28g Cube Build

I am finally venturing into the world of saltwater! I have three freshwater tanks and I thought that was all my dad would ever allow. But a saltwater tank has been his dream since he was a kid, so he finally impulse bought a 28g Cube Kit at our LFS. I know absolutely zero information about saltwater, so I sat up until 2 am doing research

Today I'm going to add live sand and figure out how to set up our RO unit. Then I'll fill the tank. Today or tomorrow we'll go to the LFS and pick up the live rock and start cycling the tank. While we're at the LFS, I'm going to show my dad all of the fish and have him write down his favorites so I can post them here and figure out stocking. So far we definitely want:

-a clownfish (main reason we bought the tank)
-a puffer of some kind
-some sort of goby (I've always wanted one of these guys)

I'll be posting our progress here, but in the meantime, can someone help us come up with some interesting stocking ideas? Even just listing compatible fish would be okay so I can show them to my dad and see what he likes.


EDIT: How is this as a stocking? This is definitely not final, but I am okay with slightly overstocking since I have the time to do frequent water changes.

1x Royal Gramma
1x Clownfish of some kind
1x Firefish
1x Six Line Wrasse
1x Cardinalfish
1x Yellow Watchman Goby

 

I think we've decided on:
2x Ocellaris clownfish (probably two varieties)
1x bangaii cardinal
1x royal gramma
1x yellow clown goby

This seems like a reasonable stocking, and Aqadvisor approves as well. My dad also wants a chromis or firefish, which would definitely make us overstocked (we are borderline as is) so I'll see if I can talk him out of it. Worst case scenario I do extra water changes. The filtration is pretty good and they're all peaceful fish.

I need a lot of help if anyone is out there. We're trying to figure out what to feed our fish, what corals to get and when to start getting them, what invertebrates can get along, and more.

Right now the tank is cycling with some mollies the store will take back for credit. I'll try to post a picture soon.

 

We are adding a firefish to the list. Not entirely comfortable with that, but I'm willing to put in extra work to keep it clean and safe for the fish. I might do water changes twice a week.

I've noticed that the salty side of the forum is much quieter

 

I shall continue talking to myself to keep this thread updated in case anyone ever replies. Today we tested the water parameters (9 days since setup).

pH: around 8.2-8.4
Ammonia: .25
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0

I'm a little disappointed because my first freshwater tank cycled in 10 days with bacteria in a bottle, and I thought saltwater would cycle faster because of the live rock/sand. But oh well, this hobby requires patience.

Since I have a while before I can return the mollies and get fish we actually want, I've been researching a lot. It seems like mysis shrimp is a universal food for most of the fish on my stocking list? Mixed with flakes and some sort of pellets, I think that will be the main diet for our fish. My dad wants something easy so he can help feed them himself. Now I'm moving on to invertebrates and corals, but if anyone has flake/pellet suggestions I'd be glad to hear them.

 

Hi, welcome to the marine side of fishkeeping , the saltwater area is most definitely much quieter than the freshwater . Marine does take much longer than freshwater to cycle, my one has been going for 3 weeks and ammonia still is high, the best thing you can do is research and wait.

I'm not too sure on stocking but I'll tag a few people that may be able to help (by tagging they'll be able to see this thread as they will be alerted);

@grantm91
@thesoulpatch
@stella1979

Sorry I can't help much, but hopefully these guys can , they helped me when I started a while back.

Ethan

 

Thanks a ton! It's definitely a lot different than freshwater and I hope I do everything right!

EDIT: (here's my compiled stocking plan)
28g
2x Ocellaris clownfish
1x royal gramma
1x firefish
1x bangaii cardinalfish
1x yellow clown goby

 

I've kept hermits and emerald with coral and it's all fine, I haven't had any issues yet...

I agree in the fact you should add slowly, to let the bioload adjust, as adding them all at once will cause a tank crash, I'd add a fish every other day or every week depending on your biological filtration .

Ethan

No problem, I can help a bit, but as I've only been keeping saltwater for about 6 months, I'll help where I can, the people I tagged are really helpful, there are quite a few more on this forum such as @Culprit and @Nanologist , and many others but I can't remember off the top of my head.

Ethan

 

Thank you both so much! I do plan on taking it slow, even though it's difficult.

I know CUC should come first, but I really want to exchange my mollies once the tank is cycled so I don't have time to get attached and convert them to freshwater. Mollies are my weakness . I'll probably get the firefish first since it's very timid and will need time to get adjusted. That should keep the cycle going while I add CUC, and if not I can add the cardinal at the same time.

Okay. Salt. We've had a bad experience with it and it's kind of driving me insane. My LFS friend who has helped a TON and I trust recommended Brightwell Aquatics salt. The back of the bag said 1/2 a cup per gallon of water. I put about 2 and a third cups of salt since the 5g bucket wasn't filled to the top. I mixed it by putting an airstone in the bucket of R/O water and pouring the salt in. The I filled the 28g with about 5.5 buckets of the water. But right from the get-go our hydrometer was all wacky even after leaving sit with saltwater for 48 hours. We took the water to the LFS and they tested it with a fancy electronic thing and our salinity was high. Came home and the hydrometer finally stabilized and gave a high reading as well. This weekend the electric ones are in stock, so we're gonna get one of those to make my life easier (I HATE this inconsistent thing). But salinity is apparently still high and I'm trying to get it down, but I don't want to bring it down too much so I'm afraid to do anything. The mollies are troopers though and haven't really been affected.

We also had an ick issue with the mollies that I noticed 2 hours after they were put in the tank. I don't think it had time to progress. I gave them a freshwater dip and monitored them in a bucket + airstone for the night, and in the morning I couldn't see any more dots. They've been back in the tank all week and no more ick. Hopefully it doesn't spring up again... My dad called our LFS dude and alerted him since they have 60+ mollies in that tank.

Sorry for that and I hope it half makes sense.

Also, my dad is struggling to understand cycling no matter how many times I explain it to him. Does anyone know where I can find an in-depth description of why I can't just "add beneficial bacteria and nitrates" and have fish right away?

 

My brother really wants hermits and an emerald crab, and I thought they were reef safe. Now I'm kind of worried. Do you have any articles that talk about them damaging corals that I can read?

Will the clown goby be okay without corals to perch on? I was under the impression that I needed to replicate its natural habitat, so I was prepared to add it close to last when I have some corals in the tank. Other than the goby, that's the exact order I had picked out already!

I'm pretty much done with food for the fish. I plan to feed mysis, frozen brine shrimp, and high quality pellet and flake foods. Any brand suggestions?

On to inverts. Here are my questions, and I apologize in advance for the sheer amount of them.

1) Can multiple types of shrimp live together, or is it best to pick one species and stick with it?

2) Will emerald crabs hurt my fish? A fear of crabs has been ingrained in me because you're not supposed to mix freshwater fish and crabs. Also is there any evidence that crabs will hurt corals?

3) How many hermits and snails would you suggest? I'm thinking 4 hermits and 2 of a few different types of snails, but I may be over or undershooting it.

4) Do clownfish do better with an anemone? Are there any that are easy to keep (dad doesn't want any crazy foods)? Can I pick where to place them, or do they choose where to settle?

5) https://fthmb.tqn.com/0oOfSFmoAJuzt...okicymbalbubble1-56a81ac93df78cf7729c2473.JPG What is this snail? I found it in an article and it is adorable.

6) What are fanworms? I saw feather dusters on liveaquaria and they are fascinating. Would I choose where to place them?

7) My mom wants a starfish, but I know they can be sensitive and hard to care for. Which species would be the easiest, and at what point should I add it to the tank?

8) Finally, how the heck do I feed inverts? Do I just use tongs to place the food on the bottom? What if the shrimps/starfish are hiding in the rocks? How am I supposed to make sure everyone is eating?

Feel free to answer any amount of these questions. I am sorry for overwhelming you.

Ohhh. I think he did use a refractometer. The store said we could return the hydrometer for credit since it isn't working, so we'll make sure to buy one.

 

Trash hydrometers! Refractometers or digital

Salinity & Temperature Digital Pocket Tester - IceCap

 

Wow, thanks for all the help and advice! I have today and tomorrow off school because of testing (eek) so I have a lot of time to get research done. Hopefully, I'll have a list of inverts ready for you to approve by this weekend. I'm sure I'll have a million more questions but I'll try to contain myself and not overwhelm you.

A trip to the LFS this weekend is looking less and less likely, so I might end up ordering the refractometer online. Which is a shame, because I like supporting my LFS even if the prices are a little high.

One of the mollies appears to have a white bottom lip. It looks fuzzy. They're too fast for me to get a picture, but does anyone have ideas on what it could be? It's been breathing rather heavily, and didn't come out to feed with the others.

 

The molly ate a little but still looks to be struggling. I can't find any answers online, so hopefully, someone will know. Today it looked a little better.

I am definitely going to the LFS this weekend, and I have a ton of questions for the guy that's been helping us. Hopefully I can bring back some pictures of their corals to show you so I can start planning that.

Also, do any of you use supplements for corals and inverts? Which ones make the most sense financially are are the most beneficial? I’m thinking calcium and iodine, but that’s based off liveaquaria info.

I might place a large order on liveaquaria to get my inverts since I need freshwater stuff anyways (getting killifish!!). I might order the clown goby as well since my LFS didn’t have one last time. If I order this weekend, the inverts will be here late next week. Are they hardy enough to survive if the tank isn’t cycled by then? I’d like to place the order now since my killifish are on sale, but it’s pointless if the inverts will be in danger once in the tank.

I keep getting more and more excited now that this tank is becoming a reality!

 

I might not need to worry about the inverts. Petvalu tested our water and we have nitrates! Just a bit of ammonia. I’ll test with my own kit tonight just to make sure. The inverts won’t be here until Tuesday if I do decide to order them, so it should be finished cycling by then.

Just checked the water. Ammonia is .25, Nitrite is 0, and nitrate is baaaarely orange. It's more canary yellow than the light yellow listed as 0, so at least that's something. We might exchange the mollies for a firefish tomorrow and hold off on ordering the inverts unless the LFS I trust shows different readings.

I'll make sure to take lots of coral pics since the names don't usually line up with the individual corals.

List of supplies I'll be buying. Anything else that I need?
-refractometer
-more salt
-more R/O cartridges
-frozen mysis and brine shrimp
-other foods the LFS recommends

Here's the saltwater order so far. I don't know when I'll be ordering it yet.
1x Yellow Clown Goby
1x Blood Red Fire Shrimp
3x Scarlet Reef Hermit Crabs
3x Margarita Snails

I stayed up late drooling at Liveaquaria corals, and I'm very tempted to buy a cheap one just to see how it does. But that would probably be dumb. How long would you suggest waiting before starting to add some beginner corals? Here's the one I was particularly interested in: