Search results

She'll be fine for a week, feed her all she can eat for a couple days before leaving.

Are they tiny amphipods? Can you harvest some dots and look under a microscope?

Hello Iron, Alkalinity is not the same as PH. They are different water parameters. Alkalinity in our systems is mostly made up of Carbonate and Bicarbonate with a pinch of Borate. PH at its roots a measure of Hydrogen ions in the water. Alkalinity is made up of trace elements that need to...

Since it didn't die from ammonia I would suggest perhaps PH shock and/or temperature shock, and/or salinity shock. Those are about the only three things that would kill overnight. It's not that your water parameters are bad (they seem fine as measured) but the difference between the store...

Calcium should be in a range of 350ppm - 450ppm in my opinion. For more experience reefkeepers they will adjust to what works best for them but for you I would recommend maintaining Calcium around 400ppm. This is not low... Most saltmixes will get above 400ppm but that's fine. I do not...

In that scenario the middle chamber is a refugium and the last chamber is the sump.

They make the product because a lot of people buy it. It is useful to raise Alkalinity so it is a valid product but should only be used to maintain or raise Alkalinity. 1 - yes most brands have a calcium kit. I prefer Salifert but most brands are fine. I would test once a week, more often if...

In the winter if will feel warm in the summer it will feel cool. As I mentioned before, a finger is not a good judge of water temp. This site sells thermometers IJS

they're cheap enough to get three and keep the two that agree on what the tank temp is.

Dry reef rock is available at a reasonable cost. The others are iffy due to the possibility of contamination, especially lava rock. You can cement rocks together. I've even mixed fusilli pasta with cement to create porous cement rock. The advantage being price and you can shape them however...

You can wait until fall or winter for the second heater but yeah, I think you need more than a single 50 watt heater unless you keep your room temperature high all the time. Do you trust the thermometer?

One needs to maintain an Alkalinity level balanced with an appropriate Calcium level. Using an alkalinity additive (such as a PH buffer) to raise PH is almost always a mistake.

I'd strongly recommend two 50 watt heaters instead of a single large heater. You probably need another powerhead. You can't use your finger to determine water temp fluctuations. What you perceive can be affected by what your hands were just exposed to. ie. room temperature water feels cool...

How many watts is your heater? What brand? What size and make is your powerhead and/or main pump? What kind of lights do you have? Is the top of the tank covered?

Then I agree with everyone else, get two small clownfish and QT them at the same time.

The only caveat to that is if you want to breed and raise the offspring. If you get two Ocellaris from a store they are likely captive bred and also probably siblings. If they are wild caught then no worries with buying them together.

What species are you looking at? Tank bred or wild caught?

Yeah, unfortunately it's still important if you want to keep your Clownfish healthy. In small systems it's easy to maintain good levels just doing water changes. Another good thing with a fish only system is the Alkalinity and Calcium will be consumed much slower compared to a reef system.

Well that looks a lot better. My method of cycling includes running all tank equipment and maintenance. This view is not shared by all but I've cycled hundreds of systems and that has worked best for me.

I think I mentioned before it doesn't look like the optimal skimmer design. A skimmer isn't necessary. However; Having a good skimmer can mitigate a lot of mistakes from accidental overfeeding to overdoses. This means that if everything is always going well you're not going to miss the...