lenglish Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 Hello, I am very new to reefkeeping. I have an 8 gallon Biocube with 10.55 Gallons of Live rock, live sand and so far 1 Clove Polyp, 1 True Perc ,Yellow watchman Goby and a cleaner crew. So when I do water changes, Some of the live rock is exposed to air. Is this ok? Do you guys expose your corals and rock to air for a short time? Thanks! Link to comment
rev138 Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 As long as they don't dry out, it should be OK. Some sponges don't do too well when exposed to air, but AFAIK, everything else should be fine for short periods. Link to comment
eklikewhoa Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 How do you fit 10.55 gallons into a 8 gallon cube? Link to comment
rev138 Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 I think he meant "pounds", not "gallons". Smart-ass Link to comment
lenglish Posted June 17, 2007 Author Share Posted June 17, 2007 How do you fit 10.55 gallons into a 8 gallon cube? Yes sorry, it's pounds of live rock. Thanks for your help! Much appreciated. Any ideas on how to make the true perc happier? She won't eat and just hangs out by the vent. How can I make her feel more at home? Link to comment
mascencerro Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 Find out what kind of music it likes? Depending on how long you've had it, it takes a little while for most fish to get accustomed to their new home before they get comfy. Link to comment
lenglish Posted June 18, 2007 Author Share Posted June 18, 2007 Well, by 7:00 this morning the Perc was gone. Don't have a clue why, she must've just been sick. I got a six line wrasse, doing great so far as I can tell. Thanks for your help. Link to comment
Duncan Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 hmm, how long is this tank setup? Link to comment
Pickle010 Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 Well, by 7:00 this morning the Perc was gone. Don't have a clue why, she must've just been sick. I got a six line wrasse, doing great so far as I can tell. Thanks for your help. I'm sorry you lost it but I"m suprised you ran out and got something else so fast. I'd want to know what went wrong before trying it with another fish. Peramiters? Temps? Acclimation method? I mean, yeah sometimes you get a sick fish but odd's are that something you did along the way didn't help. Hope this one works out for you. Link to comment
lenglish Posted June 18, 2007 Author Share Posted June 18, 2007 The Tank is 3 weeks old, used cured rock and waited, added a cleaning crew 2 weeks ago. Ammonia is 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 10-15. I have a clove polyp in there that is perfectly happy so I am sure its not my parameters. The Yellow watchman I put in at the same time as the Perc is doing fine. I acclimate them to the water over an hour slowly changing out the water in the bag. Link to comment
Duncan Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 3 weeks seems a little quick for me, but most people pull it off anyway. An hour seems too long, imho. Over-acclimating can be stressful for the animal. I usually do a 10-15 minutes for fish and shrimps. Corals go straight into tank when the temperatures are matched. I'd do a waterchange if my nitrate kit read a 15ppm on the chart, especially when I got other livestock in the tank. What kind of clean up crew you have in there? Link to comment
lenglish Posted June 18, 2007 Author Share Posted June 18, 2007 3 weeks seems a little quick for me, but most people pull it off anyway. An hour seems too long, imho. Over-acclimating can be stressful for the animal. I usually do a 10-15 minutes for fish and shrimps. Corals go straight into tank when the temperatures are matched. I'd do a waterchange if my nitrate kit read a 15ppm on the chart, especially when I got other livestock in the tank. What kind of clean up crew you have in there? 3 Scarlet Hermits, 2 Nassarius Snails and 3 Margarita snails. Thanks for the advice on acclimating. I'll try it next time. Even after daily 10% water changes, I still have the same nitrate level. Baseline is 0. Any advice? Link to comment
Oregon Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 With 10+ lbs of rock, plus sand in an 8g cube you probably have a very small water volume. I would say that the clown and the goby were to much of a bioload for such a tiny tank, especially a new tank. Thats why your nitrates where spiking. Plus, water changes that are not the exact same salinity, ph, temp etc in such a small system can really stress the inhabitants. Get your tank established and running baseline nutrient levels for at least 3 months before touching it any more. Even then, I would only add a nano fish like a firefish in addition to the goby if you want to have two in such a small tank. Are you using good R/O water? My tap water is clean as a whistle except it boasts 15ppm nitrates out of the faucet. Plus a lot of DIY, "you-fill" store units don't offer clean enough water. Link to comment
lenglish Posted June 18, 2007 Author Share Posted June 18, 2007 With 10+ lbs of rock, plus sand in an 8g cube you probably have a very small water volume. I would say that the clown and the goby were to much of a bioload for such a tiny tank, especially a new tank. Thats why your nitrates where spiking. Plus, water changes that are not the exact same salinity, ph, temp etc in such a small system can really stress the inhabitants. Get your tank established and running baseline nutrient levels for at least 3 months before touching it any more. Even then, I would only add a nano fish like a firefish in addition to the goby if you want to have two in such a small tank. The Nitrate levels have been the same for 2 weeks. I just put those fish in yesterday. The clown was gone in 12 hours, there was no spike. I will be leaving the tank alone for now until I am sure everything is stable. But according to "The Nano Reef Handbook", 3 fish are good for a 7.5 gal. The water is RO 0 baseline nitrates. Link to comment
Duncan Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 The Nitrate levels have been the same for 2 weeks. I just put those fish in yesterday. The clown was gone in 12 hours, there was no spike. I will be leaving the tank alone for now until I am sure everything is stable. But according to "The Nano Reef Handbook", 3 fish are good for a 7.5 gal. The water is RO 0 baseline nitrates. Well, if this tank is only 3 weeks old and the nitrate levels is like that for 2 weeks straight, I'd say your tank is still in the initial cycle. Most soft corals are hardy and can tolerate high nitrate. Some even prefer a tad bit of nitrate in the water. So, it's not surprising that your clove polyps is doing well. But, no matter what, your tank is still in the initial stage, judging from your descriptions. I'd suggest you do small water changes every week to keep the water clean enough for the livestock, but not that much to reset the cycle over again. And erm, there's no cast-in-stone rules in the number of fish. It really depends on the tank's capability to handle a certain level of bio-load. A yellow watchman puts out a large bio-load for its size, so you're probably limited to 2 fish. Maybe a clown goby would be a nice fish to add. just my 0.02 Link to comment
lenglish Posted June 20, 2007 Author Share Posted June 20, 2007 Thanks for all your advice, I will keep it in mind. So far, the Wrasse and Goby seem happy and healthy. I am pleased but wont be adding fish for a while. I will keep up the water changes as usual and hope the nitrates go down. Link to comment
kkyyllee Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 your tanks to small for a sixline Link to comment
Pickle010 Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 I will be leaving the tank alone for now until I am sure everything is stable. But according to "The Nano Reef Handbook", 3 fish are good for a 7.5 gal. You may want to consider you ACTUAL water volume. With as much rock as you have I'm sure you don't have as much water as you may think. Even less if the rock isn't very dense. Link to comment
kkyyllee Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 ur tank wopuld probly fall underthis category 7g (Includes 7g Minibow, 6g Eclipse, 6g CPR, 6g Nano Cube, 8g Aquawave) (1-2 fish) http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=74703 Link to comment
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