ReefRiyon 75 Gallon Reef Build Diary

[matt b]

Originally Posted by redman1221
http:///forum/post/2495824
Jmo I think you should have waited about 2 months before you add any fish to your tank. What are the readings on the water in your tank.
Thats crazy IMO. If you get live rock very cured from a lfs and good live sand you could add fish very fast. I havent had my 75 setup for a month and I have a bi colored blennie, and 2 cardinals. cause I used rock from my old tank and sand from my old tank. so as long as there is enuf bacteria he will be fine
Your clowns are amazing!!!

 

[redman1221]

Originally Posted by MaTT B
http:///forum/post/2495907
Thats crazy IMO. If you get live rock very cured from a lfs and good live sand you could add fish very fast. I havent had my 75 setup for a month and I have a bi colored blennie, and 2 cardinals. cause I used rock from my old tank and sand from my old tank. so as long as there is enuf bacteria he will be fine
Your clowns are amazing!!!
Good for you but I would have waited thats just me. I would not take any chances with my fish and I would check my water before I put any fish in my tank, but thats just me he should be fine I guess. Good Luck with your clowns.

 

[bennyhill]

Tank looks good so far nice rock. you realy done NEED a protein skimmer yet ,some people swear by them some dont i have mine up 4 about 1 -1 1/2 without. the corals that i do have are fine. just a thought like i said im still learning
Im still new to the saltwater tanks but i started mine with 120lbs lr and 100 -120lbs ls used the bacteria in the little red tube (forgot the name ) everything was fine in 2 weeks everything was 0 ph was 8.1
here a pic

 

[sk8shorty01]

Originally Posted by ReefRiyon
http:///forum/post/2495781
aving trouble or at least i think so...why are my clownfish jolting back and forth and swimming wierd sometimes....is that a clownfish thing? my clarkii also swims at the top of the tank like its gasping for air....dunnnooooo. also my austrailian male likes to flirt around with my single black/white percula...im trying to keep him away from her so he could just stick with his austrailian mate...is there anything i can do?

I think you should really slow down and do some research before you add anything else. For one you already have 5 fish in a tank that has been running for about a month, thats going way to fast. A tank will usually take between 4-6 weeks to cycle so that means as of right now you should just be adding your clean up crew into the tank. Do you have a clean up crew yet? They will help get rid of some of the spare food or detritus that ends up on the rock and sand bed.
The next problem, you added way to many fish at one time and did not QT any of them. This is probably the second reason why your fish are struggling. You have a very new and delicate system right now and you completely overloaded it with all of those fish going in at once. Each fish has a bio-load attached to it, and after each addition your tank has to re-adjust in order to compensate for this addition, so adding six at one time could cause a crash in a tank of that size, especially one that has been running for a very short amount of time. You also should always QT your fish because otherwise you risk introducing ich into your system. It is a lot better to work on one fish in a stress free environment then having to deal with all of them with an ich problem.
Next, what type of corals are you planning on putting into that tank? Do you have the proper lighting for those corals? Will your lighting be able to sustain the anemone that you want? Also, be careful having an anemone in that tank as some are frequent "walkers" and could move on top of a coral or cause a "chemical war" within the tank. Anemone's also need prestine water conditions and should only be added to an established system and I do not think you are ready for one yet, I would at least wait another couple months.
Also, clowns do not tend to get along with another of their kind unless they are a pair. You have 5 clowns in your tank and that is probably going to cause problems at some point in time. When you put in an anemone they are all going to be fighting for that prized territory, so you have to consider this as well.
Lastly, you have to get into the habit of testing your tank. You need some sort of routine because if you don't test it, you have no idea what is going on inside of that system and you don't know when you can add new critters. This is especially true of a new system. You should be testing your water at least every other day at this point because it is probably still cycling and because you added those fish, it might have started over. I would keep testing your water and make sure that your ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are all within check.
Remember, take your time and make sure you do your research because this is a very expensive hobby, and it will be really really expensive if you rush things because you will be buying fish every other month. Do your research on every fish before you buy it and make sure it will get along with the rest of the fish in the tank, and that it will not outgrow your system. Good luck and remember the people of these boards will be here to answer any questions you have. I would also like to say that I am not bashing you or criticizing you in any way, I am just trying to inform you so that you do not make the same mistakes that every other person on these boards made when they started out. We are all talking from experience here, we have all done it!

 

[horsin1963]

I will have to agree with shorty's post.. slow down give your new friends time to adjust to your system and your system to adjust to them... I will have to add your drain hose needs to be shortened... SHORT STORY .. I had a hose that was to long looked the same as yours with the "U" in it had a very fine sand build up over a long period of time and the hose plugged one nite. you can only guess what happened. if you cant make it shorter keep a eye on it.. Love your setup ... Brian

 

[reefriyon]

indeeedd i came home and there it was...clarkii dead on the sand... i cant find the other one so maybe shes dead too. ughh im getting frustrated and slowly losing hope. i love my clowns i just got to death and i dont want anymore to die. i was gonna seperate my single clown into a plastic cup chamber hanging on the tank to see if it helps but now my clarkiis?? and theyre probably both dead if i cant find the other.....and i dont know why...the dead female had a white spot on its side like a milky look to it...anything wrong? i had a small clean up crew before...all the snails died hermits left maybe 10 snails and 20 hermits died all together. blennys died the other day, damsel the other day....what is going on?

 

[teresaq]

Too much too soon. Did you cycle your tank at all. Cycle usually takes 6 weeks or so. You should only add one or two fish at a time. too many pairs of clowns in one tank.
Hope things work out.
T

 

[bennyhill]

Only thing i can say is if you have a friend with a saltwater tank see if he could hold the fish and cleanup crew till your tank is established, not the friend that work at the fish store that let your get all the stuff in the first place...
Get yourself some ( BIOZYME OR SEACHEM STABILITY OR CYCLE ) this will help establish your tank like everyone said too much to soon ..I hope everything works out for you .

 

[reefriyon]

i know my nitrate is up...will that drop the nitrate? its at 10 yesterday, my ph was a little high so i added some buffer. all my fish are still alive except for the clarkiis which i still havent found the last one. no partial water change yet right? im gonna try to start doing distilled water changes...i bought a 30g rubbermaid container yesterday for some storage.

 

[redman1221]

Originally Posted by ReefRiyon
http:///forum/post/2497729
i know my nitrate is up...will that drop the nitrate? its at 10 yesterday, my ph was a little high so i added some buffer. all my fish are still alive except for the clarkiis which i still havent found the last one. no partial water change yet right? im gonna try to start doing distilled water changes...i bought a 30g rubbermaid container yesterday for some storage.
If your ph was alittle high why would you add buffer to it? If you add more buffer that would rise your ph right.

 

[reefmate75]

clowns are tuffens, one of the best fish to start out with...but start out with 1! i know its hard not to just jump right in but you have to wait, i learned the hard way the same as you are right now, my frist fish was a blue devil damnsil and they named that fish right on target...but when i started the salt bag said to add 1/2 a cup per gallon i said well its a 75 gallon tank s thats 37 and a half cups and i put that in, i didnt know how to check salt, well the frist fish did fine for 2 weeks so i added 4 more, 2 dominos and 2convicts, oh god what was i getting into..i didnt know anybetter, i didnt know anyone with a saltwater fish tank and i was on my own, well i found out you can check salt lvl so i bought the little gagit and checked my salt, well it was off the chart, but my fish where fine so i said well my waters fine and the thing is a pice of BEEP, well i kept adding fish, a coral beaut, a maroon clown, then another maroons, and then a yellow tang, and then i was going to buy my most expensive fish yet!!!! flangfin angel! 4 days latter it died, and the rest of my tank crashed as well, you started out better then i did as i started out with no live rock what so ever, as i didnt know its importance, and then to find out i had overstocked my 75 gallon, that put me into the state of mind well im not going to lose 400 worth of fish again so

[hr]
it, well then the tank stayed empty for like 3 months i keep the water lvl up with RO water but then it started to grow alot of alge so i thought well ill buy 1 fish, a sailfin tang, so i got him, he cleaned the tank up nicely and he stayed in that tank alone for a good 4 months...
what im tring to say is this might be a good thing, it will deffently make you slow down and get your tank where you want it in time, im talking years down the road, and also its better to take it slow as you dont feel it on your wallet so much when you just buy something this month and then something the next month
dont give up as this hobby is very rewarding, and im glad i didnt give up

 

[reefmate75]

Originally Posted by redman1221
http:///forum/post/2497801
If your ph was alittle high why would you add buffer to it? If you add more buffer that would rise your ph right.
there is 2 diffrent, PH up and PH down, one thing to remember is that PH gose up during the day, and drops like a rock when the lights go off, i always test my water right befor the lights go off so i can see where the waters PH is peeking, if you want to see the low point check it right befor the lights come on

 

[reefriyon]

ph buffer stabilizes ph to 8.3 so it says...? right? anyways what kind of clowns are those? black with yellow stripe o man i want them....not now...ive learned...haha im looking into quarantining and i want to buy 1 or 2 depending on size...whats good? 14 gallon oceanic biocube overkill? why spend 100 bucks on a eclipse 12 when 50 bucks more you can have a biocube? i have a new rubbermaid container for water and was looking at ro/di systems on ----...how can i hook that up? how long does it take to fill lets say my 30 gallon rubbermaid container? trying to clean this tank up and start doings things right...

 

[reefriyon]

small male onyx is dead...wow im really losing hope now. clarkii is no where to be found and now my austrailian black percula is gone

 

[bennyhill]

I dont mean to sound like im being a d*** but you said your friend an expert and works at a fish store he should have told you to slow down take your time and not to spend your money yet ...Sorry i just hate it when stores like that just want a sale 1 store tryed it with me ....Man I REALLY HOPE THINGS WORK OUT
what ever fish you get see if a friend could hold on to them 4 u hate to see you wasted the money and everything dies .. If you were near me i have a 55gal qt ..like i said hope everything works out.

 

[reefriyon]

would a 14 or 8 gallon biocube be good for a quarantine? if i do get one dont i have to wait for the tank to cycle and then put the fish in...can i buy sea water from ***** or something to start out fresh and start it faster to get those fish in?

 

[bennyhill]

14gal will do for the clowns for a little while better if it were bigger ,but that needs to cycle too

 

[reefmate75]

14 gallon would work for most fish, as long as you didnt try to QT more then 2 fish at the same time, so witht hat being said if you QTed every fish you bought for 3 weeks that could be your marker for when its time to buy a new fish till your tank is stocked

 

[redman1221]

Where are you located at ? If you are close I will hold your clowns for you until your tank is ready, let me know.

 

[reefriyon]

im in milford connecticutttt haha far from you...anyways yea one onyx left and one black and whit percula left...all clowns are missing cant find them only pulled a onyx out and one clarkii. they are somewhere in my tankkk whoosh