Hey all - first post here!
Starting my first aquarium, and currently a month in and starting to see the beginning of an ugly phase. I've got a Waterbox Penninsula Mini 25 gallon and running into questions with stock lists and a few other bits and bobs:
Stock List:
Thoughts are:
Alternatively looking at a tail spot blenny? I also like the idea of a yellow watchman goby + pistol shrimp, but concerned that would be a pretty large fish that may not help with algae in a small tank + I hear pistol shrimps would maybe cross snails off my list of CUC?
Also considering CUC, especially since I'm starting to see algae grow in the tank. Sounds like maybe picking up 1-2 snails could be worth doing as I go slow?
Water Changes:
I've been doing weekly 5G water changes, mostly because that is the size bucket that I can fit in my apartment. I recognize that this is a relatively high % of the total water in the tank each week, is it possibly bad to be doing so much? I also don't have a spare heater, so the temperature drops during the water change to ~76 degrees and takes ~2.5hrs to get back to 78 degrees. Initially it seemed like overkill to buy a heater+controller for a 5G bucket, but happy to do that if the temp drop once a week is too much (especially as I get corals).
pH stability:
I'm mildly watching pH since the Apex EL I'm using has a probe anyway...and I can't see to get the pH above ~7.9. I even went as far as to open all of the windows in my place for a day which made it pretty cold, and didn't see a huge improvement. I'm assuming that things like 2-part are a ways off into my future but was a little nervous that I'm not taking this seriously enough and I should be doing more to help make sure pH is elevated.
Judging Food Volume:
I've been breaking apart an amount of Reef Frenzy Nano roughly a quarter the size of my pinky nail, mixing it with tank water and dropping it off for my (super tiny) clown. This isn't a super consistent amount since the food is frozen. Should I just keep monitoring for ammonia levels + phosphate and if I'm not seeing alarming increases keep dosage the same?
Helping Fish Recover from getting hurt:
Within the first week I had my clown, it looks like got clipped between the fish guard on my Nero 3 and the powerhead itself (the clown got a gash down his left flank, and there was a small piece of organic matter stuck between the powerhead and the fish guard that didn't look like any of the frozen food I've been putting in. I immediately turned the power head down from ~30% to 10% and ordered a more substantial nem guard that seems to fit a bit better. My clown had a gash for a little while that has rapidly gotten better and his behavior never changed, but curious if anything else I should give him to help recovery? My LFS recommended Brightwell Aquatics GarlicPower which I include a drop of in the clown's food every couple days, but I'm not sure if I just got conned into buying something smelly for no reason...
Starting my first aquarium, and currently a month in and starting to see the beginning of an ugly phase. I've got a Waterbox Penninsula Mini 25 gallon and running into questions with stock lists and a few other bits and bobs:
Stock List:
Thoughts are:
- Clownfish x2 (baseline minimum, if I shouldn't get more than two fish, these would be it)
- Royal Gramma x1 (would love to have)
- Lawnmower Blenny x1 (something to eat algae?)
Alternatively looking at a tail spot blenny? I also like the idea of a yellow watchman goby + pistol shrimp, but concerned that would be a pretty large fish that may not help with algae in a small tank + I hear pistol shrimps would maybe cross snails off my list of CUC?
Also considering CUC, especially since I'm starting to see algae grow in the tank. Sounds like maybe picking up 1-2 snails could be worth doing as I go slow?
Water Changes:
I've been doing weekly 5G water changes, mostly because that is the size bucket that I can fit in my apartment. I recognize that this is a relatively high % of the total water in the tank each week, is it possibly bad to be doing so much? I also don't have a spare heater, so the temperature drops during the water change to ~76 degrees and takes ~2.5hrs to get back to 78 degrees. Initially it seemed like overkill to buy a heater+controller for a 5G bucket, but happy to do that if the temp drop once a week is too much (especially as I get corals).
pH stability:
I'm mildly watching pH since the Apex EL I'm using has a probe anyway...and I can't see to get the pH above ~7.9. I even went as far as to open all of the windows in my place for a day which made it pretty cold, and didn't see a huge improvement. I'm assuming that things like 2-part are a ways off into my future but was a little nervous that I'm not taking this seriously enough and I should be doing more to help make sure pH is elevated.
Judging Food Volume:
I've been breaking apart an amount of Reef Frenzy Nano roughly a quarter the size of my pinky nail, mixing it with tank water and dropping it off for my (super tiny) clown. This isn't a super consistent amount since the food is frozen. Should I just keep monitoring for ammonia levels + phosphate and if I'm not seeing alarming increases keep dosage the same?
Helping Fish Recover from getting hurt:
Within the first week I had my clown, it looks like got clipped between the fish guard on my Nero 3 and the powerhead itself (the clown got a gash down his left flank, and there was a small piece of organic matter stuck between the powerhead and the fish guard that didn't look like any of the frozen food I've been putting in. I immediately turned the power head down from ~30% to 10% and ordered a more substantial nem guard that seems to fit a bit better. My clown had a gash for a little while that has rapidly gotten better and his behavior never changed, but curious if anything else I should give him to help recovery? My LFS recommended Brightwell Aquatics GarlicPower which I include a drop of in the clown's food every couple days, but I'm not sure if I just got conned into buying something smelly for no reason...