Starting over... Trying to do everything right. HELP

[TheRealFF]

With all the mistakes i've made, i've put so much stress on my fishes, and other creatures in my tank. I also put so much stress on myself too. So, i finally decided that i should start over from the beginning, following you all's golden advices. Please help me out.

I took my fish to a lfs and asked them to take care of them for me for a few months til im done setting up my tank again. (including my coral and anemone)

So...

Im starting over. I have:
_A 17G tank
_65 pounds of LR (i wonder if the lfs that i bought these rocks from cheated but they said it was 65 pounds) I don't know why lots of ppls don't believe i have 65 pounds in my tank but it seems like there's alot of space left for the fishes
_1 - 1.5in of live sand bed.
_a hook-on protein skimmer (filter and wave maker or whatever, im a newb at this)
_50 watt light source (the lfs said it's good enuf for my tank)

Now i want to follow every tiny bit of you all's advices on setting up my tank again, so plz tell me every little good details i should know

I noticed my LR have alot of grayish, cloudy stuff building up on them. Plus there are reddish spot that look like coral on them too. (i wonder if it's cyanbacteria). How do i get rid of these problems?

Please tell me how to cycle my water and for how long. I've heard of light cycle and nitrogen cycle and etc. but i have no idea what they are.

Thanks SO much guys

 

[Florida8]

I just read about your new pink tip anemone... you only have 50 watts lighting over a 175? If I read that correct from your other post then you need to return and ask for a full refund or store credit... it will die, killing everything in your tank... I suggest finding a new Fish store if the same people sold you the light and anenome.... or read here before you purchase living things. It will save you loads of heartache and a lot of fishie lives


Now, if you have another tank thats is cycled and has all you need, disregard my comment above.

Back to your 175g...
You need more LR if you want the tank to filter itself in the "Natural" way... You can add 100 pounds of base rock from www.Hirocks.com which will get you to about 1lb per gallon and before you know it, that dry base rock will be live, from your already live rock with all the goodies you need to sustain a nice tank. This is the cheapest way to do it.

You probably need a lot more water flow, no mention on how much water movement you have going on.... so that needs to be taken account for as well... will prevent problems too... I will look for the links , if no one does it before me ... to show you the proper way to cycle and keep your tank tip top by making sure you have enough of the right equipment... Be back later ... LOL... sorry, kids wayyyy past bed time!

 

[philthefish]

Back to your 175g...
You need more LR if you want the tank to filter itself in the "Natural" way... You can add 100 pounds of base rock from www.Hirocks.com which will get you to about 1lb per gallon and before you know it, that dry base rock will be live, from your already live rock with all the goodies you need to sustain a nice tank. This is the cheapest way to do it.

I think you'll find we're talking about a 17G not a 175G!

Im starting over. I have:
_A 17G tank
_65 pounds of LR (i wonder if the lfs that i bought these rocks from cheated but they said it was 65 pounds) I don't know why lots of ppls don't believe i have 65 pounds in my tank but it seems like there's alot of space left for the fishes
_1 - 1.5in of live sand bed.
_a hook-on protein skimmer (filter and wave maker or whatever, im a newb at this)
_50 watt light source (the lfs said it's good enuf for my tank)

For a 17 Gallon, 30-35 lbs of LR will be enough for your filtration. Weigh what you've got and pick the best bits out. Return the rest to the LFS or a friend. 10 times tank turnover is required so you need a powerhead or two that will pump between 170 and 250 gallons per hour (usually marked on the powerhead or the box).

I don't about lighting requirements for Anemones and Corals as I'm a Fish Only man at the moment.

You won't be able to have many fish in there though. I had a 20Gallon for about a year, but that was more of an experiment to see what it took to setup and maintain a SW tank. I switched to a 55 within 9 months.

 

[localhost]

Lighting for a 17 (you said 20 in the other thread), I would do a Coralife 130W Lunar Aqualight. Will give you plenty of light.

For fish, I would only pick 2-3 fish from <<LiveAquaria's Nano Fish list>>. On a twenty I would do an O. Clown, a firefish, and maybe a Neon Goby(not sure on the neon even though it is a small fish). Add a scarlet or fire cleaner shrimp, a couple of peppermint shrimp. About 5-10 snails and 5-10 blue legged hermit crabs would also be ok This will give you plenty of life in the tank.

Add some mushrooms and zoanthids for you start of coral.

As far as rock, 30-35 lbs of LR I agree with and I would also add 20-30lbs of live sand. For a denitrating sand bed, you need 3 inches or more of sand, you might not have that luxury due to the limited size of your tank.

I don't know what protein skimmer you have, but a lot of people don't have skimmers on a nano like that so whatever it is should work fine, just be sure to do weekly water changes of 10-20% of tank volume.

For powerheads, due to tank size, I would try a couple of MiniJet 606 pumps. Together you will get about 320GPH turnover - or 18X. The minijets are adjustable to lower flow if you are getting too much.

As far an any anemone, come back in 6 months to a year to discuss that. They are harder to care for creatures that require a mature tank. Yes I know they are cool, but O Clowns don't require them so they are not required. Get yourself a feather duster instead, cool little creature that will do great in your tank.

Trust me, stock low on fish and put more inverts in, you will have a cool tank that will never get boring.

 

[TheRealFF]

Wow thanks localhost. What great advices you gave! You're right, i should only keep a few fishes and more inverts. Im planning to keep 2 Percular Clowns and inverts for now then i'll add some more later on. What do peppermint shrimps, snails and blue legged hermit crabs do? Would they fight each other, attack other fishes or corals/anemones?

My tank is actually 20G but i said 17G cuz i don't fill up the tank the whole way. I don't want my fishes to jump out.

What is a powerhead? Im sorry for asking that but i really don't know. What does it help?

O yea, i just re-read the light i have. It's actually a Corallife 65W Aqualight. Should i change to what localhost suggested?

Im taking every creatures in the tank to a lfs this weekend to re-cycle my tank. I've noticed 2 of my fishes have white, cloudy pieces of skin hanging of their body. Im afraid they have some kind of disease. How should i get rid of my tank from that?

About cycling, what should i do? Just let the water be filtered for a few weeks then put the fishes in?

Plus, there are brown, nasty stuff building up on my liverocks and reddish coral-like things growing on them. I'll post some pictures after this post. Should i clean the rocks?

Thanks so much for your helps!

I've added some pictures of my tank:

These are those reddish coral-like things on my liverocks. They look hard though:

The next two show my tank. Do you think it's overcrowded with liverocks?

The last one is my protein skimmy and the corallife light:

The weird tube thing on the surface of my tank is the anemone that i seperated from the tank. Im afraid that it will harm other things in my tank cuz i've read that they are very poisonous (pink tipped haitian anemone)

Thanks alot again guys. You guys are amazing

 

[localhost]

A powerhead suck water in one end and pushes it out another. It's just a water pump to circulate water.

Under the articles link at the top of this page, read the fishless cycling article and follow it.

 

[TheRealFF]

Thanks for the info. Could u tell me how to rid my tank of diseases? 1 of my clown died from some weird disease. Its skin started to come off in form of white cloudy things. My gobi is starting to have those on his head. My angle died from a white stripe on his dorsal fin. Im really stressed out about these deaths

And please look at the pictures i posted above. What are those red things on my rocks? Plus any commments about my set up? good skimmer?

Thank you so so much

 

[Wood_Dog]

1 of my clown died from some weird disease. Its skin started to come off in form of white cloudy things. My gobi is starting to have those on his head. My angle died from a white stripe on his dorsal fin. Im really stressed out about these deaths

Didnt you say you took your fish back to the lfs so you could start over? Well....did you or not?

 

[localhost]

[quote="Wood_Dog]Didnt you say you took your fish back to the lfs so you could start over? Well....did you or not?[/quote]

I missed that but your correct. I still believe he is just jerking our chain but I decided to try to help him in case he is serious.

Come on dude, give us the straight facts and let us know what's up. Did you return the fish or not? Did the anemone eat the fish or not?

 

[TheRealFF]

Ah... sorry. My grammar went wrong and i was very tired that night. So sorry. I have no intention to mess around with people on a fish forum ...

I am taking them to the lfs tomorrow. Sorry that i typed took. I've called the lfs and asked them tho.

Sorry

 

[Blue H2O]

Real FF you need to do more research. Forums are great for specific questions, but you need to read every article you can about how to cycle, stock, and maintain a SW aquarium.

Your light will be fine for a FOWLR, having a skimmer on a 20g is good, and you have a ton of LR. These are good things to start with, and you are on the right track. Look into powerheads, you will want 10-20 times your tank's volume in flow (20g tank=200-400gph flow rate). The ocean is very turbulent and the flow simulates your inhabitants' natural environment.

At this point I would leave the clown(s), but take the anemone back to the LFS and if you still have that Tang, take it back too. Tangs need much more space than your aquarium has.

We've all made mistakes and wanted things that we aren't capable of caring for properly. I am guilty of this (orangespot filefish, flame angel both deceased The important thing is to learn form our mistakes.

I have 2x 20g FOWLR tanks, and there are many fish and inverts that are appropriate for this size tank. Just be sure to research animals before you buy them!

The red stuff on your rocks looks like coraline algae or possibly zoanthid corals.

 

[TheRealFF]

Thanks for the advices Blue H2O. Im doing lots and lots of reading these last few days.

Viewing the pictures of my tank. Does anyone think i have way too much LR? I don't know if there's really 65pounds of LR in there (would the lfs lie?).

About lighting, i've heard people on this forums talking about 10,000k and lunar light. Should i purchase these? Im planning to keep a few corals and anemones in the future. If i do purchase these lights, what would the schedule be?

Thanks you guys so much