First fish is in the tank

[AquaJohn]

Well my water has been stable now for 3 days figured it was time to drop the bomb and see what happens. Added some hermit crabs, Doh i cant think of there names but the sand sifting snails and a Sailfin tang.

So far i think its going well after about 10 min in the tank he started swimming around and nibbling at the rocks. <knock on wood>Some of the crabs mad it to the top of the rocks and all the snails are invisible now lol. Going to have to hit Heb or walmart and get some of that frozen seafood mix and some dry seaweed

When looking at the sea weed is there a better brand ? or is there anything I should look for on the lable to avoid

thanks

[stoneroller]

how long has that tank been set up?

[AquaJohn]

about a month

[JeffT]

Congrats on adding the first fish. I am not to the point of adding fish yet, but will be soon. We are enjoying adding corals and CUC!

[DaJMasta]

A month seems about right, so long as the params are stable, just don't expect it to be able to accommodate anywhere near the full capacity of the tank worth of fish for some more months yet. For the seaweed any brand will do, so long as there are no additives, just dry sea weed - even regular grocery stores should have some near the asian food section because they're pretty normal for human consumption too. The japanese word for seaweed is nori, so I'd expect it to be marketed as such.

Out of curiosity, how long did you acclimate the new stuff and what params are you testing for?

[AquaJohn]

I did not do the drip thing for them. The store I got them recomended adding water from my tank to the bag till It got to about 50/50 mix and then let them settle for 30ish minutes.

I ended up adding a small amount to each bacg every 5-10 miutes with the bags floating in the tank clipped to the side till It got to over a 50 50 mix then I lowered the edge of the bag till it was full and waited another 10 ish minutes before I removed them from the bag. Total time was about an hour

the water was at

amonia 0

nitrates 10

nitrites .25

phosphates were 0 or .25 I was not sure what one it matched.

Is there a better way to test than the drops in 5ml of water ? For me its very hard to tell what one to pick its closest to and it was with a api test

kit and seem not alot of people like them say they suck but seems like its the only brand alot of stores carry so how bad can they be ?

I cheked it again this morning and the nitrites had droped to 0 others were the same.

[AquaJohn]

ya it will stay the same fish wise for a while I just needed somethting to look at other than rocks in water . Ill be adding more crabs and snails.

One thing that suprised me is I did not get a alge bloom other than coriline starting to build up on some of the rocks. I am expecting that still but hope it dont show up

[Meteorflower]

Good luck! Glad to see your nitrites went down.

Edited January 24, 2010 by Meteorflower

[+dapettit]

Sushi grade Nori is excellent sea weed and my tang love it. Should be able to find in the "International" food section at HEB.

Dave-

[+Daniel]

...I was not sure what one it matched.

Is there a better way to test than the drops in 5ml of water ? For me its very hard to tell what one to pick its closest to and it was with a api test

kit and seem not alot of people like them say they suck but seems like its the only brand alot of stores carry so how bad can they be ?

I cheked it again this morning and the nitrites had droped to 0 others were the same.

I use the Salifert test kits which have a very clear color shift at the end of the titration (i.e from clear to dark blue).

[AquaJohn]

I went to the HEB here in Burnet and asked if they had Seaweed for sushi and she said I might find it in arts and crafts LOL . I found the asian section and it had soy sauce that was about it.

I went to the Walmart in Marble Falls and got about the same blank look. I found some at the local pet shop to hold me over till I get some.

Thanks for the name to the test kits Ill give them a try