Just Starting, What's Next

[C4ctus99]

So all this started for me about 3 months ago when my gf and I brought home a shell that had a hermit crab in it. I ended up getting a tank and added a diamond goby. Over the holidays was super busy and didn't keep up with water changes and the goby died -_- After that moved the tank to my house from my gf and now have a small mocha clown, blue dot sleeper goby, emerald crab, and the original thinstripe hermit crab we picked up in the intercoastal.

Setup:
Aqueon 20g long tank
Aqueon quietflow (20 or 30, cant remember)
Live rock (not certain of weight, got a big chunk maybe 10lbs dry from petco and a smaller 5lb that they had cultured in a tank. large rock is now broken up into smaller pieces)
heater (100w or 300w, don't remember, but it keeps the temperature consistent)
Sicce voyager nano 1000 (recently added when I moved filter to one side to improve water flow)
Aqueon 8" accent light (blue)
variety of random things my gf got for the tank

Any advice for these fish/invertebrates? I do need help with feeding them. They seem to mostly eat sinking pellets. lfs gave me some frozen mysis shrimp but have had no luck with that due to current and it not sinking. freeze dried blood worms float at the top and my mocha doesn't seem to want them or the flakes I got. I've been using aqueon shrimp pellets for the invertebrates and hikari marine carnivore pellets for the clownfish. The goby doesn't seem to be eating or sifting sand which is strange cause the other one made an absolute mess of everything and loved to hide under the big rock so we couldn't see him. Had the goby since sunday.

At some point down the road I would like to start growing coral and adding more fish, at what point do I need to upsize my tank and what all equipment is needed for coral? Attaching pictures below, the emerald crab is on the rock behind the hermit

 

[C4ctus99]

So all this started for me about 3 months ago when my gf and I brought home a shell that had a hermit crab in it. I ended up getting a tank and added a diamond goby. Over the holidays was super busy and didn't keep up with water changes and the goby died -_- After that moved the tank to my house from my gf and now have a small mocha clown, blue dot sleeper goby, emerald crab, and the original thinstripe hermit crab we picked up in the intercoastal.

Setup:
Aqueon 20g long tank
Aqueon quietflow (20 or 30, cant remember)
Live rock (not certain of weight, got a big chunk maybe 10lbs dry from petco and a smaller 5lb that they had cultured in a tank. large rock is now broken up into smaller pieces)
heater (100w or 300w, don't remember, but it keeps the temperature consistent)
Sicce voyager nano 1000 (recently added when I moved filter to one side to improve water flow)
Aqueon 8" accent light (blue)
variety of random things my gf got for the tank

Any advice for these fish/invertebrates? I do need help with feeding them. They seem to mostly eat sinking pellets. lfs gave me some frozen mysis shrimp but have had no luck with that due to current and it not sinking. freeze dried blood worms float at the top and my mocha doesn't seem to want them or the flakes I got. I've been using aqueon shrimp pellets for the invertebrates and hikari marine carnivore pellets for the clownfish. The goby doesn't seem to be eating or sifting sand which is strange cause the other one made an absolute mess of everything and loved to hide under the big rock so we couldn't see him. Had the goby since sunday.

At some point down the road I would like to start growing coral and adding more fish, at what point do I need to upsize my tank and what all equipment is needed for coral? Attaching pictures below, the emerald crab is on the rock behind the hermit

Forgot to add that I have Carib Sea Arag-Alive reef sand for the substrate

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

good start, it looks nice. Needs more rock, and more flow. Get another sicce voyager for the other side and aim it at the water surface to create surface agitation.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

good start, it looks nice. Needs more rock, and more flow. Get another sicce voyager for the other side and aim it at the water surface to create surface agitation.

I agree with the more rock, if you plan on doing coral in the future it would be best to have more rock giving more places for the coral to grow.

 

[C4ctus99]

Okay cool. Out of curiosity, what does agitating the surface do? I like the rock, just hate it when the fish always hide...

Any tips on feeding? Is just pellets okay for now?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

rock provides surface area for bacteria to grow, the more rock you have, the stronger the biofilter will be, and the more fish your tank will be able to handle. Less rock = less bacteria = less fish.

Surface agitation allows for gas exchange between the water and air, basically puts oxygen in the water, which is very important, fish need to breathe too. No surface agitation means a layer of oily film will eventually develop which impedes gas exchange making it hard for fish to breath.

 

[C4ctus99]

Okay, thanks.

The goby died today -_- woke up and he was just in the bottom of the tank dead, I don't think he was eating.
Salinity 1.021
pH 7.8-8.0
ammonia 0.50ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
nitrate 10-20ppm

Here are pictures of the dead goby and the tests, it was API Marine test kit. Y'all have any idea what killed him? New tank and he just didn't adjust and eat?

 

[14 foot reef]

I would guess after the move this tank is no longer cycled or stable. Blue Dot Sleeper ( as you name it ) is not a fish that will do well in a brand new clean substrate tank, and for sure will not survive that amount of ammonia. Slow down, read and watch as much as you can on the nitrogen cycle and new tanks. Don't be discouraged, just stop adding fish and get the tank cycled. API is not the most reliable test kits.

 

[Rmckoy]

0.50 ppm ammonia isn’t good .
this is where more rocks , surface area for bacteria to process toxic ammonia to nitrates .

How does the rest of the livestock look ?

is everything else swimming and eating normal ?

 

[Rmckoy]

Sand sifting gobies require food which has settled and developed in the sand
In a newer system sufficient nutrients are not available

 

[Dave1993]

The diamond goby died cause it starved don't get anymore Valenciennea species they will alll die in ur tank
do research on all fish you get for atleast a week before you get it

forgot to leave the reason it starved Valenciennea species wont eat the food you put in the tank

 

[C4ctus99]

The live rock seems to have some growth on it, sand is new though. When I transferred the tank I kept the liverock in water and didnt clean the filter so I guess I was hoping it wouldn't have much of a cycle. I also have a bottle of seachem stability that I forgot to add doses of.

The mocha clown has been eating regularly and swimming around a lot. He has seemed to slow down on eating yesterday and today should I be concerned. Normally he'll eat 3 tiny hikari marine pellets and still pick at stuff, he has only been eating 1 or 2 then showing little interest.

Hermit crab and emerald crab are doing great, climbing on things, always coming out when I drop food in the tank. Did they maybe eat everything in the substrate which starved the goby?

I will keep checking levels daily, how high is too high for the clownfish and what do I do if they start reaching that level? Hermit crab already survived a full tank cycle and worse so I'm not too worried about him.

As a side note about the sleeper goby; I only had him 5 days before he died and before moving the tank I had a diamond goby (died cause my gf didnt know how to do water changes and work was way too busy for me and it was at her house) who would go through all the sand in the tank and move it all over the place. This goby never touched the sand as best as I can tell. Was it tank shock+ammonia spike+crabs eating everything?

 

[Dave1993]

The live rock seems to have some growth on it, sand is new though. When I transferred the tank I kept the liverock in water and didnt clean the filter so I guess I was hoping it wouldn't have much of a cycle. I also have a bottle of seachem stability that I forgot to add doses of.

The mocha clown has been eating regularly and swimming around a lot. He has seemed to slow down on eating yesterday and today should I be concerned. Normally he'll eat 3 tiny hikari marine pellets and still pick at stuff, he has only been eating 1 or 2 then showing little interest.

Hermit crab and emerald crab are doing great, climbing on things, always coming out when I drop food in the tank. Did they maybe eat everything in the substrate which starved the goby?

I will keep checking levels daily, how high is too high for the clownfish and what do I do if they start reaching that level? Hermit crab already survived a full tank cycle and worse so I'm not too worried about him.

As a side note about the sleeper goby; I only had him 5 days before he died and before moving the tank I had a diamond goby (died cause my gf didnt know how to do water changes and work was way too busy for me and it was at her house) who would go through all the sand in the tank and move it all over the place. This goby never touched the sand as best as I can tell. Was it tank shock+ammonia spike+crabs eating everything?

read my post above urs

 

[14 foot reef]

The diamond goby died cause it starved don't get anymore Valenciennea species they will alll die in ur tank
do research on all fish you get for atleast a week before you get it

forgot to leave the reason it died Valenciennea species wont eat the food you put in the tank

What he said ^ ^ ^ ^
your tank is too new to have any sustainable food source in the substrate. Spend sometime today reading, watching and learning before you go any further with livestock. I would NOT trust your LFS for fish advise, as most of them want to turn inventory, not care for the animal. ( Not all LFS's ).
Your first goby did not die because your GF dint know how to do water changes. It died for the same reason. Please listen to what the forum members are telling you. Some here have had reef tanks for 40 + years, me included.
Don't be frustrated. don't give up, you're are probably just not receiving good solid reefing advise.
Patience patience patience & knowledge, thats the key to long term success and minimal mortality.

 

[Rmckoy]

Instead of letting anything creep too high and worry about what the high limit is try to maintain as stable as possible
Stability is key. You don’t want any element fluctuating much from original .

when things get higher perform larger percentage water changes

remember : the solution to pollution is dilution .

Natural sea water levels are good if you google what each parameter should be
Ideally you want salinity 1.025-1.026
Others to give you a little room for play
Nitrates 5-10 ppm
Calcium 380-450
Magnesium 1350-1450
Phosphate 0.03-0.1ppm
Alkalinity is a hard one for me .
I see no point in maintaining higher levels as I maintain mine at 7.5dkh
The issue is too close
To the bottom of the scale doesn’t give you much room to play
That being said anything between 8-11dkh but do not adjust alkalinity more than 0.5dkh in a 24 hour period

 

[C4ctus99]

What he said ^ ^ ^ ^
your tank is too new to have any sustainable food source in the substrate. Spend sometime today reading, watching and learning before you go any further with livestock. I would NOT trust your LFS for fish advise, as most of them want to turn inventory, not care for the animal. ( Not all LFS's ).
Your first goby did not die because your GF dint know how to do water changes. It died for the same reason. Please listen to what the forum members are telling you. Some here have had reef tanks for 40 + years, me included.
Don't be frustrated. don't give up, you're are probably just not receiving good solid reefing advise.
Patience patience patience & knowledge, thats the key to long term success and minimal mortality.

The SP of the tank when that goby died was was higher than 1.026, water was yellow colored, rotting food in the tank. at that point in time had not changed the water in a month at least and it smelled pretty bad. He had been in the tank for 3 months before he died. He seemed to be eating the food and doing well, just had a lot of work come up and wasnt able to get over there and clean the tank when I needed to and it got pushed back a few weeks with a devastating result. He may have survived for 2 or 3 months without eating any food though

 

[C4ctus99]

Instead of letting anything creep too high and worry about what the high limit is try to maintain as stable as possible
Stability is key. You don’t want any element fluctuating much from original .

when things get higher perform larger percentage water changes

remember : the solution to pollution is dilution .

Natural sea water levels are good if you google what each parameter should be
Ideally you want salinity 1.025-1.026
Others to give you a little room for play
Nitrates 5-10 ppm
Calcium 380-450
Magnesium 1350-1450
Phosphate 0.03-0.1ppm
Alkalinity is a hard one for me .
I see no point in maintaining higher levels as I maintain mine at 7.5dkh
The issue is too close
To the bottom of the scale doesn’t give you much room to play
That being said anything between 8-11dkh but do not adjust alkalinity more than 0.5dkh in a 24 hour period

Thanks, Retested ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates again tonight. Ammonia is down about half of what it was and nitrates are a little high, 10-20. I'll do a partial water change tomorrow like you said.

 

[mthompson11235]

Okay, thanks.

The goby died today -_- woke up and he was just in the bottom of the tank dead, I don't think he was eating.
Salinity 1.021
pH 7.8-8.0
ammonia 0.50ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
nitrate 10-20ppm

Here are pictures of the dead goby and the tests, it was API Marine test kit. Y'all have any idea what killed him? New tank and he just didn't adjust and eat?

Okay, thanks.

The goby died today -_- woke up and he was just in the bottom of the tank dead, I don't think he was eating.
Salinity 1.021
pH 7.8-8.0
ammonia 0.50ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
nitrate 10-20ppm

Here are pictures of the dead goby and the tests, it was API Marine test kit. Y'all have any idea what killed him? New tank and he just didn't adjust and eat?

Understand that you are going to "F Up". You are new and you will kill fish. Everyone was new and everyone has killed fish. Cant really tell by the API test kits pictures what is what. Just know that the nitrogen cycle kills more fish then anything else. You want 0 ammonia, 0 Nitrite and a low Nitrate number (Like less then 20 abouts for salt water). A salinity of 1.021 seems very low. Salinity of 1.024 minimum and 1.026 maximum works for most stuff. Most likely salinity what did him in or ammonia. I dont know what Im talking about.

Good Luck!

 

[C4ctus99]

Understand that you are going to "F Up". You are new and you will kill fish. Everyone was new and everyone has killed fish. Cant really tell by the API test kits pictures what is what. Just know that the nitrogen cycle kills more fish then anything else. You want 0 ammonia, 0 Nitrite and a low Nitrate number (Like less then 20 abouts for salt water). A salinity of 1.021 seems very low. Salinity of 1.024 minimum and 1.026 maximum works for most stuff. Most likely salinity what did him in or ammonia. I dont know what Im talking about.

Good Luck!

Yeah, sorry for the frustration from earlier. I was trying to get answers on what to do about the surviving fish and some of the replies were not very helpful in that regard. Although that was probably mostly my fault for bringing up why the fish died several times.

I think my tank has finished cycling now, have some brown algae or something (diatoms?) growing on the sidewall under the blue light I installed. A random cluster of green somethings were mixed in under the microscope so some IDs on them would be nice if anyone knows what they are. Also have some bug like things running around now (copepods or amphipods?). Also, the other fish and my crabs survived.

I'll also raise my salinity this weekend when I do the water changeout

Pictures below, adding in the surviving creatures too cause why not.

 

[C4ctus99]

Adding a closer magnification of the green stuff in the algae. Also, no movement on the entire slide.