Dana42078
Dana
HAve fun spending all that $ to fill it!!!!!!!!!! lookin good!!!!!
Fishy's First Ever 90g Aquarium!!
- Thread starter FishyReef
- Start date
lilmatty5dimes
Reef enthusiast
I'm starting to think that those chromis are the beginning fish. They look awesome. Going today to get my first fish for the 90g.
chichimom79
reef junkie
Looks awesome! Nice chromis!
FishyReef
Broke Reefer!
Thanks everyone! I'm so happy to finally have some living critters in my tank!
The chromis are really awesome. I was a bit iffy on having them as my first fish mostly because they are so common, but I'm glad I got them and that I went with 3 instead of one. Two of them are together almost all the time, the third will venture off to explore then come back to the other two. Last night I went up to the office to feed them, turned the lights off to see if I could get feeding tentacles of my corals to appear, and my fish disappeared into the rocks as soon as the lights went out - it was like "okay, lights out, must be bedtime!" lol. I had to turn the lights back on to get them to come out to eat!
I got a small response from the Australomussa coral when I turned lights out (it's mouth opened a little and puffed up), but didn't see any tentacles from either it or the monti. I did move the monti down to the bottom of the tank as I'm a little concerned about frying them with my leds. How will I know if they are happy or not?
The snails are a lot of fun to watch - I had no idea some snails could move so fast! They haven't managed to find the rock with the motherload of algae on it yet though. The pukani rock at the top of the arch has major (what I am hoping are) diatoms on it - it's closest to the lights so I am not surprised. I think they are diatoms since they appear to be yellowish/brown under my white LEDs, but look more of a reddish color under the blue LEDs. Will my snails eat diatoms? I have 2 each of astraea conehead, cerith, margarita, nerite, and banded trochus, and 4 nassarius.
There's still a lot of crud in the water column. I keep testing my levels and my nitrites are 0, free ammonia is 0, and nitrates are around 5-10. Total ammonia is harder to read. I'm using the seachem testing kit, and the ammonia tests use little discs that turn color in the water. I get some coloration on the total ammonia test, but as soon as I take the disc out of the water or grab it with the metal tongs it turns really dark. I think this is more a function of reacting with metal and air than actual high ammonia levels since I don't get the same reaction when I move it around in the water with the plastic pipette, and I'm not getting any coloration with the free ammonia test. Anyhow, fingers crossed all will stay well even though I don't have my sump and skimmer running yet. :)
The chromis are really awesome. I was a bit iffy on having them as my first fish mostly because they are so common, but I'm glad I got them and that I went with 3 instead of one. Two of them are together almost all the time, the third will venture off to explore then come back to the other two. Last night I went up to the office to feed them, turned the lights off to see if I could get feeding tentacles of my corals to appear, and my fish disappeared into the rocks as soon as the lights went out - it was like "okay, lights out, must be bedtime!" lol. I had to turn the lights back on to get them to come out to eat!
I got a small response from the Australomussa coral when I turned lights out (it's mouth opened a little and puffed up), but didn't see any tentacles from either it or the monti. I did move the monti down to the bottom of the tank as I'm a little concerned about frying them with my leds. How will I know if they are happy or not?
The snails are a lot of fun to watch - I had no idea some snails could move so fast! They haven't managed to find the rock with the motherload of algae on it yet though. The pukani rock at the top of the arch has major (what I am hoping are) diatoms on it - it's closest to the lights so I am not surprised. I think they are diatoms since they appear to be yellowish/brown under my white LEDs, but look more of a reddish color under the blue LEDs. Will my snails eat diatoms? I have 2 each of astraea conehead, cerith, margarita, nerite, and banded trochus, and 4 nassarius.
There's still a lot of crud in the water column. I keep testing my levels and my nitrites are 0, free ammonia is 0, and nitrates are around 5-10. Total ammonia is harder to read. I'm using the seachem testing kit, and the ammonia tests use little discs that turn color in the water. I get some coloration on the total ammonia test, but as soon as I take the disc out of the water or grab it with the metal tongs it turns really dark. I think this is more a function of reacting with metal and air than actual high ammonia levels since I don't get the same reaction when I move it around in the water with the plastic pipette, and I'm not getting any coloration with the free ammonia test. Anyhow, fingers crossed all will stay well even though I don't have my sump and skimmer running yet. :)
BL1
.............
Looks good so far! Are you planning on keeping it barebottom?
FishyReef
Broke Reefer!
Thanks, Brian! I do plan to add sand at some point in the near future. I'm still undecided about white or black sand though, which is why its still bare! I was thinking I'd like to do black aragonite, but I haven't been able to find dry black aragonite anywhere. The dry black sand I have found is too coarse I think, and since I plan to get a watchman goby I don't want it to hurt itself with the coarse sand. I'm also skittish of doing live sand since a friend of mine put live sand in her 90g and had a major tank crash (woke up one morning to a tank that looked like pea soup and lost almost everything due to a bad batch of live sand. So for now I've left it bare bottom until I make up my mind. Maybe I'll just do white aragonite instead since I can get that almost anywhere :)
Samhain
Satin, Lace, and Sequins
Try CaribSea Tropic Isle Tahitian Moon Sand if you want black sand. It's really fine grained (almost sugar), not live, and really, really black. That's what I have used in both my black-sanded tanks, and I really like it. Also, it's not live, so no bacterial bloom. It does cause a diatom bloom, but that's just due to silicates, and it dies off rather quickly. And it is completely safe for reefs! Hooray!
chichimom79
reef junkie
Wish I had located this info when I was looking for my black sand :( I wish mine was a finer sand. Maybe I can mix them....:idea:
Samhain
Satin, Lace, and Sequins
It took me couple months of sifting through online retailers to find that particular product. Either the "black" sand was mixed black and white, or the black "sand" was really small gravel. Neither was what I was looking for. Finally I ran across the CaribSea product, and it looked like what I want. I read the reviews, and everyone was saying that it was fine grained and was a really great sand. So I bought it, and I've been really happy with it. Now I try to help out others looking for true black sand. If I had known you were looking for black sand, Angie, I sure would have shared!
FishyReef
Broke Reefer!
Thank you for the tip!! I'll look into it when my next paycheck rolls around :)
FishyReef
Broke Reefer!
RIP little chromis :(
The guy that I lost is the one in front in the first picture that I posted last week. You can just barely see the speck of white on the top of his head that turned into a brown scab/wound over the weekend. I thought he might make it, but I think being bullied by the other similar sized one was more than he could take. Water levels are good and LA has credited me, but I'm still sad he's gone :(
The guy that I lost is the one in front in the first picture that I posted last week. You can just barely see the speck of white on the top of his head that turned into a brown scab/wound over the weekend. I thought he might make it, but I think being bullied by the other similar sized one was more than he could take. Water levels are good and LA has credited me, but I'm still sad he's gone :(
chichimom79
reef junkie
I'm sorry you lost him :(
beeguiles
they call me fish geek ;p
Aw that sucks!
little_fish
Moderator
Im sorry to hear this :(
FishyReef
Broke Reefer!
Thank you Angie, Brittany, & Hannah. I'm bummed, but I'm also relieved to know it wasn't something I did. I tested water parameters while he was still alive and they were good, and I did the water change after he was gone. I thought black axil chromis would be just as hardy as regular blue/green chromis - and they may indeed be - but one is clearly the dominant one, and I just think he bullied this guy too much, who was likely already sick and stressed when he arrived. Now I'm just hoping he doesn't bully the little one too much. I've seen some bullying - mostly related to feeding when the little one gets a piece that the other guy thinks should be his! I don't think I'll add more chromis to the mix at this point. Looking on towards the next edition, and still trying to decide between a pair of black/white clowns or something else (the others near the front of my stocking list are a pink spotted watchman goby and a red velvet fairy wrasse). I'm still debating on the clowns. I'd like them, but so many other people have had problems with clowns unintentionally killing coral from hosting that I just don't know if I want to deal with that. Opinions??
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little_fish
Moderator
I wouldnt worry about the clowns killing your corals. Its hard to get them to host stuff and that is the extreme case.
beeguiles
they call me fish geek ;p
My clowns killed my plate coral...won't host an Anemone but will kill my plate coral..
ErinCahir
Sausage Wrangler
My clowns were elitists. They were hosted by a chunk of rock until I put a bubble tip in. Took them all of ten minutes to host the nem. Stinkers.
FishyReef
Broke Reefer!
And then there was one.... (okay, the 2nd one is barely hanging on, but looks terrible this morning, has developed a black spot on his jaw, and looks like he's struggling to swim normally). What the hell is going on? The 3rd one (and littlest one) still looks great at least. If the 2nd one is going to go to the big aquarium in the sky, he better do so before Thursday so I can get a refund on him!
little_fish
Moderator
I think the shipping and stress on the fish might have created an environment where the biggest one is picking on the other two and causing them to stress to death. Im sorry hear about your troubles with them.
