Buffy's 1st Ever SW Build - Reef Tank

[matthewh133]

Jitterbug! Jitterbug!

 

[Buffy]

Ok so I don't have pics yet. I'm exhausted and still have a few things yet to do. Still have to get fish into qt. Been long day, but I know they are okay in the bag next to me. Had a water issue for the qt tank, almost taken care of now. Just playing it safe. Salinity was too low.

So I got 3 turbo snails and 4 margarita's I think LOL, I'm fried.

I got an Encrusting Horn Coral and a Colored Brain Favia.

I got a Red Sea Star.

For fishies:

1 Purple Firefish woohoo
1 Spotted Cardinal Fish woohoo
1 Kaudern's Cardinal woohoo

All were on my wishlist at one time or another. The Firefish never let it though.

When talking with the guy at Drs.F&S, he said I can only get one more goby and I have a general idea which ones not to get cause the Purple and the others will fight. Can't have 2 purples either for same reason, evenually they will fight. He said only 2 goby's of different uhm species for same reason. I can get one wrasse :-( but the anthias get along with pretty much everyone . So I gotta dwindle down my wrasse (which I knew anyway cause I can't have that man fish).

The had the coral beauty, the flame angel, the midas blenny, this cool goby but I don't remember the name, wasn't on my list, various tangs, and he said the only tang I could get if any was the yellow.

They had the royal gramma, which was originally on my list too. Gosh today they just had so many. They had like 5 or 6 blue green chromis too, but I'll get the Blue later on.

So I'm officially a fishkeeper LOL. Been busy tonite. Gotta sleep and will get some pics on sometime tomorrow.

I need to chose between coral beauty and flame angel, I saw both today and I know they can't be together so I have to choose one. I do plan on getting the yellow tang later on.

The very last fish I get with be a pair of maroon clownfish (besides my mandarin in 8 months or so lol).

Course I still have a 55 gallon sitting empty in my bedroom so I can put coral beauty in one and flame in another I'm thinking, gotta research see if 55 is ok.

Gosh that Purple Firefish is just gorgeous and those turbo snails are HUGH!!!!!.

So anyone got anything to add to what I learned today bout the goby and stuff?

Also, I need empty shells in my tank. He mentioned I can put any shells in there for the snails to use. As all the shells came from the same place, just clean them up. (I still have a bunch from when I lived in Hawaii 30 years ago), he said I could use them. They have been in the same little old fishbowl for that whole 30 years and I just rinse the dust off every now and then lol. Any thoughts on that?

Whew all in all was a great day (though expensive again), flooding aside, and no light hung too.

 

[kurtyboh]

Ok, so how reef safe are coral beauties? i guess its each indivudual fish as always, bit ive always read to use caution in a reef tank

 

[kurtyboh]

Oh yeah and were dying for pics over here

 

[Buffy]

Ok, so how reef safe are coral beauties? i guess its each indivudual fish as always, bit ive always read to use caution in a reef tank

Not sure, but that's what I'm gonna read up on. When they say with caution I guess it's up to you whether you want to take chance or not of losing your corals. Some that say that are fine and others aren't from what I've read.

Oh yeah and were dying for pics over here

I know. I just finally got the Firefish in QT, took me almost an hour to catch him and I ended up not catching him, I had to dump the majority of the water then with the little left, sink the bowl in the tank and dump him out that way.

I would have netted him if my net was small enough to fit in bowl. I just darkened the room for the night as soon as I got him in, he's kinda freaking out alittle, so the darkness will help settle him down.

Now I hope they all make it. Because they put the starfish in with the my firefish, he went into qt also. I'll acclimate him tomorrow afternoon to the main tank, don't want to change to fast on him may even just wait til the others are done qt'ing.

Guy at LFS said these only need to be qt'd for a week, 2 at the most. Uhmm I thought then need to be in there for 3-4???? Also, Is my filter going to take care of the poop? The cardinals went in better and they've pooped. With the bare tank I'm wondering about the ammonia and stuff killing them.

Also should I skip a day of feeding on these guys so that doesn't add to the chance of ammonia? I understand to feed like every other day but what about when in qt? Sorry so many questions LOL. Feel like a TOTAL newbie now. Almost like a new mommie

Help quick anyone know how to change a fishies diaper???? LMAO

 

[huma-huma]

Id sprinkle a little food in to see if they eat and sometimes it'll ease them too. Id just do more frequent water changes on the qt. With caution can also mean that the particular fish could just decide to make a snack out of your corals one day...its a coin toss

**edit** the immediate feeding attempt also gives you a slightly better idea as to how stressed he really is

 

[kurtyboh]

you have top on your qt right? cuz the firefish will look for little holes to jump out of..., in fact in my most recent book it says the frequently jomp out of the bags whill acclimating!

what ive been doing with my bare bottom qt is gravel vacuuming all the little bits daily into a bucket and i have a funnel over a filter to pour the water back in.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I have kept dwarf angles for many years. The coral beauty is the safest of the angels for a reef, but they still can peck. My flame is okay, but he and the beauty fight sometimes. My black tail angel isn't reef safe, but my reef is big enough he doesn't do any real damage. My coral beauty is over 10 years old and pretty big, the flame is 8 years old. Angels are great fish, but most are not reef safe at all.

The firefish is a accurate jumper. I have a purple one that killed my plain firefish, so they are very territorial with each other. He also fought with my royal gramma (because of the purple coloration).

 

[Greenturtle]

Why did he say you could only have a yellow tang? I would think a Kole or TwoSpot Bristletooth would be a better option, but I haven't really looked all throughout this thread.

 

[Buffy]

Why did he say you could only have a yellow tang? I would think a Kole or TwoSpot Bristletooth would be a better option, but I haven't really looked all throughout this thread.

Because of tank size.

 

[Greenturtle]

Because of tank size.

But Kole Tangs and Two Spot Bristletooth Tangs need LESS tank size, not more. Both can even live in 75 gallons, and a Kole Tang is in QT to go in my 90 gallon reef.

 

[Greenturtle]

Yellow Tangs need 125 gallons minimum

 

[Buffy]

Pictures finally

Sorry took so long, I ended up crashing and burning, then had to mow the front yard before I got a ticket LOL.

So here are some pictures of my new tenants. I have issues with taking pictures of anything with this camera anymore so please bare with the quality.

Got 3 Turbo Snails and I thought 4 Margaritas . Later I'll post for help with my snails.

My Colored Favia Brain Coral, then is my Encrusting Horn Coral, then Mr. Redstir (LOL) my Red Sea Star. Coming next is my fishies

 

[Buffy]

More Pictures

Ok here are a few more. I really need to learn how to take pictures of fish.

First is my baby...My Purple Firefish.. (need suggestions for a name on him, I do want him to have one), then it's my Kaudern's Cardinal, Then my Spotted Cardinal, I couldn't get him alone because after trying to get pictures all were blurry (15 shots of him and all were blurry lol). Slow mover and still. Then the last picture is my qt tank with all off them and shows the set up. (LOL you can see my reef coming off the glass in the picture like a mirror)

Whatcha think?

 

[Buffy]

So there you have it, my first official fish as a fishkeeper. WOOHOO!!!!!

I bought frozen food, I have some Marine Flakes that came with something I bought, can I use that to feed the fish with?

Also should I go ahead and try to move Mr. Redstir to my dt or leave him in the qt? They had him and my firefish together in one bag, I didn't know how to separate so I could acclimate them to the 2 tanks.

Then how long should I qt for? The 1-2 weeks as the guy said or the 3-4 as seems to be the normal length? Also what do I look for while they are in qt? Thanks ya'll WOOHOO I got fishies. Sorry still so excited about my little guys.

 

[Greenturtle]

Ok here are a few more. I really need to learn how to take pictures of fish.

First is my baby...My Purple Firefish.. (need suggestions for a name on him, I do want him to have one), then it's my Kaudern's Cardinal, Then my Spotted Cardinal, I couldn't get him alone because after trying to get pictures all were blurry (15 shots of him and all were blurry lol). Slow mover and still. Then the last picture is my qt tank with all off them and shows the set up. (LOL you can see my reef coming off the glass in the picture like a mirror)

Whatcha think?

You're cardinal is awesome! I just picked a pair of Kauderns up today and they are drip acclimating to the DT now. My LFS QTs them 2 weeks before sale, plus I have a majorly stressed out Kole Tang in my QT at the moment.

 

[Greenturtle]

Flakes can cloud up the water, I would use the frozen food

 

[Buffy]

Thanks, I got mine from Drs. Foster & Smith but I still wanted to qt and not take the chance. Their fish and corals are more expensive than their website Live Aquaria and Divers Den. When I was talking to him, I asked why I couldn't get the website price and he said those or prices only for the web, inside store is different. So since that's the case, I'm not going up to buy any livestock or anything until I call and place an order. If I end up with free shipping, then I'll have them ship but if not, I'll just call a day or two ahead and tell them when I'll be up and they will have my order ready.

I paid the extra this last time because I really wanted to get fish yesterday, even with all the flooding and stuff going on.

I'm not gonna be able to hang my light from the ceiling. So I gotta go back through my thread and see everyone's suggestions. I was up in the crawl space last night and it's 1. not safe, 2. very chinsey, 3. a long way to crawl with everything I would need to put a brace between the joists, & 4. I shouldn't say crawl, because it's not, I have to do the crab walk, hands and feet, shift 22 inches or so to the next 2x4, I went bout 5 feet and was worn out trying to hold myself up, ended up hanging like a monkey because of the way they did the rafters and that wore me out fast but if I let go, I knew I'd me on my carpet in the hall way fast. They have 1 sheet of drywall attached to 2 x4's then insulation. Joists are going one direction with no braces in between. Only one going length of the house is the one dead center.

So now I'm thinking I should just get the hanger that looks like two arms and attach it to the wall. Don't know if I can squeeze my hand and screw driver in to attach to wall though. I have 8" between wall and tank. Any suggestions?

Only other thing, I guess is I could always undo everything and move my tank but I still don't trust those rafters, 2" wood is not much to work with splitting even with predrilling as I'm afraid of the lowering and raising would weaken it at that point.

 

[kurtyboh]

the 2x4 rafter will hold a lot more weight than your ceiling. stud grade is something like 2200lbs over 10 ft... each so you're certainly not going to weaken it enough to cause irreparable damage with a couple of holes and your light fixture.

 

[Buffy]

Support AA

I'm thinking that I will be joining AA on a paid basis soon. This is an awesome site, very useful and very friendly. Looks like I'll be on here indefinitely soooo why not give them support so they can keep up this fantastic site.

From what I understand AA is supposed to help you get your "life back" and get things in order, well I can only say, that it is in fact doing that but it is also allowing me to rarely sleep again LOL

Hats off to AA Drinks are on me...alcohol and alcohol free

Thanks everyone. So far so good, fishies look good, no heavy breathing, spots or scraping yet. No worms or icky thing protruding from any parts of their bodies so far either. , Both corals, opened right up when I put them in the tank and have been doing good. Only the Elegance or and my Orange Polyps close up "at night when the lights go out" to sleep I guess LOL. Which is something I dearly need.