Saltwater noob. Do's and don't...?????

[SammyDee]

Okay a few noob questions.
1. Mex snail what's he eat. Any other advice to make him happy?
2. Damsels (yellow tail) what do they eat. How to keep em happy ?
3. Sg for different life forms? Fish, snails, corals, etc.
4. Supplements? All in one available?
5. Bio spira will it help my bio balls in the beginning? It was raised from
BW.
6. Any other advice is welcome too. I want to have minimal losses. I have never own or operated a slatwater tank. Even maintanence suggestion are welcome. I like to keep this take free of ugly algaes such as hair algae.
7. Also any do's and don't like product to use or not use. I am running a 10 gal sump and skimmer on a 55g tall tank.

If you can answer any of these questions thank you in advance.

[SammyDee]

Well I been lookin all over for one of the two yellow tail damsels I put in yesterday. I can't find him at all. His partner found a home in some live rock. I'm hoping the other one is hiding too. Idk. The puffs don't look fat the one damsel I see don't either so I don't think he got eaten. I hope he's not dead somewhere it's really hard to see in some of the live rock. I looked all over. Do they like to hide and come out at night?

[jdak]

1. any algae on rocks.
2. anything including flakes, pellets, brine, mysid, and CYCLOP-EEZE is what mine eats.
3. 1.025 is what coral thrive in and coral shouldn't have any less. Fish can tolerate much less.
4. vitamins, calcium, and iodine. No magic remover junk.
5. ditch the bio-balls (nitrate factory) and add LR to your sump.
6. i personally don't believe in an instant cycle that this stuff is selling (bio spira). unfortunately, hair algae might be a part of the natural maturity of the tank. you might be able to keep it at bay by using RO water.
7. skimmer is great! a SW must! i would hold off on anymore fish and just play the wait and see game for a couple of weeks just to see if a cycle occurs. i would recommend some extra water changes sense you might have some brackish algae and organism die off.

My damsel is an excellent digger. He creates tunnels under rock but usually comes out when the light is on. I really have no experience with GSP. Only GSP i've ever owned is a coral. They might not kill one but would they eat a dead one? I don't know.

[jdak]

I just realized you posted in the mid of night. Is your damsel out now?

[Pufferpunk]

I would be extremely careful about adding iodine. There should be enough in your salt to cover that. You really don't need any additives, unless you are keeping corals. Then you may need alk, ca & mag.

[jdak]

My bad... you are correct. I don't add that to my puffer tank, just the reef. They had coral listed so it was just a thought.

[SammyDee]

Thx again. I'm looking for the second damsel I still only see one idk.

Jdak u say the bio balls are a nitrate factory. You they do more harm than good. In the future I want to make a algae a
scrubber. Check out algaescrubber.net for diy And yeas I will add live rock to the sump too eventually.

Another question I forgot to ask was can I use melafix in a saltwater tank? Would it harm the live rock. I hear it makes the skimmer go crazy.

[SammyDee]

aLso I heard that like 85% of fish aren't even reef safe. If I were to stay Fowlr for a few do y'all have any suggestion to livin it up in there. I wnt some kind of color besides the fish and my backround. Lol

[SammyDee]

Phew I see the second damsel now.

[Pufferpunk]

How big is the tank & what puffers are in there now?

[jdak]

The bioballs was just IMO although many people share that opinion. Algaescrubber.net, is that a forum because thats what i got. I believe you are talking about a turf scrubber and i know people who like theirs. Wish i had some $ to build one but my funds just got cut. My filter was a trickle type sump and i took out the bio balls and added rubble rock, which my LFS sold for 1.99/lb. I don't have LR in my tank so it was more needed in my tank than some.

[SammyDee]

Ok so I'll put some rubble rock in.

Pp the tank is a 55 gal tall 36 w 24 t 12d
it has 3 gsp 2 damsel 1 Mex turbo snail. And 50 or more pounds of rock and sand. Half live half dead. Gsp are no bigger than 3 " my smallest one I want to adopt. I just haven't got round to posting an ad. Or taking him in. I want him to be in a marine tank since that's what he's in now.

[Pufferpunk]

Even 2 GSPs in a 55g is too small. That's why I re-homed mine. There is nowhere near 55g of water in there & 30g is the bare minimum for one.

[SammyDee]

True so maybe I should just keep one. I am becoming more n more interested in other fish coral etc. Plus 1 puffer would be easier to breed snails cuz I like to feed them mostly snails I have tons now in my 20g. But say if I could breed baby snails in my sw tank then I could use the 20 g for a QT tank. It takes prolly 45 gal to fill if I emptied it all the way so yes I totally agree with you. I will consider keeping one. Also at least they were sota saved from walmart. Even thou me buying em encourages them to buy more. I seen some at my LFS and the one they had were in BW they were babys and looked soo bad. They were in with scats and a black and silver pirahna looking fish. No big teeth thou. Neways there was only two so I bet someone got em from walmart and figured out...... And turned em in. Bc the place I go to never had any BW fish tanks before. They were real beat up too the puffers I mean. I'm gonna see if I can talk em in to taking one for thier display tank and sell the other but only as a marine fish.

[j_wishbone]

aLso I heard that like 85% of fish aren't even reef safe. If I were to stay Fowlr for a few do y'all have any suggestion to livin it up in there. I wnt some kind of color besides the fish and my backround. Lol

get some nice macro algae i think the puffers will leave that alone?

a safer bet than corals anyways