. Don't worry that is all I'm putting in there. All the tangs are small and I drip acclimated everyone. Presently my tank is....
54 gallon corner with 75lbs LR and 20 LBS. LS, 6 turbos some red leg hermits 2 emerald crabs and 1-2 nassiruss snails. I had more snails but, the hermits got to them. I will be in touch with everyone who responded as I do want some hands on guidance and don't mind paying for it. Once again thanks and feel free to comment on my set up.

 

[guarda]

Welcome to this wonderful forum. I've had my tank for about 2 months and have had so much help from literally strangers on here it's really unbelievable. You'll do fine, you're in the right place.

 

[beerfish]

Woah...

I'm normally not the tang police type, but none of those tangs should be in that tank, especially not the naso tang, which is a difficult to keep fish in a 180g tank.

You should also slowly add fish to a tank. The sudden bioload on that tank is way too much for a young tank. Your biological filtration is going to take way too long to catch up and you'll likely have serious issues until it does.

Clams are also difficult to keep, and shouldn't be in a young tank.

You may want to consider returning or selling everything but the maroon clown and slowly adding additional fish.

 

[BlackMoor]

These tangs are really small. Does it help things if I mentioned that this tank has been up and running since the first week of June??? I was hoping I was sort of established. I took a long time even adding the snails, it was just today that I went overboard.

 

[beerfish]

These tangs are really small. Does it help things if I mentioned that this tank has been up and running since the first week of June??? I was hoping I was sort of established. I took a long time even adding the snails, it was just today that I went overboard.

As a general rule, clams need high light and excellent water. Usually you want to wait 6-12 months before adding one. Cycled and established are different things, and your tank may actually go through another cycle with all of the fish you added at once.

Basically, the way the cycle works is that ammonia is converted through steps until it's ultimately nitrate and removed through water changes. The system works itself into a state where it can balance itself by providing enough bacteria to perform these conversions. If you suddenly add more ammonia (read: fish poop) than the system can handle, it can go through an additional cycle before the bacterial population catches up.

The general rule for tangs is 4 feet of swimming space, and many agree around 75g for most, while the naso tang, among others, is usually said to require 180g or more.

It sounds like you acclimated them properly, but there's no way to acclimate the system to that kind of bioload so suddenly.

You can probably find someone to babysit the clam until you give the tank a bit of time... this way you don't have to lose it (I would offer, but I'm moving in less than a month). The tangs (as much as it sucks) I would advise selling or trying to return to the LFS.

 

[KathyC]

Welcome to MR

With a site like MR, there really isn't a reason to pay someone to maintain your tank, unless you have little to no free time and never intended to actually have to take care of the tank.

Can you provide a better description of what lighting you have on the tank..is it a fixture? Power Compacts? Tell us whatever you can about it or better yet a picture would be great..or the lighting and the tank.

If you want to do this right - I have to agree with Beerfish - all of the tangs should go. None belong in a 54g tank, even though they are small.
Fish should always be judged by their adult size. You will have nothing but grief with them fighting (first off), possibly killing each other, or stressing themselves out so much that they will get sick and die anyway.
Best bet is to return them immediately to wherever you purchased them.

What water test kits do you have?

My next suggestion would be to purchase a good book on reefkeeping. Aside from the knowledge ypu will get from it, they are an excellent source for information when things go wrong in the middle of the night.
One of my favorites is The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Bob Fenner.

 

[Bob 1000]

Welcome to MR

With a site like MR, there really isn't a reason to pay someone to maintain your tank, unless you have little to no free time and never intended to actually have to take care of the tank.

You hit it right on the head Kathy,,lol..The info is here just pick and choose who you get it form,,lol..

 

[seldin]

As an addition, to the "tang police", the maroon clown when grows can get territorial. Meaning, that when you place your hand in tank, near her turf, they like to bite. They also, don't like reefers to landscape near their turf. I have had good sized rocks and frags moved by my maroon clown very often, when I landscape in their turf area.

You would be amazed at what a large clown can do, to re-landscape her turf, to her liking...(lol)

However, I do love her, and have had her for many years and she is a very nice size.

 

[BlackMoor]

Great! I'm off to great start! Well, my light is a Coralife 30" with a 65 watt 10K compact fluorescent and a 65 watt true actinic the CFL has cooling fans that run when it is on. Additionally there is a seperate contol for 2 tiny blue LEDS for night viewing. I have purchased liquid clam food and I have placed the clam in a high flow area towards the top of the LR. I have a power head that pumps 270gph from below through some of the rock towards the clams area. All of the fish except or the Naso are out and about. The Naso is hiding in a cave, which makes me feel pretty bad. This corner tank is 3' wide X 3' Deep. It "appears" to be ample for the Yellow Tang (2") at present as he swims around the tank and through the LR tunnels I have constructed. The Naso, I feel real bad about and even though small I will have to give up. The blue Tang is a little bigger than a small hermit crab, not even 1" long, him I wont worry about right now. I don't mind ad aggressive clown, as I don't expect these fish to be like my dogs. I just want to make sure that I give these guys ample care. I truly appreciate this site and the help everyone is offerring. I have frozen brine shrimp cubes and Omega One veggie rounds, what else should I be getting??? I really do not want to part with the clam and thought I was doing the right thing. Thanks

 

[BlackMoor]

I also have every supplement and test kit available. The only thing I do not have is a salt mix as I purchased ALOT of Nutri-seawater. ALOT. I am pressed for time often and that is why I wanted to have someone over for servicing and ultimately learning from so I could take over. For instance my skimmer, I'd like to know exactly how to maintain that and the sump as I have gotten different advice. I will be posting a different thread on this as I am more concerned in what I consider more immediate which is the above post.

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

That clam will die fast under pc lights get halides or a good t5 fixture ASAP. The tangs might be small now but when they quadrouple in a few months. You will either need to upgrade or get rid of the fish at that point.