Varga_24
New Member
I have been in the saltwater hobby for four and a half years. The first tank I started off with was a 29-gallon tank. My dad provided a lot of help for me thanks to his experience from his days in college, we even used the same tank he used. We went kind of old school with the set-up with fluorescent bulbs and an under gravel filter. Eventually, all of that equipment went away, and we got more modern equipment.
The tank started off with 3 green chromis.
After about a month of the tank being set up, we got an occelaris clownfish. This fish surprisingly only lived for only about 48 hours before it died. We took the fish to the store to see if it was diseased, but they didn't find anything noticeable, so they gave us another clown for half off. This one lived longer but only for 2 weeks.
We found out the reason these fish were dying was because of the high nitrate levels. We originally used test strips to test our water, but these were not accurate at all. We bought some actual test kits and found out our nitrates were around 160ppm! The cause of this was the rocks because they were in my dad's setup back in college, and they had a lot of terrible bacteria on them. So we got rid of those rocks and bought some live rock from our LFS. This lowered the nitrates drastically down to around 0ppm.
After 3 months of the tank being set up, we discovered a small leak at the bottom of the tank which led to it being replaced. We replaced it with a 38-gallon tank which had similar dimensions to the 29, it was just a few inches taller. It was perfect because we were still able to fit it on our stand. We also replaced the gravel with live sand.
Due to problems with the fluorescent lights, we replaced the lights with an LED strip. The tank looked much better, and we didn't have to worry about replacing the bulbs every so often.
2 Year Update (2019)
The tank has been set up and running for 2 months now without many issues. At this time we had 6 fish: 1 six-line wrasse, 1 pajama cardinalfish, 1 occelaris clownfish, and 3 green chromis. We were getting our basement finished, so we had to move our tank from the basement to upstairs temporarily. Through the moving process, we only lost the six-line wrasse, and everything else did fine. But moving the tank back to the basement, we lost all of the fish. Instead of putting the fish in bags, my dad thought it would be fine to bring them down in the two-gallon tank they were in. All the water splashing around easily stressed the fish out and they were all gone the next morning. Out of all the species we lost, the chromis were the ones I was the saddest to lose. Green chromis aren't the most fascinating fish at all, but I was amazed by how long they lived. When I bought those three, I was told I was going to lose 2 of them within a month. 2 years later they were still living. They were even living in conditions that I never thought any fish could survive in. I thought these fish were going to live forever.
4 year update (2021)
The 38gal tank only had 2 occelaris clownfish and a six-line wrasse. We've tried some other fish but they didn't live very long for some reason. I was getting ready for my first in-person year of college, so I had my dad take care of the tank while I was away. One day my dad texted me that one of the clownfish disappeared. He looked everywhere in the tank but couldn't find it anywhere. Two weeks later my dad texted me again and told me the tank sprung a leak. The leak was right in between two panes and a thin stream of water was coming out of the tank. My dad brought the fish to our LFS so they can hold onto them temporarily.
Current Day
The next week I was on a mid-semester break so I was able to come home. After a short talk with an employee at our LFS, we decided to upgrade to a 56-gallon tank. When we were moving the 38 gallon out and moving the 56 gallon in, we found the clownfish that disappeared. The fish managed to jump out. While there was a cover on the tank it didn't cover the entire tank, as there was a gap for the filtration. We fixed this issue with the new tank as the cover came with a plastic part that could be cut to allow space for the filter and protein skimmer.
Sorry for the cloudiness, the tank was set up a day before this photo was taken.
A few days later the clownfish and the wrasse were introduced to their new home. A few days ago some new fish were added to the tank. My dad and I both chose a fish to add to the tank. I chose a coral beauty and he chose a royal gramma. Both fish are settling in well and eating.
I have experienced many issues, but honestly thanks to them, I now know what I can do differently next time I set up a saltwater tank so I can minimize any issues I face. The next goal for the tank is to add corals to it. This could be an issue with the coral beauty as I know dwarf angels aren't necessarily reef-safe fish.
The tank started off with 3 green chromis.
After about a month of the tank being set up, we got an occelaris clownfish. This fish surprisingly only lived for only about 48 hours before it died. We took the fish to the store to see if it was diseased, but they didn't find anything noticeable, so they gave us another clown for half off. This one lived longer but only for 2 weeks.
We found out the reason these fish were dying was because of the high nitrate levels. We originally used test strips to test our water, but these were not accurate at all. We bought some actual test kits and found out our nitrates were around 160ppm! The cause of this was the rocks because they were in my dad's setup back in college, and they had a lot of terrible bacteria on them. So we got rid of those rocks and bought some live rock from our LFS. This lowered the nitrates drastically down to around 0ppm.
After 3 months of the tank being set up, we discovered a small leak at the bottom of the tank which led to it being replaced. We replaced it with a 38-gallon tank which had similar dimensions to the 29, it was just a few inches taller. It was perfect because we were still able to fit it on our stand. We also replaced the gravel with live sand.
Due to problems with the fluorescent lights, we replaced the lights with an LED strip. The tank looked much better, and we didn't have to worry about replacing the bulbs every so often.
2 Year Update (2019)
The tank has been set up and running for 2 months now without many issues. At this time we had 6 fish: 1 six-line wrasse, 1 pajama cardinalfish, 1 occelaris clownfish, and 3 green chromis. We were getting our basement finished, so we had to move our tank from the basement to upstairs temporarily. Through the moving process, we only lost the six-line wrasse, and everything else did fine. But moving the tank back to the basement, we lost all of the fish. Instead of putting the fish in bags, my dad thought it would be fine to bring them down in the two-gallon tank they were in. All the water splashing around easily stressed the fish out and they were all gone the next morning. Out of all the species we lost, the chromis were the ones I was the saddest to lose. Green chromis aren't the most fascinating fish at all, but I was amazed by how long they lived. When I bought those three, I was told I was going to lose 2 of them within a month. 2 years later they were still living. They were even living in conditions that I never thought any fish could survive in. I thought these fish were going to live forever.
4 year update (2021)
The 38gal tank only had 2 occelaris clownfish and a six-line wrasse. We've tried some other fish but they didn't live very long for some reason. I was getting ready for my first in-person year of college, so I had my dad take care of the tank while I was away. One day my dad texted me that one of the clownfish disappeared. He looked everywhere in the tank but couldn't find it anywhere. Two weeks later my dad texted me again and told me the tank sprung a leak. The leak was right in between two panes and a thin stream of water was coming out of the tank. My dad brought the fish to our LFS so they can hold onto them temporarily.
Current Day
The next week I was on a mid-semester break so I was able to come home. After a short talk with an employee at our LFS, we decided to upgrade to a 56-gallon tank. When we were moving the 38 gallon out and moving the 56 gallon in, we found the clownfish that disappeared. The fish managed to jump out. While there was a cover on the tank it didn't cover the entire tank, as there was a gap for the filtration. We fixed this issue with the new tank as the cover came with a plastic part that could be cut to allow space for the filter and protein skimmer.
Sorry for the cloudiness, the tank was set up a day before this photo was taken.
A few days later the clownfish and the wrasse were introduced to their new home. A few days ago some new fish were added to the tank. My dad and I both chose a fish to add to the tank. I chose a coral beauty and he chose a royal gramma. Both fish are settling in well and eating.
I have experienced many issues, but honestly thanks to them, I now know what I can do differently next time I set up a saltwater tank so I can minimize any issues I face. The next goal for the tank is to add corals to it. This could be an issue with the coral beauty as I know dwarf angels aren't necessarily reef-safe fish.
