Test kits

A

Aleta

Reefing newb
Greetings from the newest member here at Living Reefs!

I have a 34g Red Sea aquarium that I set up a little over a one month ago. I started by filling the tank with regular water from the tap, and let it set a few days. Made a trip to the aquarium store about 19 miles away . Bought some live sand, salt, some AmQuel plus and fresh filter material. After setting up the tank, I waited almost 10 days before adding any life forms to the tank. Rather than buying store bought animals, I chose to experiment with some crabs and small fish from the canal behind our house. The level of salt has been accurate and consistent from the beginning. The green line is just starting to show above the water now. I am assuming that it is time to do some water changing. Over that last few days, several of my crabs have died. The three fish (shiners), are doing fine. At this point, I am assuming that I have a nitrite issue. I don't have a water test kit yet. Almost bought one, until I saw the price of one. OUCH! Are there any suggestions of what all I need for the testing, and who offers the best pricing?:goldfish:
 
Hello and Welcome to the site!

You at the very least need an ammonia, nitrate and pH test kit. If you want to keep any hard corals you will need a calcium, alkalinity and magnesium kit. The cheapest place to buy them is online, Dr. Foster's and Smith's Aqauatics is a good place to get dry goods.

Im going to link you to a few articles on here i highly suggest you read, just putting stuff into your new tank will not lead you to success. This can be a very demanding hobby and the more educated the are the less problems you will end up dealing with.

Also you really shouldnt be pulling stuff from the ocean, for starters you can never return it due to risk of disease introduction to the area but most of the critters you pulled out are not suitable for our aquariums. They need far more space than our little tanks can provide or we cannot provide enough of the correct food. Please research every corals, fish, invert etc you put in your tank BEFORE you buy it. They are live animals and deserve to be treated with respect and many can cause you more heartache than you ever though if they arent reef safe or not compatible with your other creatures.

https://www.livingreefs.com/cycling-tank-adding-fish-and-corals-t26452.html
https://www.livingreefs.com/ideal-books-reef-keepers-t19535.html
https://www.livingreefs.com/choose-your-fish-t27083.html
https://www.livingreefs.com/water-chemistry-t31270.html
 
Little_fish,

Thank you for the information. Just for the record, I am against taking specimens from natural, protected coral reefs. As for the little creatures that I am collecting, they are roaming by the hundreds, and are considered 'bait fish' and 'bait crustaceans'. We use the shiners for fishing with, and crab trapping is legal where I live.

I don't have any intentions of putting any store bought creatures in the tank for quite a while. Like you say, there is a lot of classroom work before I do that! I keep reading horror stories of people getting some dreaded creature or algae from the live rocks that they are purchasing. So I'm really hesitant about introducing my backyard live animals to any of that.

Right now, it looks as if I have some issues with some algae growth. The green slimy one. A purplish one, and another green one. Perhaps someone here is familiar with these and can possibly identify them for me. I've circled the algae of concern. I hope the picture will be more visible when clicked on!

.
 

Attachments

  • Algae.jpg
    Algae.jpg
    47.2 KB · Views: 257
It looks like hair algae to me...

And just because a fish is considered a "bait fish" doesn't mean it's life holds any less value. To me at least.
 
little_fish said:
Also you really shouldnt be pulling stuff from the ocean, for starters you can never return it due to risk of disease introduction to the area but most of the critters you pulled out are not suitable for our aquariums. They need far more space than our little tanks can provide or we cannot provide enough of the correct food. Please research every corals, fish, invert etc you put in your tank BEFORE you buy it. They are live animals and deserve to be treated with respect and many can cause you more heartache than you ever though if they arent reef safe or not compatible with your other creatures.
Click to expand...

After reading this, I felt compelled to respect your advice, and released our little collection back into the water under our dock. I decided to take a sample of our tank water to the aquarium store on the mainland just to have it tested. It hit the top of the nitrite scale. There were a few attributing factors that could have caused such a high level. One being the air pump was not set up right. Another was the fact that we were overfeeding, and there were pieces of food still decomposing in the water for days.

I've been treating the water with 'Nite-Out II'. It should be ready for a new test. We will be starting all over with fish and other marine life that will be purchased from the aquarium store. While I was waiting for my water to be tested, I commented to the owner that I would love to see all of the tanks where these fish and corals are bred. I was quite disheartened with the answer. I was told that they are all collected directly from the ocean, then they are shipped to Miami, Florida, and from there they are shipped all over the U.S.

Is this true? Does anyone know where I can purchase tank bred fish and corals? Just because it's a "tropical fish", doesn't mean that it should be removed from the habitat that it was accustomed to. And this I have learned all from you two in this thread. SO! Erin and Little_Fish, where do you buy your "tank bred" fish and corals? Got any good resources?

I have some other questions regarding the tank that I purchased used 'as is'. Maybe you can help me with those questions later on.
 
Aleta said:
After reading this, I felt compelled to respect your advice, and released our little collection back into the water under our dock. I decided to take a sample of our tank water to the aquarium store on the mainland just to have it tested. It hit the top of the nitrite scale. There were a few attributing factors that could have caused such a high level. One being the air pump was not set up right. Another was the fact that we were overfeeding, and there were pieces of food still decomposing in the water for days.

I've been treating the water with 'Nite-Out II'. It should be ready for a new test. We will be starting all over with fish and other marine life that will be purchased from the aquarium store. While I was waiting for my water to be tested, I commented to the owner that I would love to see all of the tanks where these fish and corals are bred. I was quite disheartened with the answer. I was told that they are all collected directly from the ocean, then they are shipped to Miami, Florida, and from there they are shipped all over the U.S.

Is this true? Does anyone know where I can purchase tank bred fish and corals? Just because it's a "tropical fish", doesn't mean that it should be removed from the habitat that it was accustomed to. And this I have learned all from you two in this thread. SO! Erin and Little_Fish, where do you buy your "tank bred" fish and corals? Got any good resources?

I have some other questions regarding the tank that I purchased used 'as is'. Maybe you can help me with those questions later on.
Click to expand...
Hay Aleta. I live on the main land haha. I can point in the right direction pm me if you want help.:mrgreen:
 
The easiest fish to find tank breed are clowns, bangaii cardinals and seahorses (seahorses require specialized tank, and will require more research on your part if you want to keep them). Most stores can get you tank breed clowns and cardinals, but i would bet that you have a local reef club that can get in contact with the local breeder. Local reef clubs are also great places to find corals that have been propagated in the member's tanks. The longer corals have been growing in captivity, the hardier they seem to be. Also 99% of all the cool color morphs have come from corals growing in our tanks for several generations, if such a thing can be said about corals.

You can also buy corals online, but of course, be sure to check out the seller. Many of the corals online are also going to be nice and cheaper than what your lfs has to sell.

Of course, not every thing can be bough captive breed, but its important to minimize what we do take. The people who do collect directly from the ocean have to have permit to collect, and they are limited on what they are allowed to take. Plus you dont want to get hit with an illegal collection fine, they are very harsh in florida. I think its illegal to take any corals there without a permit, and there are limits on fish.

But also when you get a fish at the store you are going to know what species you. Most of the fish that live in the waters near you, arent going to be seen in the aquarium hobby so your dont how big its going to get, is is going to be reef safe etc Same goes with various snails.

I hope that helps!
 

Similar threads

F
New to marine.
Replies
2
Views
2K
kbuser92
kbuser92
Mike
  • Sticky
New Member (Owner 😲)
Replies
0
Views
760
Mike
Mike
Mike
We're Back!
Replies
0
Views
760
Mike
Mike
Sashimi
75G LPS 2.0
Replies
2
Views
2K
Sashimi
Sashimi
Sashimi
75 gallon LPS 2.0 suggestions
Replies
0
Views
2K
Sashimi
Sashimi
Back
Top