Thinking of starting a nano reef!

[SKB]

Yes ik. I have added up my start up cost, and maintenance. Well seperate from purchasing fish and corals. But I went and saw the prices of corals so I have an idea. And yeah ill be fine with have a sw CUC for a while. I stare at my freshwater tanks so long, I probably wont be able to leave the house! haha

 

[SKB]

Oh yeah, i forgot, i do realize that i probably need a fish in there to create waste or for extra food for my CUC. The guy at the lfs said to get a damsel 2-5 days after the tank is set up..... which ill prolly wait until its cycled (with the shrimp and all) but unless i find a diff hardy fish id like to keep (maybe a goby??) ill prolly get a damsel until i can get a clown.

 

[Easyflip]

You can cycle a tank without a fish. Some people feel its more humane. Damsels are hardy but mean and territorial, if you're going to use him ask the lfs if they'll take him back for credit if he starts picking on everybody. I used raw shrimp to cycle my tank, it worked. There's tons of info on cycling here.

 

[Huffers]

Yea you can use RO water for your tank. It's not quite as good as RODI but like I said its a whole lot better than tap water!

 

[SKB]

Thanks!! I think I'm going to use the shrimp method once I start.

And yeah I was surprised it was only .50 at my LFS! I was expecting more I guess

 

[Evansimp]

I'm cycling my frag tank right now with the shrimp method! That's the best way ime! After one day I had my big ammonia spike!

 

[SKB]

Yeah that's the way I was planning on doing it for sure. Read it from your thread! Hopefully, i can start buying the lights i have saved on ebay soon, the pump (the ones you suggested), thermometer, refractometer and reef and saltwater test kits, then i can go to my lfs and get started with live rock, live sand, salt and water. im pumped, but i feel like itll be a while yet. but taking time to do all the research and make sure everything is right is the right way anyway so that's fine

 

[Evansimp]

Yeah that's the way I was planning on doing it for sure. Read it from your thread! Hopefully, i can start buying the lights i have saved on ebay soon, the pump (the ones you suggested), thermometer, refractometer and reef and saltwater test kits, then i can go to my lfs and get started with live rock, live sand, salt and water. im pumped, but i feel like itll be a while yet. but taking time to do all the research and make sure everything is right is the right way anyway so that's fine

Sounds like you on are the road to success!!!

 

[SKB]

I surely hope so!

 

[Easyflip]

Check out this hitchhiker I got with my mushrooms! Any updates anybody?

 

[Vazter]

Check out this hitchhiker I got with my mushrooms! Any updates anybody?

I got 2 in my tank it just a starfish lol

 

[SKB]

I forgot what they are called but I came across those kind of starfish when I was looking up small starfish just on google

 

[Easyflip]

Thanks SKB! Good thing I don't have any harlequin shrimp! Lol How's your tank coming?

 

[SKB]

Ehh. I was just about to buy everything and get it started but then my friend said they've been having issues with their baby jack dempsey and didn't want it anymore. So now I have a little very scared jack dempsey in the tank I was going to use. I'm gonna hopefully nurse it back to health but then I might try to find another home for it. It had opaque eye and a little white fuzzy stuff on the side of its eye as we'll and is very thin... So right now operation saltwater aquarium is put on hold...:-/

 

[Easyflip]

Follow you're good heart, saltwater can wait, help baby jack Dempsey! That compassion will serve u well in reef keeping and in life! Let me know when u dive in, good luck!

 

[SKB]

Thank you!

 

[TwoRivers]

Poor thing . We had some itty bitty stars but they are gone now either sucked into the filtration or eaten

 

[SKB]

Awe . My jack dempsey is already looking better. Still scared but I finally got him to come to the top to eat. But he'll go up really fast get a piece, hide. Get a piece fast, hide. He doesn't need much but it's a step and his eye is getting better along with his color.. Most of the time he's dark now but sometimes if he gets scared when I first walk in the room he'll turn white but then go back to dark

 

[Easyflip]

Eating is a good sign! I'm cheering for him!

 

[SKB]

Yeah I was leaving shrimp pellets in because he would not come to the top and I'd waste food. And he wasn't eating the pellets either at first but all the sudden one day they were gone! But I still worked on getting him to come to the top. And I'm glad to see some improvement!