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

[janky]

Found a bristleworm! By the time I got tweezers it darted back into the rock...

 

[IPisces]

Dont be too afraid of bristle worms. They are a good cleaner. As long as its not very big, I wouldnt worry about it.

 

[1guydude]

12k more white14k-16k more blue20k purpleimo i dont think everyone see's the same anyways lolBristle worms are fine just dont touch em.

 

[janky]

Right on. Thank you for the info guys. I'm excited!! Finally have life in this tank... and it's cool finding all these random little critters in the rocks.
I read up on the bristleworms and it seems that as long as they're small and not attacking fish it's no big deal.

I'm gunna start piecing together some cash where I can and looking for deals to get a good light. If everything goes well with my emerald crab and bumble bee snail I'll get a goby and shrimp too!

I'll get some pics after I finish these damn midterms and have time to work on my tanks

 

[janky]

Kind of a dumb question, but what should I feed crabs/shrimp? Or do they find enough crud around the rock/bottom to be ok?

I also got rid of my old 55 g and got some money together for a light.
Is this the one I should go with? http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+23655&pcatid=23655&r=877
It says not dimmable or anything, so I'm guessing that means no 'moonlight' effect where you leave it blue overnight?

will this be good enough for any corals?

 

[IPisces]

I think that LED would work great for your set up. You can get individual moonlights. Maybe two and mount them separately.

Are you feeding anything to the tank? If your feeding fish, there will be enough usually for them to find food. Otherwise, I would target feed them some mysis. Or even some raw shrimp or scallops from the grocery store. They will also eat seaweed. You can put a small piece of seaweed rubberbanded to a rock in for them.

 

[janky]

Really I've put about 2-3 marine pellets in there... little fish food pellets
I've done that maybe once a week. They're constantly picking at stuff on all the live rock...

So I ordered the light and got a 2 spot goby and a sexy shrimp. The crab and snail are doing well and having a heyday with the rocks.
I told the lfs that if they get green clown gobies I want one
After that I think I'm done for livestock.

I really need to aquascape this weekend cause the rock I have in there is just basically tossed in.

After I do that I'll get some pics!

 

[janky]

So I've noticed a little bit of brown fuzz lookin stuff on the walls. I'm assuming these are diatoms? If so should I treat it just like I would in a freshwater setup and cut back on the light? The tank is kind of in our front room with a lot of direct sunlight in the AM.

Anyway, here's a couple pics... I'm still unsure about an aquascape really. Not a lot of room in this awkward hex lol

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

and here's the two-spot goby;

The emerald crab and sexy shrimp apparently didn't feel like being photographed

 

[NC2WA]

brown diatom bloom is completely normal for any tank going thru a cycle...just keep up with the water changes, and reduce your lighting..

 

[janky]

Can do!

Another quick question;

When I change the water (2 gal a week on Fri) I don't really pay close attention to how much I take out - as in I don't "measure".
When I prepare RO/DI though, I know for a fact it's exactly 2 gallons that I'm putting IN.
I just don't know how much I take OUT, I'm only "ball-park"ing it, and it's usually pretty close.

Is this going to make a huge difference in the salt concentration/salinity?

 

[Derbird]

Can do!

Another quick question;

When I change the water (2 gal a week on Fri) I don't really pay close attention to how much I take out - as in I don't "measure".
When I prepare RO/DI though, I know for a fact it's exactly 2 gallons that I'm putting IN.
I just don't know how much I take OUT, I'm only "ball-park"ing it, and it's usually pretty close.

Is this going to make a huge difference in the salt concentration/salinity?

It could make swing in salinity. I would just get a 2 gallon water jug from the grocery store and use it to mesure the amount of water being taken out. But be sure to check your salinity regularly, I check mine twice a week. Things can happen fast especialy on a smaller tank. Best to keep on top of it

 

[janky]

I bought an aqueon circulation pump - it says 500 gph. I dunno if that's too much for the 12 g hex or not. There seems to be quite a bit of current in there with that thing on... maybe I have it aimed weird?
Is it too much for that tank?

 

[Skimmy]

definately not. your fine.

im just curious, is that silica based freshwater sand??
if so, you want to get that out, and replace with aragonite.

 

[janky]

definately not. your fine.

im just curious, is that silica based freshwater sand??
if so, you want to get that out, and replace with aragonite.

Yes. I don't think that would be feasible at this point... Why is that bad?

 

[NC2WA]

Why is that bad

silica is a source for algae blooms specifically hair algae...

 

[Skimmy]

it certainly is feasible, and not as hard as you think...
10 easy steps, and less than an hour out of your life to do it the right way.

1. sipon out clean tank water into a couple buckets down to about 3-4 inches of water.
2. remove rock, put into seperate bucket.
3. catch fish, put in bucket of tank water.
4. watch a mcgyver episode then grab your tank in one hand and jump out window,
fling remaining water and sand onto neighbors yard.
5. put most of your water back into tank, save for enuf to keep your fish happy in a
half filled bucket with a powerhead and heater.
6. rinse new aragonite sand 5-7 times in bucket until water runs clear.
7. put wet sand in ziplock bags and seal.
8. submerge bags to bottom and open slowly.
9. put HOB powerfilter on tank with a clean poly/carbon cartridge and let run for a couple hours,
10. put your rock and fish back.

 

[janky]

Well, it certainly is possible, what I meant is that I have zero cash right now so I won't be buying any extras for the tank for a while.
I guess it's better to know this now than after I had corals already set up as well... although I'm not looking forward to it lol

Thanks for the heads up. I will get around to this when I get some cash together... (Unless anyone has any spare sand they'd wanna toss me for like $5 haha)

 

[NC2WA]

Janky,

I have 5, maybe 10 lbs of Caribsea sugar size sand you can have gor FREE
The only catch is u come to get it. I'm in Bothell

 

[janky]

oh man. Bothell looks pretty far from that map!!
I would gladly take it off your hands, but I dunno how soon I'd be able to make that drive. And at $4.50/gal for gas I may as well buy it at the store lol

You ever head towards Renton or Seattle at all? I could easily meet you there if you do...

 

[NC2WA]

I rarely go to Seattle and seldom to Renton..the only reason I go to Renton is BRA..

where are you coming from?