Hello and a newbie question...

[LG1907]

Hi Everyone - Great site and looking forward to getting a lot of newbie questions answered :bowdown:

In Jan 2010 I purchased a 29g biocube from Petco, my 13 yr old son and I thought it would be fun to try getting a salt water tank going.... after 4 months with alot of expensive stuff(gsp, fire fish, 2 clown, yellow watchman, fireshirmp), it crashed...so it was back to square 1 and try again ... only slower... so we got some blue damisles and after 3 months turned them in and got 2 clowns... very beautiful...I have tried anemones twice with no luck at all........... over the past 4 weeks, we have added about 13 lbs of live rock, gsp, leather toad stool?, some pink pulsing things (really cool, i like them) 2 turbo snails (have had the snails for about 8 months now), 2 hermit crabs, fire shirmp (6 weeks)........ and things seem to be going good. I would like to replace my bio balls with LR Rubble. can someone give me some advice on how to do this? I have a spare tank we can use if we need to get the lr rubble started or if i have to remove any of my stuff before removing the bb... the spare tank is not setup, we got it for a QT but never got it going... if i was to set this up... what do i need to get it going and to keep it going while i get the lr rubble acclimated............

I also want to know if there is some electronic device i can use to pull the water out of the tank... since i have these corals i dont want to damage them with the manual tube you have to use ................. thanks for any advise you can provide!!

Linda

 

[wontonflip]

Welcome to the site!

Just a side note...anemones will not thrive in a new tank...and if they die, they will release toxins in the water and kill everything :( They need to be in a well established tank that's at least a year old to raise its chances of survival. They can't handle parameter swings of a new tank.

That said, since you already have live stock, remove the bioballs a cup at a time every week....removing it all at once will cause an ammonia spike, since you're essentially remove bacteria that's already in the bioballs. You can just add dry base rock, which will become live with time :)

Dunno about an electronic device...is it to do water changes? or a return pump?

 

[LG1907]

I have pretty much given up on the anemones, :frustrat: we were so bummed when we had the problem with the 2nd one.. we got him out of the tank before he was totally dead, as I had read that it can crash your tank. :death:

so if we are removing the bb one cup at a time... so is the dry base rock fairly cheaper than the lr? i am assuming i can get it at my lfs. :question:

Ya, so what i meant about the electronic device is something that will electronically suck out the water from the tank into a bucket for water changes... i have one of those tube things that i have to put in the tank and pull it in and out about 5 times to get the water flow...(Thats what I'm supposed to do ...right ?? ) anyways I was thinking about something that has a tube and you put it in the tank and turn it on and it just pulls the water out... better than shaking that big tube and having everything get disrupted... I'm bummed, i tried to post my tank pic but it was too big.. i will adjust my camera settings to get a smaller size and post tomorrow.... thx for your feed back :blueflowe

 

[sps]

Actually it is better to do all the maintenance yourself without automation because you can get in there and see exactly what is going on in your tank. Just get a couple of 5 gallon buckets and do a regular water change with a potable hose and you can attach a strainer to the end, kind of like the ones that come with a Danner mag pump so you dont suck up anything. Just siphon n a front corner to keep an eye on everything. Fill the hose with water and that will create the siphon when you put the drian end into your 5 gallon bucket. To get little particles of food on the bottom, you can take off the strainer and its ok to suck a little bit of sand up. The old fashioned way is much better in my opinion.

 

[BL1]

You can use a small pump on the end of that tube to suck water out. That's how I used to do my changes. Also, if you upload your pics to photobucket and paste the code into your post it's much easier.

 

[little_fish]

+1 everyone

I just stick on end of small tube in my tank, and suck on the other end just enough to get a siphon started and i clean out my tank that way.

 

[wontonflip]

I recently just got something like this:

Can't wait to try it! I got tired of accidentally ingesting tank water LOL I prefer manual to a pump because when you do maintenance, you'll want to siphon gunk off the rocks and sandbed...using a pump would be too strong and stir up too
much muck.

Yes, dry base rock is MUCH cheaper (usually $1-2/lb). It will get seeded in no time at all. Most people just buy a few good pieces of live rock, and for the rest, they use dry base rock, as it becomes live rather quickly. Just buy a few good live rock pieces, and break it apart for your rubble.

 

[Smitty]

Hello and welcome to the site...everyone has you covered.

 

[dcantucson]

Yes, Welcome to the site!