My 6 month old 100 Gallon Non-Aggressive Tank

[fishrule]

This is my 100 Gallon Tank.
It is only 6 months old and has a lot of growing before it is near finished. As you can see, I only have about 50lbs of Live Rock and I can definitely fit a lot more in my tank. I hope to have another 75lbs in the tank by the end of February.
I only have a few corals in my tank. I wanted to slowly add them and make sure I could keep them alive long enough before I go spending a ton of $$$ on nice coral pieces. I think I want to get some of those nice looking Zoos corals I keep seeing.
This tank will mostly consist of Non-Aggressive fish and Reef safe fish.
My tank currently houses:
2 Purple Urchins
1 Royal (Tuxedo) Urchin
1 Brittle Starfish
2 Porcelain Crabs
4 Hermit Crabs (1 is Scarlet)
1 Cleaner Shrimp
1 Yellow-Tailed Blue Damsel
1 Niger Trigger
1 Percula Clown
2 Snails
My Tanks Losses:
1 Percula Clown (Died of Ich)
1 Lawnmower Blenny (Not sure why he died)
1 Green Mandarin Dragonet (Died of Ich)
1 Blue Hippo Tang (Got sucked into a filter for one of my blowers and died)
Everything, but my Live Rock, Tank, Coral, and 3 fish have been purchased thru www.saltwaterfish.com and I’m happy that this company exists. Can’t wait to order more stuff in the near future...
About 8 years ago I had a 28 Gallon Tall that housed Aggressive Fish. There was a strange tank outbreak, looked like a billion little white shrimp. They hatched overnight and everything in the tank was killed.
My old 24 gallon tank housed:
1 Golden Striped Maroon Clown
1 Asassi Trigger
1 Panther Grouper (Grew to 8" long and I had to sell him back to the LFS
1 Anemone (Not sure what one I had)
Misc Crabs and Snails
So here are the pics of my 6 month old 100 gallon tank:

 

[fishrule]

This Pic turned out bad, but you can kinda see how nice he looks...

One Porcelain Crab and my Brittle Star

The other Porcelain Crab

This is one of the Coolest Urchins money can buy... : )

Thats it for now... : )
Oh, does anyone know the best way to remove Ick? I have been told to do a ton of water changes. Is that the best solution?

 

[lion_crazz]

That is not a solution to remove ich at all. The only ways to remove ich are taking away its host (move your fish to another tank for a month), hyposalinity, and copper. The last two you cannot due because you have corals and inverts. Being that you dont have many fish, I would just take your four fish out and move them to another smaller tank for a month. Do hypo salinity in the smaller tank, meanwhile you are starving the ich in the main tank because they do not have a host once the fish are gone. That would work easily and you would rid the tank of the ich that way.
Your fish and inverts look good, but you need A LOT more live rock. When you get it, your tank wil look 100 times better.
I don't want this to sound too harsh, but I think you should probably pick up a book or two, because your fish selection for all of your tanks is not very good. The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert Fenner is an excellent book. I only say that because no way should a mandarin every have gone into a tank with that amount of live rock, and a hippo should never go into a tank that is unestablished. Though it has been running for 6 months, you still have diatoms all on the left side so I assume you have a nitrate problem.
Also, a 28 gallon is not a proper "aggressive" tank, nor should a panther grouper and assasai trigger ever been in a 24 gallon tank, no matter how small they are. You had an 8" grouper in a 24 gallon tank!? :scared:

 

[fishrule]

Originally Posted by lion_crazz
That is not a solution to remove ich at all. The only ways to remove ich are taking away its host (move your fish to another tank for a month), hyposalinity, and copper. The last two you cannot due because you have corals and inverts. Being that you dont have many fish, I would just take your four fish out and move them to another smaller tank for a month. Do hypo salinity in the smaller tank, meanwhile you are starving the ich in the main tank because they do not have a host once the fish are gone. That would work easily and you would rid the tank of the ich that way.
Your fish and inverts look good, but you need A LOT more live rock. When you get it, your tank wil look 100 times better.
I don't want this to sound too harsh, but I think you should probably pick up a book or two, because your fish selection for all of your tanks is not very good. The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert Fenner is an excellent book. I only say that because no way should a mandarin every have gone into a tank with that amount of live rock, and a hippo should never go into a tank that is unestablished. Though it has been running for 6 months, you still have diatoms all on the left side so I assume you have a nitrate problem.
Also, a 28 gallon is not a proper "aggressive" tank, nor should a panther grouper and assasai trigger ever been in a 24 gallon tank, no matter how small they are. You had an 8" grouper in a 24 gallon tank!? :scared:
I don’t pretend to be an advanced aquarist by any means, so your not insulting me at all…

With my first tank, I had no clue what I was doing. I just wanted Aggressive fish and bought the coolest ones that were in the store.
I was feeding the Grouper gold fish once a day till he got to be about 4”, then I started to feed him twice a day unless I fed him a big gold fish. He just kept on growing. I had him in the tank for a little over a year, if I remember right, before I decided to remove him so he wouldn’t die. The Grouper was my favorite fish. It was also very intelligent.
I got the Mandarin only because my friend did the ordering off of SWF.com and he ordered it to surprise me, because I had been eyeing one for a long time.
I do plan on picking up some more reading material and I do plan on getting a lot more live rock. Like I said, I’ve only started on this tank… I will check out a copy of the book you suggested.
Unfortunately, I can’t move my three fish to a refuge tank, as I will need to setup my 28 Gallon again and that will take at least a month before I can put any of these fish in it. I might contact my local fish shop and see if I can use their refuge tank for a while.
Thanks again for the insight. :joy:

 

[lion_crazz]

Well before you take them to your LFS, how bad is the ich in your tank? Are the fish still eating? How are they reacting?
Also, one more thing for future reference. Freshwater feeders such as goldfish and rosie reds are very unhealthy for saltwater fish. It will eventually give them a disease known as fatty liver disease that will eventually result in their not eating because thier liver has swelled up so large. They will starve themselves because they will no longer be able to digest food.
I am glad that you are not angry at me for giving you a little constructive criticism. I only say it so that you can learn and be a better aquarist. Everyone, incluing myself, always need a little help and insight in this hobby. It is an always learning hobby. I really was not trying to be mean or anything.

 

[fishrule]

Originally Posted by lion_crazz
Well before you take them to your LFS, how bad is the ich in your tank? Are the fish still eating? How are they reacting?
Also, one more thing for future reference. Freshwater feeders such as goldfish and rosie reds are very unhealthy for saltwater fish. It will eventually give them a disease known as fatty liver disease that will eventually result in their not eating because thier liver has swelled up so large. They will starve themselves because they will no longer be able to digest food.
I am glad that you are not angry at me for giving you a little constructive criticism. I only say it so that you can learn and be a better aquarist. Everyone, incluing myself, always need a little help and insight in this hobby. It is an always learning hobby. I really was not trying to be mean or anything.
No your not hurting my feelings or insulting me at all… The reason I joined this Forum in the first place is to make sure I do things correctly so I don’t loose all my money or tank inhabitants by making Noob Mistakes. That’s also why I posted these pictures. :joy:
I’m not 100% sure the mandarin died from Ick. He didn’t really have any signs of Ick and he died while I was on vacation in Florida. It was while I gone on vacation when the two clowns came down with what seems to be Ick. My clown that died was covered in the white spots and my other clown has the same white spots, but seems to be pulling thru a lot better than the other clown.
My other two fish seem to be completely Unaffected and are eating and acting normal.

 

[lion_crazz]

Is your clown eating?

 

[fishrule]

Originally Posted by lion_crazz
Is your clown eating?
Very Little compared to normal, but he is eating… He just doesn’t attack the food in the way he did before, but still goes for food…

 

[lion_crazz]

Maybe try adding garlic in his food to get him to eat a little more aggressively and fight it off on his own. Being that your other fish are healthy, I would not bother taking your fish to the LFS.

 

[fishrule]

Originally Posted by lion_crazz
Maybe try adding garlic in his food to get him to eat a little more aggressively and fight it off on his own. Being that your other fish are healthy, I would not bother taking your fish to the LFS.
Garlic, like seasoning or Garlic Salt? Or cut up pieces of garlic? How much is enough?

 

[lion_crazz]

you could do cut up pieces of it if you want, that would be fine, or you could just buy it in liquid form for $10 by Kent Marine called Garlic Xtreme.
Because of the strong small, garlic entices fish to eat more.

 

[max22]

I am surprised nobody have mentioned this yet but if you want a reef (corals) and you want a non agressive tank you should get rid of the Niger Trigger and Damsel. I would also increase your clean up crew.

 

[lion_crazz]

Yes, but some niger triggers do not bother corals, as there are a few people on this message board with niger and blue jaw triggers in their full reef tanks, and some damsels are not all that aggressive.

 

[mrdc]

How effective is an UV sterilizer for ich prevention?

 

[lion_crazz]

It kills free-floating ich, but should not be relied upon, as it will not prevent ich from attaching to fish's bodies. Once the ich is attached, there is nothing the UV can do. I personally have never liked UV sterilizers.

 

[mrdc]

Thanks. I was just researching into them. My fish have looked cleaned for some time now but I know ich is still present since I never removed the host. My cleaner shrimps and neon gobies help and I also attribute the garlic, vitachem, ... Basically I just hope to keep the stress level down and hope the fish will be able to fight it off. I would remove all the fish but I don't have a big enough QT tank and some of the fish are impossible to remove unless I break down the tank.

 

[lion_crazz]

I know what you mean. That is the best thing to do. Make sure there is nothing stressing out the fish and keep their foods full of vitamins and garlic. Don't waste the money on a UV sterlizer. They are not worth it if you ask me. The best thing that they do is clear your water up. That can be done other ways, in which are easier and less costly.
I am speaking from experience, as I have set-up customer tanks with and without UV's. I usually try to talk people out of getting them, but when people insist upon them, I get to see the result of using one. There is nothing special, in my opinion.

 

[mrdc]

Yeah in the UV description it talks about it's effectiveness against ich and water clarity. I don't have a problem with water clarity except for the brown alage attack after switching to halides. I just keep scrpaing the glass every day and the snails seem to be helping get rid of what I can't reach. Thanks.

 

[fishrule]

I didn’t notice this had been resurrected... I have since changed my ways and learned quit a bit.
The only fish left alive in this tank is the Damsel which was safe around the corals I had in the tank. I wish I spent a few months on the boards here before setting everything up, but some lessons are better learned the hard way.
I thought I had Ick, but it turns out my tank had really never 100% cycled and it went thru a few mini cycles. (NOOB Disease) That killed off all my fish except for the Damsel, which is very happy and healthy at the moment.
I took a step back with this tank and I’m slowly rebuilding it to run correctly. I still only have about 60lbs of live rock and a small cleaning crew. I removed all the corals from this tank and put them in my 25g office tank. Once I have 130lbs of live rock and a larger cleaning crew, I will add one more fish. After I upgrade my tank lighting I will add coral. I only want 4 fish total in this tank and a lot coral.
The water has stabilized and current tank mates are all happy and healthy.
As far as my 25g tank goes. I did everything by the book that I have learned on this site and it is more healthy and mature than my 100g tank. It is a few months old now and I still only have 2 camelback shrimp and one hermit crab. I don’t plan to add any fish for a few more months and I will only be adding 2 to 3 nano-fish...

 

[lion_crazz]

Originally Posted by FishRule
I didn’t notice this had been resurrected... I have since changed my ways and learned quit a bit.
The only fish left alive in this tank is the Damsel which was safe around the corals I had in the tank. I wish I spent a few months on the boards here before setting everything up, but some lessons are better learned the hard way.
I thought I had Ick, but it turns out my tank had really never 100% cycled and it went thru a few mini cycles. (NOOB Disease) That killed off all my fish except for the Damsel, which is very happy and healthy at the moment.
I took a step back with this tank and I’m slowly rebuilding it to run correctly. I still only have about 60lbs of live rock and a small cleaning crew. I removed all the corals from this tank and put them in my 25g office tank. Once I have 130lbs of live rock and a larger cleaning crew, I will add one more fish. After I upgrade my tank lighting I will add coral. I only want 4 fish total in this tank and a lot coral.
The water has stabilized and current tank mates are all happy and healthy.
As far as my 25g tank goes. I did everything by the book that I have learned on this site and it is more healthy and mature than my 100g tank. It is a few months old now and I still only have 2 camelback shrimp and one hermit crab. I don’t plan to add any fish for a few more months and I will only be adding 2 to 3 nano-fish...
That is great to hear that you are on the right track now! Keep us updated with pics and progress.