bigsteve
Member
Hey all... Just wanted to get a general opinion on what I just did. But I'll get to that in a minute. First, I'd like to give you some background so you know where I'm coming from... (It's going to be a book.... but I listed the questions at the end, so just skip ahead if you'd like)
"My SW Life Story":
OK.... one of my friends (Doug) kind of "pushed" me into SW. I was going to buy a 29g tank from him and do tropical freshwater fish, but he said, "No.... try saltwater. It's not that hard, and I'm always here to help." Well.... I had been wanting to try it for a while (ok... ever since I first saw a SW tank), so I decided to give it a shot. So, bought the tank, w/ filter, stand and CC for $30. Not bad. Even got some IO out of the deal. Took it home, set it up, and of course, the filter was bad. (Probably not bad, but really noisy) So, bought a Penguin 170. Couple of days later, got the heater for it. Next paycheck, bought the protien skimmer. Then put in some damsels to cycle. Then the bulb burns out. Got a new one.
Everything's going great so far. I can't believe saltwater fish are actually living in my room.
A week or so later, I made a hour long trip to get some LR and a powerhead. Put that in the tank, everything's still great.
Waited for another paycheck, and went out and got some inverts. Scarlet hermits, turbo snails, and a Coral Banded Shrimp (who still scares me every time he decides to molt...).
They're all doing great, my tank's coming along nicely, then Doug's tank crashed due to a broken thermometer. I offer to take a large (4") bluefin damsel under my care until he gets his tank back up. He puts the other survivors into a 20g, until his 125's back up.
Well, we decide to go fish hunting one Sunday, and my girlfriend falls in love with "Nemo" . So I ask Doug, "Do you think your damsel will bother them if I get a pair?" "No, of course not. He hasn't bothered any of my fish." So I get the clowns. 3 days later, one dies because the damsel bit his tailfin off.
So, to make it up to my girlfriend (since it was her fish that died), I bought her a yellow tang. Well, long story short, the bluefin wouldn't let him eat much of anything, and he died.
So, Doug got his fish back today.... plus one of my yellowtails.
Now, I'm left with a yellowtail damsel, a percula clown, and a coral banded shrimp. I'm almost discouraged enough to start over w/ the tank and do freshwater. Either way, I want to make it right this time. I didn't do it right the last time, or else everything would be happy and alive.
So, here's the questions:
-Should I just give him the rest of my fish and inverts and start ALL over?
-If I start all over, I'm getting rid of the crushed coral, which I just took it all out of my tank, with the fish in there... the dust cloud shouldn't hurt them, right?
-If I do start over and keep the fish, what do you think the best route would be? (i.e. adding the sand, adding other fish)
-Basically, what would you do in my shoes? I'm just getting frustrated with the whole thing. I can keep the fish alive, and I can maintain the tank, but I'm just not seeing much real success.
Thanks for any opinions you guys throw out, and I'm really sorry for the book. I just wanted to let you know where I'm coming from, and why I'm getting fed up with everything. I really want to stay with saltwater, but I didn't really realize it was going to be like this.
"My SW Life Story":
OK.... one of my friends (Doug) kind of "pushed" me into SW. I was going to buy a 29g tank from him and do tropical freshwater fish, but he said, "No.... try saltwater. It's not that hard, and I'm always here to help." Well.... I had been wanting to try it for a while (ok... ever since I first saw a SW tank), so I decided to give it a shot. So, bought the tank, w/ filter, stand and CC for $30. Not bad. Even got some IO out of the deal. Took it home, set it up, and of course, the filter was bad. (Probably not bad, but really noisy) So, bought a Penguin 170. Couple of days later, got the heater for it. Next paycheck, bought the protien skimmer. Then put in some damsels to cycle. Then the bulb burns out. Got a new one.
Everything's going great so far. I can't believe saltwater fish are actually living in my room.
A week or so later, I made a hour long trip to get some LR and a powerhead. Put that in the tank, everything's still great.
Waited for another paycheck, and went out and got some inverts. Scarlet hermits, turbo snails, and a Coral Banded Shrimp (who still scares me every time he decides to molt...).
They're all doing great, my tank's coming along nicely, then Doug's tank crashed due to a broken thermometer. I offer to take a large (4") bluefin damsel under my care until he gets his tank back up. He puts the other survivors into a 20g, until his 125's back up.
Well, we decide to go fish hunting one Sunday, and my girlfriend falls in love with "Nemo" . So I ask Doug, "Do you think your damsel will bother them if I get a pair?" "No, of course not. He hasn't bothered any of my fish." So I get the clowns. 3 days later, one dies because the damsel bit his tailfin off.
So, to make it up to my girlfriend (since it was her fish that died), I bought her a yellow tang. Well, long story short, the bluefin wouldn't let him eat much of anything, and he died.
So, Doug got his fish back today.... plus one of my yellowtails.
Now, I'm left with a yellowtail damsel, a percula clown, and a coral banded shrimp. I'm almost discouraged enough to start over w/ the tank and do freshwater. Either way, I want to make it right this time. I didn't do it right the last time, or else everything would be happy and alive.
So, here's the questions:
-Should I just give him the rest of my fish and inverts and start ALL over?
-If I start all over, I'm getting rid of the crushed coral, which I just took it all out of my tank, with the fish in there... the dust cloud shouldn't hurt them, right?
-If I do start over and keep the fish, what do you think the best route would be? (i.e. adding the sand, adding other fish)
-Basically, what would you do in my shoes? I'm just getting frustrated with the whole thing. I can keep the fish alive, and I can maintain the tank, but I'm just not seeing much real success.
Thanks for any opinions you guys throw out, and I'm really sorry for the book. I just wanted to let you know where I'm coming from, and why I'm getting fed up with everything. I really want to stay with saltwater, but I didn't really realize it was going to be like this.