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DanDavid87
David Ribi
@DanDavid87 · 4 weeks ago

Hey guys, im a month in with my first nano (80l) and hitting a bit of trouble which id love some advice on.

Currently no fish, but added 4 trochus snails 10 days ago to start getting some life in there once cycle was complete.

My LFS recommended adding 2 bags of copepods and 2ml of phytoplankton once a week whilst we don't have fish to (i think) speed up algae growth.

For the last 5/6 days the water has looked a bit cloudy and nitrates have dropped from 18 to around 2 or 3. Chat GPT is saying it could be a bacterial bloom.

Continued in comments...

6
alimack04
Ali
@alimack04 · 4 months ago

A good mantra for everyone who got their first tank for Christmas. Rushing to get too many fish doesn't allow your bacteria time to establish. Rushing to get corals before you've learned how to manage your water quality will cause coral problems. Rushing to buy loads of equipment means you might spend money you didn't need to or on gear that isn't right for you. Go slow, be patient, research, research research.

7
RMDezanett32
Rhonda
@RMDezanett32 · 4 months ago

This is my first saltwater it's a 10 gallon. I got it in July already set up. I lost my coral already as I'm new and learning. I added to my cleanup crew last month and now I'm debating if I should add coral or just keep it as is.Any ideas?

6
arrik
Benjamin
@arrik · 8 months ago

When I started this journey in March, I looked for resources to be well studied and prepared. One of the early tips I saw was to pick a trusted source for your learning and stick with them, because there will be as many opinions as there are content creators. Also avoided public forums like Reef2Reef or Reddit for the same reasons.

So I ended up really liking Bulk Reef Supply’s Ryan (now with Serious Reefs) and Matt (My First Fish Tank) beginner series. Watching hours of their content I felt well-informed and tackled any of the typical starting challenges. I even avoided the dreaded ugly phase and have had stable parameters the whole 5 months so far. Who were y’all’s reef mentors or trusted experts?

0
elgib
Ella
@elgib · 11 months ago

Hi guys, I’ve been keeping betas, multiple community fish, and stuff like that for a few years now and I’ve been wanting a salt water tank for a while. Would a dwarf seahorse be a good place to start? I currently have a 29 gallon tank that is freshwater and empty 3 gallon tank but I’ve been saving up too do something with saltwater tanks so I could buy a new one.

Should I start a community saltwater tank or just keep a few dwarf seahorse?? Pls lmk everything possible

2
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