starting a nano

[YahooFishKeeper]

hey, im starting a 5 gallon nano, and would like to check stuff out with all the smart people here on the forums. i want to use this fine grained sand. its by carib sea. its called moonlight sand. its inert. would this be okay? i will bekeeping a mantis shrimp in there alone. there will also be livr rock, and possibly mushrooms in the future.

 

[dbacksrat]

You don't want inert...you'd be better of with the Carib Sea Aragonite. It's a bit coarser than what you have your eye on.

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

why is coarser better? just wondering because i already have the other stuff, but i will buy it if it will benefit the tiny ecosystem.

 

[Lorna]

Carib sea makes an oolite sand that is sugar sized that is nice, also aragonite.

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

but what is wrong with the sand i have? if i need to buy different i will, but i dont really want to needlesly spend money..... im a teenager with no job, i dont have much. i would like a quick reply as i am going to the LFS at noon. thats in 2 hours my time.

 

[amd]

well i dont know what moonlight sand is but just so you know what the deal with aragonite(what i use). aragonite is a nice very fine groung calcified rock and creates water buffer capacity that you can depend on. when i add 6.9ph water to my 12 gallon 8.2ph sw tank, withing 30 seconds you will not get a varing result in ph. it also ceeps calcium up too, but im not sure. i use aragonite because it is cheap,nice,keeps great buffer, and thats what everyone around this site and my lfs also say use aragonit, mainly for buffer capacity

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

thanks for the info guys. gotta bounce! cant wait till its all set up!!!!

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

i got the LR in 4 hours ago, and there is a mushroom!!!!!!!!!!!! i cant believe it!!! i am like WEEEEEEE!!!!!!! i didnt kill it i didnt kill it i didnt kill it!!!!

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

heres the pictures as of about a half hour ago. still kinda cloudy. let me know how my layout looks... dont be to mean, this is my first tank.

sorry i should have mentioned the first pic is the middle, the second pic is the right side, and the last pic is the left side.

 

[fish outa wata]

good for you, the mushroom hitchhiker.

 

[ram man]

any fule tank shots yahoo? nice job on finding rock with plenty of wholes in it, the mantis have a much easier time building his home

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

today i went to the LFS to get a couple snails and maybe a hermit. i got the snails and waslooking for a suitable hermit when the guy suggested an emerald crab. he said they were hardy and would go good in a 5 gallon. so he gave it to me for free... but i sorta kinda dont know anything about them....... i wouldnt call it an impulse buy because it was free and all... but... what do they eat?

EDIT:and yeah ram, i will try to get some full tank shots.

 

[kevin4052002]

They are scavengers. They will eat alga. I don't know about their exact diet, but I don't supplement mine, and he is doing fine.

 

[Limi310]

Patience my young friend....................I waited about 4 weeks before I added anything alive to my tank and even then, it was 1 test snail. If you don't have bubble algea or hair algea you will need to supliment his diet. They seem to eat shrimp pellets and I fed mine freeze dried krill.

 

[Brack-Man]

you probly should wait a little longer before getting anything else Yahoo...its only been what, 5 days since you started it...have patience....

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

been a week exactly. i have freeze dried krill. also since they eat algae could i feed it algae pellets too?

 

[Brack-Man]

been a week exactly. i have freeze dried krill. also since they eat algae could i feed it algae pellets too?

I suplement my EC's with shrimp pellets, even thogh I have plpenty of algae in my tank for them...but please, take it easy with this tank and go slow... it will work out a lot better...not trying to flame you on this...just trying to help

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

not planning on adding anything for another month or so. and thats only if things go well.

 

[kevin4052002]

Limi, mine stole krill off of the feeding stick tonight. It was cool.

 

[enzofreak2001]

next time im at your house ive got to see the crab