My First Tank (60L)

[little_fish]

Dont worry about seeing the fish right when the lights come on, fish do have bed times and when they get out the bed

 

[RockStacker]

Cute clowns. I do hope they get along fine as they get bigger.

A quick warning about your heater though, check with the manufacturer if it is ok to set it up horizontally. Most are ok, but some heater brands are not designed to operate horizontally.

 

[TBrewerton]

just checked the booklet it came with, it says its fine in any position unless the top is out of the water then it need to be vertical - so should be all good :-) Cheers!

 

[TBrewerton]

So the 2 clowns are on their third day now and still looking great, my only concern is whether they are eating enough... People say as a beginner its very common to over feed... The lfs said to feed them 1/4 of a block of frozen food every second day the cube of food is about 1cmx1cmx.5cm

On monday afternoon i gave them there first piece, they pulled and tugged at it as it was sinking but once it hit the bottom they ignored it - it looked virtually untouched. Today was their second feed time and the same thing happened again..

Should i maybe feed the same quarter amount but broken into much smaller pieces and gradually or what?

I went to the lfs again today to return the bacteria stuff which they were fine with, was going to get some snails etc with the credit but according to the shop its illegal to import them into NZ now! So I went with a hermit and may get a brittle star and shrimp in a week or so.

The hermit is so cute, I had an outbreak of brown algae over night - sand was covered he's sitting there slowly eating and spitting out the sand! doing a great job!

I purchased a second heater so will make a batch of water overnight ready for a change tommoro - hopefully a couple of changes will get on top of the algae issue :-)

 

[little_fish]

Clowns wont eat the food once it hits the bottom, so most people thaw the food first and then squirt the food into the tank with a turkey baster. Also brine shrimp isnt very nutritious, its more like fish candy. You should get a variety of different foods and rotate through them, variety is the spice of life and key to good nutrition

 

[TBrewerton]

Cool thanks Hannah!

Wow was just looking at live aquaria to see the care needs for the crab.... .80c for a hermit from there.... We get ripped off big time herein New Zealand!!!

I paid $61.50 NZD

about $48.95 USD for my crab

so I looked up the price of my clowns on live aquaria...

On live aquaria 29.99USD

I paid 87.60 NZD or 69.70 USD

ouch

 

[Kelz88]

Ouch, you think it would be cheaper, being right in the tropical ocean!

The tank looks great though, and remember you need something to stir the salt for 24 hours as well along with the heater.

 

[little_fish]

Wow! You might want to do some research on local collection laws, but if you do decide to collect locally, be 100% sure you know what you are collecting and that it can live in your tank. Once you collect a creature from the ocean, you can never return it.

 

[TBrewerton]

So i just brought a refractometer, was just using one of the bobbing up and down salt meters previously, I placed some distilled water on the plate to calibrate to 0 then placed some of my tank water on it, it is reading quite high... The bobber says its good at around 1.024 where as the meter is saying its at 1.03. At the bottom of the screen when looking through it is shows the temp as 20 degrees and I don't think it changes at all, does that mean i should bring my test sample down to that temp to get a more precise reading? My tank sits at 25 degrees

20D = 68F
25D = 77F

Any help appreciated! Also if that is a correct reading am i best to just change it very slowly over a few days by adding fresh water?

 

[little_fish]

Yes, you do need the calibration sample and the tank sample to read at the same temp. Some refractometer calibrate for the difference in temperature. If not, you need to figure out if the samples need to be at 20C to be read correctly or if that is the temperature of the same at that time. Depending on that will change how you do your readings

 

[TBrewerton]

Just a quick picture, the fish have been in the tank for 8 days now, and still looking happy.

I added my powerhead yesterday which sent them a little skits, but I think they are adjusting to it now.

The refractormeter says the ambient room temperature needs to be 20 Degree - not the sample taken...

 

[little_fish]

In that case either warm up your calibration sample to tank temperature or cool down your tank sample to room temp, i personally would do the first.

And the clowns are adorable!

 

[TBrewerton]

Cool, thanks Hannah, thats what I was thinking of doing but wasn't sure if it would effect my results, so thanks again for the great advice!

 

[charlieB]

cool pic of your clowns looks nice dude!

 

[Droskie20]

nice clowns :D i love those fishys :sfish::sfish::sfish:

 

[TBrewerton]

Thanks guys!

 

[TBrewerton]

So I am thinking of taking out the T5 and replacing it with one of these.

Ecoxotic Panorama Marine LED Light Fixture

It will "just" fit inside my canopy stretching the entire length.

Any thoughts?

That should give me sufficient lighting for soft corals at least right?

 

[little_fish]

I think that would also work for LPS corals on such a small tank, but it can be hard to tell with some of the LED fixtures until the have been used on a tank to see what they can handle.

 

[TBrewerton]

Thanks Hannah, Yea I will prob just start with some softies and see how they like it, if they are all good then I might give some LPS a go later down the track.

Gotta get the light first :( Car repairs and then i can get it haha - how dare other things in life take priority from the tank haha

 

[little_fish]

hahaha, yes it sucks when that happens