sw fopas.

jay0705

Well-Known Member
Ok the forum is looking for articles to help people out. I am going to discuss some myths, facts, and maybe a little bit of both.
Lets start w air stones in saltwater aquariums!!!!! OMG the horror! Not really I have them in all my tanks. Personally I like the look of the bubbles working through the rock work.This isnt my only means of aeration mind you. Just saying there not the evil menace many make them out to be.
next, lets tackle tops on tanks. I get gas exchange is a big thing w sw tanks. Guess what? Yup hoods on all my tanks aswell. Now there not completely sealed nor filled completely to the top w water. Fish, inverts, ect all fine.
Now I feel its time to tell you all I'am totally sain and not touched. These are just a few things I've seen on here, and in my experience have had no issues with.
3rd and lastly lets talk fish. Most of us keep sw tanks for just this reason the fish. I will discuss one of the most controversial , yet popular fish here. The mandarin draggonets. We will include scooter blennys in this aswell
picky eaters, very hard to keep this fish alive. All things commonly stated about these fish. I have 7 in 3 diff tanks. All are fat and eating frozen, mysis and spirulina brine. How did I get them to eat frozen?I fed it to them in the tank! Really, thats it. Idk If i feed more than most or what. But if they have time to examine the food they will eat it. I have aggressive eating fish and my mandys compete evenly w them for food. I dont want newbies to think oh if he can keep them I can. Thats not it. However if you take your time, feed them enough so it gets down to them, they will eat. If you can find prawn roe, any smo w a cycled tank can keep these fish. Its like mandy crack, they love it.
I hope this didn't offended any of you. I have learned a ton from the people of this forum. I just wanted to open a few windows, and let a new breeze freshen our ideas on sw.
thanks for reading.
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Hi,

When talking to a "newbie" ... I personally feel it's just very, very UNWISE to tell them what corners they can cut and get away with it. God forbid I give somebody advice that crashes their tank. I stay with the tried and true methods for just that reason. So I am not offended that you cover your tank, or put air stones on your airlines because you like bubbles. Nor would I ever suggest that a person get a hard to feed expensive fish, and have it starve to death on them.

So the rule of thumb when giving advice is to tell them what they SHOULD do. If a fish needs a certain tanks size or live food...assume the fish will follow that guide line, and that's the advice we are obligated to offer.

It isn't that we are closed minded, but rather we know what to look for if things go south, a "newbie" wouldn't recognize those signs, and be able to avoid disaster.

I keep seahorses, and I have airlines (no stone because big bubbles look better then a tiny stream of them)...I also like the look of the bubbles, but I also deal with the salt creep, and understand that the minerals are depleted when the salt creep extracts it from the water. I keep macroalgae and don't have to do a monthly water change, only because my health prevents me, but when I can do the water change, the tank looks 100% better .... My advice to others is to always do at least a monthly water change.
 

jay0705

Well-Known Member
You make valid points. I agree w alot of them. Salt creep is increased.
As far as live foods, I like the idea of feeding all my fish live food from time to time. They just have better nutrition then frozen. I purchase pods , amph and cop. Just to supplement my fishes diets. This isn't a staple tho. I have too many pod hunters to sustain pods in numbers in my tanks. I do have some just not enough for it to be a primary food source.
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Agreed, you can't beat live food. My horses eat frozen Mysis, I make sure to keep a good breeding of amphipods for them to hunt, the copepod population is abundant enough for a mandarin...I opted for a blue line pipefish instead...he also eats the Mysis, but he enjoys his pods all day long.

I do believe all of us, once we actually know what we are doing a bit, tweaks our systems for what works best for us, and what we personally like... such as the bubbles you mentioned. LOL...There was one member here years ago that loved the look of Hair algae, it reminded him of the Bayou. There are many methods of doing and getting the desired results of a beautiful (only matters what we call beautiful) SW tank. If our critters are thriving and healthy, we have succeeded.
 

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
I seem to remember from my 8th grade spelling word of the week fopas was spelled differently.

I believe the singly most critical aspect of starting any aquarium is to first establish the plant life then do the rest.

With FW that means live plants, with marine macro algaes.

If the beginner simply follows that advice, they will have much greater success then with anything else.

Plus spend a lot less money especially with a marine tank. Macro algaes are much cheaper then FW plants. And all the marine specific stuff like live rock, live sand, skimmers, filters and so on.


my .02
 

jay0705

Well-Known Member
Lol picking on my spelling!!!!!!
I agree, macros are a great help.
but ultimately its the occupants of your tank that will tell you how its doing.
 

flower

Well-Known Member
I seem to remember from my 8th grade spelling word of the week fopas was spelled differently.

I believe the singly most critical aspect of starting any aquarium is to first establish the plant life then do the rest.

With FW that means live plants, with marine macro algaes.

If the beginner simply follows that advice, they will have much greater success then with anything else.

Plus spend a lot less money especially with a marine tank. Macro algaes are much cheaper then FW plants. And all the marine specific stuff like live rock, live sand, skimmers, filters and so on.


my .02
I like a combo myself. I have live rock, cool décor and macroalgae. However if one want's a coral reef...macros need to be in a refugium, your little grid idea is perfect to prevent fish from eating it all up. I keep fish that do not eat my macros...they prefer to hitch their tails to it. I have no skimmer, nor is it needed. I agree, it's much cheaper.
 
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