The New Guy
- Thread starter OceanTidesAudio
- Start date
Take your time with a small tank trust me.. even when you go up to your 32 there will be challenges.. put a few things in and let the tank do its thing.. keep an eye on your perameters do your water changes and just keep visually looking at your tank conditions as they may change often.. as far as fish try something small and hardy for your 1 gallon like a little Catalina goby and a cleaner shrimp and a few cleanup crew.. but add them one at a time spaced out long enough for your tank to acclimate to the new critters and them to acclimate to the tank.. its fun but time consuming.. like having a new baby.. in a small system water changes are your best friend followed by perameter checks and dosing as needed calcium, alkalinity, magnesium to start.. then you can start adding vitamins and supplements for color and health as needed color. Good luck.. and welcome
I've been learning and finding these things out as I go. The one gallon has been up for about two months now (after the initial cycle my friend did) it's got a crab some small snails and that baby clown. I've done a lot of water changes sometimes as much as every day when I had that spike, but it's mellow'd to about about once or twice a week. I've been checking Paramus constantly and have got myself a refractometer because apparently my hydrometer I was given was wayyyyy off. Once the new tank is up and cycled I'll be moving them over, and retiring the 1 gallon. I may or may not set up the 10 as a QT or hospital tank, or maybe just a second tank if I can convice my girl on that one lol. She's still wrapping her head around the 34g haha
Got home today and found out my clown had jumped out... Very sad. Checked every test I could in the water and it seems in region for successful reef or marine life. Super bummed. The only reason I took my top off the tank was beCause I thought that the temp was getting a little high in the afternoon after being at work for 8 hours. My girl said she didn't see the fish In the tank and my heart dropped...
oh man that sucks.. my mandarin tried yesterday for no reason.. looked like it just caught the current of my rw4 and literally went with the flow.. lol.. sometimes they just get to big for their britches and try to either become superman or suicidal.. try running a small fan blowing over the top of your tank or between the lead's.. worked wonders for my tank.. looking for an aquarium controller to to help handle all those problems.. perhaps an neptune apex
Thanks for the offer Seth, looks like a cool tank. i really just have my heart set on a cube, roberts tank is just what i was looking for. good luck with the sale tho. and @hawaiianpunch I'm hoping the temp will be a little more consistent on the new tank i pick up sunday. with my little 1 gallon a lot can change fast.
With a 1 gallon tank there's absolutely no need to dose anything. All the parameters will get replenished with water changes. You won't break your bank with water changes on that tank. Just go get a couple 1 gallon water jugs filled at your lfs with premixed salt. Do daily water changes with a red solo cup. Dip it in. Pull water out and top off. Prior to your daily water change make sure to top off any evap. Then once a week use an airline tube to siphon out any detritus or fecal matter. I wouldn't even bother testing parameters in a tank that size. Make sure your Gravity is correct along with temp and use a high quality salt. Aquamart down in Lakewood sells premixed Aqua vitro salinity salt for 1.50$ a gallon. My guess is you'd use a gallon of premixed and a half gallon of RO per week.