Triggerfish31

I called the company up about getting a wrasse and got hounded because I did not have any live rock in my tank or some type of biological filtration. I have a 75 gallon tank, with 8 medium size rocks and one large rock in the tank, all of which have been in there since February. I am using two of the large Eheim Eco canister filter. I found out from the guy that I have fire worms instead of bristle worms. What other type of bio filtration do I need? I cannot afford getting a bunch of live rock for my system. I need some advice on what direction to go in. Or is it safe to just go ahead and by another fish for my tank.

Thanks for your responses. I am going to look into getting a Wrasse as well as setting up a quarantine tank.

Will this fish jump out of the tank? I heard that some wrasses like to jump out.

I got my algae problem under control. I just looked into my 75 tank and noticed a lot of bristle worms crawling around on my rocks. What is the best way to deal with this problem? I have counted at least 20 worms in my tank. Aaron

Here is the latest water testing results. Temp: 82F pH: 8.1 Ammonia: 0 Nitrate: 0 Nitrite: 0 GH: 80 Salinity: 1.019 Iron: 0 Oxygen: 8.0g At the moment I do not have a test for calcium. What is the best way to raise my Salinity? Since my pic did not work before what would be the best clean up crew for my tank in this condition? Aaron

I am sorry it took so long to get back to this thread. I changed my ISP and now just getting everything back to normal. I hope you can see the two pics I have uploaded. Both of them are of my 75g saltwater tank that is covered in algae. I will do my water testing tomorrow night and have it on here then. I have been a little lax but now I have my protein skimmer (Aqua C Remora Pro), and more time to dedicate to my saltwater tank. I only have two T-5's running now compared with four T-5's that were running for several months. If you have any suggestions let me know. I will have the test results on here by tomorrow night so you can get a clearer picture of what is going on. I am still not sure if you will be able to see the pics, still having trouble. Aaron

The lighting I am using for my 75tank has four T-5 bulbs and a moonlight. I was using all the bulbs for 12hours so it may be too much light. I have not had a chance to test my water but I should be able to provide the results over the weekend. As for taking pics and putting them on here. I tried clicking both insert image. When I click on the one that looks like a tree nothing happens. When I clikc on the other image I get a window that opens up but nothing is displayed in the window. Maybe I am doing something wrong on my Mac. The 75 tank has just the Tomato Clownfish at the moment. When I first got him I did purchase three snails but all three died a few days later. I would like to get a clean up crew but not sure how to keep them well fed. I do plan on adding more fish to the tank and two inverts. I plan on getting two cleaner shrimp but only once I have more fish in there.

The algae looks light green with hair growing from the base of it. I will do my water tests tomorrow and report my findings. I am also waiting for my new protein skimmer to arrive. The tank has not had a working protein skimmer in three weeks. I got an Aqua C Remora, I think that is what its called. As soon as it arrives I plan on getting it into action.

I am having a lot of trouble with my algae in my 75 saltwater fish tank. I would like to show you what it looks like but for some reason I am having trouble uploading a pic. I am using a macintosh computer. Is there anyone that can help me out with uploading a pic, that way you can see the type of algae I am having problems with. Aaron

My 75 gallon tank is going well after four months. I just did a major cleaning of algae and the Tomato Clownfish is still swimming. As you can tell I am going very slow with this tank. I am having bad luck with hang-on protein skimmers. The first one was usless and the the second one broke and I can never get the third one adjusted without having it overflow on me. I am thinking of getting a sump to put under or next to my tank since I don't feel like emptying out the tank. Are there any good sump models out there as well as an in-sump skimmers that anyone could recomend? I hope to post a picture of my tank later this evening. Aaron

It has been 1.5 months since I started my updated 75 saltwater tank. So far I have one Tomato Clownfish who really enjoys having the tank to himself, for now. I am looking to purchase some more power heads for the tank. I had three but one went out of service last week. The suction cups would not allow the pump to stick on the glass. Have any of you used or heard about these new pumps that are magnetically attached to the main tank so you do not have to have a big powerhead blocking the view inside the tank? Are these worth looking in to? Aaron

I don't have much rock work but the way its set up I think it looks good for a few corals. I just want to keep four soft corals. Toadstool, Mushroom, green star polyps and Pulsing Xenia. I want to fill the rest of the tank with some compatible fish and other inverts: feather duster worms, hermits and maybe an algae eating sea star.

I am using the "Nutrafin" test kit by Hagen.

Well last week I finally purchased a good digital camera so now I can take some pics. All I have is a tank with some rocks. I am looking to start a reef tank and need some help along the way. With the information below can I start adding my clean up crew? How many snails and hermits could I get? Parameters as of today: Temp: 80F Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 0 Alkalinity: 90 Calcium: 360 Phosphate: 0 Salinity: 1.025 Worries: Calcium and Alkalinity level. Should I be worried about this? Aaron

Here is my response: 1.At the moment I have been having bad luck with skimmers. Right now I am using a counter-current skimmer. I tried the Seaclone skimmer for the fish tank and the bubbles prevent some water to flow to the skimmer. I also tried the new Current skimmer but it dumps out a boatload of small air bubbles. It came with a bubble reducer but that caused the skimmer to overflow not to mention there is too much noise coming from the air tube. 2.Last night I went to a fish store and they had a similar stand to what I am using and the only size sum that could fit would be a 10 gallon tank, way too small. I have not looked into a hang on refrigum but since I have a long weekend I might check one out. I do enjoy going to That Pet Place in Lancaster PA. 3.I might go out there this weekend and check out the lights as well at BRK this weekend. Question: Which is better, hydrometer with the bar or a refractometer? How long should I continue the water changes on my tank? Thanks for the help. Aaron

I have a 75 gallon tank that was a SWFO tank and would like to convert it to a Soft Coral Reef tank. I have cleaned off much of the algae off the glass as well as my protein skimmer. I did have two Eheim canister filters for the tank but plan on using a sump for the reef tank. I have a T5 HO light system and eventually plan to upgrade the protein skimmer. I am going to add live rock sometime next month. I have several questions. 1. Would it be best to toss out the old water (RO/DI) used for my SWF tank or do a 50% water change? 2. What size sump should I used? and can it be made into a refrigum? 3. My light system came with 2 10K day bulbs and 2 actinic bulbs. My body does not react well to Actinic lights (I get a major headache) so what combination of light could I use on my reef tank? Aaron

My Picasso Triggerfish is doing great in my 75 gallon tank. This weekend I am going to spend about an hour cleaning all the algae off the glass and getting the tank back into shape. Since Christmas is coming up fast I had one quick question. I am looking to really start this time on a reef tank. I am not looking to get another 75 but would like to get a smaller tank but not too small. What size tank could I possibly use? This tank would be for soft corals. Aaron

After all your input I still decided to get a Picasso Triggerfish. I could not resist getting one and I am glad I did. Not sure about the sex of the fish but I like to call him Picasso since I cannot think of another name for him. He is a very interesting fish to watch and I had never seen a fish that sleeps vertically face down. I feed him cut up scallops, shrimp and clams but once every two weeks I feed him one live shrimp or crab. He is only four inches but will get bigger overtime. Unfortunately the skimmer I had is not doing its job and I need to get a new one. What would be a good hang on skimmer (I have no sump tank) to use for a 75 gallon tank with one Picasso Triggerfish? Aaron

I just thought of something else. Can you have a reef tank without using live rock? I do have a high output T-5 lighting system. I would prefer to do a coral reef tank rather than all fish tank. Aaron

Thank you all for you suggestions. I have decided to go with a community tank. Aaron

The salinity was a typo. It is 1.025 Aaron

My 75 gallon tank is in the last stages of cycling. Last night I did another water test on it and here are the results. Amonia=0 Nitrite=0.1 Nitrate=2 Temp=79.8 Salinity=0.025 I will take one or two more tests including pH just to make sure that no nitrites are present. I started cycling the tank back on August 13th. Back then I decided I am going to have a salt water fish tank instead of a reef tank. I could not afford the live rock. I did use some LR to start the cycle. I have some rock work already in the tank. I am stuck trying to decide what fish I should get. 1. Aggressive Fish tank -Lion Fish -Picasso Trigger Fish -Angel Fish OR 2. Community Tank -Clownfish -Blennie -fire fish -Goby -Jawfish -Green Chromis Fish (I think thats what its called) -some Sea Stars -some Sea Urchins I would appreciate your opinion on this. Aaron

At the moment I am using Instant Ocean and need to wait until my next payday to get the live rock. Right now scouting out the books on what type of corals I want to keep. Looking at mushrooms, toadstools, Xenia and maybe zooanthids. As for fish I am looking at clownfish, blenny, goby and one larger fish but not what to get at this point. Thats far down the road for me. I will put up pics every so often now that I am finally up and running. Aaron

I read some of the attached articles for beginners. I have my salinity at 1.026 and waiting until this coming weekned or early next week to buy some live rock. I am planning on getting 50-60lbs of live rock. Beside the salinity are there anymore parameters that need to be met before putting in the LR? Also when would be the best time to add the cleaning crew(snails and hermits)? I was planning on adding them once the tank cycles. My system is all up and running. Aaron

Thanks for the help. I am going to use the Rubbermaid tub to store RO/DI water. Also my QT is separate from the main tank and I should have the correct salinity in my 75tank by Sunday. I hope to get live rock in two weeks. I am guessing that I can get my cleaning crew (snails and hermit crabs) by late August or early September. I am doing the best I can not to rush things but it is hard to wait sometimes. Aaron