Plan for first saltwater tank

[Idoc]

Yeah that’s probably best. Especially bc I want some designer clowns and don’t want to spend a ton to have them die of diseases. What do you use to treat your fish?? Sorry, I’m new to saltwater

I kind of alter my treatments depending on the fish. But the basic treatments are copper for ich/velvet and Prazi-Pro for flukes, and usually medicated foods for internal parasites/worms.

Clowns are very hardy, but if you're putting the money into designer clowns, best to protect them. Besides the above mentioned meds, it is good to treat clowns with Metronidazole in the water column since they address very susceptible to Brooklynella.

 

[Idoc]

How do you recommend qt inverts??

QT inverts is easy, but more time intensive. It's recommended to quarantine inverts for 76 days. Ich/Velvet doesn't infect the inverts, but they can be carriers of the encysted form of those parasites. So, the longest known life cycle of a type of ich was around 72 days. So, as long as there isn't a fish in the quarantine tank, the cyst will release its parasites after a particular amount of time and they will die in the water column without a host.

You can't use copper with inverts...it will kill them. So, the invert/coral quarantine tank, equipment, etc... can't be shared with a fish quarantine tank. If quarantining corals, you also need a separate light system, so can be a little more costly. I dip all corals in Coral Rx and if possible, remove the frag plugs and replace with my own new ones.

Quarantining shrimp is much easier. Once they molt, they are safe to move to your Display Tank.

There's a great article/ thread on quarantining inverts... I'l try to find it.

 

[Idoc]

Here's a good Invert thread for quarantine recommendations:

How to Quarantine Coral and Inverts

Coral and Invert Quarantine What?! You want me to quarantine my fish AND my corals and inverts? In a word, Yes. Have you ever quarantined all your fish, were so careful to treat carefully and follow all the rules only to end up with ich or velvet in your display anyway? The reason this happens...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Wolf89]

I had a mandarin the voraciously ate frozen mysis in my 20g. I had to feed him 4-5 times a day. You must hand feed with a syringe each time, or he wont get enough, unless you dump a crap load of food in, which will destroy your tank. Learn from my mistakes, dont get a mandarin!

 

[arturoo1977]

Here's a good Invert thread for quarantine recommendations:

How to Quarantine Coral and Inverts

Coral and Invert Quarantine What?! You want me to quarantine my fish AND my corals and inverts? In a word, Yes. Have you ever quarantined all your fish, were so careful to treat carefully and follow all the rules only to end up with ich or velvet in your display anyway? The reason this happens...

www.reef2reef.com

Very interesting article, thanks for sharing!
I must admit that in my previous reefer chapter didn't QT anything but now Im trying to follow all good practices.
I supposed that, as long as you did not treat anything, Fish QT can be temporary and just set it up when in use?

 

[Idoc]

Very interesting article, thanks for sharing!
I must admit that in my previous reefer chapter didn't QT anything but now Im trying to follow all good practices.
I supposed that, as long as you did not treat anything, Fish QT can be temporary and just set it up when in use?

Yes, the fish QT can be setup just when you need it. I don't keep mine running all the time. I start it up a couple days before i plan on picking up a fish. I use a Seachem Ammonia Alert Badge to monitor...if ammonia rises, then I would do a water change. That has only ever happened once. I add BioSpira every day for the first few days.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

What heater would you recommend?

Hopefully others will comment, for me titanium with controller remote , funny but I bought in 1985 couple from Marine Depot, that's when Marine Depot was selling live corals, anyway, I returned in 10/2017 and found one of them, used it, still worked. Replaced them now with Eheim heaters(glass). One thing to invest in is a good heater and if needed skimmer too.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Anything in life your going to tackle, homework, homework, homework. And don't forget what you learn. If you want to be successful in anything

 

[beaslbob]

Just a couple of things in case others hasn't mention them.

First I use macro algae to balance out and stabilize the system. Usually in some kind of container or partition to form a refugium or protected area to keep the algae away from the livestock which usually eats the macros.

Secondly, I use common FW mollies as dither (or cycle fish). Much better to lose $2 molly than the more expensive marine only fish. Just don't add food for the first week, use a male molly, and only feed a single flake per day after the first week.

but that's just me and my .02

 

[Wolf89]

Theres absolutely no reason to use mollies or any other fish to cycle your tank. They're are plenty of ways to do it without killing fish

 

[arturoo1977]

One raw shrimp to cycle a new tank, you can get it for free in your fridge or supermarket

 

[beaslbob]

Theres absolutely no reason to use mollies or any other fish to cycle your tank. They're are plenty of ways to do it without killing fish

by starting the tank with macro algae in a refugium, the algae consumes ammonia directly and carbon dioxide plus returns oxygen and fish food. So the molly thrives. This is not the same as having a pristine algae and bacteria free tank and adding the molly. That would kill the fish.

my .02