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Post by CJayeS on Dec 21, 2012 22:38:04 GMT 11
Set up a new saltwater tank for a pressie for someone.
had a look at hunter pets stock and i was thinking of getting a few green chromis, two clownies and a mandarin fish.
Think they would live together well? pet shop owner didn't object.
Already got some cleaners in the tank, snails, sea cucumber and hermit crabs.
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yanke
Moderator
Posts: 436
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Post by yanke on Dec 22, 2012 9:09:59 GMT 11
hi with a new saltwater tank u have to wait a long time before putting in more fish and u have to look at the size of the tank also to what u want in there the best thing for saltwater it to be slow and test the water alot and u do not want to over stock the tank
yanke
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Post by oldmate on Dec 23, 2012 21:56:37 GMT 11
As yanke said take your time. cromis and clowns are hardy first fish but I would be holding back on the mandarin they can be tricky. They eat mostly Copepods and macropods so it's best to have them in a tank that's well cycled and producing a good amount of them to keep them living happily.
How big is the tank, filtration, how long is it been cycling and how much live rock is there
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Post by CJayeS on Dec 24, 2012 9:01:22 GMT 11
The tank has been cycling for 2 weeks and there is around 2 kg of live rock. Thanks for info, guess i wont get the mandarin fish until they got the hang of running the tank.
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yanke
Moderator
Posts: 436
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Post by yanke on Dec 24, 2012 11:31:02 GMT 11
how big is the tank i think u need more then 2kg of live rock i think its 1kg for 10 lites of water i maybe wrong and how much water trun over do u have and what kind of filter do u have running yanke
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Post by CJayeS on Dec 24, 2012 16:05:22 GMT 11
tank holds about 35 litres, (small tank) dont have measurements on me at the moment. basic sponge/canister filter.
water trun?
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yanke
Moderator
Posts: 436
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Post by yanke on Dec 24, 2012 17:14:54 GMT 11
yes how much water are u trunning over in the tank like how many liters a hour is your filter doing yanke
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Post by firthy13 on Dec 25, 2012 9:04:44 GMT 11
for a 35 litre tank you will not be able to keep a few green chromis, two clownies and a mandarin fish. firstly you only have 2 kg of live rock. thats not even close to enough rock to support enough bacteria to breakdown the amount of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate that system will produce. secondly that mix of fish will end in quiet a few deaths. as mark said, mandarin fish feed on copepods, the most effective way to produce a decent amount of them it to have a refugium in your sump. being a 35 litre tank, i doubt your going to have a sump on it. secondy clowns are bloody aggressive. i have two clowns(false percula) in my 35 litre, about 4cm, and one of them is going really well, other has been on death row for 6 months unfortunately. a 1 ft cube is just too small for a pair. and the green chromis need to be kept in school of about 6 minimum. they grow to about 8 cm. canister filter on marine tanks are a disaster waiting to happen. they end up turning in to nitrate factories. your live rock will do all your biological filtration for you, so you dont really need media. i use an aquaclear hang on filter will filter floss in it to remove suspended particles. also have you thought about how you are going to control your phosphates and silicate? your going to need to use some type of GFO (granulated iron oxide) to remove phoshates as your tank is to small to run a skimmer that would normally do this job. rowaphos or chemipure are good for this. as per water turn over. it relates to the amount of circulation you have in tank. the general rule is to have 20 X the tank volume turnover. so 35L x 20 = at least 700L/ph. but currently on my 35L i am turning over about 1500L/ph.
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Post by fisshy on Dec 26, 2012 15:04:13 GMT 11
Why not pull all media out of cannister filter an fill it up with small or broken up live rock an how about a sponge over intake on cannister pipe an clean it once a week to stop large anything goin in to filter
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Post by firthy13 on Dec 26, 2012 17:21:12 GMT 11
that is how you create a nitrate factory. detritus gets caught in the live rock in the canister where it can not be consumed by your clean up crew(snails, shrimp, starfish, hermit crabs) and will continue to foul your water quality until it is removed. canisters are really not ideal for marine tanks. it will works for a short period of time but once the tank matures it will accelerate the onset of old tank syndrome, increase frequency of maintenance and will result in fluctuating and unstable water parameters.
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