andyl18 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Just started my first aquarium that sits on my desk in my dorm room. Got the live rock and sand from premium aquatics. I would love recommendations and advice that yall could give me! Equipment JBJ picotype 3g from drsfostersmith.com for $39.99(then credited $20 because the tank came in rough shape) stock filter and light(for now) Hydor pico evo-mag powerhead 180gph (dialed back to around 60-90ish gph) Hydor 25w heater generic digital thermometer from CLL_petsupplies on Ebay(recommend for cheap generics) 4lbs of Fuji live rock "possibly cultured" and fully cured from premium aquatics $2.99/lb(on the fence about the rock but it was clean and a nice shape for the tank) 5 lbs of aquacultured live sand also from premium aquatics(love it) Stocking plans various ricordea in the sand zoas on the rock small clean up crew maybe a sexy shrimp yellowtail damsel(down the road) Link to comment
acrab78 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Sweet start... If you are going through keep the stock light I would recommend the hardier soft corals especially mushrooms and various button polyps and some zoos... You could also turn it into a pest tank. See Island of Tiki s pest spec tank. Was epic. Enjoy the tank and enjoy school... Some of the best years of your life! Link to comment
CCLAXX Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Cool! I really want to set one up in my dorm as well. I would recommend upgrading the stock light, but thats just me. I think it would be cook with some of the lower light stuff and a shrimp goby pair would be cool. You could even look for a smaller mantis shrimp. What are your plans for the breaks and such? Thats the main reason I'm not setting one up at least till senior year. Link to comment
Mariaface Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Looks good! And it sounds pretty perfect for your stocking plans so far! If you ever want to upgrade, you may need to worry about lighting and filter size, but this sounds awesome. :] Cool! I really want to set one up in my dorm as well. I would recommend upgrading the stock light, but thats just me. I think it would be cook with some of the lower light stuff and a shrimp goby pair would be cool. You could even look for a smaller mantis shrimp. What are your plans for the breaks and such? Thats the main reason I'm not setting one up at least till senior year. The mantis is an interesting idea, but you'd have to be very sure that the species you end up with will live comfortably in that size tank. Islandoftiki would be a good member to ask, but there are other resources (and a mantis shrimp guide thread here somewhere). The breaks! I only kept a couple of freshwater ten gallon tanks in my dorm, because each one housed one betta. Over the shorter breaks, I was able to go without feeding them. Over longer breaks, I had cycled tanks waiting for them at home and they'd travel with me (say, winter break). I think your tank would do alright over shorter breaks as long as you had a light timer and ATO, but there could be other factors and you'd have to worry about longer breaks. EDIT: Then I moved off campus to an actual house the last two years and didn't need to disturb the freshwater or saltwater tanks. Magic. Link to comment
CCLAXX Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Yea I've been wanting a reef tank for a couple years now, but was never in the right place at the right time. Hence the lack of a tank haha. But when I do eventually get one, I will be going all out to make sure I get it right the first time. I believe that a N. Wennerae would be suitable but again I'm no expert. Link to comment
Arkayology Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 What did you think of the rock from premium aquatics? Did it come with any interesting hitchhikers? Link to comment
andyl18 Posted October 11, 2014 Author Share Posted October 11, 2014 the tentative plan for breaks is to hold off on stocking anything serious until at least christmas. I'll leave the unstocked tank here for thanksgiving and then for christmas i'll drain it about 80% to transport it to my house and refill it once i get it home. and i'll probably put the rock in a bag and box so it doesnt fall over and do damage to the glass. What did you think of the rock from premium aquatics? Did it come with any interesting hitchhikers? not really, although i do like the shape of the rock and i think it fits my tank perfectly. i got the $2.99/lb rock they are selling right now so that might be why it didnt have anything too exciting Link to comment
CCLAXX Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 You could do a rid garden on the sand bed with some nice zoas on the rock! Link to comment
andyl18 Posted October 11, 2014 Author Share Posted October 11, 2014 You could do a rid garden on the sand bed with some nice zoas on the rock! what do you mean a rid garden? Link to comment
andyl18 Posted October 11, 2014 Author Share Posted October 11, 2014 Ric* garden haha sorry i like that idea! thank you anyone have any recommendations on clean up crew for the tank that would get along with a goby and pistol shrimp? Link to comment
antsypants Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 Ooh nice, I hope to be able to bring my picotope to my dorm too, so.. same boat and such. I'll have to figure out an ATO system for the breaks though.. Is your dorm far from home? If so, how are you getting salt/freshwater? Those are the two foreseeable problems I can think of. As for a CUC, most anything gets along with a shrimp/goby pair, however, hermits do have a tendency to kill snails, so I would either go all hermits or all snails, although that is by no means a hard rule. I checked reefcleaner's picotope package to get an idea of a ratio, I'll include the link here: http://www.reefcleaners.org/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&view=productdetails&virtuemart_product_id=207&virtuemart_category_id=20 Anyways, good luck Tank's looking clean. Keep us updated! Link to comment
Mariaface Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 +1 on the Reefcleaners packages! You'll probably get way more dwarf ceriths than you need, so keep that in mind and check to see if your LFS(s) will take the extras. I ordered 5, and got 274. John loves surprising everyone. I'd definitely go snails over hermits; hermits are omnivores and can and will steal food (much more aggressively than a nassarius snail could) from corals. I have to stand guard over my ricordeas to knock down any nassarius snails going for the gold. I do feed the snails, but they love going for the food that's closest and I don't know where they are to place the food next to them until after they're doing the creepy zombie-coming-out-of-the-sand thing. And with hermits, you'd need to have empty, larger shells hanging around for their molts. Link to comment
Red_Blenny Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 A ric garden would be pretty cool. They're pretty hardy too Link to comment
antsypants Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 Maria hit all the points with snails over hermits, I'd say plus, there are some pretty great snails like stomatellas and nano conches if you can get ahold of some. Also, yessss ricordeas are awesome Link to comment
andyl18 Posted October 11, 2014 Author Share Posted October 11, 2014 Ooh nice, I hope to be able to bring my picotope to my dorm too, so.. same boat and such. I'll have to figure out an ATO system for the breaks though.. Is your dorm far from home? If so, how are you getting salt/freshwater? Those are the two foreseeable problems I can think of. As for a CUC, most anything gets along with a shrimp/goby pair, however, hermits do have a tendency to kill snails, so I would either go all hermits or all snails, although that is by no means a hard rule. I checked reefcleaner's picotope package to get an idea of a ratio, I'll include the link here: http://www.reefcleaners.org/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&view=productdetails&virtuemart_product_id=207&virtuemart_category_id=20 Anyways, good luck Tank's looking clean. Keep us updated! im only 4 hours away from home. what do you mean about the salt/freshwater? also, is it too early to add a clean up crew? i dont seem to have much algae yet as the tank has only been up for a few days Link to comment
Mariaface Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 im only 4 hours away from home. what do you mean about the salt/freshwater? also, is it too early to add a clean up crew? i dont seem to have much algae yet as the tank has only been up for a few days It's probably a question about how you're getting RO/DI water and the salt mix to mix it with for water changes. Or if you're purchasing pre-mixed saltwater. You want to cycle the tank first. Get ammonium chloride, and maybe a bacterial additive if you're looking to speed things up. When your tank can process 1-2ppm of ammonia within 24 hours, and you don't have any nitrites present, your tank is cycled. Nitrates will likely be high, so you'll need to do a large water changes unless the denitrifying bacteria in your rock/sand are able to keep up with it. Link to comment
andyl18 Posted October 11, 2014 Author Share Posted October 11, 2014 It's probably a question about how you're getting RO/DI water and the salt mix to mix it with for water changes. Or if you're purchasing pre-mixed saltwater. You want to cycle the tank first. Get ammonium chloride, and maybe a bacterial additive if you're looking to speed things up. When your tank can process 1-2ppm of ammonia within 24 hours, and you don't have any nitrites present, your tank is cycled. Nitrates will likely be high, so you'll need to do a large water changes unless the denitrifying bacteria in your rock/sand are able to keep up with it. oh..i bought distilled water from walmart and im mixing it myself. is it necessary to use the ammonium chloride if i started with live rock and live sand? Link to comment
antsypants Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 im only 4 hours away from home. what do you mean about the salt/freshwater? Edit: just read your reply lol also, is it too early to add a clean up crew? i dont seem to have much algae yet as the tank has only been up for a few days Yeah, how are you planning to get water? I feel like itd be a pain to lug gallons of water to and from your room unless you have a car? And CUC should be added, as maria said, after your cycle, though ive heard some people cycled their tanks using hermits. At any rate, there are stomatellas that hitchhiked into my teachers cycling tank right now and seem to be doing okay Link to comment
andyl18 Posted October 11, 2014 Author Share Posted October 11, 2014 Yeah, how are you planning to get water? I feel like itd be a pain to lug gallons of water to and from your room unless you have a car? i had one of my friends drive me. four gallons of water wasnt that bad to bring back Link to comment
antsypants Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 i had one of my friends drive me. four gallons of water wasnt that bad to bring back Ahh haha I see. Different story when you're on a bike x) As for cycling w/live rock and sand, I did that and it cycled fairly quickly so I'd say give it a week or so and test then. Link to comment
Mariaface Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 oh..i bought distilled water from walmart and im mixing it myself. is it necessary to use the ammonium chloride if i started with live rock and live sand? If there's stuff alive on the rock that you're trying to preserve, don't purposely add ammonia. But do measure ammonia to see if any die-off from the rock (you had it shipped from PA, right?) caused a spike, because that's the ammonia that needs to come down to zero before you add your CUC. And while you're cycling, you may want to keep your lights off (again, unless there are photosynthetic organisms you're trying to preserve on the live rock). Algae will compete with your bacterial filter for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate, and you want the bacterial filter to be as robust as possible. Link to comment
andyl18 Posted October 11, 2014 Author Share Posted October 11, 2014 If there's stuff alive on the rock that you're trying to preserve, don't purposely add ammonia. But do measure ammonia to see if any die-off from the rock (you had it shipped from PA, right?) caused a spike, because that's the ammonia that needs to come down to zero before you add your CUC. And while you're cycling, you may want to keep your lights off (again, unless there are photosynthetic organisms you're trying to preserve on the live rock). Algae will compete with your bacterial filter for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate, and you want the bacterial filter to be as robust as possible. I've tested the ammonia and its around 0.25ppm. Im not sure if thats normal for the age of the tank(two days, lol) but nitrtes/ites were both 0. As for the light, there is one little guy on the rock (although im not sure what it is)that survived shipping that i would like to keep alive so maybe run the light for around 6 hours a day? Link to comment
Mariaface Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 I've tested the ammonia and its around 0.25ppm. Im not sure if thats normal for the age of the tank(two days, lol) but nitrtes/ites were both 0. As for the light, there is one little guy on the rock (although im not sure what it is)that survived shipping that i would like to keep alive so maybe run the light for around 6 hours a day? That sounds pretty normal. Try and keep it detoxified with something like Prime so that the bacterial filter can catch up with it. Make sure you're basting the rocks to keep them clear of detritus, too. Figure out what it is, and go ahead and run the lights 6-8 hours a day. Hitchhikers are always fun! Have you taken a flashlight to the tank at night yet? I keep finding stuff months after any additions of live rocks; it's really cool to see all the biodiversity. Good luck! Link to comment
andyl18 Posted October 11, 2014 Author Share Posted October 11, 2014 That sounds pretty normal. Try and keep it detoxified with something like Prime so that the bacterial filter can catch up with it. Make sure you're basting the rocks to keep them clear of detritus, too. Figure out what it is, and go ahead and run the lights 6-8 hours a day. Hitchhikers are always fun! Have you taken a flashlight to the tank at night yet? I keep finding stuff months after any additions of live rocks; it's really cool to see all the biodiversity. Good luck! thanks for the advice! is there any other chemicals i should be using/have on hand? Link to comment
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