Noob with Noob SW Tank with Noob Questions!

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L

Lord Gaz

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 17, 2006
120
1
0
Australia
Hi! I've just started a SW tank, about 73L, and has been cycling for the past 16 days. The first week was cycled with only aragonite substrate, and the 2nd week had 1 peice of life rock 1.4 kg, and now I've added 4 little crabs that I caught, 3 now that 1 happened to have escaped. Yesterday I put in a prawn head in there to feed the little crabbies, and they seemed to have fun tearing it apart! Today I took it out, and tested the water.

The params are as follow: Ph: 8.0, Ammonia: 1-2 mg/L, Nitrite and Nitrate both 0. Just 2 days ago the params were perfect.

Do I have to worry about the high ammonia level at this stage since there's no fish in there, and just let the cycle do its thing? Or should I, I dunno, do a water change? I read that a water change during cycling isn't a good idea, and that water params will eventually stable out during the cycle process. Is that true?
Also, can I use freshwater PH up for a saltwater tank?

Also, I plan on keeping a dwarf zebra lion fish in there, how big do those get? Are they capatible with a couple of percula clowns given enough holes and loops to hide in?

Thanks for your help guys! Gonna take some photos as soon as I get my new digi cam!
 
Let the cycle even out on it's own. If you want to put some fish in there to test the water then I recommend mollies. Don't forget to do your water tests. Make sure all your live rock is in the tank before you add any living things besides the mollie because when you add live rock it screwes with the cycle.

I'm not good with Liters to Gallons conversion but I recommend a tank at least 25 gallons for the smallest of the dwarf lions. Putting 2 clowns with it should be ok as long as your lion isn't full grown and your clowns arn't swallowing size.
 
Don't use fish there is no point if you are detecting ammonia you are in cycle. I'd release the crabs until after your cycle is done. You want to be very particular as to what you add to a small tank like that as many salt water critters don't play well with others :). I would add base rock or more live rock your life will be much easier as it will handle a lot of the nutritional requirments of your fish/criters and it will help you keep up your water quality.

Let us know what your long term plans for the tank are and you'll get better answers.
cheers
Max
 
Thanks fer your help guys! well, roughly 3.8L = 1 gallan according to wiki, so its abit less than 20G I guess? I plan on upgrading once I get the hang of SW because I really want a volitan lionfish.

Well the crabs are gonna go soon, I don't plan on keeping them when I get the fish, its just there for the heck of it, which is really annoying 'cause they're always trying to escape anyway!

Currenly I got a 1500L cannister running, getting a air pump protein skimmer soon 'cause my friend overseas got that one instead of the water pump one. Im gonna go get some more live rocks tomorrow because last week the LFS which I found cheapest haven't much left, and they said new stock will be coming in late this week, so I'll be popping back in tomorrow to buy a couple more kilos.

My plans for this small tank will most likely be a dwarf zebra lion fish, maybe 2 percula clowns because my girlfriend annoys me about getting it (Nemo.....), and I don't know what else. Maybe some sort of bottom feeder, don't know yet. Might get a couple of hermit crabs as well. Seeing how I go withing the next 6 months, I might add some coral and anemones when I feel Im ready expecially financially, to stock up a better reflector and to buy coral.

So, that's my long term plans as far as I know. :WHOA: How much longer do my cycle period have to be after I add more live rocks in tomorrow? I plan on stocking early next year, 'cause I don't wanna rush things.
 
Just stick with the Dwarf Lionfish, becuase you will be overstocked with the Clowns. Lionfish are really messy. Maybe just get the two clownfish and then get a Lionfish later on?
 
Yeah I thought about getting 2 clowns, let them grow a little bit, and get a lion afterwards? Are Lions hardy fish, good for beginners?

On second thought, maybe I'll get the Lion fish first, since I want that WAAAAAAAAAAAAy more than some silly cute clowns, LOL
 
I think a dwarf lionfish would be your absolute max for fish. maybe get some snails to clean up, they might eat hermit crabs.
 
You serious? Are lionfish really that dirty?

Aww well I guess I'll just have to wait for a bigger tank. Do you think it's alright to keep the crabs in there? I don't care if they get eaten or not, but I just care about them harming my fish!
 
What type of crabs are they? I had a crab eat a lot of my fish. You may also want to look into getting a bigger freshwater tank. The BGKs and O are too big for that tank. I am surprises the BGKs haven't killed each other yet.

Lions are really messy, they are carnivores.
 
I dunno what type they are, just common crabs I found on the river side, nothing spectacular about them. I see if I can take some photos of them, they're really small. the shell is only about 2cm wide on the biggest one.

As for the FW tank, I haven't updated the list, its now down to 2 Gold Gouramis, 3 corys, 1 BKG, and 1 Gibbi. Yeah the BKGs I ended up separating them before into the tank which is now a SW, but a couple of months later it died. Shame, it was my prize fish.
 
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