New Tank - Novice

[KonaMax]

Hello,
Just setup 100 gallon tank - Using Fluval FX6, 1 powerhead and 2 60" current LED lights.

Put about 80 gallons of synthetic salt and 20 gallons seawater. We live in Kona, Hawaii within walking distance to ocean so have filled it with crabs, snails, a cucumber as well as small silver minnows. So far so good but I think we will need to cool the water.

Kinda funny story - my son had collected about 10 minnows in a bucket, all were happy and swimming. My son then caught a spotted box fish and threw it in the bucket - within 5 minutes all minnows were dead. We didn't know why so just removed the dead minnows and took the box fish home and dumped him in - read the next day about the toxins that the box fish can and do emit.......Anyways, the next day we added more minnows and crabs and they are still alive!!!

High surf here this week but we plan on adding Tangs, Moorish Idols and other local fish.

So.....just wanted to introduce ourselves as we are gonna need a ton of advice!

Thank you!!

 

[KonaMax]

First guy in -

 

[KonaMax]

Work in progress......

 

[Percula9]

Is there live rock in the Tank? If the tank is not cycled all your fish are going to die from ammonia poisoning.You just can't dump a whole bunch of fish all at once in the tank.Don't add any more livestock.Get a test kit for ammonia.

 

[Cymonous]

You REALLY need to do some research before proceeding any further. Like Percula said, you need some kind of filtration to handle all of the ammonia created by your fish. The little rock you have is not going to house enough bacteria to handle the fish load you currently have. Please read the sticky posts at the top of the "New to the Hobby" forum.

 

[KonaMax]

Thank you for the advice -

Was only supposed to collect live rock, crabs, snails and a couple minnows. My 7 year old had other ideas....

I do have a test kit, will read instructions and post results this evening. We go to the beach everyday, will replacing 5 gallons a day with sea water help?

Thanks again for the responses, I know we a go too fast but just wanted to share what we have so far so as to get the correct advice (as posted).

 

[Cymonous]

Thank you for the advice -

Was only supposed to collect live rock, crabs, snails and a couple minnows. My 7 year old had other ideas....

I do have a test kit, will read instructions and post results this evening. We go to the beach everyday, will replacing 5 gallons a day with sea water help?

Thanks again for the responses, I know we a go too fast but just wanted to share what we have so far so as to get the correct advice (as posted).

Possibly, but are you getting this water right off the beach? You may be making it worse if you are. The dirty water ends up at the beach.

 

[KonaMax]

Hello,

It is off the "beach" although the beach we visit is a surf spot, not much sand, lots of coral, lava rock and reef. My simple mind thought if we just gathered the critters, water, rock, gravel, etc. from the tide pools at said beach it would be fine since they all came from same place.

surf has been high the last few days so collecting live rock has been difficult but I do understand we need a lot more. So....we will not add any more fish until we can collect more rock.

Will post more as the disasters develop -

Thank you again for the response.

 

[linkedsilas]

Being new to this saltwater aspect, so Im just asking, not trying to start anything.
As a zoo keeper and a conservationist Im asking, is this completely legal?
I know in my state removal of anything is pretty much illegal (wildlife). Im trying to go the ethical/environmentally conscious route of getting everything pretty much captive cultivated or bred.
Again, not trying to start a war.
Also, having kept other fish I know you are asking for disaster by throwing that fish in there. You really need to start slow in any tank even if you are getting the same water from the same place they are from. You are putting it in a different setup where its not naturally processed filtered etc by the environment. In my opinion I would put everything back, but thats my 2 cents. Youve really got to let any tank cycle without anything in it and keep testing. Saltwater/freshwater...it doesnt matter. You cannot rush in fish keeping

 

[KonaMax]

Thanks for the response-
I do not wish to kill anything. Where I live I watch net fishermen daily throw 20 Moorish idol, tangs, butterfly fish, etc. out on the sand for 15 minutes as they pull out what they want to keep. Throwing them back in really doesn't help except for the eels....
What I am doing is trying to provide a habitat to survive, not kill them.
Thank you, I welcome all advice & suggestions -

 

[HammerLover]

It needs more LR. One shortcut I did for cycling a tank is using NSW, using live rocks from established tanks and using half dried sand and half amount of live sand from an established tank.

Moorish idols are really hit or miss fishes. They eat like pigs and will suddenly die without any reason. There is a thread here that shares their experiences about Moorish idols and some even gather live sponges to feed it to them.

You can use live rock collected from the beach if its permitted but be wary of all the hitchhikers and other pathogens like itch. When I was at the beach some crazy mantis shrimp will fly out at the LR so be very careful not introducing bad hitchhikers.

 

[KonaMax]

Right on! The plan was to fill the tank with as much live rock as we could - (pretty sure legal as it gets broken of from the reef during high surf). High surf & tide would only let us with minimal. We keep adding crabs, snails (100+). After school on Friday is low tide.......

Thanks for the response!

 

[HammerLover]

Be wary though, cycling a tank should be fishless so you may want to free all the critters back at the beach. A couple weeks of cycling with no fishes will be enough since the live rock will have enough die off to start the cycle.

 

[bat21]

Return these animals to the ocean or they are guaranteed to die.

Do some research. Ask questions on these forums without the lives of animals hanging in the balance. And then try again, successfully, armed with the proper knowledge. And you can create an amazing ecosystem for your child to gaze upon for years.