Saltwater beginners!

MissyMichael · 07/20/2014, 01:13 AM

My boyfriend(Michael), and I(Missy)

are starting our first saltwater tank. We have been constantly reading everyone's forums, googling, asking workers from Tropical world pets advice. For the meantime we have a 15 gal. tank. We have a regular (Canister) filter that came with the tank. We have Fiji Live rock, sand, and pre-packaged saltwater we bought. We have two Chocolate Chip Starfish, Two tiny Maroon Clownfish, and Two regular common Clownfish! We have four Red legged Cortez hermits, and One Emerald Crab.

We absolutely LOVE our Saltwater community! We are working on buying a new filter, meant more for a saltwater tank, a skimmer, a LED light meant for growing corals, anemone, etc. We also plan on moving to a 55gal. tank soon. But before anything we would like to manufacture our own saltwater? Test our own Ph levels, etc. We must sound like complete newbies! But ANY, and EVERY bit of advice would help! How would we even go about making our own saltwater? Any groups willing to meet? Any specific times this group meets up that we could actually get face to face advice, someone could guide us? It would be much appreciated!

gREEF stricken · 07/20/2014, 01:17 AM

Possible aggression issues with that many clowns in a small tank, but welcome to the madness. Ever notice none of the capital one commercials are talking to a Reef hobbyist? Of course that makes sense, because the first time they ask them "what's in your wallet?" They'll be forced to answer "nothing."

Crooked Reef · 07/20/2014, 01:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MissyMichael

For the meantime we have a 15 gal. tank. We have a regular (Canister) filter that came with the tank.

Will produce excessive nitrates unless you clean it often and religiously.

We have Fiji Live rock, sand, and pre-packaged saltwater we bought.

How long has the tank been set up? Has it cycled? How many pounds of live rock? Any sand and if so what kind?

We have two Chocolate Chip Starfish, Depending on how long the system has been set up and the fact that you have two in a small tank, they could starve. Two tiny Maroon Clownfish, and Two regular common Clownfish! Sorry to tell you but the maroons will kill the other two in time. You can't really mix two different clownfish species long term unless you have a large (hundreds of gallons) system and even then it is extremely hard. These types of fish are very territorial with other clown fish and in this instance the maroon is the big bad. They will win any fight and kill the others. We have four Red legged Cortez hermits, and One Emerald Crab. Both can be an issue if you have snails. Snails work harder and clean more. The hermits will kill them every once in a while but depending on your needs it is a lesser of two evils. My emerald did nothing in my tank except kill my hermits.

We absolutely LOVE our Saltwater community! We are working on buying a new filter, meant more for a saltwater tank, a skimmer, You really don't need a filter with a skimmer and live rock. The live rock acts as a breeding place for bacteria that make up the bulk of your biological filtration. You can even get by without a skimmer if you do frequent enough water changes a LED light meant for growing corals, Research very carefully. Don't take pet stores advice on these unless it is an actual reef specialty store, and even then keep in mind their number one concern is making a sale and not necessarily what is best for your tank. anemone, Research very carefully. They need alot of light, will move ontheir own and sting corals, can get sucked into filters, and need a well established very stable tank (6 months to 1 year ) etc. We also plan on moving to a 55gal. tank soon. But before anything we would like to manufacture our own saltwater? Test our own Ph levels, etc. We must sound like complete newbies! But ANY, and EVERY bit of advice would help! How would we even go about making our own saltwater? Just buy comercially available salt mix and mix it up by the instructions on the box. Very easy. Just make sure you can measure salinity. A refractometer is best for this followed by a glass thermometer/hydrometer. The swing arm ones are highly unacurate. Any groups willing to meet? Any specific times this group meets up that we could actually get face to face advice, someone could guide us? It would be much appreciated!

Where are you located? Most places have reef clubs that are a big resource. There is a Tropical World pets in St. Louis if that is the one you are talking about. SLASH is a big reef club here and they have a group page on this website.

Crooked Reef · 07/20/2014, 01:41 AM

Also for water tests I would recomend ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph at the minimum. If your tank is new, which I suspect it is you may not have had your cycle yet. Ammonia will build up and burn the fishes gills making it impossible for them to breathe. Even if you have fully cycled adding four clowns, regardless of their size into a 15 gallon tank will likely cause an ammonia spike. The biological filter just wont be able to handle it. Whoever sold you the 4 clowns and told you they would work was either very inexperienced with saltwater or lying to you. I hope this doesn't sound harsh because I am not trying to, but I want you to know what is happening in your tank.

Denbf58 · 07/20/2014, 08:58 AM

To Reef Central

AquaJazzed132 · 07/20/2014, 11:58 AM

So at this point you should decide which pair of clown you like better. Sorry but it's true 2 sets of clown is asking for trouble. In a 55 you may be able to get away with it but min i would recommend for trying to pull that off is with a 90 gallon and not with maroons. They are the most territorial. Something to consider when choosing between keeping them or the other clowns (probably ocelaris if they are orange and black). other than that I wanted to let you know what kind of salt mix i use. I use instant ocean. It dissolves fast. Has been around a long time and has worked for me for years.

AquaJazzed132 · 07/20/2014, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AquaJazzed132

So at this point you should decide which pair of clown you like better. Sorry but it's true 2 sets of clown is asking for trouble. In a 55 you may be able to get away with it but min i would recommend for trying to pull that off is with a 90 gallon and not with maroons. They are the most territorial. Something to consider when choosing between keeping them or the other clowns (probably ocelaris if they are orange and black). other than that I wanted to let you know what kind of salt mix i use. I use instant ocean. It dissolves fast. Has been around a long time and has worked for me for years.

oh and I forgot to say just bring back the other pair of clowns to the store you bought them from. and let them know what you learned. They need to be educated apparently.

drsalomon · 07/20/2014, 01:02 PM

Knobby sea stars are not reef safe. You will have to decide which you want.

MissyMichael · 07/20/2014, 06:22 PM

Thank you SO much everyone!! We are using all advice!!
We've had live rock for only a few weeks! We have 15 gal worth of live rock.
We really don't want our stars to die

We noticed that our emerald crab pinched at one? Will that be a problem? Our crabs majorly territorial? We love our Snail! He works wonders for our glass! Yes, we have noticed the aggression of our clowns toward eachother

dang! As far as our filter goes, if we moved to a 55 gal tank would we need a skimmer? We will defiantly be coming here for advice from now on! Yes we go to Tropical World Pets on Watson road!! What can we do to reduce ammonia if possible?? Not harsh at all! We appreciate all of the advice!! Its such a bummer about our maroons! Instant Ocean! I see! Sounds great We will look for that because buying these pre-packaged boxes of salt water is too much! Thank you so much everyone for all the advice!!!

Flippers4pups · 07/20/2014, 07:10 PM

Welcome to RC! And to the hobby! Once you go salt you can never get it out your blood. Been salty since 94.

acabgd · 07/20/2014, 07:19 PM

In order to make your own saltwater in addition to salt you also need a RO/DI filter. You can get a good one online at Bulk Reef Supply. Don't use tap water!
Anemones should be added only to a well establishe tank (after 6 months - 1 year).

Crooked Reef · 07/20/2014, 07:57 PM

Ok. I'm from St. Louis. There are two stores that I primarily go to. One is gateway aquatics on telegraph. They sell ro/di for $.50 a gallon and saltwater for $1.00 a gallon. Seascape sells it too but I don't remember the price because gateway is about two miles from me. Gateway also have Facebook auctions for corals. Chad and Dave are great there. The second store is Seascape studios on Lindbergh by Watson, probably at most five miles from tropical world. Tropical world is a good store for fish, but if I go there I don't buy anything without researching first. I had some bad advice from there a few years back. If I were you I would go to gateway for corals and a few fish, seascape for more fish and inverts. They have a wide selection of inverts. Both stores give generally good advice. If you get the younger guys at gateway they know some but not all. Just remember in this hobby that you are truly responsible for all of your research. My suggestion is research everything you can about a specific topic/fish or something and them ask questions you know the answers to. If the store employee knows the right answers and doesn't try to steal you wrong you can trust them with more.

The advice about getting your own ro/di is great, but with these two stores so close and the price of their water versus the price of the system and replacement filters with your size tank, it would take a couple of years minimum to even break even. There are extra bonuses to getting your own filter system but I won't go into them now.

Crooked Reef · 07/20/2014, 08:03 PM

You don't "need" a skimmer, but it makes it easier and makes your system less vulnerable to mistakes you make. As long as you can keep your water parameters in check with water changes you can run a skimmer less system effectively. I have ran systems with and without and won't run one without again. Look on craigslist for skimmers and reef ready tanks. They are constantly on there around here. Also Gateway aquatics like I mentioned earlier constantly sells used systems for good prices.

Test for ammonia and use a specific ammonia locking product for saltwater. Someone will post a brand as I have never used them and can't think of them off of the top of my head.

Crooked Reef · 07/20/2014, 08:10 PM

One other place for corals is a place online called saltyunderground. They don't have an actual public store but I have gotten great corals from there. They are located off of Watson by the old crest wood mall, but you have to buy online and set up store pick up to save shipping costs.

Tzwizzle · 07/20/2014, 09:12 PM

I second getting an RO/DI. Well worth the investment.

Also since no one has mentioned it... make sure if you get a refractometer that you also get a calibration fluid as well. I don't know how many posts around here I've seen where someone's refractometer was off. Mine was off 10ppt from the factory!

HouseDJSTL · 07/20/2014, 09:24 PM

Go to the Corner Reef in Columbia, IL. Just across the JB Bridge in south county. Best store IMHO.

Moses366 · 04/06/2015, 08:55 AM

I have had my 10 gallon salt water fish tank for about 2 years now. Never done any water changes. I have 2 clown fish and a clean up crew. 1 big snail, 1 Shrimp , 1 crab.
For filtration just a hang on filter designed for a 20- 30 gallon tank, the fishes seem very happy and healthy. Wanted to know if i should preform a water change.

07/20/2014, 01:13 AM	#1
MissyMichael Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2014 Posts: 2	Saltwater beginners! My boyfriend(Michael), and I(Missy) are starting our first saltwater tank. We have been constantly reading everyone's forums, googling, asking workers from Tropical world pets advice. For the meantime we have a 15 gal. tank. We have a regular (Canister) filter that came with the tank. We have Fiji Live rock, sand, and pre-packaged saltwater we bought. We have two Chocolate Chip Starfish, Two tiny Maroon Clownfish, and Two regular common Clownfish! We have four Red legged Cortez hermits, and One Emerald Crab. We absolutely LOVE our Saltwater community! We are working on buying a new filter, meant more for a saltwater tank, a skimmer, a LED light meant for growing corals, anemone, etc. We also plan on moving to a 55gal. tank soon. But before anything we would like to manufacture our own saltwater? Test our own Ph levels, etc. We must sound like complete newbies! But ANY, and EVERY bit of advice would help! How would we even go about making our own saltwater? Any groups willing to meet? Any specific times this group meets up that we could actually get face to face advice, someone could guide us? It would be much appreciated!

07/20/2014, 01:41 AM	#4
Crooked Reef Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 1,765	Also for water tests I would recomend ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph at the minimum. If your tank is new, which I suspect it is you may not have had your cycle yet. Ammonia will build up and burn the fishes gills making it impossible for them to breathe. Even if you have fully cycled adding four clowns, regardless of their size into a 15 gallon tank will likely cause an ammonia spike. The biological filter just wont be able to handle it. Whoever sold you the 4 clowns and told you they would work was either very inexperienced with saltwater or lying to you. I hope this doesn't sound harsh because I am not trying to, but I want you to know what is happening in your tank. __________________ “In wine there is wisdom; in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.” - Benjamin Franklin Current Tank Info: 90 gallon reef. Biocube 29 lionfish tank. Mantis tank.

07/20/2014, 08:58 AM	#5
Denbf58 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: selden N.Y. Posts: 885	*To Reef Central* __________________ Life is good Current Tank Info: 75gal reef ready koralia 3, 30g sump, 4b 48" t5s lighting, 29g reef with breeding pair clowns 55g reef 55g freshwater

07/20/2014, 01:02 PM	#8
drsalomon Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 214	Knobby sea stars are not reef safe. You will have to decide which you want. __________________ Interests in aquaculture of SPS and Zoa, aquarium automation systems, reef biochemistry http://www.cellpathway.com/

07/20/2014, 07:10 PM	#10
Flippers4pups Home made abyss Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Lake Saint Louis, MO Posts: 2,047	Welcome to RC! And to the hobby! Once you go salt you can never get it out your blood. Been salty since 94. __________________ Don Reefing since 1993 Current Tank info: 125 gallon DT , 125 gallon basement sump. Rw 15 & Rw 8. Panworld 150ps return. Reef Octopus 150 skimmer, 3 165w mars aqua led.

07/20/2014, 01:17 AM	#2
gREEF stricken Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Puyallup WA Posts: 200	Possible aggression issues with that many clowns in a small tank, but welcome to the madness. Ever notice none of the capital one commercials are talking to a Reef hobbyist? Of course that makes sense, because the first time they ask them "what's in your wallet?" They'll be forced to answer "nothing."

07/20/2014, 11:58 AM	#6
AquaJazzed132 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2012 Posts: 10	So at this point you should decide which pair of clown you like better. Sorry but it's true 2 sets of clown is asking for trouble. In a 55 you may be able to get away with it but min i would recommend for trying to pull that off is with a 90 gallon and not with maroons. They are the most territorial. Something to consider when choosing between keeping them or the other clowns (probably ocelaris if they are orange and black). other than that I wanted to let you know what kind of salt mix i use. I use instant ocean. It dissolves fast. Has been around a long time and has worked for me for years.

07/20/2014, 06:22 PM	#9
MissyMichael Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2014 Posts: 2	Thank you SO much everyone!! We are using all advice!! We've had live rock for only a few weeks! We have 15 gal worth of live rock. We really don't want our stars to die We noticed that our emerald crab pinched at one? Will that be a problem? Our crabs majorly territorial? We love our Snail! He works wonders for our glass! Yes, we have noticed the aggression of our clowns toward eachother dang! As far as our filter goes, if we moved to a 55 gal tank would we need a skimmer? We will defiantly be coming here for advice from now on! Yes we go to Tropical World Pets on Watson road!! What can we do to reduce ammonia if possible?? Not harsh at all! We appreciate all of the advice!! Its such a bummer about our maroons! Instant Ocean! I see! Sounds great We will look for that because buying these pre-packaged boxes of salt water is too much! Thank you so much everyone for all the advice!!!

07/20/2014, 07:19 PM	#11
acabgd Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Belgrade Posts: 1,086	In order to make your own saltwater in addition to salt you also need a RO/DI filter. You can get a good one online at Bulk Reef Supply. Don't use tap water! Anemones should be added only to a well establishe tank (after 6 months - 1 year).

07/20/2014, 07:57 PM	#12
Crooked Reef Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 1,765	Ok. I'm from St. Louis. There are two stores that I primarily go to. One is gateway aquatics on telegraph. They sell ro/di for $.50 a gallon and saltwater for $1.00 a gallon. Seascape sells it too but I don't remember the price because gateway is about two miles from me. Gateway also have Facebook auctions for corals. Chad and Dave are great there. The second store is Seascape studios on Lindbergh by Watson, probably at most five miles from tropical world. Tropical world is a good store for fish, but if I go there I don't buy anything without researching first. I had some bad advice from there a few years back. If I were you I would go to gateway for corals and a few fish, seascape for more fish and inverts. They have a wide selection of inverts. Both stores give generally good advice. If you get the younger guys at gateway they know some but not all. Just remember in this hobby that you are truly responsible for all of your research. My suggestion is research everything you can about a specific topic/fish or something and them ask questions you know the answers to. If the store employee knows the right answers and doesn't try to steal you wrong you can trust them with more. The advice about getting your own ro/di is great, but with these two stores so close and the price of their water versus the price of the system and replacement filters with your size tank, it would take a couple of years minimum to even break even. There are extra bonuses to getting your own filter system but I won't go into them now. __________________ “In wine there is wisdom; in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.” - Benjamin Franklin Current Tank Info: 90 gallon reef. Biocube 29 lionfish tank. Mantis tank.

07/20/2014, 08:03 PM	#13
Crooked Reef Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 1,765	You don't "need" a skimmer, but it makes it easier and makes your system less vulnerable to mistakes you make. As long as you can keep your water parameters in check with water changes you can run a skimmer less system effectively. I have ran systems with and without and won't run one without again. Look on craigslist for skimmers and reef ready tanks. They are constantly on there around here. Also Gateway aquatics like I mentioned earlier constantly sells used systems for good prices. Test for ammonia and use a specific ammonia locking product for saltwater. Someone will post a brand as I have never used them and can't think of them off of the top of my head. __________________ “In wine there is wisdom; in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.” - Benjamin Franklin Current Tank Info: 90 gallon reef. Biocube 29 lionfish tank. Mantis tank.

07/20/2014, 08:10 PM	#14
Crooked Reef Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 1,765	One other place for corals is a place online called saltyunderground. They don't have an actual public store but I have gotten great corals from there. They are located off of Watson by the old crest wood mall, but you have to buy online and set up store pick up to save shipping costs. __________________ “In wine there is wisdom; in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.” - Benjamin Franklin Current Tank Info: 90 gallon reef. Biocube 29 lionfish tank. Mantis tank.

07/20/2014, 09:12 PM	#15
Tzwizzle Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Denver, CO Posts: 283	I second getting an RO/DI. Well worth the investment. Also since no one has mentioned it... make sure if you get a refractometer that you also get a calibration fluid as well. I don't know how many posts around here I've seen where someone's refractometer was off. Mine was off 10ppt from the factory!

07/20/2014, 09:24 PM	#16
HouseDJSTL Premium Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: St Louis - Dogtown Posts: 1,303	Go to the Corner Reef in Columbia, IL. Just across the JB Bridge in south county. Best store IMHO. __________________ "Music is the remedy for reality" Current Tank Info: 40 gallon - Reef Octopus 110 SSS - Radion Gen II light - (2) MP10W - 29G Sump

04/06/2015, 08:55 AM	#17
Moses366 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 1	I have had my 10 gallon salt water fish tank for about 2 years now. Never done any water changes. I have 2 clown fish and a clean up crew. 1 big snail, 1 Shrimp , 1 crab. For filtration just a hang on filter designed for a 20- 30 gallon tank, the fishes seem very happy and healthy. Wanted to know if i should preform a water change.