My Blue Mandarin!!!

[dreams]

after reading this thread, you all have frightened me away from getting a goby....i want a yellow target manderin & a green clown

i plan on setting up a larger tank in the near future.....can someone berakdown the requirements for this fish & what shouldn't be housed w/ it?....also, can those two fish be housed together, so that both are healthy & happy?

sry, if this is a hijack

[TheRealFF]

My setup has:

30G all glass tank
40 pounds of ls
45 or lil more pounds of lr
2 Maxijets (320GPH total)
1 HOB skilzter protein skimmer
130W corallife light (65W actinic and 65W 10000k)
100W acura heater

Fishes:
2 clowns
1 scooter blenny

Inverts:
8 tiny blue/red legged hermits
1 regular size scarlet hermit
6 astrea snails
1 emerald crab
1 cleaner shrimp
3 tubeworms (dif colors)
2 soft corals (yellow lettuce and something finger lol)
3 stony coral (bubble, candy cane, and something else i forgot the name)
3 zoos of dif
3 shrooms (red shroom, green ricordia and red/blue ricordia)
1 frag of brain i think, im not sure if it is tho.
1 sea squirt (accidently came with the yellow lettuce)
1 glass anemone (it's a good size one, any suggestion how i can remove it?)
Some algaes (im working on the phosphate and nitrate. P04 is 0 so far. now to work on NO3)

That's pretty much what my tank has right now. I know i went way too fast with the inverts but they are thriving. I'll take it slowly from now on tho, promise.

[afilter]

Great job posting the informationin the my info section!

People will be able to give you better advice now without needing to ask you a ton of questions first.

[BeGiNeR_7]

It's good to hear that you have returned the infamous mandarin!!! Just ask plenty of questions from now on before you make any new purchases. The people around here are very knowledgeable and will answer any question you have. We all understand the frustrations of being new and just not knowing.

I have also found it to be helpful to do a search for posts about things I am considering or having trouble with and just see what other people have said. Sometimes it is easier to just learn from the mistakes of others. All in all just take your time and your tank will turn out beautifully.

[pkremer]

I think you've made a wise decision...

Just so you know, RealFF, nobody here was upset at you for making a newbie mistake. Everyone here has made newbie mistakes...I'm currently dealing with the aftermath of a newbie mistake (live rock in QT and angel as my first fish). However, nobody will hate you for making a mistake, for doing something without knowledge, it is when you purposely do something when you know you shouldn't that gets everyone upset!

Everyone here will be happy to help you get your tank back up and running, and to help you enjoy your hobby. We were only concerned for you because you had the information you needed to make the right decision, and you weren't making it! All of us firmly believe that you will have much better success without those 2 fish. And thanks for saving afilter from having a trip to the ER! hehe!

Sorry afilter, just had to rib ya!

[tecwzrd]

Originally Posted by Brenden

No way 800 CA reading is correct. It would be snowing in your tank.

Why snowing? I’ve never had a reading above 450 ppm so I’m curious.

TheRealFF, I would buy the Salifert ca test which has been the most reliable one for me. It’s kind of pricy but worth it IME compared to cheaper tests.

We really only have your fish/inverts interests in mind when we give advise and most here have decades of experience.

Keeping up with weekly pwc as afilter suggested is critical for the next couple of months until your tank stabilizes a little more. By doing so you shouldn’t have to dose anything but ca and then I would only add enough to get it in the 400-450 ppm range max.

P.S. I cracked up at the last line you have in your “my info� button:
“I was being a noob and bought all those corals so fast...�

[jhoelter]

Yeah, if you think about it our hobby is kind of an oxymoron. We love the marine life so much that we want it in our home yet in the process of doing this so many die during collection, shipping and our mistakes.

I went snorkeling on a reef (Pennekamp State Park, Key Largo, FL) for the first time in my life back in February. Having had a marine tank for 1.5 years made me quite interested to see everything out there in the wild. It was incredible - lots of great fish and corals. Just beautiful. However, it didn't make me want to have a bigger/better tank - it actually DECREASED my desire to have stuff like that in my tank. It was so beautiful out there in the wild...and especially corals - they could live for so many years out there, but I could kill em so quickly just because I want to have a pretty tank.

So I'm content, for now, with my 30g tank: 2 tank-bred fake clowns, a coral beauty, and some various crabs. (I would like a shrimp, and to convert to LS instead of CC, but all in due time...)

Jeff

[revhtree]

By snowing he means calcium precipitation often referred to as "snowing." It is caused when the water is supersaturated. The cal looses it's form as a liquid and then flakes to the bottom of the aquarium. Thus the snow storm analogy.

Read all this: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/20...ture/index.php

[tecwzrd]

Thanks revhtree

[ryguy]

I went snorkeling on a reef (Pennekamp State Park, Key Largo, FL) for the first time in my life back in February. Having had a marine tank for 1.5 years made me quite interested to see everything out there in the wild. It was incredible - lots of great fish and corals. Just beautiful.

I got married in Hawaii last summer and snorkeled for my first time as well. AWESOME!!! I was swimming with HUGE achilles tangs, moorish idols etc.... I was completely fascinated. I had one good scare when I was swimming right over a urchin "field" with not much clearance between it and the surface, then a big wave hit and lowered the surface level after the wave passed and had me doing the funky chicken trying not to get jabbed by urchin spines.....that wasn't fun, but the rest was!!

[TheRealFF]

Fun off topics yall got there 0.o

Peoples in here are so nice. Gotta love this forum

Btw. how can this one noobie post be viewed by so many ppls? Guess i got some attention there

[afilter]

Thanks for the concern guys. Just returned from the hospital this afternoon the doc suggested I seek out a AAA (aquarium advice anonymous) support group and try to abstain from AA from awhile. Wonder if insurance covers that?

[TheRealFF]

Lol