Updates on new SW tank

[woodymdt]

Well I hate to type this so just let it go in one eye and out the other....
There seems to be a lot of people posting on this forum that are "I WANT IT NOW" mentality!! A lot of "I filled it up, put in rock and sand, and fish the next day..." etc.
I'm already just under a month into this, and I haven't even added ONE PIECE of livestock yet....the two mantis we have were hitchhikers.
Is it immaturity? Or just inexperience? Do people not research things before they start with their actions anymore? hehe.
Ok, vent over.

 

[arkey.d]

Yes it's hard to respond to someone's request for help when they have just started their tank up and have already filled it up with livestock. It's a freshwater's person's point of view which just comes down to inexperience and lack of patcience.
I waited 2 months before adding anything into my 55gal except for the LiveRock hitchikers. Then, some of the LFS people don't help either when they recommend what to buy, just to make the sale.
What can you do?:thinking:

 

[mkcsil18]

lol Umm yeah I agree, I have been researching for about a month, building my tank stand for about 2 weeks, going to start working on my sump/refugium tonight, putting that all together, and hopefully by this weekend, maybe..... just maybe I should be filling the tank with water.... I hope... but YES... patience is a MUST.... otherwise it doesn't pay to get into this hobby, I am fairly new to the saltwater thing, but I have learned that it does take patience....

but soon enough I will be enjoying my :happyfish :happyfish

 

[woodymdt]

Well I realize I've been a royal pain in this thread at times, and probably have people screaming at their monitors saying...
"WHAT NOW WOODY"!!
But I've wanted to make sure we've started this adventure off on the right foot, gaining as much insight as possible while we've started and being able to use other peoples suggestions and advice from problems they've had in their aqua-adventure past.
So again, I thank all of you who have contributed to this thread and helped myself and other newbies get our tanks up and running as close to correct as possible!!!!

 

[jacknjill]

what are you gonna put as your first fish?

 

[woodymdt]

Originally posted by JacknJill
what are you gonna put as your first fish?
Oh no doubt about it...first fish will be a pair of percs....that's from the Mrs. herself!!
But in all reality, we're probably another three-five weeks from those fish. Hopefully this weekend we're going invert shopping...get a good cleaner crew in there and get the mantis shrimp out.
:jumping:

 

[mkcsil18]

Sounds great man, I just got home from work and am going to start building my sump/refugium. I stopped by my LFS and looked at there love rock selection.. wasn't too impressed, so now I guess I am going to have to start looking elsewhere... I know of a few other places locally I can try, plus I have about 50lbs right now curing in my garage.. lol man I can;t wait to start filling the tank.

 

[woodymdt]

Originally posted by mkcsil18
Sounds great man, I just got home from work and am going to start building my sump/refugium. I stopped by my LFS and looked at there love rock selection.. wasn't too impressed, .
Your LFS carries LOVE ROCK!!!!! hehehehe
j/k.
Yeah we're excited too. The rest of this week we're just waiting and watching, going to setup a bucket or another tank tonight or tomorrow and try and get the mantis' out of the tank and take them to an LFS on Saturday.

 

[mkcsil18]

rofl... wow wounder what was on my mind lastnight...

 

[woodymdt]

Originally posted by mkcsil18
rofl... wow wounder what was on my mind lastnight...
No problem, it is close to Valentines Day!!! hehe
:jumping:

 

[arkey.d]

Originally posted by woodymdt
Yeah we're excited too. The rest of this week we're just waiting and watching, going to setup a bucket or another tank tonight or tomorrow and try and get the mantis' out of the tank and take them to an LFS on Saturday.
That's a good move taking the mantis shrimp out of your display tank. They are Predators and eat small fish! They are also known to eat mollusks and other invertebrate livestock. They are tough to capture, if he crawls into a rock take the whole rock out or you may need to use a fish trap. Good Luck on capturing that little guy.

 

[wax32]

I don't know if you have bought your cleaner crew yet, but my blue legged hermits don't fight each other or bother my snails. :notsure:

 

[arkey.d]

Originally posted by wax32
I don't know if you have bought your cleaner crew yet, but my blue legged hermits don't fight each other or bother my snails. :notsure:
I was told in the reef forum by more than one person when we were talking about cleanup crews that the Red and Blue legged hermits are very nasty.:notsure:

 

[arkey.d]

Here's a thread about Kim's experience with her Mantis Shrimp. Here it is

 

[woodymdt]

Thanks Dan. I had seen that thread either last night or this morning...I'm convinced to get them out either tomorrow or Friday night. I'm going to set water and a p'head in a 10gal and put their rock in there to get them out, and then once they're out, I'll snatch the rock out of the 10gal and put it back where it belongs.

 

[mike6969n]

hey woody,
i went back to work yesterday so i haven't had time to do a lot of reading or posting, but i did want to take a quick second to say that you were ecactly right with your comment about all these people trying to go as fast as possible to create nothing but a death trap for their fish, i am so glad that we took the time to do it right. i am ready for fish, but it will be a while before they make it into my tank, i am also looking at a cleaning crew first and maybe a feather duster or two, probably next week. i hope you are still enjoying the experience and btw check out my new lr set-up in my newswa thread and see what you think, i think i like it better taller like that as opposed to the low landscaping. anyway, good luck catching you shrimp and i'll hollar at you later.
mike

 

[woodymdt]

Good evening folks.
Ok, we got Gracie out of the tank...but I'm afraid George is nowhere to be found...thinking Gracie took care of him.....so mantis shrimp are gone.
SO...we went to our friendly LFS and got 5 margarita snails....and 10 hermit crabs. They were out of scarlets and blue legs, so I'm guessing what we got were average joe schmoe crabs...but two of them have dark legs with white bands on them.
Anyway, been watching them go to work since we acclimated them into the tank...
OH YEAH........we have a starfish too........it's very thin......very small........can't even make out the color....but it came off a LR piece when I was fishing for the mantis shrimp...so I put him back in the tank on a piece of LR...going to try and watch his progress.
:jumping: :happy: :jumping: :happy: :jumping:

 

[woodymdt]

Good morning everyone...
Well all seems well in the tank this morning. I've located the 5 snails and 5 of the crabs...they are busy little guys aren't they...
Now we have something more to stare at than just the LR..hehe.
Although staring at the LR was something in itself..hehe
forgot to mention last night...ammonia and nitrites are at zero...nitrates are under 10, going to check them again tomorrow to see if I should do a water change.
Then we'll go to another LFS and see about their cleaner shrimp, and the Mrs. still wants a fire shrimp.
:jumping:

 

[woodymdt]

Ok, I've located and verified all five of the snails we got last night...now I've spotted another snail sliding along the glass without a shell. Will he spin himself a shell, or should I get one for him?

 

[woodymdt]

I think we're also going to get a couple peppermint shrimp this weekend too...see if they'll find the aptasia and get rid of it for us...if not, we'll get some Joe's Juice and feed the aptasia that.:jumping: