New To R2R and need some help

[Ruben's Reef]

!!! Welcome to R2R @Tanner Martin !!! Looking at your situation, some fish are more hardiest then other specially when we are talking about inverts. Some people run their saltwater tank out of tap water of course using Prime like we do with freshwater fish tanks but is recommended to use RODI water with SW. Other problem can be salinity, if you don't have a ATO (auto top off) then salinity will go high and can kill those inverts and also the fish. Will be good to test all your parameters to see where is the problem. I started my first saltwater fish tank almost a year ago knowing nothing but this forum and a good experience members here give me a good push to learn about the SW.

 

[dbl]

Welcome to R2R.

 

[Reefer Deez]

Hello and welcome to R2R
It's a pleasure to have you here with us

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Welcome to R2R! Stability is the key to a successful reef tank.

 

[PDR]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[mta_morrow]

Hello and welcome to R2R!

 

[Oscaror]

Hey Guys! I am new to the page and this is actually the first Form page I have ever signed up for. I started in the hobby about 6 months ago and have loved it ever since. I have a 10g nano cube that is well established by 2 Mocha Clowns and a Chocolate Chip Star. I have been wanting to get into coral but afraid due to a few things that are dying quick keeping my clean up crews live. The first fish to die was 2.5 inch lawn mower blenney. I have read that they have a hardtime adjusting to new water perimeters after growing in a different tank. I notice he was very shy and not wanting to eat. But it doesn’t end there. I have also had a 1.5 inch horseshoe crab die after a month being on the tank. I was told that they go dormant for a bit but then completely opposite here and there. I was never seeing him out. I could tell he was eating based off the small piece of shrimp I would put in the tank being destroyed. Most recently I had a small emraled crab just die yesterday. The Emraled Crab would stay in one spot and not move. I thought this was from molting but I was wrong. I found him upside down on the bottom of the tank.
To sum everything up. My Clowns and Star Fish are doing amazing ever since they got put in months ago. I did forget to mention that I got the Emraled Crab and Star Fish at the same time and the Star Fish is thriving.
Is there something I’m doing wrong? I do water changes every 2 weeks and keeping my levels at the right spot. The Clowns have paired and everything. I just seem to not be able to keep anything new alive besides the Star. Again all I have in the tank is Live Sand and Live Rock 2 Clowns and a Starfish.
Thanks for any feedback in advance.

Welcome to R2R! Chocolate chip stars are not reef safe and will eat corals, also horseshoe crabs are very very difficult to keep in an aquarium

 

[reef lover]

Welcome to r2r!!

 

[hdsoftail1065]

welcome to R2R!!!

 

[mike werner]

welcome!

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

Welcome aboard!

My tip is to research all potential livestock purchases here before you buy them.

Good luck !

 

[Js.Aqua.Project]

Welcome to R2R!

So learning the hard way can sometimes lead us to the quickest lessons.

While there are plenty of reef tanks that have been successfully kept with tap water (using a product like Prime), it doesn't work out for everyone as we all have different metals in our tanks depending on where we live. This is why RODI is the recommendation as it helps pull out all of the unwanted metals/sediment/TDS that might be in the water.

Also (and going slightly against the grain), I did keep a horseshoe crab in my 125 for about 2 years before I evicted him - for dragging my Derasa Clam the whole 6' length of the tank and killing it - they get way too big for a 10g. Mine started at about 1.5" diameter and when he was evicted and re-homed (and he is still alive btw - 4 years in captivity now) he was 8", so way too big for a 10g.

As has already been stated, even in a FOWLR tank, make sure your parameters are staying stable to ensure the long term success of your creatures.

I suggest investing in a couple books. I really like the Pocket Expert Guides for Invertebrates, Marine Fishes, and Reef Fishes (3 separate books). While some of the information is a slightly dated I never go LFS hopping without them in the vehicle.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Sounds like you are already getting some good advice. Welcome to the forum!

 

[Billldg]

Hold up! Sounds like I’m an idiot with that reply. I condition the water with Prime

Your not an idiot, we ALL have made mistakes and have learned thanks to this AWESOME forum. If you ever have any questions ask them here, they will be answered by veteran reefers with a ton of knowledge.

 

[Muttley000]

Welcome to R2R! Don't feel like an idiot, you are trying to learn and not giving info because you are afraid of looking bad would be like going to the doctor and not telling him where it really hurts! This is by far the least judgmental large forum I have ever come across!

 

[JasonK84]

 

[4FordFamily]

Welcome home, you will love it here!

Let’s see some tank pics!

Also, what are you using to measure salinity? I highly recommend a refractometer and some calibration fluid. Swing arms or uncalbrated refractometers can set you up for failure relatively quickly. Your inverts will be more susceptible to this. You’ll want a tank with inverts to be 1.024-1.026 IMO

 

[cracker]

Welcome Tanner I'm sure you got plenty of advice above so I won't add to it . R2R is a real good forum & beginner friendly . We will help You.
Some pics would be nice .

 

[Raege]

Welcome Tanner. When I first learned to fly RC planes guy at the club who hooked me said its not if you will crash your plane it’s when so be ready to learn from it and accept it as part of the learning curve.It’s almost the same with reefing I’ve yet to see a thread about the person who never had one misstep in the hobby.
Your in the right place for help to be as successful as possible good peeps here

 

[Hitman]

Welcome to R2R!!!