jus starting

[RMX]

hi there, im starting a 2ft marine tank. i got 5kg of coral sand and managed to get a thickness of abt 1" bed. the tank is in my room and can get as low as 21 deg with aircon up to 25 when aircon off. will there be any problems. rite now, the tank is empty and running the filter for 2 days, sg at around 1.023 . will be getting 1 or 2 fishes to help cycling. will that be fine? how much does live sand cost? is there anywhere that sells maybe 2kg, so that i can add on top of the coral sand to make it thicker. thanks

[Morgan]

I would suggest that you buy Live Rock to add into your tank during the cycling period. You cannot get live sand from the shop. Hold off buying fishes for the moment.

Temperature wise no problem but 21 is on the low side.

Lighting is important if you planning on corals.

[tigershark]

i think u r refering to your room temp rather than the water tem rite? ... if your room temp is 21~25 deg cel, your water temp could hit 24~26 deg cel easily with the help of a DC/AC fan blowing at the water surface.... but careful, u must keep your light some distance away from the tank as sudden increase of temp on your tank glass will break them easily.... especially after whole nite turning on the aircon, the tank glass turn very very cold.... colder than your water... and you on the light in the morning.... sudden change in temp.... if you dun believe, just take a cup made from glass... chilled it for 1 nite and pour in hot water.... see what will happen to the glass...

[hongqixian]

hi there, im starting a 2ft marine tank. i got 5kg of coral sand and managed to get a thickness of abt 1" bed. the tank is in my room and can get as low as 21 deg with aircon up to 25 when aircon off. will there be any problems. rite now, the tank is empty and running the filter for 2 days, sg at around 1.023 . will be getting 1 or 2 fishes to help cycling. will that be fine? how much does live sand cost? is there anywhere that sells maybe 2kg, so that i can add on top of the coral sand to make it thicker. thanks

Please don't use fish to cycle the tank! It's cruel. You can cycle it with live rock alone but remember to check the rock for animal pests before adding into your tank to minimize pests.

[kelstorm]

hongxian,

well, i do agree with u that to use fish to cycle is cruel.. but when it comes to the value of $$$ between fishes and LR, i would use a cheap fish to cycle... (i'm a poor student!!!) furthermore, i use mollies to cycle the tank.. it is even cheaper..

using LR to cycle.. if not done properly, the system might collapse.. this happened to me once when i first started out.. i used green chromis and a black molly (after converting it) to cycle my current tank and they are still swimming inside..

alternatively, what new aquatists can do is to ask from us, a handful of live sand to kickstart their system.. i gave some to my friends when they first started out.. for us, we can just top it up easily...

[RMX]

hi, actually the water temperature is 21 deg. water really damn cold when i put my finger in. my room temp seldom so cold as i canot tahan cold. hehe. normally room temp at 25 deg. will there be any adverse effects??

for the lighting, i will be using a 2ft 36w PL daylight. will get a FL blue if theres a need. shoud i top up my sand to 2" or leave it at 1"? if i add LR, do i jus put in on the sand, or necessary to have a 'rack' to support??

kel, u mentioned molly. is it the freshwater molly??

[Morgan]

Hi rmx

Guess there will be no adverse effect if temp does not fluctuate between 21 to 30 with light on and off.

Your lighting with 2 36W PL together 1 Actinic will be good enough.

Thickness of the sandbed (more than 3") will depend on whether you wand deep sand bed for filteration or just to make the tank look good/natural.

LR can just pile on top of the sand bed.

Cycling with a mollie can be done provided that you can find 1 that is already living in saltwater. If not then you have to slowly convert 1 from fresh to salt.

[ong]

No protein skimmer....nano setup? Not easy to maintain for a starter.....Anyway, I also disagreed using fish to cycle the tank. But if insist. Can go Changi breach and catch the small fishes there. Is easy to catch and all very hardy. I used to go there to catch these small fishes as live food from my marine tank.

[hongqixian]

Hi, kelstorm...

Actually in terms of $$$ I'm poorer than you:( My tank survives on my pocket money.... How old are you btw?

Pasir Ris Brackish Fishing pond has tons of guppies/mollies swimming around and easy to catch with a net. No payment for those needed! Just pretend to be a friend of one of the fishermen and scoop up little fish after the people who check rod tag come around(Maybe once an hour?) Perfect for cycling.

RMX, it's much easier to get a small air-operated skimmer. A word of caution, powerheads shred animals in such a tiny tank and generate quite a lot of heat(I somehow doubt you'll use them as heaters though!)

A deep sand bed in a tiny tank is not a good idea. You'll want as much space as possible. 1" is fine with a skimmer. But put the rocks before the sand for stability. And forget about 'sloping' like freshwater tanks use. It all levels out in the end.

[RMX]

thanks for the replies. where can i get cheap and good liverocks? average price?

[newdamsel]

Sealife at balestier sells LR at $6 per kg. Bukit timah is $8~~

[ECBM]

Farmmart in CCK n LCK neo tiew cres only $5

[kelstorm]

hongqixian,

me is 27.. but studying.. so, no income.. nevertheless, i would rather take the cheaper alternative than to have to risk wasting LR.. they are firstly, more ex.. and secondly, getting rarer..

furthermore, to save further, i use plastic buckets to elevate the rocks and form the base of the reef.. so that under those reef structure, it is filled with buckets or containers.. it also provide rooms for fishes to hide..

[RMX]

i went to sea life and got 2kg of live rocks for cycling. after putting the rocks in, noticed a tiny snail, a brown hairy looking worm, and many tubes looking things each with a pair of feelers. are these any harm and requires removal? if so, how to remove them?

[Morgan]

i went to sea life and got 2kg of live rocks for cycling. after putting the rocks in, noticed a tiny snail, a brown hairy looking worm, and many tubes looking things each with a pair of feelers. are these any harm and requires removal? if so, how to remove them?

What you need to remove are crabs and mantis shrimps from the LR if you see them. Keep the rest.

Another thing look out for Aiptasia anemone. Remove them without delay!!!

They spread like weeds if the conditions are good.

[RMX]

what do i feed the fish with? what do common fish like clownfish eat? do marine fish take discus flakes, hikari bloodworm/mysis shrimps or beefheart?

[Achilles Tang]

Looks like you have a lot of FW fish food left!

Well... in this hobby, mysis shrimps are commonly fed to SW fish.

Not too sure about beefheart, discuss flakes and bloodworms. I am sure they will be eaten but maybe they will refuse to eat them... i dunno.

Why don't you get stuff like brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, marine flakes, fresh seafood, seaweed etc for them?

It's much closer to their natural diet anyway.

[RMX]

i tried feeding with hikari blood worms which are ignored. also tried hikari mysis shrimps. the clown tried eating, but spat out. duno why also

[Achilles Tang]

Hmmm... maybe a Big Mac, fries and coke would be in order?

Just joking!

Seriously, no reason for them to reject mysis... everything in my tank eats that.. corals to fish to shrimps to crabs... heck, even the bristleworms too! heh!

[RMX]

i got some fish from the freezer to feed, but still dun wan to eat.

when they are starved, they will be more prepared to eat, rite?

[Morgan]

i got some fish from the freezer to feed, but still dun wan to eat.

when they are starved, they will be more prepared to eat, rite?

Check your water quality. 1 of the parameters may be off, stressing the fish.

If everything is OK than try live brine shrimps. This should get them to eat.

[RMX]

i fed mysis shrimp again. ate a bit, but very selective. duno choosing what also.

anyway, i saw a damn big worm, i think bristleworm, and 2 black hairy crabs hiding in the liverock. how do i get them out of there??

[Morgan]

Try to catch the crab out. Any method will do. Even removing the LR and use a stick to poke them out.

As for the worm, leave it but if you must use a tweezer.

Donot ust your hand. Bristleworm can sting can be painful,itchy or get infected.

[RMX]

i got 2 small crabs out after soaking the liverocks in high sg water. had to drag them out. duno still have anymore. the bristleworm still hiding in some hole. didnt come out at all.