new 10 gallon tank!

YOU NEVER CHANGED WATER!?!?!?!?!?!?! Ohh god, I am suprised everything you owned didnt die on you. You must change water and the more often you do it the better. In my 10 I normally change atleast a gallon and a half a week. Hydrometers are only a few bucks, you need to get one and fix that salinity ASAP! It is probably really high. Taje out some salt water and replace it with fresh but only do a little bit at a time because to big of a difference in salinity in too short of a time can start killing stuff. I would also start changing water in that tank, change a gallon every day this week, or change 25% for the next 3 days. Dont change too much water at once because that can be bad too.

 

Damsels do turn very dark at night. Mine becomes "invisible" inside his rock cave. It is normal behavior.
A Red Sea hydrometer will run you about $12.00 new. It's a plastic device with a floating needle that measures the buoyancy of water. Essential equipment.
The bubbles are not necessary in SW. Aereation is accomplished by surface exchange. Powerheads used to create flow/turbulence for corals and anemones (to wash away their excretion) will stir up the surface, much like in the ocean. I have a Hagen surface skimmer connected to a small nano power filter to skim the film off the surface to help, but this is not necessary if you have good movement. If you add a protein skimmer at some point, it will also oxygenate the water very richly.

Make your changes gradually. Superpede's plan is good. The damsel is about the hardiest fish there is, so he will probably be ok. Good luck!

 

I would hold off on returning the anemone until you slowly correct you salinity level. It might go into shock from going from high salinity level and I think you also said nitrate to another another tank where everything is low.

 

You can get away without doing frequent water changes. You would not be the first to do this
The reason for water changes in the saltwater environment is to replace the elements that are used by corals and other inhabitants. In large coral tanks with many hard corals they use up calcium at an alarming rate. Along with some other technical stuff. Your salt mix is suppose to contain the elements that are needed to keep your inhabitants happy. There are many companies that sell tank additives to supplement your salt mix if it is required or needed.
A good test kit is necessary to keep track of calcium, alkalinity, nitrates and ammonia.
Enjoy the ride

Jim

 

Coug,
The setup you have should be fine for a FO (Fish Only) tank, the anemone is not likely to survive and should be returned if it's not too late. Keep in mind that most of the people that post here are keeping reef tanks. A fish only tank and a reef tank are different. A fish only tank is a good place to start to learn about the intricacies of the marine hobby. Many people maintain FO tanks for years without ever upgrading to reef tanks and enjoy every minute of it. Try not to let a bunch of reefkeepers (or LFS employes for that matter) confuse you into thinking that you need to spend 500 dollars to set up a 10 gallon fish tank.

That being said, you should be able to maintain a nice FO tank with what you already have by practicing good housekeeping. Keeping the substrate clean, diluting pollutants, and replenishing trace elements can be as simple as using a gravel vac and changing about 5% of the water once a week. Many people will tell you that you should have a protien skimmer and I wouldn't argue with them one way or the other. Don't waste your money on any of the myriad of additives avaiable on the market, most are useless, many are harmful, and a few that are useful require special testing that most of us don't do anyway. Make you sure you understand what/how/why you're doing what you're doing when you start tinkering with the pH.

Just make sure you select peaceful, easy to keep fish that don't get too big and check a compatibility chart before you buy. Try not to over stock and/or over feed the tank. It should be fine.

Don't be discouraged by those that would try to have you believe that you made a big mistake and that you need to start all over. Keep what you have and do your homework and use some common sense and you can make it work.

Good Luck!
Ted

PS. If I've offended anybody, well you're just too sensitive! ;D My intention is to encourage Coug to stick with it and not get discouraged. Maybe some others that have or have had FO tanks could offer a few words of encouragement as well.

 

Heck, Red, I was trying to encourage him to keep a low cost 10 gal reef like mine!

A fish only tank is a good way to get started, as Redbeard says.

 

Actually, FO tanks can be really cool and I agree with Red. I wouldn't mind having some Lions down the road as a species specific tank. However, coug seems to be going in the reef direction already, and I think that's why everyone was saying what they said. Reef tanks can get costly, but the visual reward is plenty worth it. Coug, you came to the right place to get all the advise and knowledge you need. I second the motion that maybe a complete redo is not in order, but there seems to be some cleanup at hand. As for the damsel changing color, all my fish do that at night. They all get pretty pale. It's pretty cool to notice. Someone correct me if I'm wrong tho, but aren't you supposed to have about 1 fish per 10 gallons in saltwater? If so, a 10 gallon tank you could keep maybe 2 small fish...but I could be wrong, I don't know the different rules with nanos as far as that goes. As for water changes...hehe, well before I really got my reef going at full speed, my tank would go 6 months or more without a water change, just top offs. When you get a hydrometer, you want your Specific Gravity to be at about 1.023-1.025. Don't worry Coug, I made a million horrific decisions, and it's all just a learning experience. At least you are getting help from a group that has a plethora of experience and knowledge, as I just did my own thing and learned the hard way. Keep at it, you will be glad you did.

 

He's got a yellowtail damsel. With a territorial fish like that, the damsel should be the one and only in a 10... The rest can be inverts, etc. (again, spoken from personal experience with a 10 gal reef).

 

More news...

I turned the light on in my tank today and out of the corner of my eye saw something stuck to the side of the glass. I took another look and realized it was a very tiny starfish. Never bought one so I assumed it came/grew out of a live rock that I had. Way cool. So I watch it move around the tank throughout the day and think hey that's pretty cool.

On another note I went to the store again today to get some frozen fish food (mysis shrimp) and to hit up one of the guys there for some info as well. I told him my story about having a new tank and that the store I had gone to before just sold me an anemone and didn't say much about it. I told him, yah they never told me I needed a 4 thousand dollar lighting system to go with my anemone, that would have been nice to know. He said this store would have never sold it to me if they had known my setup. He was in agreement that more than likely the anemone will die without the 64 watt hood unless I get lucky. But generally for a saltwater fish only tank what I have will probably work for now. Ok, I can agree with that cause the damsel looks fine and it's been 2 months.

He mentioned a protein skimmer and water changes. And I thought... well I think I'll see what happens and hold off on trying to build or buy a protein skimmer. And I told him aside from needing some fish food I was interested in buying another damsel and/or maybe a little bit more live rock. He asked me how many pounds of live rock I had in there now, I said between 4 and 6. He said well live rock helps filter/cycle the water and without a protein skimmer a little more rock would help. He said for a tank that size ideally 10 pounds per 10 gallons. Does that mean for a 100 gallon saltwater tank you'd need 100 pounds of coral/live-rock?

So I bought some more live rock and after he wrapped it up I mentioned getting another damsel. He said, I'd add the rock, wait a week, and then add another damsel if you want to. Safely for a tank that size 2 small fish would be do-able. He also said damsel's are very territorial so you might have trouble adding another damsel in at this point. The best thing to do is introduce them all at once. I've heard this same thing before with freshwater fish. I've also heard of ways to get around it... take the fish out that's in it now, move the coral around a bit and then introduce all the fish to the tank again at once. Theoretically that would work, MAYBE. Thoughts??

I have another question... I get home unwrap the newspaper from the live rock I bought and on the inside of one of the large pieces I see this dark greenish perfectly round sphere stuck to the inside of a pit in the rock. I look at it and think.. I've never seen anything like that, the first thing that came to mind was a pearl because that's the size of it. It's too big to be a fish egg. If it's a pearl why would it be stuck to some random live rock. I thought they only came from clam shells. I didn't try to knock it off yet cause I have no idea what it is. But then again I don't know what it could be so I don't want it to come out during the night and attack my fish or something. I know not all pearls are white too. Because there are what's called "Black Tahitian Pearls", and "Platinum pearls".

I'm gonna try to get a picture of it to show you guys.

I love this live rock stuff, it's like getting christmas presents or something, you never know what's gonna be in it. That's fantastic!