• Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.

Next Step

C

concept3

Hey Ryan, when I drip acclimate, I simply place the guys still in the sealed bag in my sump or tank for about 15-20 minutes to make the temps equalize. Then, I open up the bags and place them in a bucket, water and all, and start a siphon with a piece of airline tubing until the water volume doubles. Place a knot in the tube to control water flow, I generally do this for about 20-30 minutes. I pour out half the water (not back in the tank), and do it again for a total of about an hour. It's a good idea to have some pre-made saltwater before you start of course.

Just remember though that coral/invert water may be different than fish water since some LFS's medicate their tanks housing fish and you don't want getting that mixed together; it's be bad for the corals
 
R

Ryan88

Well now Im thinking that I might just use my old 10 G tank for everything. Should I just use the drip for that? I think it'd be easier. Also can I put everyone in the same tank for the drip?
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

as long as the 10 gallon was never used with chemicals or treatment for any disease before. Like Copper (Copper will kill your inverts).

I've drip acclimated an entire clean up crew before. Ideally you'd have a drip for each bag. It's what - a few bucks for airline tubing?
 
P

poconofishy

Hi Ryan,
There are a few things you should do in preparation for your shopping trip. You should have extra saltwater made up as when you acclimate you will use water from your system and will likely need to add more before you're done. You should do all of your basic testing and know where your levels are. You should also get in the habit of taking a water sample to the store with you. Have the test your water and see if the results are consistant with what you got at home and make sure to test both your water and their water with a refractometer to determine the differences in salinity. The store is likely to keep the salinity in their fish only systems low, as it offers a degree of disease prevention, but you can't do this with your home system if you're keeping invertebrates, as the inverts are more sensitive to differences in salinity. The bigger the difference the more slowly you will want to acclimate. You should invest in your own refractometer soon (online for under $50). Swing arm hydrometers are notoriously inaccurate. In the winter you'll need a cooler and an instant heat pack, but will likely be fine now with just the cooler. After you're done with you're shopping you'll want to more or less go home. Transport is stressful, so don't make it longer than it needs to be, i.e. you can stop in pick up a prescription that's ready but I wouldn't be doing you're weekly grocery shopping with livestock in the car. Do the essential, not the unnecessary. As far as your shopping list goes:
1. I doubt you will find Stomatella snails, except maybe as hitchhikers, but if you do get 5 or 6 and establish your ow breeding colony.
2. Nassarius should be easy to find. But if you get hermit crabs they will attack and kill your snails. Perhaps 5 or 6. Water exchange acclimation should be ok if done gradually.
3. Cerith snails sometimes a little harder to find, but usually around. Again maybe 5 or 6. Water exchange acclimation should be ok if done gradually.
4. Is a 30 gallon tank, no more than a pair and they are very sensitive to changes in salinity. So you will need to drip acclimate them. Is not hard. I would dip acclimate by bag with the shrimp. Concept3 and others gave you some good advice here. And you can find more here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/acclimat.htm
5. Again I'm not a huge fan of crabs. If you get an Emerald crab I would only get 1 or 2 and get the smallest ones you can. They get bigger... they eat bigger... and not in a good way.
6. In a 30 gallon system with 2 cleaner shrimp, I would only get 2 peppermint shrimp. This is pushing it, but I think it is doable. Shrimp will fight amongst each other when crowded and then you end up with less shrimp. :eek:
7 Again I'm not a fan of hermot crabs. They will attach and kill your snails and can damage corals. I did not use them when I had my system up and running and I know many others who don't as well. Hermit crabs are particular damaging to LPS corals like member of the Euphyllia family (Bubble coral, hammer/anchor coral, frogspawn or torch corals) who have polyps that can be easily punctured. I would still advise against the hermits. I know a lot of people will disagree with me on this matter, but in my opinion, there are better ways to control algae especial in a system as small as yours, i.e. more frequent small water changes (the reason I gave you the link to that article) The crabs are more likely to capture your snails as prey as your footprint is quite small particularly with it being a 30 TALL.
8. Porcelain crabs (Neopetrolisthes/Petrolithes) are delightful, and reef safe, but in a system as small as yours it would likely starve to death. They feed on suspended planktonic food. I would absolutely not get one unless you have a refugium, and even then it would be hard to maintain adequate nutrient levels without overloading your system.
Hope that helps,
Michelle
 
P

poconofishy

Edward771 said:
Hey Michelle we need you around here more often your very knowledgeable. You coming on Sat? Sorry to Jack your thread.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure yet, I would like to, but I work night shifts so it depends on how I sleep/how I feel the day of the event. I know 1pm doesn't seem early, but you're 2.5 hours from me and 10 am is pretty early when you generally don't go to bed until 6 or 7am! :eek:
 
P

poconofishy

Phyl said:
Michelle is a contributor to WetWebMedia. Not only is she smart, but she also has a wealth of resources at her disposal! Thanks, Michelle!
Click to expand...
Thank you for the kind words Phyl. I'm always glad to help out where I can!
 
onefish2fish

onefish2fish

I'm not sure yet, I would like to, but I work night shifts so it depends on how I sleep/how I feel the day of the event. I know 1pm doesn't seem early, but you're 2.5 hours from me and 10 am is pretty early when you generally don't go to bed until 6 or 7am! :eek:[/quote]

lol. we share the same lives.
 
JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

Trop will test your water for you. They have salt and RO water up front. I used to use one for top off and the other for water change. They also sell refractometers I think I paid about 50 bucks for mine there. Pretty good quality.
 
R

Ryan88

Alright well I had someone help me there. Nice guy. I got 2 Peppermint shrimp. About 5 Turbo Snails- Small. And there 4 of some other type of snails, and 4 emeralds or something like that, Ill take pics later. But everyone is doing great!! Im very happy with the stuff. I dripped from about 1:30 to just past 3:30. So they were fully acclimated. I just need to get a refractometer.

**By accident today I picked up something called a REACTOR. I did buy it because I wanted to ask everyones opinion on what I should do, Ill take a pic of it later to and post everything together.**
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

yep - it's helpful to reduce nitrates. You'll need a feeder pump for it - I don't know if the salesperson sold you a pump also at trop.
 
R

Ryan88

Anyway, my cleanup crew is all hiding now so Ill get pics up whenever they are out next. But I would like to know what kind of fish I should be looking at to add next. I feel that corals are awhile away and that I shouldnt be concerned with lighting or anything like that NOW. I just would like a few more fish.
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

Avoid linkias/fromias - your tank is too small to properly care for a starfish. They are notorious for being delicate shippers and require a lot of LR and preferably a mature tank.

A serpent star or brittle star would be a great choice though. I had a red and green one (not the fish eater) and they would also fight over the silversides i'd toss down to them at night.
 
R

Ryan88

Well thats what I was thinking, JerseyWendy said I could get by with that kind of starfish. So if I can get by with my 1st time doing the drip method and getting all those inverts in my tank with no problems, I believe in myself that I could do it lol. But what about that reactor thing I got? Would the feeder thing be alot more money to get? And is it really worth keeping?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top