First Tank - 16gal BioCube!

[SaltyShel]

I guess there was junk back there he could snack on. No idea how he lived without heat but he was just fine.

That’s pretty cool to know though, it’s always good to learn new stuff, now you can tell people who are worried about their zebra hermits that they’re gonna be okay (depending on the situation)!!

 

[Jedi1199]

This is much easier of a process than what that LFS guy said. He literally made me question people who own fish stores lol. That does make sense though, and I’ll read through some of Brandon’s posts. I saw you tagged him earlier. I will certainly do what you suggested and post my process! Is there a special rip clean I need, or how much should I buy?

There is no "special" rip-clean. It is what I said..

You should not need to buy anything more than a couple clean 5g buckets. 1 to hold the fish and inverts (think improvised holding tank) heater, powerhead/wavemaker.. something to generate current... You should have those already. 1 to hold the rocks, and 1 to wash the sand

You want to keep your holding bucket at tank temp for obvious reasons. You want some current to avoid hot and cold spots.

Now, that said.. I don't know if it is in your budget or if you have the space to get an RODI (reverse osmosis/deionization) water filter. It is generally accepted that this is almost as important to reef keeping as air is to us. I don't know that this is true, but it DOES make it easier!! Most of us, make our own SW rather than buy from a store. It is far easier to control the variables that way.

If you do go that route, be aware of the absolute must haves... The filter itself, needs to produce 0 TDS (total dissolved solids) They can be found on Amazon for a reasonable price. You need a source for water. Washing machine cold water supply is a good one, and a drain for the waste water. Again, the laundry room is good for that. Then you need something to collect the clean water.. 20-32 gallon plastic cans work great for this.. If you can, get the wheeled dolly made for these cans so you can move it around easily. Also, you will need a TDS checker.. you can find these on Amazon also at a reasonable price.

If you thought you were just going to take in a free reef tank and not spend money, I am sorry to burst your bubble.... This is NOT a hobby for the wallet impaired....

A little research and you should avoid the money traps that many fall into.

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Oh I got it, I looked and I do see the false floor. I kind of shined my flashlight in there but didn’t see anyone swimming around. Just some sand, I guess. It looks more grey than sand though

Could be anything. That’s just my only thought about where he could go that you wouldn’t find him if he was alive. Also attached are shots of my zebra hermit.

 

[SaltyShel]

There is no "special" rip-clean. It is what I said..

You should not need to buy anything more than a couple clean 5g buckets. 1 to hold the fish and inverts (think improvised holding tank) heater, powerhead/wavemaker.. something to generate current... You should have those already. 1 to hold the rocks, and 1 to wash the sand

You want to keep your holding bucket at tank temp for obvious reasons. You want some current to avoid hot and cold spots.

Now, that said.. I don't know if it is in your budget or if you have the space to get an RODI (reverse osmosis/deionization) water filter. It is generally accepted that this is almost as important to reef keeping as air is to us. I don't know that this is true, but it DOES make it easier!! Most of us, make our own SW rather than buy from a store. It is far easier to control the variables that way.

If you do go that route, be aware of the absolute must haves... The filter itself, needs to produce 0 TDS (total dissolved solids) They can be found on Amazon for a reasonable price. You need a source for water. Washing machine cold water supply is a good one, and a drain for the waste water. Again, the laundry room is good for that. Then you need something to collect the clean water.. 20-32 gallon plastic cans work great for this.. If you can, get the wheeled dolly made for these cans so you can move it around easily. Also, you will need a TDS checker.. you can find these on Amazon also at a reasonable price.

If you thought you were just going to take in a free reef tank and not spend money, I am sorry to burst your bubble.... This is NOT a hobby for the wallet impaired....

A little research and you should avoid the money traps that many fall into.

Lol I definitely thought it was a tad cheaper because my dad has a BioCube 32 and i just believed him. He said I shouldn’t spend more than $50 in a year… he said to feed my fish once a week , water changes every 2 weeks, and to reuse this little cut up piece of whatever it is for the filter - just wash it every so often. He said he ran my tank for 6 months on the same dirty filter, so no wonder it’s got problems… and my tank is lacking a lot of stuff too because he didn’t feed my fish enough. A week is too long, he probably was starving. My dad used to make custom SW tanks and filters, even tore down a wall in his house in the 90s to put a huge tank in with tangs and whatever else. So the fact he has given me so much bad information is kind of upsetting. He kept telling me my tank is fine and not to touch anything, not to do anything, but yet here I am with problems and I don’t want to barely scrape by, I want this to be correct.
As far as finances go, I can’t spend $500+ every week lol but if I need to do something I can definitely take the needed steps to do it. Problem is - I live in a pretty small apartment, so I don’t have the space to put all these big tank supplies. I’m hopefully moving into a much bigger space early next year, so I can do more at that time, but certainly won’t have space for a 30 gallon drum in my living room lol

 

[SaltyShel]

Could be anything. That’s just my only thought about where he could go that you wouldn’t find him if he was alive. Also attached are shots of my zebra hermit.

Aww yes he’s very cute. How do you know if he’s a zebra hermit? Is it because his legs are blue

 

[Jedi1199]

Lol I definitely thought it was a tad cheaper because my dad has a BioCube 32 and i just believed him. He said I shouldn’t spend more than $50 in a year… he said to feed my fish once a week , water changes every 2 weeks, and to reuse this little cut up piece of whatever it is for the filter - just wash it every so often. He said he ran my tank for 6 months on the same dirty filter, so no wonder it’s got problems… and my tank is lacking a lot of stuff too because he didn’t feed my fish enough. A week is too long, he probably was starving. My dad used to make custom SW tanks and filters, even tore down a wall in his house in the 90s to put a huge tank in with tangs and whatever else. So the fact he has given me so much bad information is kind of upsetting. He kept telling me my tank is fine and not to touch anything, not to do anything, but yet here I am with problems and I don’t want to barely scrape by, I want this to be correct.
As far as finances go, I can’t spend $500+ every week lol but if I need to do something I can definitely take the needed steps to do it. Problem is - I live in a pretty small apartment, so I don’t have the space to put all these big tank supplies. I’m hopefully moving into a much bigger space early next year, so I can do more at that time, but certainly won’t have space for a 30 gallon drum in my living room lol

HAHA I totally understand the space issues!! You have a small tank.. Like I said, that makes maintenance an upmost important issue.. You will want to devote at least an hour per week for water changes and testing. I would test the top parameters at least every other day on a tank that small. Keep a journal. It may come in handy sometime.

16g tank, you wont need to make more that 5g a week for water changes. If you have a laundry nook, a 5g bucket will work and be out of the way. Just make sure to not fall asleep while filling it or you will flood the room (don't ask me how I know this fact)

If that is not an option, get a good TDS meter and check out the grocery store vending machine water. If you get 0 TDS, go with it.. Distilled water is another but more expensive option.

 

[Aqua Man]

The Rip-clean I did on my 32g worked flawlessly and eliminated ALL of the issues I had with that tank in one fell swoop. The bacterial bloom I had later was my own fault due to a situation I could not avoid.

I must be missing something here, not seeing a reason for a Rip clean. Rocks are not covered in Alga or cyano. Sand bed looks ok too.

He kept telling me my tank is fine and not to touch anything, not to do anything, but yet here I am with problems and I don’t want to barely scrape by, I want this to be correct.

Deep breath! The only pest you have mentioned is the Aptaisia. All the other critters are good! Just be careful not to touch a bristle worm when having hands in the tank.

Sounds like you have at least one good LFS nearby, Fantastic! If someone told me to nuke my tank because of a couple minor pests I’d walk away and not go there again!

Lol I definitely thought it was a tad cheaper because my dad has a BioCube 32 and i just believed him. He said I shouldn’t spend more than $50 in a year… he said to feed my fish once a week , water changes every 2 weeks, and to reuse this little cut up piece of whatever it is for the filter - just wash it every so often.

Once the tank and equipment is purchased, then livestock. The cost of upkeep for a small tank like is yours is not much. I have a 2, 20 gallon tanks and besides electricity the only ongoing costs is fish food and salt. Big bucket of salt lasts a long time though!!

 

[coralfishreef]

Welcome!

 

[astiesi]

Just a slightly different perspective on your situation.

There is some good news here. The inhabitants of the tank are alive and you haven't mentioned any I'll effects on the fish or urchin. To me, this means this isn't an emergency type situation.

Also in the good news section here, is you seem super willing to learn all you can to be successful. Another important element to the situation.

My recommendation would be to just address one thing at a time. Start off with working on the water chemistry. Get yourself into a good water change routine, slowly bring that salinity up, and monitor the tank over a few weeks while doing so. Just doing quality, weekly water changes on that size tank will make a noticeable difference.

Once you get that done, move on to the first pest you want to address. Read up on it, the different options to correct. Put together a plan and then go for it. Everything takes time in this hobby, learning being the biggest. I've only been out of the hobby for 5 years and coming back has been like attempting to drink from a fire hose. There are many ways to address each and every problem so reading up is your friend. It's normally to want to "fix" everything now but stability is key.

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Aww yes he’s very cute. How do you know if he’s a zebra hermit? Is it because his legs are blue

He has white stripes down his body but they’re hard to see in the video

 

[SaltyShel]

HAHA I totally understand the space issues!! You have a small tank.. Like I said, that makes maintenance an upmost important issue.. You will want to devote at least an hour per week for water changes and testing. I would test the top parameters at least every other day on a tank that small. Keep a journal. It may come in handy sometime.

16g tank, you wont need to make more that 5g a week for water changes. If you have a laundry nook, a 5g bucket will work and be out of the way. Just make sure to not fall asleep while filling it or you will flood the room (don't ask me how I know this fact)

If that is not an option, get a good TDS meter and check out the grocery store vending machine water. If you get 0 TDS, go with it.. Distilled water is another but more expensive option.

Ive been buying saltwater and RO water for now because I really don’t have the space lol. I don’t have A washer or dryer in my apartment either lol. But i do have two 5gal buckets (one salt, one empty) and two jugs (one ro, one salt water). I have to wait a couple more days to get some stuff, like the rip clean. But Im hoping I can find cheap test kits to hold me over. I was told this is a really cheap tank to maintain by my dad… so I didn’t prepare. At all. Lol

 

[SaltyShel]

I must be missing something here, not seeing a reason for a Rip clean. Rocks are not covered in Alga or cyano. Sand bed looks ok too.

Deep breath! The only pest you have mentioned is the Aptaisia. All the other critters are good! Just be careful not to touch a bristle worm when having hands in the tank.

Sounds like you have at least one good LFS nearby, Fantastic! If someone told me to nuke my tank because of a couple minor pests I’d walk away and not go there again!


Once the tank and equipment is purchased, then livestock. The cost of upkeep for a small tank like is yours is not much. I have a 2, 20 gallon tanks and besides electricity the only ongoing costs is fish food and salt. Big bucket of salt lasts a long time though!!

Hey thank you for the feedback!! I’m definitely stressed, which I see you noticed lol. but yes so the reason Jedi was saying rip clean is because (according to the nuke-happy LFS guy) I have spaghetti worms, flat worms, aiptasia, vermited snails, pyramid snails, and mantis shrimp.
but i looked up flat works and spaghetti worms and that’s not what the stuff in my tank looks like!! Now idk what it is… but my tank also just isn’t clean, because the maintenance was bad before I got it, since my dad has his own tank and thinks fish should just adapt and deal with it, and if they die oh well. But i don’t feel that way. Anyway, I wish I knew what these pests are because that LFS guy is clearly not aware. He said he doesn’t even like fish, he hates them, and that he doesn’t care about them. So idk why he’s running a fish store. Like what the heck?

 

[SaltyShel]

Welcome!

Thank you!!!

 

[SaltyShel]

Just a slightly different perspective on your situation.

There is some good news here. The inhabitants of the tank are alive and you haven't mentioned any I'll effects on the fish or urchin. To me, this means this isn't an emergency type situation.

Also in the good news section here, is you seem super willing to learn all you can to be successful. Another important element to the situation.

My recommendation would be to just address one thing at a time. Start off with working on the water chemistry. Get yourself into a good water change routine, slowly bring that salinity up, and monitor the tank over a few weeks while doing so. Just doing quality, weekly water changes on that size tank will make a noticeable difference.

Once you get that done, move on to the first pest you want to address. Read up on it, the different options to correct. Put together a plan and then go for it. Everything takes time in this hobby, learning being the biggest. I've only been out of the hobby for 5 years and coming back has been like attempting to drink from a fire hose. There are many ways to address each and every problem so reading up is your friend. It's normally to want to "fix" everything now but stability is key.

That does make sense. Thank you! I really do want to learn as much as I can, I want to give my fish a happy life, and I want to be able to continue with this hobby for a long time. I got overwhelmed because of the stuff the LFS said, about needing to nuke my tank with bleach and sell or kill all my animals that live in the tank. So I got upset and panicked and was like great… now Im stuck lol. Im glad I joined this website though and im so thankful I have all these people helping me and advising me. I’ve been reading about the pests, but a lot of them are not what the LFS said they are, and now I have no idea what to even call them to begin doing research.

 

[SaltyShel]

He has white stripes down his body but they’re hard to see in the video

Yes he’s really pretty and it didn’t play as a video for me, I’m not sure why. I had no clue there was so many different types of saltwater animals. Do zebra hermits naturally live in the ocean? Or bumblebee snails? I want some of those

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Yes he’s really pretty and it didn’t play as a video for me, I’m not sure why. I had no clue there was so many different types of saltwater animals. Do zebra hermits naturally live in the ocean? Or bumblebee snails? I want some of those

Bumblebee snails are like nassarius. They’ll eat other snails that flip over and can’t right themselves. Zebra hermits are from Hawaii so good luck finding any now lol. This is literally the only one I’ve ever seen. They’re my favorite hermit but no one had them in stock anymore

 

[SaltyShel]

Bumblebee snails are like nassarius. They’ll eat other snails that flip over and can’t right themselves. Zebra hermits are from Hawaii so good luck finding any now lol. This is literally the only one I’ve ever seen. They’re my favorite hermit but no one had them in stock anymore

Looks like it’s time for a trip to Hawaii!!! Lol. But yeah i don’t want them anymore lol. Why do they eat each other?? Is that what turbo snails do?

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Looks like it’s time for a trip to Hawaii!!! Lol. But yeah i don’t want them anymore lol. Why do they eat each other?? Is that what turbo snails do?

No turbos don’t. Bumblebees and nassarius are carnivores. It’s what they do. They won’t go out of their way to eat other snails only dead or dying ones. They’re mostly scavengers

 

[Aqua Man]

I’ve been reading about the pests, but a lot of them are not what the LFS said they are, and now I have no idea what to even call them to begin doing research.

Get pictures of these creatures and someone will be able to identify it! Most likely they are beneficial.

your tank does not look dirty to me.

 

[SaltyShel]

No turbos don’t. Bumblebees and nassarius are carnivores. It’s what they do. They won’t go out of their way to eat other snails only dead or dying ones. They’re mostly scavengers

Oh okay I get that. It makes sense I just had no idea. But i have noticed my urchin acting weird and I’m so worried about him. I wish I could post videos on here and I wish I had someone I could talk to more often and I don’t. I’m so stressed out because I really don’t want him to die… I will literally cry because I love him