Birth of a 20 tall (Lots of pics!!)
- Thread starter oddiseus
- Start date
kigs: My parameters are general with normal readings. I go to the U of A for Architecture.
demeyer2: my temp is stable at 75 F
I think though that my test kit is a lil old. maybe the tests are expired. Im not sure. My corals and snails are doing great though, and snails usually die way before the fish do. Also I have a euro reef - 80 skimmer on this tank, one of which is not being fed, so I dont know what could be the cause of this.
Any other ideas, before I go buy another set of tests.
demeyer2: my temp is stable at 75 F
I think though that my test kit is a lil old. maybe the tests are expired. Im not sure. My corals and snails are doing great though, and snails usually die way before the fish do. Also I have a euro reef - 80 skimmer on this tank, one of which is not being fed, so I dont know what could be the cause of this.
Any other ideas, before I go buy another set of tests.
cerreta
Premium Member
Hi Oddi. Nice job on the lil reef.
When you are ready I can sell yo usome frags for much less than you will find at the LFS. We also have the locla forum and events, which I see you have recently found. Come to th eJanuarary meeting and yo uwill not be dissappointed with what yo uwill find. The prices range from $1 to $20 for most frags with more desirable stuff going for a bit more.
Why is it that starving students get into this hobby???
While I am not a student at this time, there are several of us around the U. Contact me and I can hook you up with them.
As for your loss of fish, it should be known that not all fish live. Yoiu will quicky learn this in the hobby. If you purchase wild caught fish, they often do not adapt to captivity, especially nano reefs due to instability. You will get luckjy at times with fish that do adapt, but a better practice is to try and buy fish that have been in a LFS for more then 30 days. This is often difficult to do and LFS operators in Tucson do not mark there tanks when the fish are introduced. The Phoenix stores do a far better job with pricing and marking the origin and dates of fish introductions. Aquatouch is the only LFS in AZ (that I know of) that quarentines the fish. You pay more, but chance of survival is much greater.
As for other reasons that the fish may be dying, you need to do a full water test. This includes, ammonia, po4, no3, no2, ca, alk, temp, pH, ORP, Mg, etc. I have all these kits and can perform them for you. LFS in Phx can do it too. Some here in Tucson can do the tests too, but they use crappy kits, and do not offer the complete testing.
Bring 100cc of water and you can check out my 110tall reef and we can check your water parameters. PM me.
Cheers,
Scott
When you are ready I can sell yo usome frags for much less than you will find at the LFS. We also have the locla forum and events, which I see you have recently found. Come to th eJanuarary meeting and yo uwill not be dissappointed with what yo uwill find. The prices range from $1 to $20 for most frags with more desirable stuff going for a bit more.
Why is it that starving students get into this hobby???
While I am not a student at this time, there are several of us around the U. Contact me and I can hook you up with them.
As for your loss of fish, it should be known that not all fish live. Yoiu will quicky learn this in the hobby. If you purchase wild caught fish, they often do not adapt to captivity, especially nano reefs due to instability. You will get luckjy at times with fish that do adapt, but a better practice is to try and buy fish that have been in a LFS for more then 30 days. This is often difficult to do and LFS operators in Tucson do not mark there tanks when the fish are introduced. The Phoenix stores do a far better job with pricing and marking the origin and dates of fish introductions. Aquatouch is the only LFS in AZ (that I know of) that quarentines the fish. You pay more, but chance of survival is much greater.
As for other reasons that the fish may be dying, you need to do a full water test. This includes, ammonia, po4, no3, no2, ca, alk, temp, pH, ORP, Mg, etc. I have all these kits and can perform them for you. LFS in Phx can do it too. Some here in Tucson can do the tests too, but they use crappy kits, and do not offer the complete testing.
Bring 100cc of water and you can check out my 110tall reef and we can check your water parameters. PM me.
Cheers,
Scott
I'm glad you wrote. I am looking forward to going to the meeting. I am dying to get some color into my tank.
This addiction to salt water hit before I went back to school. Go figure I couldnt put it on hold. I tried however.
As for my fish, I have kept larger tanks and might have lost one fish in 3 years, but this nano is definately a lil more sensitive.
See you soon.
-Odd
This addiction to salt water hit before I went back to school. Go figure I couldnt put it on hold. I tried however.
As for my fish, I have kept larger tanks and might have lost one fish in 3 years, but this nano is definately a lil more sensitive.
See you soon.
-Odd
75 though low, by most text book standards, works well for reef tanks. In fact when working with tanks that are smaller and have less stability a decreased temperature has the advantage of minimizing the metabolism of all of you reef inhabitants and decreasing their total nitrogen output. Which literally translates into less poo and less need for those emergency H2O changes when NO3 starts to peak. If you've ever tried SCUBA in the tropics you'l realize that even down there the water is way cooler that reef books give it credit for. I've even heard of people with SPS + fish tanks maintaining temps fo 73 to keep nutrients low low low!
I've found that the cooler temps also have the advantage of decreasing the agressiveness of possibly territorial fish. I've got a large tank and a nano tank too and it helps out with whatever size fish you try to house together (just out of curiosity what kind of fish are you trying to house together. Sorry if I glazed over it during this thread)
As for the issue of quarintined fish here in Tucson I know that Tropical Oasis QT's all of their fish and will always tell you how long the fish have been in the shop if you ask. The fish tend to be a bit pricier than say PetCo(Yet cheaper than Majestic) , but they almost always live and if they don't make it past the first 15 days you can get one free replacement. More than any other LFS will give you.
If you'd like some info on my custom nano just let me know and I can tell you what i have done, though it sounds and looks like you've got a great start.
I've found that the cooler temps also have the advantage of decreasing the agressiveness of possibly territorial fish. I've got a large tank and a nano tank too and it helps out with whatever size fish you try to house together (just out of curiosity what kind of fish are you trying to house together. Sorry if I glazed over it during this thread)
As for the issue of quarintined fish here in Tucson I know that Tropical Oasis QT's all of their fish and will always tell you how long the fish have been in the shop if you ask. The fish tend to be a bit pricier than say PetCo(Yet cheaper than Majestic) , but they almost always live and if they don't make it past the first 15 days you can get one free replacement. More than any other LFS will give you.
If you'd like some info on my custom nano just let me know and I can tell you what i have done, though it sounds and looks like you've got a great start.
I'm proud to say that I'm in a similar boat as you Oddiseus, a starving student (at least I would be if it wern't for my wife). Currently I'm burried (literaly) in my second year at the Med School here in Tucson. However, my other passion since childhood has always been marine biology. Congrats again on a beautiful tank.
drummereef
Team RC
Nice zoas.
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