First SW tank.. tons of dumb questions! Help a newb get started? :)

[janky]

Well things are taking a turn for the worst.
The shrimp and crabs seem ok, but the fish are toast.

My two spot goby is laying lifelessly and letting the water current just push him around.
My green clown goby is covered in some weird film?? I have never seen anything like this...

(hard to see, I know, but it looks like he swam through gelatin or something!! )
I thought he was dead and it was the white decomposing stuff, but I went to net him out and he swam away!

and I'm afraid to turn on my powerhead because in this awkward shaped hex tank it's just going NUTS and it makes the current way too intense. If I don't aim it just right, it'll create a sand tornado.
If I do aim it right, it looks like jets in a hot tub :/

PLEASE - Can anyone help with my gobies??
Or are they just goners???

I did a 15% water change today. Tested levels yesterday: SG 1.023, pH 8.2, nitrAte/Ite 0, ammonia I dunno, probably 0-0.25 - I have a fresh/salt liquid API tester and it always turns the same incredibly light yellow with a tint of green.


this is turning out to be a disaster

 

[jezzeaepi]

Do you have any flow on in your tank? If you turned off all your flow, then your tank is starving for oxygen. Turn the pump back on. If it is too strong, try a smaller one.

 

[janky]

There's flow from the HOB filter. Also, there isn't a smaller one

 

[Tuku4u]

If you're interested I have a kenya tree "frag" that I took out of my tank and put in the sump. By "frag" I mean I bought it attached to a small seashell, it's not very big, but if you want it you can have it no charge of course. Let me know, or just send me a PM.

 

[janky]

That'd be really cool actually! Thank you for the offer!
I would be interested. You ever come out to the Tacoma area??

 

[Tuku4u]

I work in Tacoma so I can bring it sometime this week. I will PM you my # and we can set something up!

 

[janky]

...annnnd my emerald crab is eating my two spot goby.

wtf.

I'm about to just part this tank out and be done with saltwater. This has been a horribly expensive disaster.

 

[jezzeaepi]

As a reefer who has experienced his fair share of expensive mistakes and setbacks, trust me that it is a common occurrence on the SW learning curve. Going from a dry tank to one with multiple fish and corals in less then a month for someone without experience is a pretty aggressive goal, and often ends in upset new aquarists. It is important to remember though that only bad things happen quickly in this hobby, so I encourage you to have a little more patience going forward. Many expensive mistakes, like buying the wrong equipment or adding livestock to quickly, can be avoided by taking things slow. Take this from a guy who has hundreds of dollars of unused equipment, and has had thousands of dollars in live stock wiped out.

 

[janky]

lol, you should've sold me some of that unused equipment then!

Yeah, I'm just mad. I'll get over it. All my experience is with freshwater, and I lost a couple guppies getting started there lol... had a crayfish eat a rare and expensive pleco.. etc. etc.

Sooo if anyone is interested in an emerald crab let me know. I'm gunna rehome him because I'd rather have gobies than a crab. Would've been nice to know they don't get along, but like you said - its a learning curve.


ugh. I'm gunna stay patient and see this out. Got a hell of a mess to clean up though

 

[user 26995]

I have some koralia nano powerheads. They will keep the water moving and wont stir up the sand. You could probably use two of them in there with no problem. You should come up and talk this weekend. You can have a couple nano powerheads and I'll get you some soft corals too.
You can manage that tank. You just need to slow down, step back and look at the big picture and figure out how to get there and start at the beginning. It doesnt have to be an expensive lesson.

 

[user 26995]

Oh, I will take the emerald. I'll trade you something for it if you want to come up. Its not really that far from tacoma.

 

[janky]

Thanks. Are you up at Red Sea?
I'm pretty open friday afternoon or sat.

Yeah. I just got eager to get some life in there. I gotta get rid of the crab and get a better powerhead for sure...do you think I'd need two of them? This one that I bought is waaay too much. Any direction I point it creates hills/valleys of sand at the bottom.

I appreciate all the help here on RF. I really wish I got advice this legitimate from the people I ended up buying useless stuff from.

If you want to arrange something for this weekend I'll make a trip up north and I can bring the crab and powerhead I currently have if you'd be interested in a trade/donation/whatever.

 

[Tuku4u]

Definitely take these guys' advice Janky, they've all got at least a hundred years of experience between them. I'm still battling minor things like algae, but have started to get that type of stuff under control...which is also a good feeling of "doing something right". When I started with a FOWLR (fish only w/live rock) tank, I killed 2 clown fish and a yellow watchman goby, and....needless to say...the wife was horrified...I was losing interest and patience...and pretty much grew tired of dumping money into a "deathtrap" persay. I learned quick to RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH, before adding fish/corals to my tank and it has paid off beautifully. Also learned that feeding aiptasia is bad...and aiptasia is NOT a "cool anemone"...but more of a nuissance and a "plague". lol. =) Definitely take them up on their offers of "tank talk" at their homes, and take a look at their aquariums, because that really was what got me hooked. Seeing what my tank COULD be....in like 5..10 years. hwell: Patience....patience...and then...a little more...patience. And in no time you're going to want to convert your 12gal into a 20...then a 40...then a 150...it never ends..trust me. Always check out the classifieds also, people practically, and literally GIVE stuff away there. And when you're able to in like 30 days, place an add for something you're looking for and like magic, almost always someone will answer. Goodluck Jay and I will see ya when i drop that frag of Kenya tree off to you. FYI it was the first frag I bought, and should do you good until you decide you would like something different..and then pawn it off on someone else. lol. Later!

Will

 

[senji]

i have never seen my emerald crab eat anything alive only if its dead first. i love my emerald crab best defence on algea. is ther a chance the fish died befor u seen the crab munching on the gobie? and my thoughts on the fish slime and such u just previously removed all the silica sand added new then reaquascaped. that will definately restart a cycle. fish got nitrite poisioning and or ich or both. but my bet is the fish was dead before the emerald crab got to it.

 

[janky]

Thanks Tuku.. you guys are right, I mean I knew everything wouldn't go flawlessly right off the bat. That, and everyone told me that starting out with saltwater in a small tank like that is asking for trouble because everything happens so fast in a tiny, concentrated tank. Of course I had to be stubborn and choose the hard way to go about things lol

Everyone here has been incredibly helpful so far, and I really appreciate the comradery and support between everyone in this hobby. Hopefully someday I'll know what I'm doing and be able to pass that knowledge on to other sw newbies!!
For now, I think researching and asking tons more dumb questions will be my best bet.


Senji; Yeah, the fish were on their way out for sure. The crab may have "put them out of their misery", or something like that. Either way, I don't feel safe adding $20 fish knowing that he eats fish (alive or dead really...) I'll just have to find some other way to combat algae. I researched more on emerald crabs and apparently they do eat fish that are unhealthy or dead.
So my tank is cycling all over again?
I checked the parameters before doing a WC yesterday and I was at zero's, 1.023 sg, and 8.2 pH. I can stay on top of it, but I've got shrimp and 2 corals in there, so I really hope this is manageable and I don't lose them too

 

[user 26995]

One thing you might want to do, and your coral will probably perk up a bit, is raise your salinity to 1.026. Over the next couple days top off with saltwater instead of fresh water. That will raise the salinity slowly over the next few days. check it each day before you top off.

Keeping a small tank is not so difficult. It just needs a little more attention and more regular water changes. I've been keeping my 3 gal pico now for over a year with no problems...knock on wood...with no skimmer and I have a fish and two shrimp in it. I think there might even be an emerald crab in there still. Oh and a good size bristle worm.

 

[user 26995]

And in no time you're going to want to convert your 12gal into a 20...then a 40...then a 150...it never ends..trust me.

Will

He said it. You will know what he means if you come up this weekend!!!! LOL!

 

[janky]

I'm sure. I already want to convert my 75 g into salt so I can have lions or puffers... but I hear neither are reef-friendly. That, and I have some really cool freshwater friends I'm pretty attached to that love that huge tank

IPisces I think that 3 gal pico was the one I saw on wafishbox... that was one of the things that most inspired me to want to do a small reef, that tank is incredible!


If I do a sw top-off do I have to aerate it overnight in the bucket or can I just mix like half gallon of ro/di with 1/4 cup of the reef salt mix?

Also, should I be adding prime when I do wc's? I use it to condition the water when I do changes in my fw tanks, but I haven't used it the past couple of times with my sw because I figured I'm using ro/di so the water is already pure and clean.

 

[Tuku4u]

In my opinion, you shouldn't add anything to your ro/di water other then the salt, of course, when you do wc. I think the less chemicals added, the better off things are. I usually keep a 5 gal bucket of mixed water for water changes on hand at least a couple days before I actually change the water just so everything is nice and dissolved and the temp is right (powerhead and heater in bucket with lid). Keeping a bucket of premixed saltwater on hand hasn't hurt anything as far as I've seen. Usually I premix a new bucket a day or two after I do a wc.

 

[1guydude]

ya man... all a part of it. Losing stuff, ppl being nice, spending lots of money. lolU can do it though. Id wait 10days between adding anything livestock wise also i give my corals a good month in their spot till i decide theyre not doing well and need to be moved. keep it up! Ull have a nice reef tank one of these days lol.