Osprey

Next time you acclimate, if they do the same thing (lying on the bottom), add an airstone, and neutralize any ammonia in the bag, as well (prime works well for that). They should still be alert and relatively active while acclimating. Lying in the bottom of the bag is a bad sign. My latest addition to the tank, a flame angel, laid in the bottom of the bag like that, but an airstone perked him back up. Not a bad idea to make sure your tank temp matches the temp of the store tank, as well. A move down in temperature can be particularly traumatic, in spite of all the care we take to acclimate them.

Hmmm... it's no surprise to see a cleaner wrasse kick the bucket (they really aren't very hardy; best left on the reef), but the clowns are a surprise. Usually clowns are bulletproof. What kind of behavior are they exhibiting? Any gasping at the surface for air? Are they still active in the bag while acclimating, or do they kind of lie there? Did you use anything out of the ordinary to clean the tank with?

What all are you testing for? Should be: ammonia nitrite nitrate (should always be zero, in a tank with hard corals) calcium KH Magnesium SG Those are obvious, but it's best to be thorough when giving advice. What fish are you keeping with them? Corals from that genus are well known for being very tasty. Do the corals show signs of wasting away, or do patches disappear, unexplained, overnight? Are they anywhere close to your other corals? LPS always lose in a battle with anemones. What kind of lighting and water flow do you have? Where are the corals placed? Do you run carbon regularly? Leathers have active chemical warfare, that could be doing in your hard corals.

How have you been acclimating the fish? What kinds of fish have you tried? Which test kits are you using, and exactly what readings are you getting off of them? Just troubleshooting a few common trouble areas.

Yep, that's about it. I used to use foodsafe rubbermaid containers to mix mine, now I use an old tank.

I'm glad to see this... it's ridiculous that we continue to wild-harvest fish that are so easily bred in captivity!

You'll need to test for ammonia and nitrite. Make sure both are at zero before you buy livestock. You'll also want a nitrate test kit in the future. Also make sure you plan out your stocking list carefully ahead of time so you can't be talked into making impulse purchases at the store! How big is the tank? Are you planning to eventually buy corals, or is this just a FOWLR tank? Have you purchased a skimmer? Lighting? Powerheads?

I have to agree that the skimmer is the biggest and most important decision as far as equipment goes... are you going to have a sump, or will you need a HOT model? Canister filters are kinda optional for use in reef tanks... they're nice to have for chemical filtration, but all your biological filtration is done by the rock in the tank. There are pretty heated debates as to which brand is best... but both the XP and the Fluval are fine, really. I'm not familiar with any of the stores in Edmonton, unfortunately... but most decent SW aquarium stores can order in almost anything you're looking for. Buying my own stuff has been a comedy of errors... XD I do have to say... be careful buying used. Especially tanks- a used tank is much more likely to fail than a new one. Make sure the potential risk is outweighed by concrete savings.

Rearing either requires dedicated grow-out tanks and live, cultured foods. It's pretty labour-intensive. However, both Clowns and cardinals are relatively easy to breed, as SW fish go...

That's actually an interesting question... I've never seen a site that bothered to post the typical lifespan of hermit crabs. I can tell you that I've had my dwarf zebras for a year and a half now, and with no indications that they are likely to die of old age any time soon.

Move the skimmer cup down a little bit, so that the foam that gets pushed into the cup is fairly wet, and the amount of waste collected builds up quickly. 'Skimming dry' produces a smaller amount of very dense, dark skimmate, while 'skimming wet' produces a large quantity of slightly less dense skimmate. It's a pain to skim wet for long periods of time (you have to dump the cup more often), but it can give you an extra edge on nutrient removal in certain situations. I'd wait to add more fish until you're certain you have the issue under control. Cyano can be a pain.

Very cool... I've seen those before and drooled over them, too. But after careful consideration, I have to think that keeping the glass clean would be a PITA, with two surfaces to scrub clear of algae and all those rounded corners. Not to mention the $1800 price tag on a 20g tank...

How big is the sump, and how much clearance do you have vertically? The best skimmers are often tall, and have a bit of a large footprint.

Heh...my dwarf zebra hermits have exterminated any snails I attempt to introduce to the tank. I figure you can pretty much expect snails to become snacks/housing for your hermits.

I have both Tunzes and the Koralias- the Koralias being a recent addition. I switched over because of the really wimpy mounting system for the Tunze nanostreams. They break CONSTANTLY. Tunze will replace the mounting brackets, but it's still a major PITA. Go with the Koralias for surface movement, IMO. They stick out a bit more (the Tunzes just blended into the background), but the extra durability in the mounting system is worth it.

An update for those who'd like to know... Still very pleased with the Solaris. Corals are showing decent growth, which is exceptional, considering this little 36" strip is lighting a 90g corner tank (those things are super difficult to light up). The one potential problem with the Solaris that I can see so far is the tendency of the light to collect dust in the internal housing. It took me a lot of fretting to figure out how to get the dust out from inside. You have to remove the fixture, lay it out and remove one of the panels (with the fans in them) off of the end. This has to be done carefully; the wires don't leave you a lot of room to work with. Then you can slide out the plastic sheeting lengthwise so it can be cleaned, and blow the dust out of the various internal components. I'm guessing this will probably have to be done every 3-6 months, depending on how dusty the house is. Wish I had pics to show, but I lost my camera last summer (grrr...)

*grin* You should see that brain and the bright green hammer I got from you under the moonlight settings, Colby. They GLOW, even though the tank doesn't really look like it's lit. The randomly discovered SPS does, too... definitely have growth on my LPS at this point. I think the brains are both developing second mouths...

Baited a vase, and tipped it up against some rocks last night. One down... don't know how many are left to go!

-roll-

I crept up on my tank with a flashlight last night; I was watching all the different pods scurrying around (quite entertaining, try it sometime if you haven't already), and I started to shine the flashlight into all the little hidey-holes in the rock. Then I saw something move in the cracks, slowly sheltering itself from the light... Something big. And spiderlike. I have at least two enormous crabs in my tank. Possibly more. Their carapaces alone are at least 2 inches wide, definite fish-killer size. They have all the supposed earmarks of 'dangerous' crabs, too... hairy carapace, dark pincers. I'm stunned that I've had all the rock in my tank for at least ten months (no coral additions since four months ago), and yet these things have escaped my notice. I scrubbed down all my rock too, very carefully, and never saw any crabs. I've heard of tipping a baited beer glass to catch them, but I don't have a DSB, so I'm not sure I'll catch much more than my hermits and bristleworms. Should I try to bait them out? They don't seem to move very fast, but I remember thinking that about my brittle star before I scared him for the first time... Any other suggestions?

Youll need to scale down the stocking list, for starters. Tangs are big, active fish, so unless you are planning on setting up a larger SW tank for them down the road, scratch them off the list. Clowns are ok, but make sure you stick to one species, and ONLY ONE FEMALE, the rest undecided. Otherwise they will wipe each other out with territory wars. If you dont know what I mean about the sexes, you need to do some more research on clownfish. Check out www.wetwebmedia.com. I also recommend The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Bob Fenner. In a 55g, youll want to keep 5-6 relatively small fish; basically in the 3-5 inch range. Saltwater stocking is more conservative than freshwater. For FO, youll want a big canister filter (the Eheim might be ok), or you can drill the tank and put in a big wet-dry filter. A top-notch skimmer is also important; brand will depend on whether or not you decided to put in a sump...Your call. Nix the bubble wand; it wont do much, except make a mess. Direct the return flow from the canister across the surface of the water, and the oxygenation will be fine. Also make sure you have either a hydrometer (cheap, but inaccurate) or a refractometer (expensive, but a fine-tuned instrument) to measure the concentration of salt in the water. Also decide on a mix. Instant Ocean is a reliable brand found pretty much everywhere. FOWLR is much more interesting, and much more stable, but FO is cheaper... in the short term. FO requires more consistent water changes, and SW water changes arent free anymore, so keep that in mind.

It all depends on the betta. They are such individual fish, you never know how theyll respond! I have never had problems with bettas in community tanks, all mine have been mild-mannered; but I have also heard of bettas running down and killing fish as big as cardinal tetras for no apparent reason. IMO, it all depends on temperment. If its a mild-mannered betta, you could put anything in with it, but an aggressive betta in a ten gallon can be a nightmare to find tankmates for. Most bettas, of course, are somewhere in-between... Harleys do take a while to grow, but I still dont know if I would put them in a ten. I would try the pygmy rasbora, I dont think they would be any more vulnerable than little juvie harleys. Just my opinion. If the tank has a soft substrate, you could also give pygmy cories(I have some habrosus, and they are super-cute, active little fish) a try, but they can be difficult to track down sometimes.

The salt will encourage a certain amount of bubbles. Might want to try to divert the flow from the AC so that it flows across the surface instead of downward, if it bothers you a lot. Otherwise, I wouldnt worry about it.

Be careful about netting a clown and measuring it out of the water... those spines behind the gill cover can really slash!

They're hard to come by, even in the specialty stores. You'll have to keep an eye out. A number of habrosus cories were imported last Febrary (I think? somewhere around there); I haven't seen them since. Hastatus and pygmaeus are two more options. Another suggestion is sparkling gourami.