Reef Tank Newbie Questions

[TankGirl]

Hi all,

I am new to the reef tank hobby / addiction. My husband thought it would be a great way to spend quality time together... I think he thought that I would just be moderatly interested and let him have free-reign. Hee, hee, wrong move on his part! I am having WAY to much fun with this!

Tank Specs: Est. 1 June 2001 - 10g (supposed to be my husbands quarentine tank, but now it's my cool reef tank) with 10lbs of live sand, 10lbs of live rock. It has a heater, a whisper filter, regular flourecent lights and a powerhead. 2 hermit crabs, 2 false percula, 1 snail, 1 sally lightfoot crab, 1 sand sifter starfish and 1 peppermint shrimp

So, I will probably be asking a hundred more questions after this, but here are the first couple:

1. Is my whisper filter enough? It has been running for a little over a month and a half now and there has been no algae, aptasia or ammonia problems.

2. The temp is always hovering around 82ish degrees - is that ok?

3. When I blow off my rocks with a turkey baster (about 1 time / week) there seems to be a lot of junk that comes off... is this bad or normal?

4. All my creatures seem to be happy, but I still worry... How much should I be worrying?

Ok, that's it for now. Thanks for your help and I look forward to talking to you all!

[Wrasse Man]

Welcome Tank Girl!

The only question that I could answer off the top of my head is the one that you didn't ask.
"Is this tank too small for a sand-sifting star?"
If the star is the type that is white/cream/greyish and buries itself in the sand, then, yeah, probably.
They mainly eat the stuff that is growing in your live sand, and if the tank is too small, it will probably kill the sand. If you want a cool star, I would recomend the Fromia's. They are a cool red or orange, stay small, (2" approx) and eat the detritus on the rocks and sand.

Just my .02

Again, welcome!

[Drew]

Hi TankGirl, and welcome to TRT!

First I want to say one thing, the sand sifting star that you have will wreak havoc in such a snall tank. It will eat many of the small organisms which we try to keep in DSB's. I would consider removing him.

1. IMO yes, MAYBE. I have a pair of percs in a 20 with just a penguin 330 and they do fine...as long as water changes are done often. Such as every 2 weeks. But honestly I would recommend some type of skimmer, maybe a Prism or BakPak, good luck getting it to fit on the back

2. That temp is perfect, I try to keep mine between 81F and 83F

3. I used to blow off my rocks too and yes there would be a lot of stuff there. However, I have since learned that the stuff is best kept where it is, for the health of the fauna. I believe this was in Dr. Rons forum if anyone is interested. So I would recommend against blowing off the rocks.

4. If they look good, they probably are!

I'm sure many others have things to add also, and I'm waiting for some more opinions on #1. HTH

Drew

[TankGirl]

Hi guys!

Thanks so much for the info... Right after I got my sand-sifter I heard that it would sterilze my sand. I figure that once my husband's 90g tank is up and running I will move the sand-sifter over there. Thanks again for the great info and others, please reply with your thoughts!

[Drew]

While we are waiting for the others, I just want to say that you probably don't want a sand-sifting star in a 90 gal either, it can wipe out a sand bed fast.

Drew

[FishDaddy]

Hi TankGirl,

How great that you and your husband have this hobby to share! What sort of tank does he have?
What are your goals for this tank? Are you planning to add corals? If you are planning corals, a light upgrade will be in order. The small powercompacts do well for this size tank.
I agree with the other comments about removing the starfish. In such a small tank, there isn't much for hermits and Sally Lightfood to forage and they could become agressive, especially the hermits. You didn't mention snails but a good variety of Nassarius, Margarita and Trochus would give you good algae and detritus control.
Please read this article by Dr. Ron Shimek regarding hermits and snails: http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish/li...=&RecordNo=166

Many use Whispers or other powerfilters on small tanks but the filter media needs to be cleaned frequently.

For some good info on Nano Tanks, here are a couple of links, including our own founder, Brooke's web site: http://people.mn.mediaone.net/bearthman/reef.html http://home1.gte.net/rhe1/nanoreef/frindex.htm http://www.carlosreef.com/nano.htm
These sites will give you some insight into how others have handled the particular lighting, skimming, filtration, etc., problems of Nano Reefs.
Small tanks do have an even smaller margin for error in water quality so much attention has to be given to maintenance and husbandry.
Glad to have you with us,
Dick

[ 07-25-2001: Message edited by: FishDaddy ]

[TankGirl]

My husband's tank is a 90g. We are hoping that it will be up and running by October, but we are quickly realizing that this is a patience-teaching hobby! It will have MH lights, a TurboSomething (?) skimmer in a sump and pumps and powerheads. My job is the water chemistry and livestock, his job is mechanics and plumbing. Live rock and sand are after buying the skimmer. Originally my 10g was to be used as the quarentine tank, but I squashed that idea pretty quick!

[Drew]

I'm sure you will have a blast with both tanks. Could the skimmer be a Turbofloater?

[TankGirl]

Yes, that's it! It is a TurboFloater. Do you all think that it is a good skimmer?

[Alice]

Hi Tankgirl! Welcome to The Reef Tank.

Sounds like you're having a lot of fun Ditto on the sand sifter, and I wouldn't put it in the 90 either if you're going to have a deep sand bed (DSB). Take it back to the LFS. One other thing you might want to consider is the Sally Lightfoot. They get large and may decide to start munching on things in your tank. The Sally is a possible candidate for the 90, especially if it has algae problems but crabs are crabs and they will grab whatever food comes available when they get hungry.

The Whisper filter is fine, but if you're using the filter cartridge that came with the unit either use it very sparingly (one or two days a week) or throw the thing out and get some good SW grade carbon that you can put in a bag and put in the unit every so often. Get some other filter material and use it in likewise fashion. You need to clean/change that filter often, every day or close to it. Just lately I seem to have been having "senior moments" and leaving the filter in place. "Why am I getting cyano??" "Doh!!!" I left the filter media in the Whisper for 4 days and it's covered in gunk

Skimmers are helpful, even on small tanks but if you keep on top of water changes, feed lightly and don't overload the tank they can run as problem-free as larger tanks. When things start to go wrong in a little tank though, it moves fast! Keep a close eye on it (all the better to enjoy it!) and don't overcorrect problems in such a small volume of water. A 10-20% waterchange can fix a lot of ailments. One other thing, keep an eye on temperature. The temp you are running at is just fine, but again, with a small volume of water, ambient room temps can play havoc. If it gets hot in the room, the tank temp is gonna rise.

Have fun, glad to have you with us!

~Alice