Omg Im Doing It

[tropicman]

Hey evryone I had a brain storm and thought what the heck ill gve it a go and sorry Angywg i think this is soo hard lol coming from a fw person the tank i have bought specs shown below
dream seawater aquarium dms 400ts
dual fan ventilation system
t5 lights two white one blue
four blue LED lights
built in 3stage filtration system mechanical, chemical and biological
water pump
protein skimmer
sponge
activated carbon
ceramic ring and bio-ball

also i used red salt marine fish and inverabrate salt
and coral sand pics of tank and bits etc to follow cant find the lead which is a pain in the bum

but any tips are hugely appriciated by the way this tank is 12.5 gallon so fish ideas would be helpful also

regards tropicman

 

[SkiFletch]

Well, without seeing it, my first thoughts are that the sponge, ceramic, and bioballs are not-necessary if you're going to be using live rock. They can also be detritus traps if not cleaned religiously. Trapped detritus can lead to longterm nitrate rise (although this is a point of much debate). Either way, LR can and will provide you all the biological filtration you require. Its like cloning a freshwater filter, only better

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Yeah it really isnt as hard as it seems once you get going Just takes a little bit more effort to mix up the water (still less maintaince then a planted tank though ).

As Ski said the best bet is to ditch the bio balls, rings and carbon and use live rock with a good water flow as your filtration system.

My Nano is a similar sort of size and I have about 7kg of live rock in there (about 6kg in the display and 1kg broken up in the filter compartment at the back).

Basically the best bet is to:
Get the tank set up with salt water in it and leave it running a couple of days. During this time watch how much water evaporates and keep an eye on the SG. This will give you an idea of how often you have to top up with RO water and how much your SG might swing (also make sure you get a refractometer to check the SG). A good SG to aim for is around 1.025.

Once you are sure the equipment is working (dont bother having the skimmer on yet), there are no leaks and you know roughly how bad evaporation is going to be then go and get your Live rock. Once you live rock is in regularly check the ammonia and nitrites. Once these are at zero you are safe to start stocking.

 

[tropicman]

well i thought ishould have refrained fromsetting up so i could ask for advice here , aw oh well bio balls ceramic and carbon will have to do i will have to be careful. Anyway guys any advice for stocking I love eels but i understand i might not be able to keep them due to the size they get but what about a golden dwarf moay or something along them lines

 

[SkiFletch]

In a 12g? Seems a little small for an eel

Are you looking more into predators, peaceful community fish, corals, inverts, or somethin else?

 

[tropicman]

I dont know really and yeah thats what i thought about the eel but im not fussed really just something nice to watch and interesting, any ways tank been set up for two days now water nice and clear no stats at the min as i am gettin a saltwater test kit tonight from lfs but local fish expert or they say he is there says i have to have my tank up and running for a month at the least even if my stats are perfect so what do i do ??

 

[tat2life]

once u got the salt, ph and heat right then add some rock.. if u havent already. if u have then add a damsel or 2 or a few guppies.. though guppies are guaranteed to die. they will kick off the amonia spike so keep testing every day or 2. i got a damsel to start of my spike and it survived it no probs at all. u can put dead shrimp in the tank aswell to start the spike if u dont want to risk killing the fish. though i dont many ppl whos damsel died during the spike. thats how i did it anyway and it worked for me.

 

[Musho3210]

once u got the salt, ph and heat right then add some rock.. if u havent already. if u have then add a damsel or 2 or a few guppies.. though guppies are guaranteed to die. they will kick off the amonia spike so keep testing every day or 2. i got a damsel to start of my spike and it survived it no probs at all. u can put dead shrimp in the tank aswell to start the spike if u dont want to risk killing the fish. though i dont many ppl whos damsel died during the spike. thats how i did it anyway and it worked for me.

Wow..... First off, very bad advise, no, im not saying its wrong, im saying its bad

Second off, the guppy is not garunteed to die if acclimated properly

Third off, if your using at least a low-medium quality live rock, why bother with "cycle fish" or "cycle ammonia"

 

[tat2life]

hey if it works its good advice. i did a fishless cycle for 2 months and guess what... nothing happend no spike or nothing so i got bored waiting and just threw a damsel in and it worked great, damsel was fine, didnt even get ill.... so whats the problem ? no fish were harmed, its a hell of a quicker way to do it aswell. i figured the guppy would die because of the salt content.. maybe if you have 0.25 it might las a while but my salt level is on the higher end so i didnt chance it. dont get me wrong tis not the best way to things i agree with you there. but if it works then why not i say. you only have to do it once so not all that bad

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Depends on your view of fish keeping tbh. If its your goal to give the animals you keep the best quality of life possible then you dont add them while there is ammonia and nitrite in the tank. If your using live rock then there is no need to use fish to cycle the tank. If you arent using live rock there is still no need to use fish in the tank to cycle (just add ammonia from another source).

Any detectable level of ammonia or nitrite will damage the fish. It might not kill them right off but its not going to do them any good, its akin to someone who smokes 60 a day and saying "well I'm not dead so its fine".

 

[Musho3210]

hey if it works its good advice. i did a fishless cycle for 2 months and guess what... nothing happend no spike or nothing so i got bored waiting and just threw a damsel in and it worked great, damsel was fine, didnt even get ill.... so whats the problem ? no fish were harmed, its a hell of a quicker way to do it aswell. i figured the guppy would die because of the salt content.. maybe if you have 0.25 it might las a while but my salt level is on the higher end so i didnt chance it. dont get me wrong tis not the best way to things i agree with you there. but if it works then why not i say. you only have to do it once so not all that bad

Hmm, if it works, then its good.... Well.... Nuclear bombs work, they do what they are meant to do, is it good to do, well according to you yes.... Not a very good example i know since there very different things, but the if it works its good thing... No.....

Fishless cycle for 2 months. Well that changes everything, you were probably already cycled before the addition of the damsel.

how high do you keep your salinity, i believe andy said somewhere here that guppies can go up to twice the salinity of sea water....

If you knew the guppy would die, and that the damsel would work, then why would you even consider saying guppy, thats whats just bugging me..... Its like saying, i dunno, i cant think of an example..... Its really bizarre...


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[tat2life]

i never had a spike til a week or 2 after i added the damsel i checked every 2 days during the 2 months of just live rock.. like i said i got bored waiting so was told add a guppy.. though it will die for sure because of the ammonia not so much the salt level, or i could add a damsel wich are hardier but still a chance it will die. so i chose a damsel cus it had more chances and a better looking fish. since then nearly everyone i spoke to who used guppies to start the spike said theres died, the ppl who used damsels most of theres didnt. but if he doesnt want to keep a damsel then just use a guppy. its all over google ppl using guppies to start spikes.. they call them replaceable fish cus they all die and u replace em with proper marine fish. not the nicest way but it does work, why not add a damsel to start the spike ? if the survival rate is very high. all down to ppls beliefs on cruelty really.. personally i couldnt care less if the damsel died i bought it knowing it had a chance of dying and for one purpose only... to start the spike. but thats just my views on it. i dont value any life really weather it animals or humans we all die some day and mainly at the hands of someone else, just the way the world is. i know alot of ppl dont like using 'replaceable' fish but thats there views and they shud keep em to emself. i dont go bothering ppl with mine so neither shud anyone else. its a way wich works to start the spike thats the end of it, wether he chooses to use that way or not is upto him. i did tell him use a dead shrimp wich they sell in asda so it wasnt my only suggestion on how to start the spike

 

[Musho3210]

wow.... Just wow..... Whatever makes you sleep better at night i guess.

This isnt an order, this is a suggestion, dont listen to that guy.

 

[tat2life]

why dont you tell him a better way to do it then ? instead of criticizing my 3 options on how to start a spike give the dude some advice and tell him your way. this is what the thread is about not somewhere to share ur beliefs. i dont care wich way he does it to be honest makes no diffrence to me at all

 

[Musho3210]

add live rock, done.

Critising, its life, its the way the world works, i guess its your views on critizising, your gonna get critisized in your life, just depends on who what when and where. Personally i couldnt care less if your critisized. If you dont like it, its your views, and you should keep it to yourself

PS, hehehe i spelt criticsize 4 different times and theres still a red line....