So, I set up a 20L tank about 4 days ago, with 20 lbs of live sand, 15 lbs of live rock, and 15 lbs of old, dead rock. I dosed Turbo Start 9000, Aquaforest Bio S, and Seachem Stability since day 1.
There's been ammonia detectable, but with an API test kit. I assumed, given the presence of nitrate in the display (none in the RO/DI water), that I could start adding livestock, because NH3 was being converted to NO3, and lol @ API ammonia kit accuracy, right? So 2 days ago, I added 10 blue legs. No problem, they're doing well. That night, I noticed a sizeable bristle worm. Great! The API kit's as unreliable as always, right?
Here's where I went wrong -- after I saw the crabs and hitchhikers doing fine, I allowed the excitement of my young kids to short-circuit my brain and I added an Ocellaris and Ward's Sleeper Goby (aka Tiger Watchman). The Goby died last evening, about 8 hours after adding it. I woke up this morning to a gasping ocellaris with red gills. So I promptly mixed up some fresh saltwater, matched temp and salinity, threw an airstone in it to raise oxygen, and acclimated then transferred the clown out of the display into a bucket. Interestingly enough, the inverts are all still doing well -- including the mithrax crab and protopaly frag I added yesterday.
I've had plenty of tanks before over the past 20 years. I thought I knew enough to avoid common mistakes. I figured I was mitigating risk by using live rock, live sand, and bacteria. It wasn't enough. So now I'm babysitting a clown who's "sick" and living in the "hospital" until water chemistry in the display comes under control. Or until it dies. But hopefully it's the former and not the latter.
So, don't do what I did.
Take your time, don't be in a rush. Nature works on her own schedule. If you let her do her thing, you (and your inhabitants) will be much better off.
There's been ammonia detectable, but with an API test kit. I assumed, given the presence of nitrate in the display (none in the RO/DI water), that I could start adding livestock, because NH3 was being converted to NO3, and lol @ API ammonia kit accuracy, right? So 2 days ago, I added 10 blue legs. No problem, they're doing well. That night, I noticed a sizeable bristle worm. Great! The API kit's as unreliable as always, right?
Here's where I went wrong -- after I saw the crabs and hitchhikers doing fine, I allowed the excitement of my young kids to short-circuit my brain and I added an Ocellaris and Ward's Sleeper Goby (aka Tiger Watchman). The Goby died last evening, about 8 hours after adding it. I woke up this morning to a gasping ocellaris with red gills. So I promptly mixed up some fresh saltwater, matched temp and salinity, threw an airstone in it to raise oxygen, and acclimated then transferred the clown out of the display into a bucket. Interestingly enough, the inverts are all still doing well -- including the mithrax crab and protopaly frag I added yesterday.
I've had plenty of tanks before over the past 20 years. I thought I knew enough to avoid common mistakes. I figured I was mitigating risk by using live rock, live sand, and bacteria. It wasn't enough. So now I'm babysitting a clown who's "sick" and living in the "hospital" until water chemistry in the display comes under control. Or until it dies. But hopefully it's the former and not the latter.
So, don't do what I did.
Take your time, don't be in a rush. Nature works on her own schedule. If you let her do her thing, you (and your inhabitants) will be much better off.
Last edited:
