Chris's First Saltwater/ Nanotank

[chrismac472]

Hi, i have decided to join TNR as anytime i was researching anything for my tank this site always came up.

So i would like to thank you all in advance for help and advice i will receive from you all.

A bit about me: My name is Chris and i am British but i am living in Taiwan. For the past 10 years i have been wanting a marine tank, 10 years ago i had bought lots of books read them all had everything in my mind as to what tank, kit, fish, CUC i wanted i bought a used tank, started collecting them all but ended up keeping tropical fish for a few years as i didn't want to start something i financially couldn't keep up.

Fast forward to now, and i was looking in a fish store here wanting to buy a small tank to do a simple arty looking planted tank, then i noticed they had a sale on a nano reef tank, now of course it's taiwan so there are loads of cheaper local brands i have never heard of so i decided to go for it, keep one or two small fish and some inverts.

The tank is by a company called Ista it is 45cm x 27cm x 30cm, it came with a hang-on filter ( :-( ) an Ista which it claims to do 380Lph, and a Resun SK-300 protein skimmer which claims to do 300lph max. It came with some LED lights which i don't know anything about other than there are 5 (2 white 3 blue), I think they are 3w high-power LEDs. I know i will eventually upgrade things slowly, starting with lights i am thinking TMC aquaria 500HD.

I got 5kg LR and 6kg of sand( not live ). So i have it up and running and cycling, it has been going for over a week, though i started with 3kg LR and added another 2kg on tuesday, so i take it the cycle starts again now. I have had some crabs appear with the LR, though i think one died or just molted.

I am going to leave the tank alone like this for 6 weeks, and then start getting some snails.

I found this worm that came out last night, was wondering if anyone knew what it is.

 

 

Also when giving equipment suggestions, a lot of things i can't get here, and even though i can speak chinese i don't know many fish names and specialist names etc. ( i guess i need to learn).

So this is my tank, i am going to take things slow. Any help and suggestions will be appreciated.

 

[alanwest09872]

congrats and my condolences on your wallet.... It an expensive hobby but lots of fun

 

it looks like a brissle worm or fire worm probably a brissle worm. If you going to leave the tank alone for 6 weeks he will just die in there may as well flush him.

 

If you wanna keep him in there and he is a brissle worm then you will need to feed the tank a bit to keep him alive. If hes a fireworm burn him with fire.

[chrismac472]

Thanks, Yeah i flushed. I didn't want to risk it, and it was already a few inches long.

[cju84]

Tank and rockscape looks great! Welcome to NR!

[charnelhouse]

Yeah, cool rock. !

[chrismac472]

Thanks! It is going through the diatom phase now, so is starting to get browner.

It is really trying my patience not to touch it.

 

Here is a question, a guy in the LFS yesterday said they aren't allowed to import salt water shrimp into Taiwan anymore, and he also said they only have one type of snail, the limpet type it looks like.

They suggested some fish, what sand sifting fish would be best for my small tank?

 

This is what it looks like now:

The critters that came on the live rock died, is it best to take them out or leave them in?

[cju84]

You should remove the dead critters unless you are trying to induce a cycle. Their remains/decay will add to your ammonia levels.

[chrismac472]

So if it's mid cycle will that just start it again or just add to it?

[chrismac472]

Anybody have any recommendations as to fish?

[charnelhouse]

Here's a good start:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/74703-lgreens-ultimate-guide-to-nano-fish/

[Azedenkae]

So if it's mid cycle will that just start it again or just add to it?

If you are still looking for answers, it would just add to it.

[Matthewdvm]

Hey, Chris. Looking good so far. I started my first saltwater tank about 20 days ago, so it looks like we are in about the same place. This cycling thing sure is an exercise in patience, eh? I'm messed around with my rock scrapping a bit, added some new live rock that I liked better than the original stuff I got, and now, I just top up the water and patiently measure my water parameters. I've been using an ammonia and nitrite kit that expired about 3 years ago and the nitrite hasn't risen at all and the ammonia only climbed a bit and then levelled off. So, new test kit is coming on Monday, so I'll be curious to see if the numbers are comparable...

 

Here's my tank's thread.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/355137-my-new-project/