NatureNut

Wish I was in Edmonton! I'd love to get in on that sale.

If they're not experienced fish keepers, what about going with a handful of white clouds and some shrimp? Keep it understocked so they don't end up with water quality problems... OR.... just have it cycled and ready to go and let the girl choose from a few options... that way you don't end up with "But I really want this" and them adding too many.

This is ironic! I was going to post the other day asking if NLS has a floating pellet that I've missed seeing! I can't wait to get some!

I don't know how I missed this thread in the fall! I just threw out a bunch of moss and decided to not use the hair algae infested stuff in my 5g I'm cycling b/c I don't want the hair algae to come over there... now I'm going to try the bleach method and let some moss live in a 2g for a bit to see if the hair comes back... if not it can go live in the 5. thanks for the bump of this... I should REALLY use the search feature more often. hehehe

Sorry to hear that.

I used a child's medication dropper to measure it for my betta tank. If you ask a pharmacist they might even have some droppers they'll give for free, or ask some friends who have babies/kids... tylenol etc comes with droppers that I wash and reuse, and I scoop some out to be set aside for ammonia when cycling or for dosing stuff like that. Marked carefully so they don't get used for the wrong things, of course!

I've never had the same amount needed each time, and neither did my friend who had the tank before me on a different city water system. NO idea why. LOL She told me that if she could just put the same number of scoops in the same amount of water each time and have it work out right, she would have kept the tank... I guess I should be happy it didn't work that way for her. I've been waiting to see you heading into the salty world. Can't wait to hear what all you do with it!

Welcome aboard.

Woohoo! Grats!

I'm sure there's others with more experience than me, but your phrasing there made me think I should jump in, just in case. You aren't just relining with silicone, you need to first remove the old, I believe... I'm pretty sure someone posted a fantastic DIY reseal job explanation on the site here... a more seasoned member can probably lead you right to it.

Welcome aboard.

I solved my problem by getting a dwarf puffer for one of my other tanks... then I use the shrimp tank as a snail farm for the puffer.

Welcome aboard! I also have MTS, but a husband who emphatically says "NO MORE TANKS" over and over is holding me back... HOWEVER, I just succeeded in turning a 2 gallon into about a 5, so if I can use those same proportions on my 33g fresh and 20g salt I'll be happy.

Welcome aboard!

Curious here... doesn't a betta pretty much create enough bioload for a 2.5 gallon tank? Especially if it's unplanted. I can see maybe adding something if the tank is 5g or more... but maybe I'm missing something.

OK... I'm embarrassed, but I'm going to fess up to what happened. LOL I hope you all have a good laugh at my expense. After telling my husband about what happened, I went to check the tank. I had left the shell in the tank figuring maybe something else will move into it or use it as a hidey hole or whatever... imagine my surprise when I see blue legs moving and a happy live feeding crab. What I found this morning was a SHED!!! I'm such an idiot! That said... the poor thing WAS stuck, so I'm glad I found it. LOL Maybe it was so stressed it shed. I'm going to hide in embarrassment now... how long do I have to go without posting to make up for this?

I woke up to a sad sight... one of my hermit crabs was laying on the bottom of the tank without its shell and the shell was stuck between two rocks above him. I'm guessing he got stuck there and while struggling to find his footing he exhausted himself? I feel horrible that this happened, but I can't figure a way to place rocks and have no chance of this happening. Any advice/ideas would be much appreciated.

The puffer I have is in with swordtails, emperor tetras, dwarf corycats, cardinals, a ghost shrimp and has had ottos in with it too. No problems... I've heard some are more pushy than others. There are also MTS in here that we rarely see (smart snailies) and not a pond snail to be seen... and the tank was overrun when we got the puffer.

Wouldn't the puffers bother a mystery snail? I thought I couldn't keep one in my community tank that has a dwarf puffer in it. I KNOW they're way bigger, but I figured the puffer would be pestering it, if nothing else.

That's hilarious! I love tank mysteries!

Hehehe... one more tank syndrome strikes again! Welcome aboard!

Thanks! I might PM you for some more info on what you've suggested here. I'll be interested to hear what others do, too. Seems like there's as many methods for feeding as there are fishkeepers! I love learning from everyone.

Thanks! I'll go add some salt now. I did a full dose of melafix, so I'm hoping that didn't do any harm... I read the post on that right after I did the treatment. Go figure. I suppose I could do another water change, but he seems fine.

These fish were just fed a rotation between a basic flake and pellet food before I got them. I've kept them on it for now, but what is the best food for a gramma and damsel? I feed my FW fish NLS pellets. I think it's the community formula that says it can be used for SW fish as well. The pellets sink to the bottom like rocks, though... not sure if these guys will eat that way. They seem to like 'hunting' flakes in the current. LOL Then comes the issue of feeding the corals. I've read that the open brain coral should be fed some sort of meat at least once a week. Any advice on what to feed, if this is true, and methods would be mucho appreciated. Lights... There's a dual light system, running 65W 10K on one side and Actinic on the other. I was told to run the 10K for 12 hours a day, and the actinic for part of the day. How long is the actinic needed for? Sick of me yet? I'm not even done! LOL As far as I can tell there's only one hermit crab in there, and about 4 snails (don't ask me what type). Should I have more detritus cleaners? Any recommendations? This wont' be the last questions, I'm sure! Have I told you guys lately how much I appreciate you?

Thanks! I thought I'd posted a thank you last night, but evidently it didn't go through. Must have been one of the times the phone rang while I was on... I dream of the day we get off dialup in this one horse town. (There's a 3 month wait right now, but wireless highspeed is on the way! WOOHOO!) I'll get some pics of the other critters I need help with soon, but that was a huge help. I enjoyed looking through the links posted, as well. I'd been to canreef before, but I find the site down a lot. The other was very encouraging because I'm hoping to find aquacultured critters to add to the tank once I'm comfortable with what I have now.