A Time for "Reef" flection...hah

Yea, sorry about the bad pun lol, I couldn't help myself. So I have entered a period of reflection having lost all of my three fish to ich. I now have the anemone and shrimp. So I am left with the conundrum, what now? Well, I think I am going to take this time to rethink what kind of inhabitants I would like to have in the future, and maybe get some corals. I never did get around to getting any, so I will probably be looking around the forum a little more to get some ideas of what i want/can have. I think I'm going to let it sit for about 6 weeks before getting any new fish (or at least before introducing them), and possibly invest in a UV, although I'm pretty broke at the moment. But I think i would probably be ok to get a few corals after some research. I'm kind of excited to take this step, so wish me luck! I'll keep you guys updated with questions and if I get any new additions. Thanks to anyone who gave me advice during the ich crisis!

 

Once you start with corals you will never look back. If you are strapped for cash, I would suggest only getting frags or seeing if anyone in your area/reef club will donate a frag or two. Good luck with your new path.

 

GL!! Can't wait to see what you pick for coral! What kind of lights are you running?

 

Wish you the best of luck!!

 

Sorry for your loss. I felt the same way as you when I lost my fish to ick a few weeks ago. But then I had to reflect on exactly what went wrong before I got discouraged and drifted away from this hobby. The answer was simple. I didn't quarantine. I had a "I'll take my chances/it probably won't happen to me" thought pattern. Well it did. Like you, I lost all my fish. There was nothing or non one to blame but myself, so my ego kicked in and I took this personal and I'm now determined to have a successful tank.

I took this time to research how and why the quarantine process should be done and what I could do with a tank that has a parasite waiting for it's next victim. 6-8 weeks seemed to be the recommended fallow period to wait. Some say shorter, some say longer, but looking around the web that time period seemed to what most people said worked for them. I took this time to get a 10 gallon QT set up and cycled while researching what type livestock I would want in the future. So I moved on from a FOWLR to a reef system to pass the time all the while research what preventative things I should do for inverts before introducing them to my DT. Once the QT stabled out I got a new fish to QT for 4 weeks. This pretty much ate up the 8 week fallow period and so far so good (figure crossed) it's working out for me and if your interested I think it could work for you to.

+k good luck!

 

good luck! what are your specs?

 

Ain't that the truth. My wife likes the fish. I love the corals. They are, along with the inverts, the most interesting part of the tank.

Great question. Corals are light demanding (most of them). Be sure you are running T5s or MH. PCs are not recommended.

 

HO T5, I have a nova extreme, it says 48 watt but I think that the energy output is twice that in the nova extreme setup. Had them for a year and it brought my anemone back from the dead, so they must be pretty decent. So I guess any beginner corals I can get within those specs.

Funny you should say the researching the Q process Tron, b/c thats exactly what I was going to do! I did the freshwater dip with the female clown and it went well it just was more temporary than i thought. The step by step guide (which I was told here is a very good one) is actually for the Quarantine process. So I think I'm going to plan on Dipping, quarantining, and disease (preventative) treatment before adding. All in all it shouldn't be that difficult. And meanwhile I can stay occupied with picking out some corals