My 15 gallons of the ocean!

[WalkerLoves_TheOcean]

Live Update Page

Current stocking list:

-  Fish
- Firefish
- Tailspot blenny
- Invertabrates
- 4 red legged hermit crabs
- Rock flower anemone
- Coral
- Neon splatter hammer
- Duncan
- Galaxea
- Ricordea mushroom
- Purple stylophora
- Clove polyps
- Orange Leptoseris
- Macroalgae/Plants
- Mangrove

- Mechanical Filtration
- Protein Skimmer
- Biological Filtration
- 2 inch media cube

-  Dosing
- Live phytoplankton

- Most recent activity
- 2 gallon WC

- Tank Notes
- So far, everything is doing great. The only losses I am aware of are my 2 clown gobys, and possibly 2 hermit crabs. Other than that, everyone else is thriving and happy. My tank is over 2 months and 22 days old now, as of 4/14/24.

(4/6/24)

 

[WalkerLoves_TheOcean]

2/10/24 update.

We finally have a ammonia free tank!! First time since I added ammonia! I am going to add a full dose now, and hope that it goes down overnight, I will test in 24 hours.

 

[Macbalacano]

Following along!

 

[kevgib67]

I’m here to watch this build!

 

[Fishy888]

Me too!

 

[WalkerLoves_TheOcean]

I didn't end up putting the ammonia in, because I still had over 5ppm nitrites, but hopefully, I can put it in tomorrow. I am getting fish soon, so I am a little stressed, but I think it will be alright, lol.

 

[kevgib67]

Don’t worry about nitrites, not a thing in salt water tanks. Stop testing. The only thing to know is when they are present they will give you false high nitrate levels.

 

[WalkerLoves_TheOcean]

Don’t worry about nitrites, not a thing in salt water tanks. Stop testing. The only thing to know is when they are present they will give you false high nitrate levels.

Really? I didn't know that. So it won't stall the cycle if I add a full dose of ammonia right now, and it won't affect the fish? (when I get them)

 

[Fishy888]

Really? I didn't know that. So it won't stall the cycle if I add a full dose of ammonia right now, and it won't affect the fish? (when I get them)

No it won’t stall the cycle if you dose some ammonia. Just don’t go overboard with it. The bacteria that turn nitrite into nitrate are different from the bacteria that turn ammonia into nitrite. Once you get fish though, don’t dose ammonia because the fish will produce it.

 

[WalkerLoves_TheOcean]

No, it won’t stall the cycle if you dose some ammonia. Just don’t go overboard with it. The bacteria that turn nitrite into nitrate are different from the bacteria that turn ammonia into nitrite. Once you get fish though, dose ammonia because the fish will produce it.

I won't overdose it, I add 40 drops (4 per gal), which brings me to roughly 2ppm ammonia. And yes, I won't add it when I have fish. Thanks for the help!

 

[saltcats]

I really like my firefish, so I vote for one of those!

The water surface looks very smooth in your picture, maybe point your return or powerhead upwards a bit to help with oxygen exchange. You want the surface to have ripples

Congrats on your first tank, I hope you enjoy it for a long time!


Side note on ammonia - if you are using API kits, they are known for showing a false positive of .25ppm ammonia when it's actually 0... your first post made me think of that.

 

[WalkerLoves_TheOcean]

I really like my firefish, so I vote for one of those!

The water surface looks very smooth in your picture, maybe point your return or powerhead upwards a bit to help with oxygen exchange. You want the surface to have ripples

Congrats on your first tank, I hope you enjoy it for a long time!

Ok, the flow is really strong on the top rock, so I will try to point it more up! I really like the way firefish look, and I think they would look really cool with a orchid dotty back. I am all over the place with what I want to put in lol.

Edit:

Don't see your last paragraph about ammonia and the API test kits. Thanks for letting me know. When I went to the fish store, the guy kind of just out things on the counter, without me really approving of anything... Lol. I would have substituted a couple of things- but oh well! Once I run out of the test kits, I will be buying other brands like salifert.

 

[saltcats]

Ok, the flow is really strong on the top rock, so I will try to point it more up! I really like the way firefish look, and I think they would look really cool with a orchid dotty back. I am all over the place with what I want to put in lol

Dottybacks are very aggressive which would probably stress out a timid firefish, unfortunately.

I think a dottyback would be okay with clowns since they're both aggressive and can hold their own; or you can go a more peaceful route.

I'm still trying to settle on my own stock list, I understand the feeling!

 

[WalkerLoves_TheOcean]

Dottybacks are very aggressive which would probably stress out a timid firefish, unfortunately.

I think a dottyback would be okay with clowns since they're both aggressive and can hold their own; or you can go a more peaceful route.

I'm still trying to settle on my own stock list, I understand the feeling!

Ok, I didn't think that it would be that big of a problem. My LFS doesn't have them in stock as of now, so I don't think I will get one.

 

[Ollie67]

Don’t worry about nitrites, not a thing in salt water tanks. Stop testing. The only thing to know is when they are present they will give you false high nitrate levels.

I wasn’t aware of that. I’ve had something similar just recently on my 13 gallon. My nitrite test has been consistently around 2ppm and my nitrate jumped to 50ppm+ for some reason. Not sure if these are accurate.

 

[Fishy888]

I wasn’t aware of that. I’ve had something similar just recently on my 13 gallon. My nitrite test has been consistently around 2ppm and my nitrate jumped to 50ppm+ for some reason. Not sure if these are accurate.

I hate to say it but API test kits are absolute garbage! Go with Hanna checkers for nitrate and phosphate, and Salifert for anything else. Those are accurate test kits.

 

[Ollie67]

I hate to say it but API test kits are absolute garbage! Go with Hanna checkers for nitrate and phosphate, and Salifert for anything else. Those are accurate test kits.

Yes I’ve heard all the slander about API LOL. I just started my first tank and wasted $ on the kit unfortunately. I’ve been thinking about Hanna checkers though. Would you recommend the marine checker? (The one with multiple tests in one)

 

[Fishy888]

Yes I’ve heard all the slander about API LOL. I just started my first tank and wasted $ on the kit unfortunately. I’ve been thinking about Hanna checkers though. Would you recommend the marine checker? (The one with multiple tests in one)

That’s a pretty nice checker from the looks of it but I don’t have experience with it.

While it has advantages, if the checker breaks you can’t test any parameters. If you buy individual checkers and one breaks you can still test for the other parameters.

I’d go with a Hanna ULR phosphate checker, a Hanna nitrate HR checker. For ALK, CAL, and MAG I’d use Salifert. They’re about as accurate as you can get and easy to read. They’re also less expensive than the Hanna checkers for the big 3 (that is, ALK, CAL, and MAG).

The nitrate and phosphate tests are harder to read with Salifert, which is why I recommend Hanna checkers for them. For the big 3 though Salifert is easy to read.

 

[WalkerLoves_TheOcean]

It's 5 days til I get fish. I can't believe it. I really hope that I will add my final full dose tomorrow, and that it will go down overnight, which will bring me to Wednesday, where I will add a half dose Wednesday, and Thursay, then Friday I will let the filtration lower the ammonia all the way down, and then, if everything goes well, I CAN GET FISH THIS SATURDAY! I am starting to get a little nervous, because who knows how it will go.

 

[Fishy888]

It's 5 days til I get fish. I can't believe it. I really hope that I will add my final full dose tomorrow, and that it will go down overnight, which will bring me to Wednesday, where I will add a half dose Wednesday, and Thursay, then Friday I will let the filtration lower the ammonia all the way down, and then, if everything goes well, I CAN GET FISH THIS SATURDAY! I am starting to get a little nervous, because who knows how it will go.

It’ll go great as long as you get an appropriate sized fish and continue moving slowly. Stability is your friend. You’ll do great!