The Puffer Forum

Maybe there was some life left in that rock, deep inside? Or it could be the SW bacteria you're adding--dying off in there. Either way, if you have a fish in there, it's suffering in ANY ammonia. Have you tested nitrite?

Yes nitrites have been at 0 so far

I started the 10 gallon quarantine tank tonight with 5 lbs of the same liverock I bought for the other tank, except the store cleaned it way better and I was curing in a much larger system. The main tank is still cycling but getting better. I added a sicce 2 voyager and the pump I use for mixing salt for now and have been changing 5 gallons a day in the 40 gallon tank. Also my refractometer came in and showed me I was at 1.022 sg not 1.0185 like the pos hydrometer was reading. With the higher salt, lights left on longer for the corals that are growing surprisingly and extra waterflow Puff Diddy seems super happy even with the water in progress. Almost forgot, I also have a reef octo bh100 and some salt on the way, couldn't resist the black Friday deals at BRS.

Did you calibrate the refractometer?

Yeah, it came with some 1.026 juice.

How many pounds of live rock do I need for the quarantine tank if I run it bare bottom without sand?

I don't use live rock in my qt tank, just a small filter and super heavy water changes. It spends a lot of time either empty or mixing salt water for my tank

I actually support Berie's practice for SW QT. It is easier to practice QT with bacterial filtration only via conventional biofiltration. The options involving live rock there involve a higher risk to the live rock than in a long-term tank with skimmer and LR and lighted macroalgae refugium. Those additional options save lots of $$$ long-term, but QT tanks are short-term use relatively speaking. QT is short term, weeks to months maximum. "Permanent" tanks are years to decades. There are non-trivial differences there in the costs involved in each set-up. I'd rather move to the final tank w/LR, skimmer and refugium after I am reasonably confident that I have a long-term fish in my tank. I also do not scale up over time with such tanks, the post-QT is the forever home.

HTH

QT should not have any LR/LS. Just some tubes for hiding. Often meds are administered or hypo is necessary, which would kill off any SW nitrifying bacteria in the LR/LS, causing WAY more problems for the fish! Lots of large daily WC are usually done on QT.

I just wanted somewhere to keep peppermint shrimp this spring when I go down to the beach here and catch some. I want to use them to clean the main tank before they become dinner. I didn't want to just introduce wild caught stuff without quarantining it first and I thought shrimp need an established tank. I hear you can get quite a few pretty easy down here in the gulf coast in the right spot. How many could I fit in the ten gallon you think?

Thanks for all the help PP, Bertie, and the Sg. Your help has my tank near ready to reef.. I just wanted to let yall know Puff Diddy is kiing but and I found a better home for the Columbian cat/blackfin shark who I slowly adjusted to full marine. I have a bonded pair of gold band maroon clownfish to trade off on the catfish, good deal if I keep Diddy fed and distracted, he has been cool with other fish so far.

Maroons are the MEANEST fish around.

Would a regular clown be a better tankmate?

My GSPs ate the nicest percs. Best option is a tomato.

I need to master this tank before I upgrade. I really need some help in simple terms. I thought I was going to be ok with a berlin style saltwater setup but I cant seem to shake the Amonia. Here is a refresh of what I have going on now.
40 gallon breeder tank, aragonite sand, 45lbs of dry tonga rock cured in tank for last month with 15 lbs of fresh purple pukani rock, 96w pc 10k, 96w acnitic blu pc, reef octopus hob bh 100 skimmer, ehiem 2217 canister with original cherios and round biomedea stuff that came with it.
Fish are a 2 1/2 " Green Spotted Puffer, a 7" snowflake eel, an emerald crab, 3 Mexican turbo snails, 4 small hermit crabs, and a small frag of green zoas that are still ok.
I am keeping the salinity around 1.024- 1.026.
Ther is also a Sicce voyager 2 for circulation and another one coming soon with a jbj pump filling in for now.
Do I need to change the stuff in my ehiem or do I need a real refugium sump setup?