Loosing fish??

[fliberdygibits]

Ok, rather than bang my head against the wall over this.....

When I started this new tank cycling I intended to purchase a piece at a time the parts I needed to set it up right, but then found myself unemployed and unable to do that. Now I am working again and a decision was made tonight to go out after work tomorrow (wife and I) and purchase a new tank and to take this opportunity to also incorporate a sump and a DSB, and to purchase another 15 or 20 lbs of LR.

After we set the tank up, we found out that a small sump would not fit in the doors of the stand, so we will take this chance to install that as well as to properly paint the back of the tank. We are also purchasing several other key parts that in the absence of money we tried to make due with.

I currently have the remaining fish, snails and crabs all the LR and most of the live sand moved to a small 10 gallon tank that was NOT exposed to "Our son dumped something in the tank" Since this is done, doing frequent large water changes will no longer involve toting RO water a few gallons at a time every time I want to perform a change. I can keep enough water on hand for several changes. I am going to let them (1 damsel, 2 snails, 2 teeny tiny crabs and 1 shrimp) stay in the 10 gallon, keeping a close eye on conditions, and I will take much more care in setting up the main tank.

Thanks everyone for the input, and if anyone has any suggestions, advice or tricks of the trade to pass on (particularly about the DSB) I would love to hear it.

Thanks

[fliberdygibits]

Can that super porous lava rock intended for freshwater be used as base rock in a saltwater tank. My only concern was that it looks so different, but it would be covered up anyhow. Would it be good for bacteria "habitat"?

Thanks

[Doug1]

Now that you have made the decision to start fresh, plan it out and check, check and recheck the plan hat size tank are you getting, will it be drilled, what size return, ect. How will yo plumb it, these are all things to hash out ahead of time.
Seting it up in the garage with freshwater while you dial in the plumbing issues is a good idea.
What ever you do, dont get in a rush : thke your time and do it right. Contact several of he many successful reefers nearby and look at a lot of tank setups, figure out what you want and can afford, go from there. If need be swap or adopt out what you have now and plan it out carefully, it pays in the long run

[fliberdygibits]

Yeah, after setting this tank up I started to look around at some of the other reefers and realized that there were dozens of things I could have done differently/better, but I was convinced that since the tank was up and running I couldn't make the corrections. Now I get my chance, I just wish I hadn't killed off fish to get here.

Thanks all for the input.

[Brooke]

Well good for you on the decision to start fresh. It would be very interesting indeed to find out what the child placed in the tank!

Can you place the sump in from the top of the stand or the back of the stand? We had to remove the middle support of out 135g to get the tank in there. We put the support back in place once the sump was in. The damsel and crabs should be fine in the 10g with some live rock and maybe weekly water changes. Just top off with fresh water regularly to avoid a large salinity change.

For the new tank, I would recommend at least a 75g. DSB's are easy. Use a fine grain aragonite to a depth of 3-6". We have about 4.5 inches in our reef. The big three expenses, besides the tank and stand are lights, live rock, and a skimmer. Look for used equipment if you can't afford the top of the line....but buy good equipment. I can't stress that enough. Otherwise, you'll end up with a closet full of seaclones and skilters .

Oh...I wouldn't use lava rock. There isn't anything like good quality live rock to boost the tank with bacteria and critters!

Let us know how we can help!

Brooke

[Doug1]

Some people have used lava rock, wwith mixed success. If there are metals and bad stuff chancs are it will take a long time to manifest, so at some point when things are starting to look good(i.e. lots of $ in the tank) a graduall decline can start to happen. Even using calcium based lace rock or tufah is not without risk,FWIW. Overall in the scheme of things saving a couple $$$$$ now compared to the investment in a decent tank and livestock is false economy

[fliberdygibits]

I just figured I have some lava rock already and if it would work for base I would use it. But I will pass, just to be on the safe side.

Thanks.

[Green Chromis]

Hello Fliberdygibits, good luck with the new tank. You did the right thing in starting with a new system. How big will the new tank be? One last thing please take your time.

[fliberdygibits]

Space constraints (apartment) prohibits much larger than the 29 that I had, so we are staying with the same size. And actually, I spent probably 1 1/2 hour today at Seahorse NW speaking to woody. He is great, he pointed out several things I could do differently, he suggested how we could avoid buying a whole new tank, he was a veritable fount of good information. Our tank is now drained and thus begins the process of starting again, with all the kinks worked out. Thanks to woody and all the others who recommended him. Now it's my turn, if you live in the Portland Oregon area, Seahorse NW is fantastic. Check them out.

See ya'll on the flip side

[Green Chromis]

Hi Fliberdygibits, I live in Miami, Florida, if I'm ever out there again I'll check them out, again good luck with the new tank.