New To Saltwater... Very Excited! Lots of questions..

[CarmieJo]

I use DT's Phytoplankton and think it is a good product but it will not make your tank explode! It will feed the bottom of the food chain and those critters are food for others. Most corals don't use phyto but clams do.

If you add to much too quickly your biological filtration (LR, LS) will not keep up with the bio-load. This will cause the ammonia and nitrites to go up and in effect make your tank have a mini-cycle.

[dkone]

I use(d) the DT "live" Phytoplankton product for over a year and my tank never exploded - then again, my 2nd crash came due to a lack of maintenance, water changes etc. After sorting out my problems mid-2007 I continued to use the DT product without any negative issues. Recently I started up my own Phyto culture and hope soon to be able to make the switch from DT to a home-grown product. Yes, the DT product is way more concentrated but I am looking forwards to using a more "live" product of my own creation. I concur that you should be careful not to overdose with DT Phytoplankton and ensure what you are introducing can be handled by your filtration - you can "love" your tank to death by overfeeding it !

In a young tank when the nitrate readings reach 0 that would imply that your biological filtration has reached a equalilbrium state where it can cope with your existing bio-load. The sudden introduction of a mass of livestock will stress your fragile filtration and you could end up with another mini-cycle as it catches up - more diatoms, more algae etc. Thus I would advocate always adding livestock slowly, one small element at a time. Uncured Live Rock (or even cured LR), once it has cycled in your tank, can still take months to reach it's full biological filtration capacity - some would say 6 months+ to be considered mature - after the initial diatom and algae blooms are over.

Years ago, we Europeans (well, ok, the Germans in particular, not we Brits) would advocate cycling the tank with fresh live rock for 6 months to a year before they would even contemplate adding anything else. This allows the biodiversity on the live rock to reach maximum potential without any predation or competition with other tank inhabitants... "the good old days!"... in the modern era I suspect it would be unbelievable for a starting reef hobbiest to wait 6-12 months before they add a single fish, coral or invert to their tank!

Warm Regards,

[Sheol]

Originally Posted by intheb0x

3 clown fish, 3 damsels as my initial startup

I'm really new to salt water aquariums, too, but I just wanted to pitch in on the whole "3-striped damsels are aggressive" thing.

This is a picture of a new maroon clown after being added to my newly inherited tank which had a preexisting 3-striped damsel after only 2 days (most of his top fin gone, others sliced):


I caught (well, actually my brother caught) the little damsel on the 3rd day and gave him to my LFS, where he is still residing and ever so unhappy to see me (this only happened late last month):


Here's a YouTube video of the day I added 3 clowns to the damsel's tank (was told that adding the clowns the same day would minimize fighting - they seem to be doing fine):

YouTube Video

(Note that my tank has considerably less algae now.)

[ITeach2Wheels]

Stomatella snail!! Thanks Carmie, I thought I had read that name somewhere, I was just to lazy to find it again. I think I have two of them hanging around.

[CarmieJo]

Originally Posted by ITeach2Wheels

Stomatella snail!! Thanks Carmie, I thought I had read that name somewhere, I was just to lazy to find it again. I think I have two of them hanging around.

If you see 2 you probably have more. They are nocturnal and are broadcast spawners.

[ITeach2Wheels]

really?? Maybe I will contact DIBS if they keep it up. I bet they breed for everybody;D

[ITeach2Wheels]

Originally Posted by intheb0x

what issues did you have for adding stuff early?

I had a few issues, most of them were a result of inexperience. Here's a list with reasons.
First a little about my tank. I started it 11/09/'07, I added about 10# of very cured live rock. The cycle lasted about 2 weeks. I had my water tested a the LFS th check the accuracy of my tests. After about three weeks I started adding frags, then 2 baby clowns, an arrow crab and a peppermint shrimp, all before christmas.

Here are the issues:

1 I lost my first clown the second week of February. The second disappeared a couple of days later. I had gotten out of the habit of having the LFS test my water, because the tank had cured and everything was fine. The PH was 7.6!

2 I left the inhabitants in the tank, the arrow crab and shrimp died a few days later.

3 I finally figured out that I must have high CO2 in the basement bedroom where I have my tank.
I added an air stone driven by an air pump outside the window in fresh air. Now the PH stays over 8 during the day and 7.9 at night.


[quote=intheb0x;69703any deaths? [/QUOTE]
Just four, 2 clowns, an arrow crab and a shrimp

[quote=intheb0x;69703my nitrates are a tad lower after my recent water changes but im going to keep doing the changes until it levels off.[/quote]

The last thing is the size of the tank is also a problem. The tank isn't big enough to take new additions quickly. Also because all-in-one tanks are relatively new, most LFS employees don't have any real experience with them. Of course they are marketed to ies which only enhances any problems. There isn't enough capacity at first to take the bio load when the tank is new. My tank is finally leveled off after three months of running. Even now and little thing shows on the tests. I can't wait to see how much stable it will be in a year.

I also added a tube fuge a month ago to help supplement the filtration. I can't wait to see what grows in there.

I hope this all helps.

[CarmieJo]

Jeff, thanks for sharing from your experience. I think you are right on the money with your comments.

[ITeach2Wheels]

Wow! I just read what I wrote.....It was very late!! I wasn't drinking

Actually, I forgot to mention that the stock filtration is also a problem. I have completely gutted mine in an effort to filter the water more efficiently. Before I found TalkingReef I lurked at Nano-Reef.com. I found many great ideas and experiences from people who have these nano and even pico sized tanks, and keep them successfully long term. Most of my mods were inspired while reading the forums Nano-Reef.com.
I don't go there as much now that I've found a home here.

[intheb0x]

sheol, all those clowns together sound like trouble.
i heard the maroon clown is the most agressive. very pretty yes, theres one at my lfs and its amazing but the agressiveness i dont think is for me.
anyways i bought a denitrator and have 3 different kinds of macro algaes inside of my second chamber along with some live rock rubble. i seem to have some coraline algae growing inside the tank now.
i added a bunch of copepods also. everything seems to be doing well, besides my nitrates but they hover and go down with water changes.
now for your PH problem, couldnt you have added PH Up and wouldnt that of fixed your low ph issues?

[ITeach2Wheels]

Good morning!!
The problem I found with buffer type products is they alco change other parameters. For example, If I buffer heavily, my alkalinity goes through the roof, while my Ph only rises for a short time. I was adding buffer quantities for a tank 3x the size of mine, with only limited results. Keep in mind I was also doing 10% or more water changes every day! After adding the air stone my stabilized my PH. I still need buffer, but now it does what it' supposed to. I also notice my KH/Alk falling as the buffering capacity is used up.

The real cause of my issues is inexperience. I added to many "things" to a very small, young tank in to short of a time span. I bet most of the experience members of this boards could have gotten away with what I tried, simply because they have the experience to recognize a potential problem and correct it before it becomes a problem.

By the time I recognized that there was a problem, my tank's water chemistry was in the grip of a downward spiral that I didn't know how to correct.

I am happy about one thing.....after learning my salt water "lessons" on a small tank, the next larger one should be a piece of cake!!

[intheb0x]

seems like my ph is around 8.0-7.8