TLTGF
Aquarium Advice Addict
Be careful, firefish are jumpers!
classroom setting up 10 gal. QT this afternoon
- Thread starter themartins
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
themartins
Aquarium Advice Freak
Here are pictures of our first purchases for the 10 gallon taken on friday.
We taped up any openings in the hood to prevent the firefish from jumping out. It's pretty shy right now, hopefully it'll stay out longer once it gets used to it's new home and us. We've fed it some frozen brine shrimp and frozen mysis shrimp and it will come out to quickly grab a piece and then goes back to hiding. The nassarius snail and peppermint shrimp are both active. Do you have any advice on how to get the firefish to be more friendly? Will it help when we add the clowns later on?
We also purchased some things from reefcleaners.org on Saturday: 1 pods+, 8 Dwarf Planaxis, 5 Empty Hermit Shells (for possible future hermit crabs), 2 Virgin Nerites, and a 10 gallon quick crew containing: 10 Dwarf Ceriths, 3 Nassarius, 6 Florida Ceriths, 2 Large Nerites, & 2 Small to Medium Nerites. We'll divide all of the snails between the 2 tanks.
The 30 gal. was also cycled by Sunday and we purchased 2 pajama cardinals and 2 peppermint shrimp for that tank.
We'll test the water parameters later this morning and post our results to so we can see how the beneficial bacteria are handling the new bioload.
We taped up any openings in the hood to prevent the firefish from jumping out. It's pretty shy right now, hopefully it'll stay out longer once it gets used to it's new home and us. We've fed it some frozen brine shrimp and frozen mysis shrimp and it will come out to quickly grab a piece and then goes back to hiding. The nassarius snail and peppermint shrimp are both active. Do you have any advice on how to get the firefish to be more friendly? Will it help when we add the clowns later on?
We also purchased some things from reefcleaners.org on Saturday: 1 pods+, 8 Dwarf Planaxis, 5 Empty Hermit Shells (for possible future hermit crabs), 2 Virgin Nerites, and a 10 gallon quick crew containing: 10 Dwarf Ceriths, 3 Nassarius, 6 Florida Ceriths, 2 Large Nerites, & 2 Small to Medium Nerites. We'll divide all of the snails between the 2 tanks.
The 30 gal. was also cycled by Sunday and we purchased 2 pajama cardinals and 2 peppermint shrimp for that tank.
We'll test the water parameters later this morning and post our results to so we can see how the beneficial bacteria are handling the new bioload.
Attachments
rdnelson99
Aquarium Advice Addict
Fantastic. From my limited experience adding more fish will bring the shy ones out a bit more. Expect him to be shy for a few days while he gets used to the new world he is in. 
all4wheels2
Aquarium Advice Freak
Yes, they should come out with more fish. They will always be the first to run and hide though. I have a firefish in each tank and they do great with my clowns
themartins
Aquarium Advice Freak
Hopefully adding in a pair of clowns later this week will help the firefish be more social.
Also, we found one empty skin from one of the peppermint shrimp in the 30 gal. this morning.....what do you think happened? molting or a predator? mantis shrimp? What should we do?
We had a couple of small brown anemone looking things in the 30 gal., that are gone this morning - so I'm thinking that the peppermint shrimp were a good purchase, but I've also just learned that peppermint shrimp possibly eat feater dusters. I like our little feather dusters and don't want to loose them.
Here are our water test results. It looks like the tanks are handling the new bio load well.
10 gal.
pH 7.8
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 10 (Should we do a sm. water change to bring this closer to 0?)
SG 1.028 (we'll add some top off water)
temp. 79 F
30 gal.
pH 7.8
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 10
SG 1.026
temp. 78 F
Also, we found one empty skin from one of the peppermint shrimp in the 30 gal. this morning.....what do you think happened? molting or a predator? mantis shrimp? What should we do?
We had a couple of small brown anemone looking things in the 30 gal., that are gone this morning - so I'm thinking that the peppermint shrimp were a good purchase, but I've also just learned that peppermint shrimp possibly eat feater dusters. I like our little feather dusters and don't want to loose them.
Here are our water test results. It looks like the tanks are handling the new bio load well.
10 gal.
pH 7.8
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 10 (Should we do a sm. water change to bring this closer to 0?)
SG 1.028 (we'll add some top off water)
temp. 79 F
30 gal.
pH 7.8
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 10
SG 1.026
temp. 78 F
rdnelson99
Aquarium Advice Addict
If it were a preditor I don't think you would have found the skin. Sounds to me like it molted. My fire shrimp molted over the weekend.
10 on the nitrates is not bad but 0 is better. I would not say you need to do a pwc but it never hurts.
10 on the nitrates is not bad but 0 is better. I would not say you need to do a pwc but it never hurts.
themartins
Aquarium Advice Freak
We'll just watch and see what happens with the shrimp for now. How often do you do a pwc?
PWC will depend on a lot of factors bioload, feeding, and even the fish. Clowns are very messy eaters. When starting a new tank or adding fish I keep a close eye on my nitrates and ammonia, an increase in either one will mean a water change. I change about 10 to 20 percent on my tanks once a week. I figure before the added rock and sand not after.
rdnelson99
Aquarium Advice Addict
I do a 10% PWC once a week even though my AM, Nitrite, Nitrate and Phosphate are all 0 even before doing the water change. I figure it does some good for me. 1. It keeps me in the routine so I don't get lazy, 2. It ensures my water conditions are the best I can make them and 3. it keeps the Calcium and trace elements up so I don't have to dose for my corals. Well, at least I don't have to dose "Yet" but I am sure as I get more that will change.
themartins
Aquarium Advice Freak
Do you have macro algae in a fuge or plants that will use up the nitrates?
rdnelson99
Aquarium Advice Addict
I don't have a sump or fuge. I am running a cannister which people say will turn into a nitrate factory but so far so good. I just built a DIY overflow and I am working on the plans to build my DIY sump/fuge.
Wy Renegade
Aquarium Advice Addict
Firefish typically do better in groups of 3 or more, but as stated adding other fish will also help.
It will also depend on your corals once they are added.
themartins
Aquarium Advice Freak
Yes, the shrimp molted. We have just seen both shrimp; all is well! We'll also have more pictures to add tomorrow of our 30 gal. purchases.
themartins
Aquarium Advice Freak
themartins
Aquarium Advice Freak
The lighting fixture finally came yesterday. It looks really nice; it's much brighter than the 18,000K single fluorescent bulb we had been using. We also enjoyed the shimmer from the lunar LED's - very nice night light. The only issue is not being able to open the front of the glass canopy for feeding, testing, and water changes without removing the fixture.
Should we run the lunar LED's all night, or should the tank have a period of total darkness?
Now, we'll need to start researching which corals we'd like to add. Do you have any suggestions for us for easy corals to start with? Do we need putty to attatch frags? Can you talk us through how to do this, or is there a website that you know of that would be helpful?
Should we run the lunar LED's all night, or should the tank have a period of total darkness?
Now, we'll need to start researching which corals we'd like to add. Do you have any suggestions for us for easy corals to start with? Do we need putty to attatch frags? Can you talk us through how to do this, or is there a website that you know of that would be helpful?
Well easy corals are things like mushrooms. leathers. and most LPS like ducan and frogspawn. Depends on which tank I put the frags will depend if I attach them to a rock.
Attaching Corals with Coral Epoxy from Corals101.com - YouTube
I use a lot of super glue gel a lot. You can't get aquamend any more there is one from loctite that I use. It is a lot cheaper than the LFS stuff.
Attaching Corals with Coral Epoxy from Corals101.com - YouTube
I use a lot of super glue gel a lot. You can't get aquamend any more there is one from loctite that I use. It is a lot cheaper than the LFS stuff.
Be careful with things like zoas and palythoas read the dangers on this Zoantharia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
themartins
Aquarium Advice Freak
Thank you! We look forward to adding some frags, maybe in the next couple of weeks.
We're getting in some pods from reefcleaners tomorrow or Friday. I'm thinking of putting them in our Whisper HOB filter - we're not using it as a filter, more for water movement as we have a Fluval 204 canister running as well. The HOB has just the bio sponge and I've seen some pods in there already. Is this ok or should we just add them directly to the DT? - We've heard a HOB filter can be a type of fuge.
Also, can you explain how you did the DIY overflow box and how you're doing the DIY sump/refugium as well? That may be something we look into doing in the future.
Water test results yesterday: both tanks tested 0 ammonia and nitrite, nitrates were 10, the pH stable on the 30. The pH was 7.4 in the 10; not sure why. Any ideas or suggestions?
Will the nitrates be lower once we have more coraline algae growing on the base rocks? It will be nice not to have to do water changes every 1-2 days.
We're getting in some pods from reefcleaners tomorrow or Friday. I'm thinking of putting them in our Whisper HOB filter - we're not using it as a filter, more for water movement as we have a Fluval 204 canister running as well. The HOB has just the bio sponge and I've seen some pods in there already. Is this ok or should we just add them directly to the DT? - We've heard a HOB filter can be a type of fuge.
Also, can you explain how you did the DIY overflow box and how you're doing the DIY sump/refugium as well? That may be something we look into doing in the future.
Water test results yesterday: both tanks tested 0 ammonia and nitrite, nitrates were 10, the pH stable on the 30. The pH was 7.4 in the 10; not sure why. Any ideas or suggestions?
Will the nitrates be lower once we have more coraline algae growing on the base rocks? It will be nice not to have to do water changes every 1-2 days.
Some people will put a ball of chaetomorpha algae in their HOB filter and I've read it working and growing with little to no light. There are also hob refugiums that you can purchase (or make) if you want a refugium set up to grow some beneficial macroalgae.
For example: Reef Aquarium Filtration: AquaFuge External Hang-On Refugium
For me it took a lighting upgrade to get my macroalgae to experience noticeable growth - so I'm not so sure how beneficial it would be in the light confines of the HOB.
The pH comes from the salt mix. I don't know why it would be 7.4. That is a little bit low. How are you testing the pH? For me, it was very hard to read accurately with the color matching so I got a pen style reader that shows me a number.
The big thing with pH is not to have a dramatic swing.
Your nitrate number should level out but I don't know how long it will take. Nitrates are not dangerous in fish only systems (as you've not gotten corals yet) in concentrations up to 40, and i've even read 80 or 100. I'm not sure if that frequent of water changes is hurting anything, but it could stress your fish out if the salinity and temperature aren't the same. I would try to strive for once a week water changes (obviously don't let anything get out of whack).
10 nitrates is very very good and not a cause of concern. The lower the better, but I just now got under 10ppm nitrates after running for like 9 or 10 months.
For example: Reef Aquarium Filtration: AquaFuge External Hang-On Refugium
For me it took a lighting upgrade to get my macroalgae to experience noticeable growth - so I'm not so sure how beneficial it would be in the light confines of the HOB.
The pH comes from the salt mix. I don't know why it would be 7.4. That is a little bit low. How are you testing the pH? For me, it was very hard to read accurately with the color matching so I got a pen style reader that shows me a number.
The big thing with pH is not to have a dramatic swing.
Your nitrate number should level out but I don't know how long it will take. Nitrates are not dangerous in fish only systems (as you've not gotten corals yet) in concentrations up to 40, and i've even read 80 or 100. I'm not sure if that frequent of water changes is hurting anything, but it could stress your fish out if the salinity and temperature aren't the same. I would try to strive for once a week water changes (obviously don't let anything get out of whack).
10 nitrates is very very good and not a cause of concern. The lower the better, but I just now got under 10ppm nitrates after running for like 9 or 10 months.
