10 Gallon Saltwater Journal

[austinsdad]

I think you're good with any order on those two fish. The firefish will jump, but I see you have a top.

 

[Dekz]

Day 14
Ammonia 0.75
Nitrite 1.5

I think you're good with any order on those two fish. The firefish will jump, but I see you have a top.

It's fairly well covered, there is a ~1.5 inch open space along the back for the filter, heater, etc. I'll get a piece of plexiglass to cover that up.

 

[thincat]

A better way would be with eggcrate as this would allow gas exchange so that your ph would be more stable.

 

[Mitchell0605]

Or even some mesh screen blu-tacked in place.

 

[Dekz]

Day 16
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0.25

We're on the home stretch! There is a serious diatom bloom going on, but that's a good thing yes? Going to order some small crabs/snails and my Firefish on Monday

 

[thincat]

I'd wait up on ordering your CUC and fiefish until your nitrites are at 0 & your nitrates start showing up. That way you can do a really large water change and not have to worry about killing your CUC and firefish. I'm talking about a 50% water change.

 

[Dekz]

I'd wait up on ordering your CUC and fiefish until your nitrites are at 0 & your nitrates start showing up. That way you can do a really large water change and not have to worry about killing your CUC and firefish. I'm talking about a 50% water change.

Well if I order them Monday, they will arrive Tuesday.

Judging from the rate so far, Nitrites will be 0 tomorrow and Nitrates are already showing up (20 ppm). So I plan to do a big water change on Monday to get rid of all the Nitrate, and then everything should be good to go for Tuesday.

 

[SnowZz]

Looking so good now. Cant wait to see future pics. Good Job

 

[Mitchell0605]

Nice. I agree with TC. Wait and then order.

 

[Dekz]

Nice. I agree with TC. Wait and then order.

Obviously I'm not going to order if the tank isn't ready. All I'm saying is that it looks like it will be ready by Monday.

 

[Mitchell0605]

Ok sweet. What were you going to get in your CUC?

 

[Dekz]

The place I am ordering from has different "packages" you can order. The one they recommend for a 10 gallon has:

5 - Blue Legged Hermits
1 - Red Scarlet Hermit
3 - Astrea Snails
2 - Margarita Snails

 

[thincat]

Margarita snails have only one drawback, they need a cool tank. Margarita snails need a steady temperature that will fall somewhere between 71 to 76 degrees. See if they can't sub the margaritas for maybe some nerite snails or the like.

 

[Dekz]

Margarita snails have only one drawback, they need a cool tank. Margarita snails need a steady temperature that will fall somewhere between 71 to 76 degrees. See if they can't sub the margaritas for maybe some nerite snails or the like.

I was planning on keeping the tank at around 75 F, does that sound good? I'll still ask if they can do Nerites instead.

Day 17
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20



We are good to go!

Big water change & ordering tomorrow.

 

[thincat]

Are you going to have a chiller on that 10g? If not I dought you can keep it at 75 degrees.

 

[Mitchell0605]

I doubt it too. Also astrea's can't right themselves if they fall over so they eventually die, which is bad if you go on holidays or the like. And is it just me or is that a lot of hermits for a 10G?

 

[thincat]

I read somewhere that you should have 1 per gallon of tank water but I think it's a sales thing, so yes that's allot of hermits.

 

[Mitchell0605]

I hear hermits practically leap over eachother for food and they eat like pigs so I could see a few starving there.

 

[Dekz]

Well I called and attempted to order the CUC and Firefish today.

Firefish: $12 w00t, smokin deal!
Shipping: $67 WTF

So that was a no-go. There is no way I'm paying 5 times the price of the fish for shipping.

So, a little ticked off and a lot anxious, I decided to drive a couple towns over (about an hour away) where they have much better pet stores than in my city.

Unfortunately, neither of those ones had a Firefish in stock, however I did talk to one of the employees there who has been VERY helpful in the past, and he said he could order one in for me no problem. He said it should be about $40, which is what I have seen them go for locally in the past, but he also said if I come pick it up the same day that they get it in, I get 30% off. That way the fish doesn't have to acclimate twice, so they encourage that.

He also didn't think that the order that I add the Firefish/Clownfish would matter very much. But unfortunately they didn't have one of those either.

So I moved on to the next store (the one I bought my live rock from). No Firefish there either, they did have one Maroon Clown that almost tempted me, but he didn't appear to be very happy, and I would rather hold out for the one I really want. They did have a gorgeous Banggai Cardinal and oh man did it ever take a lot of willpower to not walk out of there with him. I REALLY want one, but that will have to wait for a bigger tank.

They did have a ton of snails and hermits and I got a really good deal if I bought 10, so I got 5 of each. She also threw in some extra shells to hopefully keep the hermits away from the snails.

So I headed home with those, still pretty dissapointed that after patiently waiting for the tank to cycle, I was 2 weeks in and still wouldn't have any fish. As I was driving back, I remembered that the local shop right by my house had a small Clown that was super active and looked very healthy. I have probably seen this guy 5 or 6 times over the past month, but today I go in to buy it.....and it's gone

*sigh* Such is life. Oh well, guess now I'm stuck waiting who knows how long for the Firefish to come in

 

[Dekz]

I also picked up some window screen and hot glued it to the bottom of my lid to cover up the small section at the back so fish can't jump out.

Day 18
Crabs and snails in (and some extra empty shells):

So should I be feeding these guys anything right now, or will they munch on the diatoms?