"The Hobby" as seen by a beginner

Hey man.....what's wrong with the Coral Banded Shrimp? Besides attitude. And more attitude. Did I mention attitude? They are tough little buggers. Really tough. I have owned two. One in the '90s that was the sole survivor of a tank left to die (my wife left the slider open in our apt for four days (both of us were gone) in the middle of winter). And the one I have now has survived having both it's pincers removed (I did not do a good job transferring it from tank to tank). I think they are cool.

 

My small piece of advice is build yourself a sump/refugium instead of other filtration systems. I researched filtration for quite some time before I got my tank, yet I never asked anyone that was currently in the hobby (except my lfs). My research led me to wet/dry filters being the most recommended which my lfs also highly recommended. That was 10 months ago and I'm ready to tear out my $300 wet/dry and make my own sump/refugium with a cheap 20gal tank...

just my two cents

 

yep a fuge is also another really good filter with maximum benefits and very little cons

 

After 6 months of running my tank started having a constant 20-40ppm nitrate problem. I have been led to believe that a fuge will solve this (with some cheato of course).

 

I kind of stand in the middle of what I read.. I learn as much as I can and try to make a stand on what I think from all the info I have gathered will work best.

I'm new to the reef tank but have done a ton of research. I gathered what everyone has done the success and faliures and try to run that fine line. I started a small tank 34gal. It came complete with everything needed just and water, sand and fish.

What I see that is a must that most people talk about is slow and easy. Setup the tank right meaning "Good Water" Let it cycle "Add just one Fish" let it go somemore. And something else leave it alone. Everything points back to time. If you make achange make a small change not a big change. Remember this is a very fragile system and changes effect everything.

Also what I have learned is don't skimp on quality. Yes you pay more now but when you loose live stock over cheep stuff you just paid for the better model. So point is,,, always go the extra mile when it comes to quality.

So for me this is how I looked at.
1. Budget (How much tank and time could I afford)
2. DO I want fish or reef or both?
3. Set the system up and walk away from it and let it do it's thing.
4. Test water and log everything you do in a book.
5. Slowly add a fish or two.
6. check water and leave tank alone.
After some time you will see how your tank is growing or not and make adjustment. The 2 cheep fish you bought will not be a great loss if something happens. And if something does happen then you lear how to fix it and don't let it happen again.

 

found it

Nederlands en Belgisch ZeewaterDatabase

 

I don't recommend using the cheap fish to cycle for various reasons. I think I've already stated them a few times around this forum. You can use liverock, some substrate from an existing tank or the raw shrimp thing, which I haven't tried and you can google.