kipski
Aquarium Advice Newbie
Hi,
What a terrific resource, I stumbled on it a couple hours ago and haven't stopped reading since! On to my issues:
I had a 30 gallon FOWLR for a couple years after college and had to give it up when I moved. I've wanted to get back into salt water ever since, and my wife got me a tiny little 5 gal hex set up for my birthday recently. Now, I understand that 5 gals is tiny, and I think I've done OK limiting myself. Here's what I've got:
10 lbs live sand
7 lbs live rock
3 red hermit crabs
1 chocolate chip star
1 red and white goby
will be adding a pistol shrimp to hang out with the goby soon.
I set up the sand a rock and cycled everything, my tests from this morning showed:
temp: 78
pH: 8.2
Ammonia .5 ppm
NO2: 0
NO3:15 ppm
SG: 1.02ish (I had to make my own hydrometer, so I can't claim scientific precision, but it didn't look out of the normal range)
I confess, the tank I used to have I inherited from a guy who set it up and never looked at it again, but it kept his percula clowns alive for 18 months before I got it, so I would call it established. He never tested it, and I was almost as bad, relying just on it's biological filtering (had lots of rock and sand) to get the job done and keep everything copasetic. As a result I don't have much experience testing water and understanding the results. Frankly, it seems odd to me that I have a nitrite level of zero and a nitrate level of 15, but that's not what I'm supposed to be posting about.
With all my tests in the green, I figured today was the big day and I headed down to my LFS (I've been reading the forums long enough to know a couple acronyms ) and picked up the crabs, goby and star. I used the measuring cup method to acclimate them. The crabs are happy as clams, the goby is a little freaked out and is hiding in the LR, which seems fine, but the star is having some issues.
Initially it looked fine, but after a couple hours it headed up to the top of the tank, curled its legs toward its back, and started to produce what looks like stringy mucus from the tips of its arms. I am concerned that it is a goner, and need some advice.
Thanks
What a terrific resource, I stumbled on it a couple hours ago and haven't stopped reading since! On to my issues:
I had a 30 gallon FOWLR for a couple years after college and had to give it up when I moved. I've wanted to get back into salt water ever since, and my wife got me a tiny little 5 gal hex set up for my birthday recently. Now, I understand that 5 gals is tiny, and I think I've done OK limiting myself. Here's what I've got:
10 lbs live sand
7 lbs live rock
3 red hermit crabs
1 chocolate chip star
1 red and white goby
will be adding a pistol shrimp to hang out with the goby soon.
I set up the sand a rock and cycled everything, my tests from this morning showed:
temp: 78
pH: 8.2
Ammonia .5 ppm
NO2: 0
NO3:15 ppm
SG: 1.02ish (I had to make my own hydrometer, so I can't claim scientific precision, but it didn't look out of the normal range)
I confess, the tank I used to have I inherited from a guy who set it up and never looked at it again, but it kept his percula clowns alive for 18 months before I got it, so I would call it established. He never tested it, and I was almost as bad, relying just on it's biological filtering (had lots of rock and sand) to get the job done and keep everything copasetic. As a result I don't have much experience testing water and understanding the results. Frankly, it seems odd to me that I have a nitrite level of zero and a nitrate level of 15, but that's not what I'm supposed to be posting about.
With all my tests in the green, I figured today was the big day and I headed down to my LFS (I've been reading the forums long enough to know a couple acronyms ) and picked up the crabs, goby and star. I used the measuring cup method to acclimate them. The crabs are happy as clams, the goby is a little freaked out and is hiding in the LR, which seems fine, but the star is having some issues.
Initially it looked fine, but after a couple hours it headed up to the top of the tank, curled its legs toward its back, and started to produce what looks like stringy mucus from the tips of its arms. I am concerned that it is a goner, and need some advice.
Thanks