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I have been wanting to ask for suggestions for my tank for a while. This is what it looks like: I apologize for the algae, it had not been scrubbed off the glass for a week or so. It's a 30 gallon high with 40 lbs. of live rock, 2 astera snails, 2 occelaris clowns, and a firefish goby. I am planning on adding a cleaner shrimp to it for algae cleanup because my snails are slackers. I am looking for suggestions of something that is going to churn up my substrate. It's a sand/gravel mix so I think a sand sifting star or nassarius snails would have some trouble. I was thinking something like a jawfish but they seem to be kind of hard to find. My firefish has hes couple caves he likes and keeps the sand stirred up in those caves, but everything else needs some help. Any suggestions? Thanks!
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Jun 17, 2008 02:53
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 20:40 |
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Thanks for the suggestions. I have looked at watchmen gobies before. They are pretty cute little fellas. I will look at getting a powerhead. I put one in my 10 gallon freshwater because the surface was pretty stagnant. It doesn't seem to be in the 30 gallon because my filter is an aquaclear 70 so its way more powerful than I actually need. I also have 40 pound of live rock, so I have more than the pound per gallon. I would love to add more if I can find it for a good price. I am not really interested in corals at this point in time because I do not have a particularly powerful light. I would hate to drop some money and then the corals die. I thought about nassarius snails but I figured the gravel mixed with the sand would be too rough for them. If you think they would do okay, I would love to get some. I have also planned on adding a little more sand soon to make the bed a little thicker. Thanks again.
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Jun 17, 2008 12:16
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Psimitry, I know I will have to clean the glass. Thats not a big deal. I have a magfloat that makes it super easy. I just want something to keep up on all the algae on the sand in between my water changes. I stir it up when I do wanter changes, but if I have snails in there I obviously won't do that. If they keep the sand stirred up then I don't have to worry about the algae having a chance to grow on the sand. And your jawfish is so freaking cute. I don't have $100 bucks to drop on a light right now but I would love to go all out and get a super light someday to have a full blown reef tank. Thanks for the info on cleaner shrimp everyone. I was very mistaken in thinking they eat algae. I don't have a problem with hair algae right now, just a green carpet-like algae covering everything. I will look into getting some nassarius snails for now and adding a little more sand to the tank. Then maybe I will get a goby of some sort just for fun. 
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Jun 18, 2008 20:18
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^^^ Because I use a gravel vac when I do my water changes to lift and drop the sand. I don't want to suck up or hurt any of the snails. I will have to invest in a turkey baster to stir it up. I realize that some crap will settle on the sand, but I get a ridiculous amount of algae on it in a matter of a few days. They have got to help with that a little. Thanks again for the help.
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Jun 19, 2008 12:06
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I have a couple of questions since I have had some changes in my tank. A little back history on the tank: Original stock was 2 occelaris clowns, a firefish goby, and a watchman goby. Everyone was happy but I was having algae issues. I bought a couple astera snails to clean up the algae on the glass and a couple nassarius snails to sift the sand. Everyone was still doing well. Then, we had a huge wind storm here in Cincy and my power was out for a week and a half. I had an air pump going that whole time and did a couple water changes. Casualties of this were my two occelaris clowns (who got sick and no matter what I tried, never recovered) and an astera snail. I am not sure on the nassarius since they burrow anyway. A couple months later, based on the wonderful advice of you folks, I have added some more nassarius and astera snails to the tank to try to keep up with the algae on the glass in between my scrubbings. However, I am still have problems with some thick green algae on the rocks. I was told to check for phosphates, I did that. The shop that checked them said there were some in the water, but not a crazy amount. I have also added a ViaAqua 404 water pump to get more circulation in the tank, as recommended. Everyone seems to be healthy and happy and the algae is just a nuisance. Is there a good way to get rid of it other thank reaching in there and pulling it out? (Which is what I have been doing during my water changes) Sorry I don't have pictures at the moment. Thanks for all the help you folks have given me in the past!
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Jan 20, 2009 17:08
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^^^ Sorry, meant to put that info in. I do 20% water changes every other week. I use tap water treated with AquaClear to remove chlorines and chloramines. I know it's not the best but I don't have a store around here that sells RO and I can't really afford a unit. I am not trying to do corals or anemones now. When I do, I will pick one up and get a more powerful light. No hair algae but I do get some hard algae occasionally. I scrub it off and it doesn't come back for another month or so usually.
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Jan 20, 2009 17:47
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I am not sure if I should start a new thread or not so I'll just go ahead and ask in here and move to my own thread if recommended. I am at my wits end here and I really don't want to shut my tank down. I recently got a new stand and filter for my 30 gallon saltwater tank. I switched from an aquaclear 70 to a canister filter. The filter I got ended up leaking so I had to return it and get another one but in the process I lost the three fish I had in there from the stress, I assume. My new filter is a fluval 405 (rated for a 70 gallon) so plenty of filtration. I moved my biomax from the old filter so I wouldn't lose all my beneficial bacteria in the process. I added 4 new fish and 2 of them died. I tested the water, nitrates, nitrites, and pH all good. Salinity good. Got 2 more fish from a new store I decided to try out and got ich.  I know, bad me for not quarantining but I treated it and it cleared up. Then a few days later those two fish died. I thought it was from the stress so I tested everything again to make sure. Again, everything is good. I went to my old store (its an hour and a half away, which is why I was trying to find a new one) and got 4 new fish. Two days later and three are dead and I don't know where the last one is. I am going broke and getting very frustrated. This tank was running for 3 years, through two moves with no problems and my fish living for 3 years until the last month. I don't know what to do! I have 40lbs of live rock, a cheapish light and sand in there. I do water changes with distilled water because we have hard as crap water here. Let me know if there is any other info you need. Thanks in advance.
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Mar 22, 2011 02:25
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Dono posted:-What are 'good' water parameters to you? Post your test results for your tank please. Nitrates and nitrites were both 0. pH was around 8.0. For acclimating I float the bags for 10 minutes to get temperature the same. Add water from tank to bag and let that sit for another 10, then add more and sit for another 10 then net the fish out and add them to the tank. I know it's not as good as drip acclimating but it's how I've done it for 5 years with fresh and salt and no issues. supercheesy fucked around with this message at 18:14 on Mar 22, 2011 |
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Mar 22, 2011 16:24
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The first ones I bought that I assume died from the stress of the leaky filter (in January) and switching it out were a blue damsel, a clownfish, a firefish goby, and a bicolor chromis. All but the clownfish died and I bought a dragon goby and yellowtail damsel from the store that gave me ich. The yellowtail was being a jerk and chasing the clownfish so I took it back. Then the ick showed up and I treated the dragon goby and clownfish. The dragon goby died. I waited for a week after the last symptoms of the ich and got another clownfish, two green chromis, a firefish goby, and another bicolor chromis. This was Friday. Now, to my knowledge, they are all dead.
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Mar 23, 2011 02:41
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 20:40 |
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I did a major water change last night and added a little more sand to the tank. I am basically going to start re-cycling. Maybe a couple of weeks I will get one or two fish and start over. Thanks for everything! I tried to get pictures of the tank but I can't seem to get them edited. I will try again later.
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Mar 25, 2011 03:43
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