Sea Monkeys and Friends and Macro Algae

[HappyGuppy]

So I decided to venture into salt (why does "go salt" come to mind ) but am going to enter in slowly, to learn, and have time to really ponder what I really want to accomplish in salt before investing a small fortune.

So I got some live rock.  About a small pound (3 pieces), and am going to start off with a super advanced version of sea monkeys (use up some of my brine shrimp eggs).

I would like to get some macro algae, and some small snails.  Anyone else have any other suggestions as to tiny livestock that might work well in such a tiny salt water tank?  Would micro starfish work?

Check out http://www.itsybitsyseadragons.com/ for some of the "friends" to see some things that I'm sort of talking about.

[Vincenzo.]

This is a cool idea, it was like my 8g nano cube...it was home to my frogfish, but was my macro grow out tank. All diff types of marco, worms poly worms, amphi's, co pods, asternia stars, baby limphets, baby chitons, and a few other wierd critters, also home to a few snails and hermits...with so much marco i went 4 1/2 months without a water change. The water was crystal clean and the sand bed was white..the macro pearled occassionally. And with the stoock light i had a few zoas, shrooms, and leathers, .. It made a interesting nano.

[Rybren]

What sized tank are you setting up?  

You'll need to be very careful wrt feeding the brine shrimp.  You could easily pollute the tank and kill off whatever livestock you have in there.

You could likely add a hermit crab or shrimp.  Be careful to ensure that the tank is cycled before adding any livestock.  You want the ammonia and nitrites to be zero before adding anything.

I'm not convinced that starting with a very small tank will give you a true feel for salt.  They tend to require much more vigilance and, therefore, are more work than a larger setup.  Parameters can change very quickly and you'll need to stay on top of things.

If you do make your way out to Orleans, the offer of Chaeto still stands.

[beertech]

If you set up the tank with just the live rock, assuming it came from a mature tank, you will be surprised what little creatures may come out after a couple of weeks. You may not have to add anything for a while. You may already have small feather dusters, pods, shrimps, stars, sponges,  etc... maybe even some snails and crabs.

[Vincenzo.]

Dont listen to Ry starting with a nano is perfectly fine..and if everything pans out it'll be 100% easier if u go lrg. I started off with nanos, and always kept params in check..so now my lrg'er tank should be a breeze.

[mikerobart]

What size exactly are we talking about ? Fish bowl, 1g,5g, 10g, 20g... it will make a difference.

A small starfish should be ok as long as you've got some sand in there. A shrimp or two don't care much about a small space I think... skunk cleaner shrimp are funny critters to watch and will hop on your fingers and try to clean them if you put your hand in the tank... a sure way to win the support of you wife. My cleaner shrimps have gone a long way to justifying many purchases in the eyes of my girlfriend  . "Jacque" was the first and three more followed. Oh yes... let her name the critters -this is key.

A couple hermits as mentioned should be cool.

Also, as mentioned, be careful about adding right away. Normally if it's cured rock and you have little-no die off you won't get much cycle but in a small water volume you have to be really careful.

Snails, hermits, a shrimp

When we say  "micro-stars" normally those are not purchased they will just show up on the glass. There are also micro serpent stars... these also will typically just appear as hitchhikers on rock etc.

I agree that a very small tank will not let you get the true feel for salt but I think that learning the extra attention to detail and vigilance in water changes on the small tank will be good practice for a larger tank where you have a little more wiggle room.

[mikerobart]

Beware though, you are pretty much at the point of no return  . My 1st salt tank was a 29g last summer and I lasted about 3 months until I had to go bigger  . Soon you'll be finding ways to scrape together more $$$ to fund your addiction. These tanks are like crack. No jokes.

Not sure how much you've been exposed to the beauty of a properly maintained reef tank, but this is the direction most of us head eventually it seems. Spending a few minutes in front of one is all it takes sometimes.... you're hooked and need to learn how you can create your own!

My landlord spent 10 minutes looking at my 90g before he was asking to borrow books, talking about costs etc 

[HappyGuppy]

Wow!  I am impressed with the quantity and quality of the replies!  Thank you all so very much!!! 

I don't have the time to write a proper response, yet, but will get around to addressing soooooo many good points raised in this thread.

Quickly I'll say this, to just add a tiny bit of fuel to the fire of this thread...

The live rock is from BA's Kanata, from the small chucks bin.  I don't know if they're cured or mature or whatever proper term to use.  I wonder if they are "seeded" with those cool things mentioned before.  God I hope to find some stars, that would be really cool    So far I don't really see much if anything happening.  There is a little snail that happened to come for the ride, and on one rock there is this "thing" that is about 1 cm that is fleshy.  I poked it with a stick (gently) and I have absolutely no idea what it is.

Ry, thanks for the offer of the cheato.  Yeah, I really do appreciate it, and if I find myself in the east end you can count on a drop by.  Thank you!

Yes, I do see how this is like crack MikeRobart.  I am absolutely NOT interested in going salt.  I don't know why I am asking so many question 

Gotta run, wife is making me do stuff.  Will come back to discuss more.  Thanks again to everyone!

[HappyGuppy]

I've been really enjoying this thread so far, and I've gotten a couple of great PMs too.  I will be sure to make a post here to more fully address all the wonderful discussions so far.

I had a thought...

I am certainly keen on getting more into salt (uhh, go salt?) and I feel that for sure I should devote an actual tank (maybe a 10) to it.  But it occured to me, looking at the title of this thread that we also have a wonderful opportunity for a rather unique topic of discussion.  Let me explain.

People have been enjoying their sea monkeys, sea dragons, sea monsters (whatever) and their "friends".  There is undeniably a certain magic of those ultra tiny tanks (what, like 2 cups worth?).  Seems to me that there is the possibility of working out something even cooler.  Consider this a challenge to all you salties out there (shout out?).  Could it be done, to create something in the scope of "sea monkeys", in a tiny tank - say a 1g fish bowl, that is even cooler using live rock, macro algaes, and other creatures that could happen to be found in a salt tank?  Something that could be kept on an office desk, with the help of just a desk lamp or a window (keeping with the Sea Monkey parameters).  Perhaps this challenge could be called the "OVAS Sea Primates Challenge" to avoid the TMed name.  Any interest in such a "challenge"?  Is it worth trying something new?  In a new direction, from bigger to tiny tanks?

EDIT: I've just started a new thread for this challenge at http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=42357.0  Hope to see a couple of other try out this *little* idea.

[Vincenzo.]

Wont work. Lr needs to be oxegenated to have life. W/c will be needed to clean fowling from feeding. sea monkeys live in diff salinity, so u cant keep anything else, really. U cant use sunlight, it'll bloom unwanted algae. ( u can keep it with no light, if no corals are in it) u could go with a 3g pico it done right.

[johnrt]

Just some ideas for small tanks based on Hawaiian Volcano Shrimp, Halocaridina rubra or Opae' Ula.
These are smallish, bright red, shrimp, 0.5 - 1", that can live in small and even closed systems for years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecosphere_(science)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecosphere_(science)
http://www.stonecraftsite.com/micro_aquarium.html
http://www.fukubonsai.com/M-L2d.html

If anybody would like to organize a group order of these critters (not the spheres, the critters), I would be in.

John T