37g AGA Help out/Follow Along

[VannReefer87]

ok well if the condy won't work, does anyone think a bubble tip anenome will work with my lighting at the top of my rock formation? or should i not go with anenome's at all?...will I even be able to keep cool corals?

[HotRod68Camaro]

a bubble tip might might do alright, but you really need a metal halide.

[VannReefer87]

damn....what about corals?

[ZenMastr1968]

I imagine you would be able to do lower light corals - maybe some leathers or shrooms (not an expert here - I'm asking myself the very same question, I'm only running 2x40 PCs). My tank is shorter so the light should penetrate better I hope .

 

I've been contemplating the surface skimmer you pictured, but my HOB does a pretty good job of keeping the surface churned up. I haven't noticed anything sitting on the surface and I'm trying to keep from putting more things in the tank that I would need to try to hide.

 

So far it looks pretty good. I too would say to slow down, but I know the feeling. I can't wait to get more and more things for mine as well. Keep it up and keep up the posts.

[VannReefer87]

I completely agree Zen, good luck with your tank and I'll be sure to keep my posts updated. Thanks for the advice, and keep it coming

[VannReefer87]

algae is starting to dwindle, gotta love the snails, and according to my mom at home the condy anenome is actually looking well, eating normally and moving his way towards higher light, so will see what happens thanks, and keep it coming people

[VannReefer87]

*UPDATE*

Did a water change today and did a water test today (Tank 3 1/2 weeks old). Here are the results:

Temp. 78.5

Salinity-1.023

pH-8.4

NH4-0

NH3-0

NO2-.025

NO3-5ppm

Alk-3.6

Calcium-450ppm

 

Everything looked well, removed the condy and gave him to a friend with better lighting in his nano (was obliged to take it). Considered buying a coral frag, but then decided to wait. Mom bought a little feather duster and peppermint shrimp so we'll see how they do this week without me being home. Going to look a lionfish early Sat. morning to see if there are any small dwarfs or Fu Manchu's in. Considering getting a bubble anenome in the next few weeks to give the clown someplace to chillout in. Also considering a larger purple lobster for the future which is suppose to be reef safe! and too big for the lionfish to eat but who knows....new pics soon!!!...Comments..Advice...Please....Thank you

[VannReefer87]

Sorry no pics, camera had to be taken in to get fixed

 

*Update

 

Params are good except nitrates still are a bit high a 10ppm. Livestock is doing well. Algae is making me mad though, it just keeps appearing, grean algae on my background and side glass. When to the LFS for easter and I got a picasso percula and BTA for easter for myself . Went out to my car and this guy came over to me and offered me free stuff ! He was moving and couldn't sell his stuff so he said he would give it to people that would enjoy it. He gave me 20lbs of LR that was in his 180g reef tank for 5 years. It was completely purple although now it has faded to having white the coraline must have died off...makes me upset but there's nothing i could do. He also gave me 2 nice brittle stars and long spine urchine and a spotte manderin who is actually doing well (eating brine soked in vitamins). Clowns were getting alone but the original oscellaris now picks on the percula. Anyone know what to do about my clown or algae problems? Answers/Comments are appreciated. Thanks everyone, will get pics ASAP

[szesteve]

Just leave the algae alone, keep up with water changes. The Algae will eventually go away.

 

Watch the clowns for some time. They should get along after some time. Keep us updated!

[Charlie97L]

few comments.

 

first, you don't have enough light for an anemone, period, so don't get that as an idea in your head. you NEED a metal halide for them to do well, and a muture tank, with rock solid parameters. it may look ok under PCs, but it will be slowly dying, esp under that little wattage. anemones should live for years, not months. also, clowns do perfectly fine without an anemone, and just because there's one in there doesn't mean the clown will host it.

 

2nd, mixing species on clowns sometimes means they won't get along, ever. some just aren't compatible. eventually they may learn to tolerate each other, but most likely they'll quarrel regularly.

 

3rd, you have a mandarin goby/dragonet in a new 37 gallon tank. if i'm reading that right. that's not good. again, it may seem to be doing ok, but it will be slowly starving. it needs like a 100 gallon tank with loads of live rock, an established pod population, and even then, it will usually wipe out the pods pretty quickly, and you have to seed the tank. this fish needs to be eating constantly. you could try setting up a mandarin diner, like melev did. here's the article. that way it can get food whenever it wants, which is what it needs to live. (a lot of fish are like this, if you watch your chromis, you'll see the are picking pods out of the water column all day). barring that, it needs to be fed 2-3 times a day, heavily, to have a chance... again a year is not a normal lifespan for these guys.

 

Mandarin diner: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-02/nftt/index.php

 

4th, watch that urchin closely. they are cool, but probably the reason that the rock that guy gave you is white is that the urchin ate all the coraline. do a search for "pencil urchin" as a guy on here recently had that problem.

 

I'm not trying to be critical, you look like you're doing fine so far, although you're going quite fast. this hobby takes patience. i've had my 58 up for 3 months, i had it cycling for a month, then 2 months later, this past weekend, i just added my 3rd fish. it's slow going until the tank is established, but down the road, the rewards will be great. you don't want to rush, and have a crash, and then have to start all over again.

[VannReefer87]

thanks a lot charlie, I understand where your coming from completely. The urchin and madarin were both free so I didn't want to kill them or anything so I put them in my tank. I'm going to watch the urchin closely and as far as the madarin goes I'm trying my best to keep him going long enough until I find a better home for him. The clowns if they continue to fight will be seperated. I have a spare 10g AGA downstairs so I maybe pickup a filter and start cycling that to put him in. As far as the anenome goes I just went by what the LFS guy told me, he seems really trust worthy and steered me away from getting the sabae I wanted and told me the BTA would be ok. Will see who is right. Thanks again. Keeps the advice and comments comin along.

[Charlie97L]

thanks a lot charlie, I understand where your coming from completely. The urchin and madarin were both free so I didn't want to kill them or anything so I put them in my tank. I'm going to watch the urchin closely and as far as the madarin goes I'm trying my best to keep him going long enough until I find a better home for him. The clowns if they continue to fight will be seperated. I have a spare 10g AGA downstairs so I maybe pickup a filter and start cycling that to put him in. As far as the anenome goes I just went by what the LFS guy told me, he seems really trust worthy and steered me away from getting the sabae I wanted and told me the BTA would be ok. Will see who is right. Thanks again. Keeps the advice and comments comin along.

 

great, sounds like you've got things under control.

 

just remember, and this is tough, that no matter how trustworthy the LFS seems, they are still a business out to sell you stuff. if you want an anemone, 99% will sell you an anemone.

 

a good way i check when i go to a new store how MUCH i can trust the guys, is i will ask around about an anemone, and tell them i have low watt PC. if they say yup, go for it, i move on to the next sales guy until i find one that does the right thing... and maybe the next store if too many people answer badly. luckily the two big LFS's around me, everyone asked if i had a MH when I asked about an anemone... i think one store would have sold it to me anyway if i pushed, but the other one started showing me MH systems he could order, and said THEN i could get the anemone, but he wouldn't sell me one before then. that store i love. that's the correct way to handle that.

 

it's like this... most dog breeders won't sell puppies to a chef to cook... but i see fish on the same playing field as dogs, so that might be just my oddity. fish, being less expensive, it's harder to refuse a sale.

[VannReefer87]

*Update* (Sorry no pics yet, camera is still not back from the shop! )

 

Anyway, Params are all well. Got another 65watt PC so my lighting total is 200 watts. Anenome is doing well, eating well and has grown a little in a week. My frogspawn frag I bought 2 weeks ago has doubled in size. My clowns are getting along now!! After keeping one in an intank refugium for four days. My mandarin still looks good and is eating well. Bought new algae with lots of pods all over it for the refugium. My chromis are still as entertaining as ever. Bought a sand sifting goby who has a little burrow going and is doing well. My peppershrimp molted a few days ago and now is dark red. Went to the LFS the other day and they had new lionfish in!!!! They even had a Fu Manchu but he was around 4-5 inches including his tail and was to big for my tank but, they did have a baby fuzzy dwarf at around 2 inches, if that(including his tail). So I bought him. He is eating frozen mysid now. I'll probably have to remove him when he gets bigger but as for now he is a great addition to the tank. I'm done buying fish now. Algae is still growing on my background (lettuce algae) so I'm hoping that will die off eventually. Other than that the tank is doing well. Any comments/advice is welcome.

[VannReefer87]

Hey does anyone think I should put some LS in my refugium hanging on the back? Or just leave it bare bottom with the LR rubble and algae?

[VannReefer87]

quick other question....I have various types of algae in my refugium including lettuce, this red branch algae(?) and some other leafy calurpa. The LFS owner told me different algae's remove different nutrients...should I leave these various kinds in there or should i just go with some chaeto?

[VannReefer87]

no one?

[steelhealr]

Hi Vanreefer...thanks for stopping by my thread. I cruised into yours and read thru it. Please take my comments as being helpful and to prevent heartache.

 

1) My first recommendation is for you to ask your mom POLITELY AND RESPECTFULLY to stop buying things for your tank. Tell her you want to do the research first.

 

2) Don't take this the wrong way, but, you are breaking a lot of basic safety recommendations in nano reefing and I fear you are setting yourself up for nuking your tank. Some of these, IMO, include:

-letting someone else stock your tank

-putting in anemones under the present lighting and WAY TOO EARLY

-stocking your tank WAY TOO QUICKLY

-stocking your tank with fish that should be cared for by nano reefers that have more 'mileage' under their belt

-discussing adding corals when your tank is nowhere near ready for them

 

You've done a good job getting your tank together. Save yourself the headache and heartache that seems to be in the crystal ball for you. SLOW DOWN...SLOW DOWN...SLOW DOWN. SH

[VannReefer87]

Will do, I appreciate the criticism Steelhealr and am stoping with everything and letting the tank go for a while and see what happens, NOTHING else will be added.

[steelhealr]

You'll be much happier. TRUST ME...you don't want a tank full of beautiful stuff and then get hit with cyano or hair algae. Take your time..patience REALLY pays off with this system. It's just too dang small to hustle along. Anyway....will follow along. WTG. SH

[VannReefer87]

Hey everyone, tank is doing well. Stable and everything. I had a questions about flow. I'm running a maxijet 1200 through my refugium and skimmer. And 2 maxijet 600's in the tank for flow. Do you guys think I should upgrade my powerheads in the tank for more flow or is the two 600's enough?

[steelhealr]

2 MJ 600s in your main tank equate to a total of 320 GPH or less than 10X flow for your tank. Your 37G could handle up to 20X flow, or 740 GPH if you are planning a nice reef. You could probably put a couple of MJ1200s in there. SH

[VannReefer87]

I def. agree...so I went out today and bought a Sieo (made by Rio) super pump pushin out 820gph, have it turned down and in the back corner of the tank hitting the front of the glass. Def. better flow, kept one MJ-600 blowing behind the rock too. Prob getting another Sieo for the other corner and run them both on low flow. Will def. put pics up when my camera comes in this week. Thanks Steelhair for the advice

[iamtheone]

Did you order that skimmer yet? If so how is it working for you?

[pico1]

they make a surface skimmer for the bac pak skimmer

[VannReefer87]

hey everyone, i did order that surface skimmer and run it on my skimmer intake, it works well. I only use it 2x a week to get rid of the surface gunk that has now gone away thanks to my increase in flow.