wickedpaul
Member
Three weeks back, I found an ad on a local board about someone selling a 55 Gallon setup.
Made the purchase for $250.00. Included, was 55 gallon long tank,48 inch lamp fixture with 2 bulbs, Emperor 400 Filter, Rio 2100 Powerhead, Stand, Tetra Heater, numberous chemicals. About 70 pounds of live rock, and a bed that had been created using 20 pounds of live sand, a bag of white sand, and crushed coral.
I have been keeping freshwater aquariums for several years with lots of great luck so I decided to have a go at this. I purchased RO Salt water from the LFS to fill the tank. After testing water on day 3, the LFS said it should have a few more weeks left in its cycle but that I should add a few damsels to the tank. So I did. Damsels where fine for about 3 days, then 1 died. Though not from a water issue, he buried himself under a rock, sand shifted from the powerhead and seemed to bury him in there. I brought the water back to the LFS again on about day 7, was told the cycle was nearly complete and that I could put fish in if I wanted to. I purchased 2 Percula clowns. I brought a sample of the water in to the shop again a few days later, and was told my salt was way too low, practically fresh water, but that the nitrates, ammonia, and nitrites where perfect. Both clowns and both remaining damsels where fine and very happy. I raised the salt up to the proper levels.
Several days later I lost another damsel to the same thing, buried under the rocks. I brought water back to the pet shop again. This was probably day 11. I developed a lot of brown algae over the few days around this point. Read that this was good. Checked water chemistry myself, everything seemed pretty much perfect. Verified at 2 LFS. Water was perfect on day 12. Added small cleaning crew, 6 hermits, 3 turbos, and added a Coral Beauty. Last damsel buries itself under rocks. Read that blue hippos are prone to same behavior and decide not to buy one.
It is now about day 21 for my tank. I have not had any deaths in over a week, none of the deaths in the tank where caused by water problems. Currently the tank is holding a coral beauty, 2 perculas, a yellow tang, 2 sebae clowns, a sebae anemone, about 10-12 hermits, 10-12 turbos, a coral banded shrimp, a chocolate chip star, and a small queen conch. Everything is moving about happily, tank is crystal clear, there are still traces of brown algae on some of the rocks, but the cleaning crew is doing nicely with that.
Plans for the next few weeks include adding three more fish to complete the fish selection, a Koran, a royal gramma, and a Mandarin Goby. 1 of the sebae clowns will be moving to a friends tank shortly I believe as they are behaving aggressively over the anemone, and I don't think he will last long fighting with the larger one so often. I will also add a protein skimmer soon, and am considering getting another 2 powerheads, with a timer strip.
It does make me quite happy that I have been so successful in such a short time, and for a relatively small amount of money compared to reading about 6-8 week stories with massive die offs.
I do realize that some people may think this was irresponsible of me, but I did verify everything step by step with local fish shops. Everything from making sure my lighting was correct, to checking water with multiple places to make sure everything was up to par.
I do realize that my current fish plans may make the tank slightly over crowded, however, I think that with the volume of live rock, live sand, the filter, and the addition of the protein skimmer, it should be more then adequate for the sizes of fish I have chosen. Especially since the percula clowns appear to be schooling.
I watched for hours last night one of the sebae clowns feeding small scraps of squid, and flake to its host anemone, that was just a blast.
Thanks for reading my story.
Quick Edit.
I do realize the Koran will outgrow this tank. My plan is that when it gets too large, I will bring him back to the LFS, and get a smaller one again.
Made the purchase for $250.00. Included, was 55 gallon long tank,48 inch lamp fixture with 2 bulbs, Emperor 400 Filter, Rio 2100 Powerhead, Stand, Tetra Heater, numberous chemicals. About 70 pounds of live rock, and a bed that had been created using 20 pounds of live sand, a bag of white sand, and crushed coral.
I have been keeping freshwater aquariums for several years with lots of great luck so I decided to have a go at this. I purchased RO Salt water from the LFS to fill the tank. After testing water on day 3, the LFS said it should have a few more weeks left in its cycle but that I should add a few damsels to the tank. So I did. Damsels where fine for about 3 days, then 1 died. Though not from a water issue, he buried himself under a rock, sand shifted from the powerhead and seemed to bury him in there. I brought the water back to the LFS again on about day 7, was told the cycle was nearly complete and that I could put fish in if I wanted to. I purchased 2 Percula clowns. I brought a sample of the water in to the shop again a few days later, and was told my salt was way too low, practically fresh water, but that the nitrates, ammonia, and nitrites where perfect. Both clowns and both remaining damsels where fine and very happy. I raised the salt up to the proper levels.
Several days later I lost another damsel to the same thing, buried under the rocks. I brought water back to the pet shop again. This was probably day 11. I developed a lot of brown algae over the few days around this point. Read that this was good. Checked water chemistry myself, everything seemed pretty much perfect. Verified at 2 LFS. Water was perfect on day 12. Added small cleaning crew, 6 hermits, 3 turbos, and added a Coral Beauty. Last damsel buries itself under rocks. Read that blue hippos are prone to same behavior and decide not to buy one.
It is now about day 21 for my tank. I have not had any deaths in over a week, none of the deaths in the tank where caused by water problems. Currently the tank is holding a coral beauty, 2 perculas, a yellow tang, 2 sebae clowns, a sebae anemone, about 10-12 hermits, 10-12 turbos, a coral banded shrimp, a chocolate chip star, and a small queen conch. Everything is moving about happily, tank is crystal clear, there are still traces of brown algae on some of the rocks, but the cleaning crew is doing nicely with that.
Plans for the next few weeks include adding three more fish to complete the fish selection, a Koran, a royal gramma, and a Mandarin Goby. 1 of the sebae clowns will be moving to a friends tank shortly I believe as they are behaving aggressively over the anemone, and I don't think he will last long fighting with the larger one so often. I will also add a protein skimmer soon, and am considering getting another 2 powerheads, with a timer strip.
It does make me quite happy that I have been so successful in such a short time, and for a relatively small amount of money compared to reading about 6-8 week stories with massive die offs.
I do realize that some people may think this was irresponsible of me, but I did verify everything step by step with local fish shops. Everything from making sure my lighting was correct, to checking water with multiple places to make sure everything was up to par.
I do realize that my current fish plans may make the tank slightly over crowded, however, I think that with the volume of live rock, live sand, the filter, and the addition of the protein skimmer, it should be more then adequate for the sizes of fish I have chosen. Especially since the percula clowns appear to be schooling.
I watched for hours last night one of the sebae clowns feeding small scraps of squid, and flake to its host anemone, that was just a blast.
Thanks for reading my story.
Quick Edit.
I do realize the Koran will outgrow this tank. My plan is that when it gets too large, I will bring him back to the LFS, and get a smaller one again.
