Malawi

When I read pool I thought swimming pool, like the inground kind, and not the kiddie wading pool type. I don't know why my mind jumped right to that type of pool. Maybe not enough caffiene? There's my d'oh moment for the day.

What's worse is I can just picture the person at PetSmart saying sure, it's okay, they can survive in a swimming pool.

I used to keep goldfish. You absolutely should have a filter in the tank and it should be at least 10 gallons, like Mogurnda said. You should plan on keeping fewer goldfish in an aquarium than you could with other fish (tropicals, cichlids, etc), because goldfish are very dirty fish. You'll have to feed them, there's simply not enough for them to get their own food in a bowl or an aquarium. Mine got a blend of flake food and pellets, and they also ate the algae wafers I put in for the algae eaters. Plan on buying the largest tank you have room for and buy a filter that's rated above the requirements for the tank. You can't go wrong with more water flow and higher filtration. Goldfish do like colder water, but a heater is a good idea so that you have a constant temperature in the aquarium. And make sure you keep up with water and filter changes. It's been said before, but I'll say it again- they're fish that put off a lot of waste. Most goldfish end up dying long before their time because they aren't cared for properly. The fair fish seem to have the deck stacked against them from the start. How they're transported and handled doesn't help them stay healthy, and they can get stressed out and sick just like any other fish. Who knows if they dechlorinate the water at the fair, or ever change it? Your goldfish could've been sitting in the same water for a long time and recovering from that will take some TLC. Good luck!

I usually don't wind up naming all of my fish or other animals myself. My african cichlids are Shaman (named by a friend, and an absolutely nasty fish), Mojo, and LB, which is short for little son of a gun. I bought him because he had all of the other cichlids trapped against the glass in the store. I figured he'd be the best bet to hold his own in my tank, and he earned his name. LB is the youngest, the other two I've had for five years now. I had a Martha Washington, but she went to live in another tank after she outgrew mine. I have two fish in the saltwater tank, a lawnmower blenny and a neon blue goby. Still debating names on those. The peppermint shrimp is named Lobster. And my bettas at work are Sushi (RIP) and Finley (by a coworker, since I took too long to come up with a name). Edited to add: Oops, LB's name got filtered. Sorry!

I've got one that's a whitish pink, and the part that was extended from the rock was about six inches. It was trying to haul a chunk of red slime back into its hole. The lights were on when I saw it, so after I finish today's no lights, I'll try and get some photos tomorrow.

Yup, I do. Macroalgae is in chamber 1 and I do have aiptasia in the tank. It's been an ongoing battle since I got the rock. My peppermint shrimp are all in the main part of the tank. If it is an aptasia, I'll be very tempted to drop a shrimp in the back. I wouldn't do it, of course, but the temptation would be there. Bristleworms are also a possibility. They're the long reddish sort, right? I spotted those when the live rocks were out of the water before being transferred into my tank. Lesson learned- if that's what it is, then I won't bother with the doc unless it gets worse, and I'll wear gloves the next time.

And is starting to get a bit more interesting. I'm curious to see if this has happened with anyone else, since I'm still new to the hobby. On Wednesday I had a problem with the back chambers not filling up. A piece of my filter floss had gotten wedged under the outflow from chamber 1, and in the process of removing it, something nailed a finger. Hurt when it happened, and for a couple hours after, and left three or four raised bumps. It didn't bother me after that day, so I thought it was just an irritation from something in that chamber and that it had gone away. The water flow problem was fixed, too. I didn't think anything else of it until this morning, when I woke up with joint pain and swelling in that finger. Looks like I'll call my doctor tomorrow unless it gets better tonight, though I have no idea what it is that could've caused it. There's no large critters in my refugium, unless my chemi-pure suddenly grew teeth. Maybe some sort of invertibrate, and now it's getting infected? That's what it seems like to me. My fish all swear they didn't do it. I'll see what happens tonight and update this tomorrow. Going to the hockey game, so if I do have to mess around with the doctor's office, I hope it's done with in the morning. -Rachel

Second this. It's a nice, nice store.

Jan, it's looking fantastic! I love your maroon clown. Really nice work, everything looks great.

Thanks! I think it is. It can extend out a bit further too, but I took the pictures right after messing with things in the tank. I'll see if I can get some close up shots after things have settled down a bit.

Photos! There's two fish there now, a lawnmower blenny and a royal gramma. The gramma doesn't mind having his photo taken, but the blenny's still camera shy. The mushrooms aren't happy because I messed with the aquascape a bit and moved their rock. The ricordea's getting bigger: A full tank shot:

We had a great time, and I came home to a happy aquarium. The algae's gone. I mean, gone. When I left, there was still enough hair algae that I was worried I'd come home to a forest, but I did my water change right before we left and removed some of it by hand. Apparently that, and my cleanup crew got things under control. One of the mushrooms is moving onto the sand bed, and a second floated loose and is now attached behind the rock wall. It gets to stay there if it's happy. But everything else is just fine. Why do I feel like I dodged a bullet? Photos tomorrow, I promise. I'm going fish hunting, and hopefully coming home with a neon goby or some sort of blenny. There's still no fish in the tank, but I feel better for having waited the two months. It's probably longer than I needed to, but I knew we were going away for the last week (trip was planned a few months ago) and I wanted to wait until afterwards to add a fish and to make sure the tank was well and truly cycled.

I've been meaning to post updates for a while. Things are going well, the algae blooms are mostly under control. I'm headed out of town for the next week, and haven't added any fish yet. The ricordea on the left has doubled in size and so have the mushrooms. I think I'll be more than ready for fish when I get back. If I have time tonight, I'll put up some photos, if not, it'll be done when we get back from the trip.

My tank was started the second week of August so I am also new to saltwater. I'm just getting over that reddish algae. It's all dying off and seems like just a normal part of the cycle. I use a siphon to suck some of it off during water changes, and added a koralia to increase water flow on the rocks that were the worst off. So far that's working. Keeping up with water changes will help from what I've read here. I also strip some of the hair algae off by hand.

No gloves here either. I've been in my tank almost daily with the hair algae and moving things around. I make sure I wash my hands before they go in the tank, especially if I've just gotten home from work.

Great idea. I'll definitely come if I'm not at work. Would love to see how the pico is doing.

My tank had an infestation too. The first thing I tried was removing the rock from the tank and injecting them with lemon juice in a bucket, using a syringe. That killed the aiptasia instantly, but there were others, including some small ones. I switched to using Joe's Juice on the ones I could find and also added three peppermint shrimp. That did it, I haven't seen an aptasia since. Good luck!

Some updates: The shrimp have done their job, and I added some snails, an emerald crab, and some blue leg hermits today to handle clean up. The mushrooms and coral frag came home last night. Here's the hermits and snails: The mushrooms. They did some growing while they were away. And a full tank shot. The two new frags are on the left side of the tank, one on the sandbed and one halfway up above the emerald crab's cave. I tried for a few of the emerald crab, but they came out blurry. The crab has excavated a spot under the ledge on the left, and when he comes out, I'll try to get a few pictures. All he's doing right now is sticking a claw out to grab things from the rock to eat. A half hour in the tank and he's already eating. Good sign for him, but a bad sign for the algae that's still in there.

It's looking very nice! I like the gobies, they look like they've settled right in.

I like the idea of mixed. The tank has the stock lighting, which will limit some things (SPS and clams, I think). I'm still in the research part of figuring out what sort of fish are going to go into the tank. Someday, I would love to have a mandarin, but I'm a long way from that with such a new tank. For now I'll start slow with some corals, the mushrooms that came with the rock, peppermint shrimp, and a blenny of some sort. There's still plenty of time to look into fish, since I want to wait another couple of weeks before adding any to the tank.

Thanks for the comments! It's definitely still a work in progress. My freshwater tank is African cichlids, which is where I got my screen name from. Griffin's definitely more friendly than the Baskerville hound, even with the laser eyes in the photo. I'm going to have to be careful with my saltwater things, because if it looks like it might be edible, he'll go for it. He's around four, and I've had him for a little over a year. I think the aquascape is going to stay the way it is. There's enough ledges and caves to make things interesting and give a space for coral. I wasn't sure what I was going for, but I knew I wanted some sort of arch. The rocks fit together just right for it.

This one is my first saltwater tank after a long time with freshwater. The tank itself is a JBJ 24 gallon, with about 30 pounds of live rock. I have had quite a bit of help from this club, both with rock, live sand to start things up, the tank itself, and a temporary home for the mushrooms and coral frag that came with the rock. Thank you all so much. And because the thread is always better with them, photos! The empty tank, right before I added the rest of the saltwater: The house has this nice alcove under the stairs that faces the living room, which is where the tank is located. Here's the tank after the sand was added: The live rock has taught me more than I wanted to know about aptasia. Joe's and lemon juice are doing the trick, and some new additions should help also. The rock itself is gorgeous and it had some nice mushrooms on it. The mushrooms and a coral frag that also came with the rock are living with Jan at the moment while the tank gets settled. I couldn't resist arranging rock today, just to get ideas. I'll continue to post updates as things progress. The last one is a full tank view with my partner in crime, who's had his nose in things while I've worked on the tank. This morning, I knocked over my Joe's Juice, and he decided to have a taste. Joe's Juice doesn't stain carpet, by the way.

Nice present! I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

I'm brand new here, and still don't have a saltwater tank. I'd put myself in the very beginning of researching this before I find a tank. The Marine Scene was the first store I went to, and the staff was very helpful and patient. They didn't mind answering questions, and I spent a good half hour in there just looking at everything. And yes, I did fall in love with their big tank, the one you see right when you walk in the door. Maybe someday, far in the future. But it's a nice store, I'll definitely be back.