Hello R2R,
This is my first first tank ever (fresh or salt) wanted to wait and get settled in a permanent home before attempting this hobby my wife is just as interested in this as I am. Just wanted to say hey before I give you my background and all the things I have encountered in the two months of owning 2 tanks ( yes, two it's a very long story). I don't know how much advice or help I can be but I will try to help anyone who needs it. Good to meet you all.
So here is my story it is long and I will try to be as detailed as I can be.
My wife and I wanted a saltwater tank for many years but knew how much work they can be so we waited until we bought a house and got settled. We went to a LFS that had been in business for many years assuming they knew their stuff (wrong). I was sold a 30 gallon rimless tank with a aquatop cvf-400 canister filter and told it could be used as a saltwater tank. We placed three fish in the tank to start our cycle we had our water tested once a week for the first two weeks our water was perfect so we kept asking when we could add more fish one of the workers at the LFS said our water was fine and we could add more if we chose to so we added 3 more fish and 4 inverts. Come to find out we had not even started our nitrogen cycle as fish started to drop left and right we lost 4 fish in a matter of 3 days. So we waited nearly a month as the LFS staff told us to do then we were told our water was good and we were out of our cycle so we added 2 more fish and they both died. We became so frustrated that we went to another LFS and told them our story, come to find out the owner of that store previously worked for the other store and that is why she started her own business.
So we cut our losses and sold the rimless tank with canister filter for next to nothing and went to our new LFS spot and bought a 50 gallon drilled tank. We had the company come out and set everything up for us, we have so far in the tank.
New tank
50 G drilled tank
Sump (unsure of capacity)
100 w heater
46 lbs of live rock
40 lbs of aragonite sand
Viper return pump
Aqua illumination AI Prime HD (2)
3oz. Marine pure gems (in sump)
11oz. Chemipure blue (in sump)
We had the tank setup on the 3rd of August we put 8 oz. of BIO-spira in the tank right after setting it up. Later that day we added two orange storm clowns and kole tang and a banggai cardinalfish from the old rimless tank, and two nassarius snails. 1 week later we added a foxface rabbitfish and two days after introduction that fish died, some time after that our kole tang got ich and died the next day. We started to see aggressive behavior from the cardinalfish towards our clowns so we removed it from the tank. We had two clowns and a handful of inverts, during the time of losing these fish we added a fire shrimp and a serpent starfish. Saturday we added a kole tang and a reef lobster the next morning my wife called me at work and said one of the clowns was missing and we have not seen it since.
Now just so we are clear we have been taking advice from the LFS the whole time on when to add fish and things of this nature, they seem to be knowledgeable but I know to use LFS with caution.
So here is what I have learned from this forum so far PATIENCE is your best weapon, it seems like certain things continue to be repeated in more than one post and thread. I do not use a QT and now I am thinking I should.
Their are other things but I am tired of typing and I am sure you are tired of reading so I will add things as I remember and people ask questions. Thanks for all your help, I want to enjoy this hobby I think this forum will help tremendously.
This is my first first tank ever (fresh or salt) wanted to wait and get settled in a permanent home before attempting this hobby my wife is just as interested in this as I am. Just wanted to say hey before I give you my background and all the things I have encountered in the two months of owning 2 tanks ( yes, two it's a very long story). I don't know how much advice or help I can be but I will try to help anyone who needs it. Good to meet you all.
So here is my story it is long and I will try to be as detailed as I can be.
My wife and I wanted a saltwater tank for many years but knew how much work they can be so we waited until we bought a house and got settled. We went to a LFS that had been in business for many years assuming they knew their stuff (wrong). I was sold a 30 gallon rimless tank with a aquatop cvf-400 canister filter and told it could be used as a saltwater tank. We placed three fish in the tank to start our cycle we had our water tested once a week for the first two weeks our water was perfect so we kept asking when we could add more fish one of the workers at the LFS said our water was fine and we could add more if we chose to so we added 3 more fish and 4 inverts. Come to find out we had not even started our nitrogen cycle as fish started to drop left and right we lost 4 fish in a matter of 3 days. So we waited nearly a month as the LFS staff told us to do then we were told our water was good and we were out of our cycle so we added 2 more fish and they both died. We became so frustrated that we went to another LFS and told them our story, come to find out the owner of that store previously worked for the other store and that is why she started her own business.
So we cut our losses and sold the rimless tank with canister filter for next to nothing and went to our new LFS spot and bought a 50 gallon drilled tank. We had the company come out and set everything up for us, we have so far in the tank.
New tank
50 G drilled tank
Sump (unsure of capacity)
100 w heater
46 lbs of live rock
40 lbs of aragonite sand
Viper return pump
Aqua illumination AI Prime HD (2)
3oz. Marine pure gems (in sump)
11oz. Chemipure blue (in sump)
We had the tank setup on the 3rd of August we put 8 oz. of BIO-spira in the tank right after setting it up. Later that day we added two orange storm clowns and kole tang and a banggai cardinalfish from the old rimless tank, and two nassarius snails. 1 week later we added a foxface rabbitfish and two days after introduction that fish died, some time after that our kole tang got ich and died the next day. We started to see aggressive behavior from the cardinalfish towards our clowns so we removed it from the tank. We had two clowns and a handful of inverts, during the time of losing these fish we added a fire shrimp and a serpent starfish. Saturday we added a kole tang and a reef lobster the next morning my wife called me at work and said one of the clowns was missing and we have not seen it since.
Now just so we are clear we have been taking advice from the LFS the whole time on when to add fish and things of this nature, they seem to be knowledgeable but I know to use LFS with caution.
So here is what I have learned from this forum so far PATIENCE is your best weapon, it seems like certain things continue to be repeated in more than one post and thread. I do not use a QT and now I am thinking I should.
Their are other things but I am tired of typing and I am sure you are tired of reading so I will add things as I remember and people ask questions. Thanks for all your help, I want to enjoy this hobby I think this forum will help tremendously.
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