Ritual---versus understanding why.

Sk8r · 09/19/2016, 02:46 PM

Running a marine tank should not be a matter of collecting a number of mysterious rituals to perform on everything and under absolutely every circumstance--- nor is it absolutely 'winging it.' Let me explicate (that's explain and uncomplicate) some of the major ones by telling you WHY and WHAT THEY PREVENT.

Acclimation---almost totally about SALINITY. If you can arrange a matching salinity on arrival---your fish is WAY better going into a nice safe qt and relaxing. This one can be fatal if mismanaged, because fish are really sensitive to ammonia, which can result with a fish kept too long in an opened shipping bag. Read the sticky.

TTM or other qt method---TTM is chiefly about ICH. It won't protect against some pests; but ich is a major thing for FISH. Quarantine is about OBSERVATION and KEEPING NEW FISH OUT OF THE MAIN TANK until you're sure they're not bringing in any passengers.

ICH PREVENTION---ich is an animal, like fleas, and it needs to feed on FISH to reproduce. It does NOT manufacture itself out of stress or anything other than its own reproductive process, which has 72 days to win or die. This is why why if you get ich in your dt, you have to take all FISH out for 72 days. No fish, no reproduction, the ich is gone. It is NOT true that ich is in all tanks. It may get to most tanks if you're not careful...and sometimes if you are---but it's not some invincible plague. Don't trade nets with a qt and dt; and don't set a qt so close to the dt that splash from the qt gets to the dt. It's tiny, invisible to the naked eye, but it's more like fleas than any other analogy I can think of. It spends part of its life in your sandbed, so you don't want a sandbed or rock OR SPONGE where you're trying to eliminate it. Think of it as fleas in the carpet.

LIVE SAND---it's peculiar virtue is that it comes in washed, or fairly so. Dry sand is just as good, but may take a small swimming pool worth of water in the back yard with a hose before you get the dust out.

CYCLING---is not going to proceed any faster than bacteria can reproduce, no matter whether you use a pinch of fishfood daily (my method) or toss in a cocktail shrimp (stinks), or buy bacteria: yes, you can get a crop from a bottle, but it still takes time for them to set up proper housekeeping and penetrate clear to the depth of the crevices and microscopic pores of rock and sand. They can only grow as fast as it takes. Plan on 4 weeks with all live rock to get a real solid cycle fit for fish; or 12 weeks with mostly dry rock. My own recommendation is to start your first fish in qt when you do cycle, but let the clean-up crew (so called because it 'cleans up' dead fish, which we hope you don't have)---eat algae and poo into the sandbed (thus feeding it) for a few weeks before you assault it with a fish, whose poo is harder to digest. One fish at a time, from then on is safest.

QT: a place where a fish can rest in (most of the day) dim light, be fed without competition or threat, not beaten up on by rivals, and in short, recover from shipping or store---while you are examining it and taking precautions against ich and flukes and other problems. What is cruel is tossing an exhausted-from-shipping fish in with a horde of others who take exception to him. Just as a rule of thumb, 4 weeks observation will turn up stuff: fish usually don't break out in spots the first or second day after arrival: they often wait a week, perhaps as adrenaline runs down or whatever---this is how many people get into trouble. Quarantine your first fish: it's not the fish you're protecting---it's keeping ich out of the sandbed of your dt!

ro/di water: yep, even if you have well water, even if your city water is praised to the skies. Some of the things we can drink with impunity at certain doses will pile up (by evaporation) in your tank---or are just so toxic fish can't stand them even in micro-doses. Yes, start with ro/di. If you didn't, water changes and time will help---but you'll have some troubles along the way. What is ro/di---it's water stripped down to the h's and o's, with pretty well nothing in it. When your salt mix goes in---it supplies all the traces in pretty good amounts.

Hope these things help clarify...feel free to ASK before doing---that's the safest way to run a tank.

In general, it is never rude in this hobby to ask WHY we do things as we do. If there were a better way, half a million hobbyists doing it this way would pounce on it joyfully---so don't expect to 'wing it' and thrive; but it's possible, just possible, you might come up with a good idea---ask. These are neither magic formulas nor pointless exercises: we try to take a course that will work.

09/19/2016, 02:46 PM	#1
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	Ritual---versus understanding why. Running a marine tank should not be a matter of collecting a number of mysterious rituals to perform on everything and under absolutely every circumstance--- nor is it absolutely 'winging it.' Let me explicate (that's explain and uncomplicate) some of the major ones by telling you WHY and WHAT THEY PREVENT. Acclimation---almost totally about SALINITY. If you can arrange a matching salinity on arrival---your fish is WAY better going into a nice safe qt and relaxing. This one can be fatal if mismanaged, because fish are really sensitive to ammonia, which can result with a fish kept too long in an opened shipping bag. Read the sticky. TTM or other qt method---TTM is chiefly about ICH. It won't protect against some pests; but ich is a major thing for FISH. Quarantine is about OBSERVATION and KEEPING NEW FISH OUT OF THE MAIN TANK until you're sure they're not bringing in any passengers. ICH PREVENTION---ich is an animal, like fleas, and it needs to feed on FISH to reproduce. It does NOT manufacture itself out of stress or anything other than its own reproductive process, which has 72 days to win or die. This is why why if you get ich in your dt, you have to take all FISH out for 72 days. No fish, no reproduction, the ich is gone. It is NOT true that ich is in all tanks. It may get to most tanks if you're not careful...and sometimes if you are---but it's not some invincible plague. Don't trade nets with a qt and dt; and don't set a qt so close to the dt that splash from the qt gets to the dt. It's tiny, invisible to the naked eye, but it's more like fleas than any other analogy I can think of. It spends part of its life in your sandbed, so you don't want a sandbed or rock OR SPONGE where you're trying to eliminate it. Think of it as fleas in the carpet. LIVE SAND---it's peculiar virtue is that it comes in washed, or fairly so. Dry sand is just as good, but may take a small swimming pool worth of water in the back yard with a hose before you get the dust out. CYCLING---is not going to proceed any faster than bacteria can reproduce, no matter whether you use a pinch of fishfood daily (my method) or toss in a cocktail shrimp (stinks), or buy bacteria: yes, you can get a crop from a bottle, but it still takes time for them to set up proper housekeeping and penetrate clear to the depth of the crevices and microscopic pores of rock and sand. They can only grow as fast as it takes. Plan on 4 weeks with all live rock to get a real solid cycle fit for fish; or 12 weeks with mostly dry rock. My own recommendation is to start your first fish in qt when you do cycle, but let the clean-up crew (so called because it 'cleans up' dead fish, which we hope you don't have)---eat algae and poo into the sandbed (thus feeding it) for a few weeks before you assault it with a fish, whose poo is harder to digest. One fish at a time, from then on is safest. QT: a place where a fish can rest in (most of the day) dim light, be fed without competition or threat, not beaten up on by rivals, and in short, recover from shipping or store---while you are examining it and taking precautions against ich and flukes and other problems. What is cruel is tossing an exhausted-from-shipping fish in with a horde of others who take exception to him. Just as a rule of thumb, 4 weeks observation will turn up stuff: fish usually don't break out in spots the first or second day after arrival: they often wait a week, perhaps as adrenaline runs down or whatever---this is how many people get into trouble. Quarantine your first fish: it's not the fish you're protecting---it's keeping ich out of the sandbed of your dt! ro/di water: yep, even if you have well water, even if your city water is praised to the skies. Some of the things we can drink with impunity at certain doses will pile up (by evaporation) in your tank---or are just so toxic fish can't stand them even in micro-doses. Yes, start with ro/di. If you didn't, water changes and time will help---but you'll have some troubles along the way. What is ro/di---it's water stripped down to the h's and o's, with pretty well nothing in it. When your salt mix goes in---it supplies all the traces in pretty good amounts. Hope these things help clarify...feel free to ASK before doing---that's the safest way to run a tank. In general, it is never rude in this hobby to ask WHY we do things as we do. If there were a better way, half a million hobbyists doing it this way would pounce on it joyfully---so don't expect to 'wing it' and thrive; but it's possible, just possible, you might come up with a good idea---ask. These are neither magic formulas nor pointless exercises: we try to take a course that will work. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%. Last edited by Sk8r; 09/19/2016 at 02:53 PM.