Just "jumped in" the hobby with a 28g nano and got lotsa ??s

Hello to my new hobby and everyone here!

I found a s 28 gallon nano cube with mods and A TON of chems, instruments, live rock and a clownfish on craigslist. I now realize this is just like my rc hobby in the fact I that I jumped in head first. I dont know what alot of the chems and stuff are for but I am managing to figure out the optical refractometer and digital ph tester that came with the bundle. Anyways, long story short I got a shit ton to learn!!

And and all help with the do's and do not's are greatly appreciated!

Here are a couple of my MANY MANY questions.....

1. What do I use to adjust all the chemical parameters of the tank? I prefer the better chems for my pool so im sure you get what you pay for in the tank also.

2.where is the best placd to get chems and fish online?

3. What is the best way to "make water"

4. The tank had alot of green algae yesterday when I purchased it but the clownfish was alive, I cleaned the live rock with a brush underwater and filtered through an sanitized rag to try to get rid of some of it. But I didnt mess with the sand much as to try to keep active bacteria for the tank. The tank looks great now at my house after the move and I did use all the same water he had in it.

How do I keep the green scum out of my tank?


Thanks so much in advance guy's and gal's, this is going to be fun for me and the kiddo's. Below is a picture of my tank, I had to use the "displacement method" untill today when I go to the fish store for more water because I had a slight spill tranfering water during the move lol

 

go buy yourself a good " how to book". "the new aquarium aquarium-step by step setup and stocking guide" by micheal paletta is really good. it will give you somewhere to start and you can refer back to it as many times as you want. as for the green scum, clean water, good lighting, and being cheap with the food will probably help. also if you have sand on the bottom, its probably full of sludge. you can get rid of a lot of that just by stirring up your sand, filter out the stuff in the water. rinse out your filter. do this half a dozen times and see how much cleaner the tank is. keep your skimmer clean too. works way better. by the way when i say clean water i am talking reverse osmosis water. 99% of people doing salt water tanks use ro water

 

go get yourself a good book that gives you the basics to get started. THE NEW MARINE AQUARIUM-by Micheal Paletta is a really good starter. any good fish store that sells marine fish supplies test kits and chemicals. if you want online- MARINE DEPOT or BULK REEF SUPPLY are good places for supplies. most people make their own water using reverse osmosis water and salt water mix and do water changes regularly. clean out your sand. just stir it up and let the filter clean it out of the tank. then rinse the filter. do this half a dozen times. keep your skimmer clean. this really helps. if you don't have one get one. if your lights are old change them. be cheap with the food. marine tanks need regular maintenance and dont do so well without it. looking after your tank properly cost money. expect to make mistakes . i have a 265 gal reef and have had one partial and two complete wipeouts over the 8 yrs i have had a saltwater tank. cost me many $$$$$$$

 

All good advise! Thanks alot guys!!

I did my first water change tonight with water I got at the local fish store, the said my salinity was down to 1.020 so I did a 50% change and will add some salt. How much do you think I should add to 28 gallons of water to get the salinity up the rest of the way?

Just got some coral, a star, and a nother clown. Also picked up a leopard grouper!

 

buddy, buddy,buddy. you are suffering from saltwater disease already. you have to research what you are going to put in there. that grouper gets to be 3 or 4 feet long and eats whatever fits in her mouth. take it back. unless you are planing on being like me. start with a 40, move to a 75, then to a 265. anyways small tank- small fish and not to many. if your new clown is not the same species expect one to get killed by the other. clowns are very territorial and they are agressive with each other unless you have a mated pair. to get a pair buy 2 small ones of the same type and let them grow up. the larger will be the dominant female and the smaller one will remain the submissive male. yah i know but that how they work. what kind of star did you get, some eat coral, some eat fish. you like the internet- google what you are interested in and see if its compatible before you buy. also dont rely on your fish store staff to steer you straight. their business is to sell stuff and a lot of them will tell you what you want to hear. if you find your self a place that wants you to do well and gives you good advice stay with them. they are rare. ps-that grouper is going to big for my tank. also get a salinity tester. it will tell you what you salinity level is so you know how much to add. you want to mix the new water and agitate it for at least an hour before you add or it can burn your stuff. you want it the same temp too.learned that the hard way

 

My apologies its a leopard gobe lol!! And yes I do have the saltwater syndrom (I think im stage 5 (; )

I have done my research and talked to alot of people before I bought. This is what I got....

2 ocillaris clowns of equal size, one was with the tank, the other purchased at my LFS. They have swam together without any fighting since the moment I put the in the tank.

1 LEOPARD GOBE, got him at the LFS and is compatible from my research and the advise of the said LFS.

One green linkia starfish, reef safe from what I seen and advise of LFS

If you are a problem with tankmates please let me know! Im a greenhorn here but I do know to be cautious, I do have a master test kit, digi ph meter, and refractometer.

the corals I do not know much about yet but I think I pissed the tank off with a dose of paraguard or something. My anemone and corals closed up! Should I be worryed? Here are the chems and schedule I been using.

TLC startsmart complete... 1 dose per day because of recent tank move

Kent a & b nano reef.... Once the 4 days ago and once today

Seachem stability... Once today

Seachem paraguard....once today

All chems added at least a hour after the other and went shy on the dosing rather than heavy.

Heres the tank.....

 

tank looks nice. why are you doseing the tank. you have live rock, live sand, and you have changed 1/2 the water. just let it run. you have to be careful adding chem's. it can cause your algae problem to explode- you are feeding the stuff. do your water testing and let the results tell you if you need to add anything. water changes add the chem's that you need. good salt mix is designed to replicate real salt water.[ i use instant ocean] until you have a lot of high demand corals to suck stuff up you really dont need to add that often. i personally like the RED SEA products for chem's but i only add 1/4 of their required dose when i do water changes. aprox every 2 wks. i change 30 gal at time. i have a lot of coral in my tank, and 4 bubbletip nems and 1 sabea. all of which have been in my tank for over 5 yrs. starter list for you- one PJ or BANGII cardinal- only one-they kill each other if you try to keep 2- just hang out and look pretty, one of the small POSSUM WRASSES- they stay small and don't bother anyone-like to swim and hide in the rock. one TAILSPOT BLENNIE- they stay small, dont bother any one,like to hide in the rocks and stick their heads out and are fun to watch, one FIREFISH- if you cannot find a mated pair they kill each other- like to hang out in the current and watch for nummies, one PISTOL SHRIMP-GOBY combo- shrimp tunnels under the rocks and the goby sits in the doorway and acts like a guard dog, one RANDELLS or AZURE DEMOISELLE-least agressive of the demoiselles, very pretty and always busy and stays small, couple SKUNK CLEANER SHRIMP- like to hang out in a cave, wave their antena around and will clean your fish. i would buy them all at once- try to get smaller fish and put them in together so no-one gets to stake out territory before any one else. your tank is big enough that it should be ok. do a small water change every couple days for a week or 2. if you are looking for fairly easy corals to get started with try zoanthids, blastomussa, clove polyps, mushrooms, star polyps, and xenia. these all do well with lower light and lower water flow. if purchance you were to go out and buy everything i suggested you would end up with a fairly quiet tank with lots of color and interesting things going on. should cost 3-4 hundred $. did i mention that this is a cheap hobby. wait til you get brave and spend 3 hundred on a fish and watch someone race across the tank and kill it or buy a dream coral and have it get eaten over nite

 

Will all of these fish work with what I got now?

All I really wanted other than whats in here already is a mandarin dragonete, shrimp of some sort, and a blue tang.

And yes I know the blue tang will get too big for the tank, but this is the kicker.... Its the fish my wife wants, and when it starts to outgrow the tank I will then have ample reasons to "upgrade to a bigger tank to save the fish"


As for your questions....

1. No I have only had the tank a week and I only feed the fish jar food (a very small pinch a day)

2. yes I tested today, ammonia one step over zero (.025 I think) and calcium was a little low.... (250-300 ppm) all N LEVELS are zero, hardness, ph and, and the rest of them where all perfect!

The reason I dosed the tank was for the above stated calcium and ammonia. Upon further research, this forum, and LFS this is probably due to the tank move I just did friday. Needless to say this week has been a brain buffet for me, learned alot but its just the tip of the iceberg I believe!

 

yes i think they will. you dont have to get all or any of them. the mandarins are beautiful but i dont think your tank is big enough. in my experiences with them i have managed to kill a few. aparently you can buy them eating fish food and i have done that. but what i have found is once they start eating real food [catching copepods on the rock] then they stop eating the stuff you put in. my tank is 7 ft long and has over 300 lbs rock plus a refugium and i cant seem to keep more then one. i have had a pair of mandarins and a red scooter blennie all together. no one fought but the 2 smaller ones just got thinner and thinner and gone. now i just have the female mandarin and i just leave her alone. she's nice and fat. as for the blue tang- it will be ok for a very short while as in 5 minutes. they like to swim and they cant do that in a small tank. what they do is start fretting and they race back and forth on one wall. like a dog running back and forth on a chain. they do this for hrs at a time. i have a blue, a yellow, a whitecheek, a kole, and a desjardini. i have 2 gyre pumps, one on each end, set to run 5 min at a time on 80%, so i get a real nice back and forth action. i would like to turn it down a bit for my corals but they like to swim into the current and it burns up energy. if i turn it down they get more nasty with each other. as for the upgrade- be careful- i have upgraded 3 times and am now thinking about doing it again- bigger tank, more pumps, bigger skimmer, more lights $$$$$- holding me back, plus the price of electicity where i live

 

Hi and welcome to Living Reefs!

Monique has given you a lot of great advice. I'll reiterate some of that: read, read and then research even more anything you want to put in your tank.
Your LFS doesn't always have the best interest of your tank in mind so you have a responsibility to know better.
A blue tang is not going to make it in your tank. Tangs need a lot of room. Wait until you upgrade to at least a 6' tank before trying one.
I am really glad it is a goby and not grouper that you bought
Definitely wait on the mandarin too. It takes a lot of copepods to support one even if it does eat some frozen foods.
Doing regular water changes should be enough to keep up with your trace elements. At least until your tank is full of corals.
The best advice is take it slow. Nothing good happens fast in this hobby. This also allows you time to learn your tank. Good luck!

 

salt for brains is right. you are asking for advice. you dont have to take it and everybody's opinion is different- everybody's experience is different. you will probably go ahead and get your mandarin and the blue tang. you may get lucky but probably not. majority of people have problems with these fish if they are not put into the right tanks for them. we can only tell you about our own experiences and our recomendations are based on that. if 10 people tell you not to put your hand in the lions mouth cause you are going to get bit and one guy tells you to go for it- who are you going to listen to. if you go with the ten then your tank experience is going to be mostly favourable. if you go with the one then your tank esperience is probably going to be dismal and you wont be in the hobby long. read lots, take your time, ask questions and take advice with a grain of salt. what works for me or salt boy may nor work for you. all of us including you find out a lot of the stuff we are trying to learn the hard way

 

Lol, tank is doing well, I have not purchased any more fish! Im figuring I got enough life in the tank to start.

Some corals are not opening up though. I'll check water parameters tomorrow. Fed the anemone a quarter of a silverside and got raw food for the fish. But im starting to see I may need a little more of a cleaning crew than just the starfish

 

do you know what kind of nem you have. be careful about feeding her. that is a small tank and they can get real big if they are fed well. i have a rose bubbletip that is now the about 16 inches across when she is fully open and she has split 3 times. she and her brood now take up 1/4 of my tank and i am going to have to remove them. the sabea nem is about 12 inches across but different behaviour so she is fine. i never feed them. they just get whatever drifts into their tenticles. though the clown fish feed them once in a while. a .couple of snails would be good. watch what kind you get. one or two hermit crabs. look i your tank at night after the lights go out and you will probably find more of a clean up crew on duty then you think. if you dont see any life[bristle worms, copepods, tiny little starfish] then you need to reseed. go buy a piece of good quality live rock with lots of holes and pores.buy it wet not dry. some places will also let you buy a good handfull of the rubble from the bottom of the live rock tank. you can get lots of little critters for your tank that way. corals are funny. tha tank has to be to their liking. the current might be too strong, not strong enough, lights too bright-you can burn them, or not bright enough, or to old and not giving the right light peramitors anymore. some coral like to be on the bottom in the shadier areas or something may be picking on it. are the tenticles from the nem touching any cause she can burn them. could be something off about the water too thats bugging them. it can be really hard to figure it out. you basicly have to make a list of what they want and work your way down til you get everything right. also some corals use chemical warfare to fight for space. do you use charcoal in your filter. what corals do you have