Back Into Fishkeeping - Saltwater

piranhaman00

Redtail Catfish
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Hello!

I havent kept fish in a long while, mostly due to moving around a lot with college. I am in a semi-permanent spot now so I decided to set another tank up! I was never really into salt but thought it would be fun to try, and boy was I right! I am loving how involved everything is, checking salinity, hardness, ect. I set up a 10 gallon I had in storage. This set up is just for practicing the new equipment and testing the water parameters. When I get a better feel for how everything works, I am going to move to a bigger aquarium. I have a 180 in storage but want to stay in the 75 gallon range. I am using an RO/DI water system to create the water then adding Instant Ocean mix. Awesome seeing the 0ppm TDS reading! Got the salinity to hold at 1.024, dKH at 11 and pH at 8.3, which I am happy with. Added a couple pieces of liverock from Petco to get everything started. Liverock had a few hitchhikers, looks like turbo snails and some type of crab. Also noticed some worm looking guys on the rock this morning. Ammonia reading 0.25ppm nitrite and nitrate 0ppm, hoping the liverock helps cycle faster.

I am brand new to salt so still learning a lot everyday! Would love to hear any feedback. I bought some ammonium chloride to help cycle faster, would this help at all? Or is the live rock sufficient? Also having a problem with the sand, its so fine its constantly being blown around. Recommendations on good sand?

Thanks!

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kno4te

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Gourami Swami Gourami Swami
 

kno4te

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Man a good friend of mine is trying to convince to go salt cause he knows I just got the Neptune apex on my current 2 tanks. Just went to reefopalooza in Orlando too. They do have some nice corals. Best of luck with it.
 
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Gourami Swami

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Welcome to the salty side. It's a lot of fun
On the sand, looks like you've got the "Bahama oolite" or similar. It does get blown around like crazy. I still use it because I love how it looks, but you need to play around with the flow to make sure it doesn't end up all in a big pile. Any larger grain sand will not give you this problem- I recommend aragonite.
For the cycle, personally I would just let the live rock do it's thing, shouldn't take very long. You could add a little bit of ammonia if you want but the die-off from the live rock will fuel the cycle itself, so don't need to.
Your hitchikers are dwarf blue leg hermits, and some snails. The worm looking guys are vermetid snails, a bit of a PITA but not the end of the world, I have them as well.
 
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PYRU

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You're not going to like this if those are vermetid snails that's pretty much a do over at this point. This is exactly why I start dead as can be with rock. Bleach the piss out of it.

The sand is going to be a pain unless you can adjust the powerhead to not create a sandstorm. Try bouncing it off the glass or go heavier grain.
 

piranhaman00

Redtail Catfish
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Sep 15, 2009
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Welcome to the salty side. It's a lot of fun
On the sand, looks like you've got the "Bahama oolite" or similar. It does get blown around like crazy. I still use it because I love how it looks, but you need to play around with the flow to make sure it doesn't end up all in a big pile. Any larger grain sand will not give you this problem- I recommend aragonite.
For the cycle, personally I would just let the live rock do it's thing, shouldn't take very long. You could add a little bit of ammonia if you want but the die-off from the live rock will fuel the cycle itself, so don't need to.
Your hitchikers are dwarf blue leg hermits, and some snails. The worm looking guys are vermetid snails, a bit of a PITA but not the end of the world, I have them as well.
Awesome thanks! Do you see the vermetid snails in the picture? I looked up images of them and don’t see them on the rocks, the worm I saw I IDd as a common bristle worm, picture attached,

Edit: I think I do see one actually, tube thing coming off rock in picture 2?

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FA20E9BF-DCE1-4979-82EC-38AB6F8F889F.jpeg
 
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PYRU

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That last pic looks vermetid to me. If you want corals its not a good way to start. I know it sucks but Google them you'll see exactly what you're up against.

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Gourami Swami

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Yup tube coming off rock in second pic. They can be a pain because they end up grabbing a bunch of food if you try to broadcast feed. I personally just feed my corals once a week or so with a baster, and I do it sparingly. That keeps the vermetids from getting out of control. Every once in a while I go in and snap a bunch off when I do0 a water change, though they grow back. The only real way to kill them is to rip their entire coil off the rock (hard to do) or cover their hole with a dab of super glue. Me, I just gave up and am living with them.
 
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piranhaman00

Redtail Catfish
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Yup tube coming off rock in second pic. They can be a pain because they end up grabbing a bunch of food if you try to broadcast feed. I personally just feed my corals once a week or so with a baster, and I do it sparingly. That keeps the vermetids from getting out of control. Every once in a while I go in and snap a bunch off when I do0 a water change, though they grow back. The only real way to kill them is to rip their entire coil off the rock (hard to do) or cover their hole with a dab of super glue. Me, I just gave up and am living with them.
I am seeing the super glue method around a lot, how would one do this? Do I pull the rocks out and glue them shut and then put it back? Or do you glue it right in the tank? Is superglue non toxic to the water?

Thanks for the help!
 
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tlindsey

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I am seeing the super glue method around a lot, how would one do this? Do I pull the rocks out and glue them shut and then put it back? Or do you glue it right in the tank? Is superglue non toxic to the water?

Thanks for the help!

Pull the rock out and glue them.
 
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