Island Reef 242
Active Member
Hello everyone and welcome to my 10 gallons of life tank. I started this tank up in the beginning of 2019 in preparation for a 75g. My plan is to eventually use this tank as an observation/staging tank for eventual inhabitants of the 75g, but who knows where or what will be in this tank in the future. I will be using this thread to document and record just about everything that goes on with this tank. I hope you enjoy the ride, we might even learn something.
Story time. To catch you up on the events of the past 6 weeks. If you would like to know more about my history please check out my welcome thread in the Meet & Greet section, there are pictures.
On new years 2019 my cousin said he would be coming by my house the following weekend to collect some things for his saltwater fish tank (I live on the ocean). I have been slowly collecting equipment for a 75g and realized I had everything to start up a small tank, which I wanted to get anyway to use an observation/staging tank before putting stuff in the 75g. So that Saturday 5th Jan I bought a 10g tank for $31. On Sunday 6th my cousin came by and we collected some things along the shore and in an old saltwater pool in the back of my house.
My Backyard
6/1/19 – Started up 10g tank with natural seawater, gravel size pieces from the beach next door, and some dry rock from the shoreline. I added a orange stripe damsel fish, sergeant major, 2 gobies, 12 baby fish ¼” or less, baby blue crab, a decorator crab, a very small black sea urchin, and about 15 hermit crabs.
11/1/19 – All baby fish are gone, presumed eaten by blue crab. Sea urchin has disappeared.
15/1/19 – Took parameters of ocean and tank. Ammonia in tank is high, cycling in process, all fish and crustaceans are looking and acting normal. Small goby is missing. First signs of diatoms, rocks are not as white as before. A couple empty hermit crab shells.
Damsel, Goby, Small Goby (MIA)
19/1/19 – Put one mangrove with two leaves and roots in tank. Tank had that “fish tank smell”
20/1/19 – Tank is 2 weeks old. I hooked up one of my Kessil A360WE Tuna Blue lights over the tank and put it on a 12-hour schedule. Put 6 different types of plants/macro algae in tank, Turtle grass, mermaids’ tail, fern macro algae, Shaving brush, Halimedia, and a small ball of chaeto. Crabs immediately went after plants. Blue crab went crazy digging and cleaning through the roots of the shaving brush. Decorator crab went after fern, ate some, chopped up almost all the rest and placed them all over his body, presumably to have as a snack later.
Checking out the new salad bar.
24/1/19 – Added 2 live rocks, 3 large snails, 6+ small black snails, a small white sea egg, and 2 hermit crabs.
25/1/19 – 11am at work I got a call from my wife, she said that the tank had no water in it. My heart sank. I came home at 1pm to an empty tank and 10g of seawater all over the ground. I filled up a 5gal bucked with seawater and started putting all the rocks in. I figured I could at least save whatever might be on them. I found the white sea egg still alive, so through him in the bucket. Underneath one of the rocks I found the small black sea urchin that I had not seen since the first day, he was still alive to. When I lifted up the last rock I found my 3 fish. The Sergeant Major was resting peacefully on top of a pebble, dead. But, the Damsel was lying sideways on the bottom glass with just enough water to cover half his little body. And to my surprise he was still alive gasping for water. I immediately picked him up in my hands and placed him in the bucket. After a few seconds he got up and swam out of my hands, I could not believe it. The goby was lying next to the damsel still alive as well. I know from past experience that they are indestructible.
Quick side story. A long time ago, at my parents house. I put a old neglected fish tank, that had no visible signs of life, outside on a balcony. It had no filtration or anything electrical hooked up to it. It was half filled with dirty water, rocks and sand. After about a month I decided to clean it out and start a new tank. By now it was only a quarter full of water and had green slime all through it. When I started cleaning it out I saw movement. There was a Goby still alive in there swimming around, crazy. He lived for a while in my next tank, until he jumped out one night.
Anyway back to my empty tank. In the end the only thing that died was the Sergeant Major, I consider myself very lucky. I found out that the tank had a bad seal on the bottom. I took it back to the store and they gave me a new one. The worse part about the whole thing was cleaning up all the water, and that I lost about $100 worth of art paper. Some of my paintings got wet to, but they are on canvas and wood, so no damage was done. I consider this the first time I have ever done a 100% water change. I do not recommend it.
2/2/19 - Just came back from a week long trip to Punta Cana D.R. Had my brother come by once a day to feed my fish and top up the tank. Everything is still alive, but most all of the plants have been eaten. I noticed the white sea egg carrying around the Mermaids tail with bite marks and holes all over it. The fern is gone. Only a heavily manicured bottle brush, some Halimedia, a bit of Chaeto, and the turtle grass is left.
8/2/19 – The decorator crab is missing. I think I see the blue crab eating one of his legs. Not to sure about the future of the blue crab, he is growing fast to.
10/2/19 – I had to clean the glass for the first time today.
12/2/19 – The turtle grass has been uprooted and is floating around on the surface. The Blue crab swims up to catch a ride on the grass for hours at a time. He might have eaten a few tank inhabitants, but he is very entertaining.
Crab - "Thanks for the carnival ride, when is the roller coaster coming?"
Well now you are all caught up. Some details about the tank, maintenance, and schedule. 10 gallon all glass tank, HOB Coralife Marine Filter with protein skimmer, Kessil A360WE Tuna Blue, and a small temp probe with display screen. I can’t get the skimmer on the HOB to work properly, all it dose is fill the tank with micro bubbles. I top up by hand with bottled RO water. I have test kits, API, but will only test once a month, if I remember. I don’t dose anything, not necessary, now. I mash up some pellets and feed a pinch a couple times a day. I also might do a water change this year, who knows. My goal is to have a low maintenance tank, I like to keep things simple. One day in the future I will add some hardy corals, this is a reef forum after all.
Just Chilling
If you are still reading this, go back to work. But come back soon, I will try to post updates regularly. And look for my 75g build thread coming soon.
Chris
Story time. To catch you up on the events of the past 6 weeks. If you would like to know more about my history please check out my welcome thread in the Meet & Greet section, there are pictures.
On new years 2019 my cousin said he would be coming by my house the following weekend to collect some things for his saltwater fish tank (I live on the ocean). I have been slowly collecting equipment for a 75g and realized I had everything to start up a small tank, which I wanted to get anyway to use an observation/staging tank before putting stuff in the 75g. So that Saturday 5th Jan I bought a 10g tank for $31. On Sunday 6th my cousin came by and we collected some things along the shore and in an old saltwater pool in the back of my house.
My Backyard
6/1/19 – Started up 10g tank with natural seawater, gravel size pieces from the beach next door, and some dry rock from the shoreline. I added a orange stripe damsel fish, sergeant major, 2 gobies, 12 baby fish ¼” or less, baby blue crab, a decorator crab, a very small black sea urchin, and about 15 hermit crabs.
11/1/19 – All baby fish are gone, presumed eaten by blue crab. Sea urchin has disappeared.
15/1/19 – Took parameters of ocean and tank. Ammonia in tank is high, cycling in process, all fish and crustaceans are looking and acting normal. Small goby is missing. First signs of diatoms, rocks are not as white as before. A couple empty hermit crab shells.
Damsel, Goby, Small Goby (MIA)
19/1/19 – Put one mangrove with two leaves and roots in tank. Tank had that “fish tank smell”
20/1/19 – Tank is 2 weeks old. I hooked up one of my Kessil A360WE Tuna Blue lights over the tank and put it on a 12-hour schedule. Put 6 different types of plants/macro algae in tank, Turtle grass, mermaids’ tail, fern macro algae, Shaving brush, Halimedia, and a small ball of chaeto. Crabs immediately went after plants. Blue crab went crazy digging and cleaning through the roots of the shaving brush. Decorator crab went after fern, ate some, chopped up almost all the rest and placed them all over his body, presumably to have as a snack later.
Checking out the new salad bar.
24/1/19 – Added 2 live rocks, 3 large snails, 6+ small black snails, a small white sea egg, and 2 hermit crabs.
25/1/19 – 11am at work I got a call from my wife, she said that the tank had no water in it. My heart sank. I came home at 1pm to an empty tank and 10g of seawater all over the ground. I filled up a 5gal bucked with seawater and started putting all the rocks in. I figured I could at least save whatever might be on them. I found the white sea egg still alive, so through him in the bucket. Underneath one of the rocks I found the small black sea urchin that I had not seen since the first day, he was still alive to. When I lifted up the last rock I found my 3 fish. The Sergeant Major was resting peacefully on top of a pebble, dead. But, the Damsel was lying sideways on the bottom glass with just enough water to cover half his little body. And to my surprise he was still alive gasping for water. I immediately picked him up in my hands and placed him in the bucket. After a few seconds he got up and swam out of my hands, I could not believe it. The goby was lying next to the damsel still alive as well. I know from past experience that they are indestructible.
Quick side story. A long time ago, at my parents house. I put a old neglected fish tank, that had no visible signs of life, outside on a balcony. It had no filtration or anything electrical hooked up to it. It was half filled with dirty water, rocks and sand. After about a month I decided to clean it out and start a new tank. By now it was only a quarter full of water and had green slime all through it. When I started cleaning it out I saw movement. There was a Goby still alive in there swimming around, crazy. He lived for a while in my next tank, until he jumped out one night.
Anyway back to my empty tank. In the end the only thing that died was the Sergeant Major, I consider myself very lucky. I found out that the tank had a bad seal on the bottom. I took it back to the store and they gave me a new one. The worse part about the whole thing was cleaning up all the water, and that I lost about $100 worth of art paper. Some of my paintings got wet to, but they are on canvas and wood, so no damage was done. I consider this the first time I have ever done a 100% water change. I do not recommend it.
2/2/19 - Just came back from a week long trip to Punta Cana D.R. Had my brother come by once a day to feed my fish and top up the tank. Everything is still alive, but most all of the plants have been eaten. I noticed the white sea egg carrying around the Mermaids tail with bite marks and holes all over it. The fern is gone. Only a heavily manicured bottle brush, some Halimedia, a bit of Chaeto, and the turtle grass is left.
8/2/19 – The decorator crab is missing. I think I see the blue crab eating one of his legs. Not to sure about the future of the blue crab, he is growing fast to.
10/2/19 – I had to clean the glass for the first time today.
12/2/19 – The turtle grass has been uprooted and is floating around on the surface. The Blue crab swims up to catch a ride on the grass for hours at a time. He might have eaten a few tank inhabitants, but he is very entertaining.
Crab - "Thanks for the carnival ride, when is the roller coaster coming?"
Well now you are all caught up. Some details about the tank, maintenance, and schedule. 10 gallon all glass tank, HOB Coralife Marine Filter with protein skimmer, Kessil A360WE Tuna Blue, and a small temp probe with display screen. I can’t get the skimmer on the HOB to work properly, all it dose is fill the tank with micro bubbles. I top up by hand with bottled RO water. I have test kits, API, but will only test once a month, if I remember. I don’t dose anything, not necessary, now. I mash up some pellets and feed a pinch a couple times a day. I also might do a water change this year, who knows. My goal is to have a low maintenance tank, I like to keep things simple. One day in the future I will add some hardy corals, this is a reef forum after all.
Just Chilling
If you are still reading this, go back to work. But come back soon, I will try to post updates regularly. And look for my 75g build thread coming soon.
Chris
