my new 2 ft tank

[ingendaryl]

i have a 2 ft tank with 2 percs in it. i feel that the powerhead is a little too strong, is there any way i can reduce the flow rate of the powerhead?

 

all my 2 percs do is swim against the flow of the current.

 

any ideas anyone?

 

also, a star fish came along with the live rock i bought.. is it alright if i leave the star fish inside?

[seabass]

How many gallons is your 2ft tank? I assume that it’s a 15 or 20-gallon tank. What powerhead are you using? Do you know how many gallons per hour (gph) it produces? Is this your only source for water flow? They might just be playing in the currents. Typically in a tank of that size, clownfish can usually find a relatively calm place to hang out in when they wish to.

[ingendaryl]

it's stated that the flow rate is around 600litres/hr.. not sure about the conversion. in my part of the world, the units are in litres.

 

they seem fine last night. like you said, they did find some calm spot to rest behind the rocks.

 

one of my percs have taken to hosting the powerhead. it's highly amusing.. haha.

 

and the other perc mutilated my starfish . geeeee ...

 

 

do you have clownfishes as well ???

[seabass]

As per OnlineConversion.com, 600 liters = 158.5 gallons [uS, liquid]. Yes, I keep a mated pair of False Percs.

[ingendaryl]

thanks for the help !

i just found out my tank is a 15 gallon one ..

 

by the way, i'm feeding frozen brine shrimps to my 2 percs... they seemto like it but i wanna vary their diet.

 

would freeze dried blood worms do ?

[seabass]

I also keep my False Percs in a 15-gallon tank. It’s the smallest tank I’d consider for a pair of Percs. If that powerhead is the only source of flow for your tank, I’d consider adding a HOB power filter (without the stock filter cartridges) to: give you a place for carbon and/or phosphate remover in a media bag, break the water’s surface, add surface flow (increases oxygen exchange and random currents)…

 

It is important to offer a variety of nutritional foods. Brine shrimp are like candy for clownfish; they are a nice treat, but don’t offer any real nutrition for them. I’ve been primarily feeding my clownfish Ocean Nutrition’s Formula One Frozen. I supplement Ocean Nutrition Formula Two Flakes, and Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef Flakes, and Ocean Nutrition Formula One Flakes.

 

Some people don’t like flake foods, but my clownfish don’t like to eat anything that hits the bottom (pellets seem to feed my crabs more than my fish). I also have an automatic feeder for weekends and vacations. When careful not to overfeed, I find that flakes work out pretty good as a supplement to the frozen.

[ingendaryl]

i'll certainly be looking out for the food you mentioned ..

 

my percs too don't bother about food that hit the gravel. in fact, once the food falls half way, they can't be bothered to swim the distance.

 

one of my percs mutilated a small star fish that hitched a ride on a live rock i bought from the shop...

the star fish has 4 hmm... legs (??) left ... the 5th is dangling in shreds off it's body.

after the mutilation last night, i had trouble looking for the starfish . wonder where it went actually ....

 

 

i can't wait to get home and have a look at those two little twerps .. hahaha

[seabass]

Check you ammonia level; a dead starfish can cause a spike. Remove it from your tank if it’s dead. I keep some Seachem Prime around for such occasions (it helps detoxify ammonia and nitrites). If it died, do a water change and dose some Prime if available. Keep an eye on your levels. Good luck.

[ingendaryl]

one of my clown got killed by the other. it's pretty sad. didn't really expec thtis to happpen.

but anyway, i bought a black velvet damsel. it seems to be getting along well with the clown. was wondering if black velvet damsels could be kept in pairs.

 

and if my clown isn't eating well, is there anything i can do?

i mean my clown isn't even eating at all ....

 

help.. i got a bad feeling my other clown isn't gonna survive as well .....

[seabass]

Did you see the one clownfish attacking the other? If you did, you might have purchased two females.

 

I assume that you got a Blue Velvet Damselfish (which are actually black). They get pretty large, as well as aggressive toward other fish. A 15-gallon tank might be too small for those two fish. I would take one back if it were me.

 

Please test your water. I’m thinking that you have measurable ammonia and nitrites. This would be bad and it’s conceivable that this is the reason that your one clownfish isn’t eating, and maybe why the other died.

 

Again, if it were me: I’d return the damselfish, remove the starfish, test the water, perform a 20% water change (making more water for another change), and wait awhile before adding more livestock.

 

Good luck.

[ingendaryl]

have i told you my country of residence yET ?

i'm in singapore and the way fish shops work here is different from the way fish shops work where you live. they don't accept returned livestock. they sell their stocks pretty cheap, for instance, i got the 2 false percs at 5 SGD per piece, that amounts to about 3 USD.

my velvet damsel was sold at 3 SGD (about 2 USD). so you can imagine why they don't accept returned stocks.

the guys at the shops aren't very knowledgeable about what they sell actually, so i'm not counting on them much.

i'm lucky to have found this webpage and forum.

 

tonight when i get home, i'll try the tests. let's say my ammonia and nitrites level are high, is there anything besides a water change, i can do to reduce the levels?

 

this morning when i woke up, my surviving clown had these blue marks just above it's mouth. i think another guy has posted a problem similar to this on the forum before..

 

i'm getting quite discouraged actually ...

 

i want to remove the starfish, but thing is, i can't even find it! it's nowhere in the tank. any chance it lodged itself beneath the rocks and died ?

 

yeap, i've seen the surviving clown attack the other. she (i'm assuming it's a she now...) keep nipping at the other. the one that died had lots of damaged fins.....

[ingendaryl]

also, i have a question about refugiums ..

i've been seeing people mention them in this forum.

 

what exactly does a refugium do ?

 

and would i need one ?

 

i'm already considering the HOB filter you suggested to me .. is that the same ?

[seabass]

I’m sorry to hear that. It’s a perfect size tank for a pair of False Percs. However, I’m afraid that it might not be suitable for the Blue Velvet Damselfish and your Perc.

 

I’m guessing that the tank has only recently been setup. I have a feeling that you've added livestock too soon. Nobody likes to wait, but that is one of the keys to success.

 

Your ammonia and nitrite levels should be undetectable before you add livestock. Then, when you do, you should add only a little at a time. Test a young tank often and don’t add any more livestock if you have detectable levels of either of these. Water changes are typically the safest way to reduce these levels; eventually your tank should be able to convert these to nitrates without you being able to detect either.

 

Please describe your tank:

· How many pounds of live rock (LR) do you have

· How long ago did you add your LR

· Do you have any other livestock

· What are your test results for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate

· What temperature do you keep your tank at

· What’s the S.G.

· Do you use RO/DI water

· Do you use a synthetic salt (what brand)

· Do you have any other equipment (heater)

· Describe your lighting

 

A refugium is a refuge for things like macro algae and pods. Most people put lights over them and grow macro algae, which consume nutrients in the water; excess algae are then disposed of (permanently removing these excess nutrients from the system). There is a whole forum on this site dedicated to refugiums, but you do not “need” one.

 

It’s possible to make a refugium out of a HOB filter, but typically a HOB filter is not the same as a refugium. A HOB filter will add to your water flow and break the water’s surface, which helps your tank’s gas exchange (more oxygen).

[ingendaryl]

you are so right. i couldn't wait and added livestock too soon. now i regret.

 

but no matter what, i'm gonna make the tank succeed. i just regret killing clownfishes.

 

i'll have to get home first before i can get more details.

 

i got about 15 lbs of LR, not sure if it's enough.

 

i have this terrible feeeling that i'll have to tear down the entire tank and start all over. but it's a good lesson learnt.

 

and oh, by the way, there's virtually no way of getting DI/RO water here in that sort of quantity. cos we are a small country, and the govt handles all the filtration for our water supplies. just imagine we are a country, and we are probably 3/4 the size of new york with a population of 4 million.

there's simply no market for DI/RO water since the govt monopolises it, for good reason.

i have no choice but to rely on tap water. just that now, i will wait for the cycling process.

[ingendaryl]

i guess i'll remove the fishes, leave the live rock inside and cycle the tank.

 

 

so during the cycling process, each time i get detectable amounts of ammonia and nitrates, i'll do a partial water change. is that right?

 

i just keep doing that till.. maybe say 2-3 weeks later, i get undetectable ammonia and nitrates levels ?

 

i'm guessing my remaining fish, a damsel is gonna die too, since i didn't cycle the tank properly.

 

next time round, i'm leaving the camel shrimp and this crab(hitch hiker on the liverock) in there for the cycling process...

 

 

thanks so much for the help so fAr !

[seabass]

You might want to give away your livestock until your cycle is complete, but I wouldn’t tear the tank down. The process of cycling is going on right now, I’d wait it out.

 

LR has life on it, but unless you get LR that’s completely cured, it usually will experience some die off when you first put it in your tank. This die off is how most of us cycle our tanks (without adding any additional livestock). The process can be as short as a couple of weeks for rock that is more fully cured, or it can take a couple of months (one month seems to be fairly typical for rock purchased at most of the local fish stores (LFS) here.

 

15lbs of LR is maybe the least amount of rock that you would want for a 15-gallon tank. I would consider adding another 7 or 8 pounds if there where no livestock in there, but (with livestock in your tank) adding LR will just make everything worse at this point. You can cure LR in a bucket of saltwater with some lights over it if you wish to add more later on.

 

Your tank has finished cycling when you can no longer detect any ammonia or nitrites. Your nitrate levels should also be at 10ppm or less; water changes will lower this level if it is too high. However, test your tap water for nitrates too.

 

When cycling with just rock, you typically let your ammonia levels go up (and do a 10 to 20% water change only once a week), but with livestock in your tank, I’d be doing them very frequently (trying to keep the water less toxic).

 

When making water for your water changes, mix your saltwater with a powerhead for 24 hours, unless you are doing an emergency change to control some catastrophe in your tank.

 

Do you have access to distilled water (with no additives)? If so, buy a copper test kit and test the distilled for copper (which is deadly to invertebrates). If it tests copper-free, I’d use the distilled water. Most tap water here isn’t very ideal for reef keeping, but some do it anyway (a lot of these people constantly fight algae problems).

 

After your cycle is complete, 10 to 20% weekly water changes should be enough to replenish consumed elements and remove excess nutrients. Then continue to test your levels around once a week; ammonia and nitrites should test undetectable and nitrates should test at 10ppm or less.

[MaxMike]

hi ingendaryl ...u can order a ro unit..i just brought 1 from valueline ..just ask the lfs to order for u