? What Do I Do ?

[gnomeinthesea]

Hi Last year I whent to a pet store out aide of Portland OR

 

 

And i was hooked

 

I bought a 12 gal JBJ Nano cube with the 24 whatt * 2 lighting and hoped to start a sea scape. But i desited tha salt water might be to mutch money and too complocated. I whent with freshwater. BAD THING TO DO. my fish are blown about by the water pump

and the lights make the algie explode when i feed the fish "I THINK".

 

I need help what shod i do?? how mutch Commitment ? what do i need? Can i change so fast? How much Money? do i need to change the filter in the back? shouild i get a new taink? I do not have mutch time. Do i need a RO Filter?

HELP start from ground ZERO

 

P.S. i have read a book on saltwater but not on nanos.

 

Thanks for all the help

[sleepy]

I do not have mutch time.

 

Forget salt water.

 

Cut down your light cycle, try not to overfeed the tank. Get some vascular plants to compete for nutrients with the algea, and you should be all set.

[gnomeinthesea]

Forget salt water.

 

Cut down your light cycle, try not to overfeed the tank. Get some vascular plants to compete for nutrients with the algea, and you should be all set.

 

 

No Salt water ??

[rebubula]

if you just want fish and some live rock, all you have to do is feed them and change the water once a week. Once a month you have to clean the tank.

[gnomeinthesea]

I have time to change the water once a week on the weekend

 

what do you need for a "reef"

[rebubula]

by "reef", what do you mean? do you want coral? that can be expensive depending on the amount you want to decorate your tank, and you'll also have to be more involved in keeping your water clean. more changes than a FOWLR tank.

[gnomeinthesea]

Any more ideas from some supportive people

 

yes i do whant

coral.

[mkimpossible]

Any more ideas from some supportive people

 

yes i do whant coral.

i think they are trying to be supportive but i think they need more info from you. what or which coral do you want? soft types? stony types? i think that is what they are trying to find out. i don't mean to be mean or anything, it just seems like people are trying to help.

"i want reef" doesn't really tell them much. "i want a xenia forest with little pixie clownfish and a humongous sally lightfoot crab" is more detailed. i've been reading posts and i find the better responses are posted to the threads that have better info or better questions posted in them.

from reading your thread so far, it seems like you may need to read more on the basics. and find out what you would like to keep. i think rebubula's post is pretty on the ball on what you need to detail.

 

hmmm, the font changed on me. is that normal???

 

it keeps doing that. arrgh.

[gnomeinthesea]

thanks

 

well,, i was looking at the INFO section and a saw some of the corals i liked them all.

 

DO i need RO water i live in portland and i think the water is very clean

are drinking water is of MT. Hood I got a report we have very low NItrate.

[Clownfishcrazy1117]

thanks

 

well,, i was looking at the INFO section and a saw some of the corals i liked them all.

 

DO i need RO water i live in portland and i think the water is very clean

are drinking water is of MT. Hood I got a report we have very low NItrate.

You need at least treated tap water, though RO water is often preferred. I would recommend you get these 2 books: The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert M. Fenner, and The New Marine Aquarium by Michael S. Paletta. Very good books. And always research something before you buy it unless you already know its requirements.

[mkimpossible]

well, i used to have good tapwater but this jersey water sux. you can drink it (i think) but i wouldn't use it in my tank. if your tank isn't too big you might want to try store ro water or distilled or something. i'm sure your mt water is good but is it good enough for a reef tank i dunno.

[gnomeinthesea]

thanks any more advice on coral or fish

Is liverock very Dangers because of hitchhikers?

[reefone]

no hitchhikers r good most of them anyways

[sleepy]

There are a few dangerous hitchekers (dangerous to a reef). Some of them Include: Mantis shrimp, Violent crabs, Pest anemonies, and certian types of snails (ex. sundials). That said, i have always tried to encourage all of my hitchhikers to live. I ended up getting a lot of good stuff and almost no bad stuff.

[gnomeinthesea]

I ended up getting a lot of good stuff and almost no bad stuff.

 

That is very cool what did you get

 

 

Are saltwater aquariums forgiving?

 

I mean if you mess-up will every thing die

How much area do you have to work in with hardy livestock?

[sleepy]

I got some zoas, feather dusters, some macro algea i have never seen in stores anywhere, pods of all sorts, and a really unusual snail that has never been id'd.

 

How forgiving a tank is depends on how large the water column is. a 10 gal tank is much less forgiving then say.. a 29 gallon tank. I dont really understand your last question, try to rephrase it and i will do my best to answer.

[gnomeinthesea]

thanks for all the help

[sephroth_r1]

forgiving? reef aquarium? wow, never heard that together. bsaically, your gonna need at least 10 min a day. that isnt much. your gonna need to learn what corals are good for beginners, bad for begins. how to place them, feeding, water quality, and corals you start talking calcium levels, phosphate levels. there is alot of knowledge you need, hell, im learning everyday. i read for 3 years prior on and off, and im still wrong on stuff.

 

the fact is, saltwater is still a new science compared to alot of other things, like reptiles, birds and freshwater. and yea, salt is much more unforgiving then freshwater, you cant just break down a whole tank once a month to clean it and put everything back.

[gnomeinthesea]

do you know if you can split soft coral in 2 like spliting plants in the garden

[FishFreak87]

u got alot of thing to worry bout then spliting coral.. but yes u can, but you have to be trained to split certain ones!!

[Clownfishcrazy1117]

do you know if you can split soft coral in 2 like spliting plants in the garden

I wouldn't worry about that for a while. You need to learn the basics first.

[Tomsense76]

Hi Last year I whent to a pet store out aide of Portland OR

And i was hooked

 

I bought a 12 gal JBJ Nano cube with the 24 whatt * 2 lighting and hoped to start a sea scape. But i desited tha salt water might be to mutch money and too complocated. I whent with freshwater. BAD THING TO DO. my fish are blown about by the water pump

and the lights make the algie explode when i feed the fish "I THINK".

 

I need help what shod i do?? how mutch Commitment ? what do i need? Can i change so fast? How much Money? do i need to change the filter in the back? shouild i get a new taink? I do not have mutch time. Do i need a RO Filter?

HELP start from ground ZERO

 

P.S. i have read a book on saltwater but not on nanos.

 

Thanks for all the help

 

I'm confused....

 

You said you bought a nano, but decided salt water would be too expensive. I hope you aren't putting saltwater fish in the freshwater...

 

ALMOST all the current books on saltwater will still apply for nanos. You'll want a pound of LR for each gallon of water, and about the same amount of LS.

 

As far as maintanance goes....All I've been doing are large water changes, and not overfeeding and my water has been near perfect everytime I tested. I think it really depends on what you feed your tank. Some people feed "soups" of mysis and cyclopeze which will break down and foul the water. I tend to keep everything simple....

 

Nano cubes aren't really made for FW fish and plants because of the flow nozzle which is also a main component of keeping the water aerated in a SW tank.

 

Corals CAN be expensive. Most LFS nowadays sell smaller frags at reduced costs. Since I'm taking my time on my tank, I only have four corals which has only cost me about $80.....

 

If you want some specifics on how to start and run a nano tank, check out Igreen's thread....Should be somewhere here in the beginner's page.