northeastern Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 So i decided i wanted a fish tank a few months ago, started researching fw but was put off by the fish... so after talking to a kid at a lfs i decided maybe sw is do able so I started researching here and whatever links i could find. Originally i wanted a fluval edge but after hearing about how hard it was to get inside I decided to go with a "normal" tank. I got the fluval ebi (the shrimp tank) because it was on sale and would give me a good push in the right direction. Here's what I have set up Equipment: Fluval 8 gallon tank, with cover Boostled par30 and Fluval 13-watt daylight compact fluorescent light viaaqua 100w heater AC70 top it off ato In the tank to start: 10 lbs fuji cured rock 10 lbs of Florida crushed coral Corals Kenya tree red mushroom hammer encrusting gargonia purple gargonia monti leather Livestock geometric pygmy hawkfish Mocha occ clownfish Formia star fish fireshrimp pompom 3 sexy shrimp snails Current FT - I'm not an art major... Link to comment
northeastern Posted September 1, 2011 Author Share Posted September 1, 2011 My first real live stock. a blood red shrimp! he's very cool. he hides in the back near the filter, under it when hes scared, bt comes out during his feeding time. eats mysis right out of the pipette and flakes out of my hands after a week+ of feedings every to every other day. This is how it looked at start up (8/1) Link to comment
northeastern Posted September 1, 2011 Author Share Posted September 1, 2011 My fire shrimp (spencer) has been very happy it seems for over a week and a half now. he eats regularly is a little more active. he is yet to molt, is this bad?! I plan on a lfs run this weekend, going to check out 3 of the more talked about places near me. On my list is more test equipment (calcium, iodine), a vacuum for the sand and my clown. The water has been very stable and my shrimp has been doing good, unless one of the store's employes tells me to wait (or someone on here, but at this point (it will be 5 weeks when i get him i believe, i think its ok). Any maybe my first coral? mushroom perhaps? any input suggestions comments would be great. I will be updating this thread to keep a log of the tank and how things are going. Link to comment
JaneG Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 My fire shrimp (spencer) has been very happy it seems for over a week and a half now. he eats regularly is a little more active. he is yet to molt, is this bad?! I plan on a lfs run this weekend, going to check out 3 of the more talked about places near me. On my list is more test equipment (calcium, iodine), a vacuum for the sand and my clown. The water has been very stable and my shrimp has been doing good, unless one of the store's employes tells me to wait (or someone on here, but at this point (it will be 5 weeks when i get him i believe, i think its ok). Any maybe my first coral? mushroom perhaps? any input suggestions comments would be great. I will be updating this thread to keep a log of the tank and how things are going. Your tank is looking great so far! As for the fire shrimp- that's nothing to be concerned about (especially if he is larger, as they molt much less frequently once they're adults). When he is about to molt, you will see him less frequently and he will most likely hide out in his favorite cave for a few days. For your first coral, I would recommend some form of "polyped" coral. Most all of them adapt to any form of lighting, flow, parameters, etc. (of course, growth will be best under their ideal conditions). You could also consider green star polyps or xenia, which are both considered among the heartiest of corals- hobbyists often have issues (mainly in larger tanks) with either being too hearty and taking over the tank due to their fast growth rates and difficulty to kill. However, both are beautiful (with green star polyps being a fluorescent green and xenia displaying a very ). Good luck! Link to comment
DereKaryn Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Wow, your tank is off to a great start! I love the fire shrimp. But I'm honestly not sure if premixed water is really worth it though. What is your LFS recommending instead? An Ocellaris is definitely a great first choice, they are so fascinating to watch. And so is the Clown Goby. My first coral was a very simple pink Zoa with just two polyps and now almost four months later, it has seven or eight polyps. Its been so much fun to watch it grow from the very beginning of the tank. Good luck! Link to comment
northeastern Posted September 1, 2011 Author Share Posted September 1, 2011 I've been warned about premixed water before. I am going lfs hunting this weekend at three places that have really good ratings from local clubs so I will talk to all of them and hopefully find a place I trust. I did premixed because getting 8 plus gallons of do water was a challange but now I can slowly bring more and more to my appt trip by trip Link to comment
DereKaryn Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 If you can find a good LFS that you can really trust, you are very lucky. Its always nice to know you can ask questions and get the answers you need. Especially if you get to know the people that work there, they make cut you a deal or two on something you might want. Link to comment
northeastern Posted September 1, 2011 Author Share Posted September 1, 2011 Hopefully i'll have some luck finding one. really hoping its the one only 8 blocks from my appt. Just used some aiptasia x to kill my little infestation. hope all goes well.... they seem to be gone but the long term is what im hoping for. I had some bad luck with ich killing my clown. he fought it off at first and I was told he was probably ok but then two weeks later it came back hard and killed him within 12 hours of me noticing symptoms. I have a qt tank in the works and I will be quartering everything I add now... really was sad to see the little guy like that he was doing very good for the two weeks all over the tank eating healthy interacting with the fire shrimp... tank is now being left empty for 5 weeks. Link to comment
northeastern Posted October 1, 2011 Author Share Posted October 1, 2011 Havent updated here in a long while. Been adding some new things while I wait for my ich to die off. Heres some of the new additions: hammer coral from a local reefer An unknown coral. I believed he called it creeping gargonia? I can't find much on it... any help? during the day it extends and gives good movement at night it hides and looks like a carpet. The tree and mushroom are doing good. mushroom was mad at me for a couple days after I moved him to the rock but he's getting over it. PomPom. i love him his anemones are so cool. he attacks my fireshrimp when he gets close to his burrow. the fire shrimp is easly 2 or three times his size. and finally 3 sexy shrimp. two seem to be friends and the other just kind of walks around on his own. but if theyre scared they huddle together in the back corner. also added a boost led par30 with 3 royal blue 1 white and 1 cool white leds/ its very blue but looks good when I pair it with my pc lighting so im just going to run them both. corals seem to like it. Sorry for the bad cell pics... Link to comment
northeastern Posted October 8, 2011 Author Share Posted October 8, 2011 Adding a hammer coral or a candycane this weekend. Maybe some more mushrooms. depends on what a local reefer is willing to part with. Getting ready for a new fish too! Link to comment
northeastern Posted October 17, 2011 Author Share Posted October 17, 2011 new gorgonain A 6" purple gorgonian. so far so happy! will have better pictures soon sorry for the cell phone pics... battling two kinds of algae, planning my assault for tomorrow. Link to comment
northeastern Posted October 26, 2011 Author Share Posted October 26, 2011 added an ac70 I plan to mod into a fuge. qc tank is set up in prep for a fish! having some trouble with the qc's temperature. running hot at 82... Link to comment
northeastern Posted November 9, 2011 Author Share Posted November 9, 2011 On Sunday I purchased a Formia star fish I put into my display - seems happy. Really been fighting with the idea of adding a dwarf hawkfish Link to comment
northeastern Posted November 30, 2011 Author Share Posted November 30, 2011 got a geometric pygmy hawk fish Link to comment
northeastern Posted December 9, 2011 Author Share Posted December 9, 2011 Added a clown. Will update with pics soon. Link to comment
northeastern Posted December 9, 2011 Author Share Posted December 9, 2011 url="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/41/20111206214346702.jpg/"][/url] sorry for the blurry pictures... camera phone Link to comment
JoelRHale Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 Like that hawk. The thing in the front bottom right you were unsure of looks like something I have too. It was given to me as "angel hair" and from my understand it's related to Green Star Polyps. I really like mine, yours is a lot bigger than mine. Link to comment
northeastern Posted December 9, 2011 Author Share Posted December 9, 2011 Like that hawk. The thing in the front bottom right you were unsure of looks like something I have too. It was given to me as "angel hair" and from my understand it's related to Green Star Polyps. I really like mine, yours is a lot bigger than mine. Is that what it is? I like it u just hate how bigthe rock its on is. Takes up a lottttttt of room. But a free coral is a free coral Link to comment
JoelRHale Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 I'm not sure, it certainly could be, it's hard to tell since the pictures are a little blury. I snapped a picture of mine for you to compare: I'm pretty sure it is. If that's the case it should be pretty easy to take it off that rock and put it on something you like better, like on a flatter rock in the sand, the back wall, or anything you wanted. Link to comment
northeastern Posted December 10, 2011 Author Share Posted December 10, 2011 Ill break out the camera and get some better ones. Does yours pull back into a mat at night? I love the movement it adds too the tank. I was thinking of trying to get it to grow on an spa skeleton Link to comment
JoelRHale Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 Yeah it mats like gsp but the polyps almost completely retract in to the mat. The mat is the same color as the polyps. It's one of my favorite corals in the tank and was a hitchhiker. Link to comment
northeastern Posted December 13, 2011 Author Share Posted December 13, 2011 Here are a few more pics, they show the angel hair? hidden into it's mat, some polyps are starting to come out. I agree with the gsp comparison. Here is what I have been going by http://www.fragoutpost.com/frag/109 I'm going to start looking into fragging it off the huge rock and moving it to a smaller piece of rubble. I was hoping my clown would host it but he doesn't seem to interested. and these pictures are with my camera haha... Maybe I'll be able to burrow my roomates or my little brothers camera over break and take some nice photos. Link to comment
northeastern Posted January 13, 2012 Author Share Posted January 13, 2012 long time but here is an update - got the top it off ato up and running, new corals. everything seems happy even after the xmas break a few not great pics. hawk - some salt on the glass from my water change. couldn't clean it or he'd dart away star fish still seems happy - idk why his legs are curled like that but he still motors around. newest addition before I mounted it - as seen in the fts. any one know an exact name? an sps! monti, con not remember exact name. recovered from being fragged off but hasn't showed any signs of growing yet (3 weeks) and some algae is growing on the section that never recovered from the fragging. picture was taken the day after I mounted it. Link to comment
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