Hello all.

[rambomotim]

Hi. I'm a student (younger then you'd imagine who has been looking for some friends who like their aquariums. This website seemed like the perfect place for me. I guess I'd like to tell you a bit about my aquarium history. When I was young, my dad set up a 10 gallon community tank, and got me and my sisters aquariums as well. When they stopped caring, I took over, performing weekly changes religiously. I'm by no means an expert, but over the past 11 years everything I've learned has been by experience, reading and lots of hard work. About 5 years ago, I saw a 14 gallon biocube nano reef at my lfs. I decided I had to have one. However, after reading about how difficult it was to maintain, I vowed I'd read as much as possible until I knew as much as I could on the subject. Around November, I bought a biocube 8, and begun my cycle. It's been about 7 months and I'm still doing weekly changes, daily water checks, and am yet to have a creature in my aquarium die. This weekend I'm buying my hi fin goby, and in 3 weeks am planning on getting him a shrimp buddy.

So that's my fishy story, hoping to meet some friends on this site.

[NanoSF]

You will be happy to know there is a fair amount of younger people on OVAS. Maybe not as young as you, but we are all just guessing at your age at this point  .

I like the small tanks too, but once you fill it up it is hard to know what to do next. You will here a lot of stories of people that started small and are now in the over century mark in tank size. A small tank is a nice way to really appreciate the simplest things that just blend into the background of a big tank IMO.

If you are looking for any advice I have one thing to offer. Before you put in your goby and shrimp try to find a place that will be irresistible for them to make a home. by that I mean have a nice rock with a flat bottom sitting out front in the tank up on the sand bed rather than buried under the sand. The best case scenario is to have all your other base rocks touching the bottom of the tank with sand around them rather than under them. This way the only place they can possibly dig out a home is that nice perched rock out front where you can see them. I have a pair and I didn't do this, now I see them maybe once a week at best 

Anyway, enjoy OVAS. It's full of good people, and a lot of people willing to help.

[Hookup]

Outstanding work!  Maintenance is 99% of the battle and I'm sure you'll have amazing results on this and many more projects.

I'd really like to see any pictures of your tanks. 

Welcome to OVASS!

[washefuzzy]

Welcome to OVAS. Sounds like you have a lot of experience you can share with others.

[rambomotim]

Thanks for the warm welcome! For the irresistible spot, I smashed up some old rock I had for a fresh water aquarium, boiled it, then placed it around a small alcove I have in the front of the cube. Do you think that would work? Also, is paying 30 dollars for a high fin goby a rip off? 35.00 seems like quite a bit for me...(I came from freshwaters, so I don't really know what a good price is? Oh, and does any one have experience with aqua valley in Ottawa? I heard good things from a friend, so I decided I'll buy from there this time, as opposed to Big Al's.

[Saltcreep]

Aqua Valley is one of our sponsors. Check out the link to them on forum home page.

[Hookup]

Salt fish are much more expensive than fresh, in general..  I'm not aware of any salt fish under $20... Damsel maybe?

The average fish would cost likely $40-$50 so you'll want to have a really good idea how to care for them and keep them alive...  Collector fish will easile run several hundred dollars to several thousand.

I suggest putting something on your tank to ensure your fish do not jump out and carpet surf.

[JetJumper]

Salt fish are much more expensive than fresh, in general..  I'm not aware of any salt fish under $20... Damsel maybe?

Chromis' and some Goby's!   Firefish are around $15.00 I have seen.. hehe

[NanoSF]

Not sure rock from a fresh water tank is the best idea. It depends on the rock but some rock (probably most fresh water rock) should not go in a SW tank. I don't know much about this but you should be sure you know it won't be a problem. It's not just the boiling, it is the rock make up too I believe. I think you can effect PH and stuff like that. Maybe someone will chime in on this issue. Your idea for a spot for the shrimp and Goby may work but it is hard to tell for sure. Basically the main thing that matters to them is the the rock they go under has substrate under it, and that the rock is stable. So a nice flat bottom rock perched on top of the substrate is what they will want. Little pieces of rock probably won't work because they will not be stable to be under, but I'm not sure how little you are talking about.

The Hi Fin price is fair. You could pay more in some places and a bit less in some places if you are lucky, but by no means a rip off.

As for LFS information I will PM you on that. Not proper etiquette to talk about the sponsors on the board

[rambomotim]

Ha ha, I already have a lid. Heavy thing too. Oh, and today I saw a tiny little starfish, probably about as big as my pinky nail. Must of snuck in on my liverock Also, they lowered the price on my goby, so I'll be able to get the shrimp at the same time! Do you thing this would put too much pressure on the tank? I don't want a crash at this stage!

[NanoSF]

No a pistol shrimp and a Goby are fairly low on the load scale. Should be fine as long as you acclimate them well (slowly! Look up this process if you don't already know. It is very important). It is better to add them at the same time anyway. Try to add them near each other. They seem to have trouble finding each other sometimes. So add one then see where it settles and try to add the other very close by.

[dan2x38]

Welcome nice to meet ya sounds like a cool setup like mention - PICTURES! LOL Everyone says it and asks so I had too...

The fear of rocks not from the ocean or it's shores are what is it's content. It could have some serious heavy metal content like copper. As you must know from your research copper is death on marine life. High contents of Fe is not good either. So I would reconsider adding such rock. There are 'normal' type of rock at the sea shore and I am certain some basins somewhere but they are obviously marine safe...

With that said sounds like your pace for having one of those century size tanks soon... LOL watch it this place can lead you spend outrageous amounts of money! 

[rambomotim]

Well, I picked up this rock when me and my family went to Cape Hatiris (spelling lol?). It came straight from the ocean so I may try it out.
Thanks all of you for your help!

[rambomotim]

GREAT NEWS!
Aqua valley is having a giant sale, so I'll be able to get both for 18 dollars cheaper! YAY!