New Member - New Project

[rbailey]

Hi Nemo31,

Welcome from another ex-pat in the sand.

We also live in Dubai, got a tank at start of December and have been struggling ever since. After being a lone UAE member on another forum I just googled and your drama popped up so I thougth I join and post.

It is really dificult not having a decent supplier out here. The habit of locals bulk buying 20 or 30 fish at a time as disposable items really drives the market. (I once saw a local buying a clown fish to put in a fresh water tank.) Unfortunately none of the shops have any real morals and sell to who ever.

Also nobody has any real decent gear, buying a skimer here is a joke, let alone decent test kits etc.. and as for advice from your LFS I just bought a regal tang from where I rate as the "best" and had it described as a powder blue surgeon.

As other have been saying slow is best (but frustrating).
Other posts about equipment and LFS etc is much easier said than done, you yanks have it easy great suppliers and equally good mail order.

pm or post if you want to chat.

Cheers,
Richard B.


The Fish :-
2 x clowns
1 x Brown Tang
1 x Yellow Goby
1 x Regal Tang
(Fingers crossed nobody is doomed by posting them)
The Cleaners :-
1 x Banded Coral shrip
2 x blue legged hermit crabs
10 x various snails
The "Plants" :-
1 x green bubble tip annenome
1 x leather coral
1 x rock of striped mushrooms
1 x purple sponge ?
1 x Red soft coral ?
Their home :-
100 Gal bow front
Home made sump - 1000ltr/hour (with SCWD / wave valve)
Canister filter - 600 ltr/hour
1 350 ltr/hour power head.
2x60W + 1x33W + home made night light.

[R34dawn]

Excellent sample! as lvreef23 quoted I had a 30g and if I could do it again now probably could buy me some much needed equipment than unfortunate livestock i didn't have the money for!

[Bogie]

Rbailey - tangs are surgeonfish.

Nemo (there are too many members with Nemo in their name here) - I would test for silicates in your sand. If its aragonite sand w/o silicates you'll probably be ok with it. If it's a silicate-based sand, then you're probably going to be hosed with big algae problems later, and you'll be trying to remove the silcates for a long time... Keep the faith, don't throw in the towel yet. Order good quality tank accessories from the states if you have to, and it will be worth it.

[nemo31]

Sorry in the delay in sending this post.
Nitrite NO2 – 2.0mg
Nitrate NO3 – 25mg
Ammonium NH4 – 0.5mg
Ammonium NH3 – 0.5
Phosphate P04 1.0mg
PH – 8
KH Carbonates – 9dkh
Calcium CA – 300mg
Copper – 0.0mg

We also have worms living in our sand ? Do I need to get these out, or can i buy something to eat them ?
I have one hermit crab who is not paying any attention to them, what else will eat these buggers ?

The shops in Dubai I go to are
Petland, World of Fishes, Petzone, one in Lulu hypermarket mall.
I'll send you a PM so we can try to hook up, might need your help over here buddy. I am also a keen diver !!! you could have a dive buddy as well !

Thanks

[nemo31]

I have placed an order for a cleaner crew, the fish place in LuLu hyper market said he could get me anything to order. I found this guy in Dubai to be good. He has lots of equipment like skimmers and flow jets.
The world of fishes is in your area, got a few shrimp from there but they really bunked up the price, things here are around 1/4 more then what i could pay in the US for !!
Petland had a really good choice of stock for saltwater tanks. Petland has fish but crap stock for tanks - there fish are not the best either.

[Iraf]

Originally Posted by nemo31

Sorry in the delay in sending this post.
Nitrite NO2 – 2.0mg
Nitrate NO3 – 25mg
Ammonium NH4 – 0.5mg
Ammonium NH3 – 0.5
Phosphate P04 1.0mg
PH – 8
KH Carbonates – 9dkh
Calcium CA – 300mg
Copper – 0.0mg

We also have worms living in our sand ? Do I need to get these out, or can i buy something to eat them ?
I have one hermit crab who is not paying any attention to them, what else will eat these buggers ?

The shops in Dubai I go to are
Petland, World of Fishes, Petzone, one in Lulu hypermarket mall.
I'll send you a PM so we can try to hook up, might need your help over here buddy. I am also a keen diver !!! you could have a dive buddy as well !

Thanks

your still cycling man, leave it alone and let that finish, dont add anything for another 2 weeks, do water changes weekly since you already have livestock in there but let the cycle finish and slow down

[nemo31]

It has been a while since posting on the forum,
Due to work I have been very busy.
The tank is going fine, although some minor teething problems.
The main ones are documented on my previous posts with high ammonia and nitrate, nitrite.
This was down to the filter not functioning correctly as I did rush things a bit !
Anyway after the start up period I enjoyed a really good spell of stocking the tank with live rock, adding some coral and a few fish.
I have brought this flat fish which is sand colored, not sure of its name. Not seen one before in the shops so had to have him in my tank (pictures to follow).

I have had some trouble – YES MORE , I went to this fish shop in Dubai “world of fishes” and brought two star fish (one really big and bright blue – one small and bright orange) a small box fish, a clown fish and few others (small fish).
All of these died in two days. My water levels went the wrong way and I have had to battle to save the other fish for the last two weeks.
I called the shop and he did not care !!

So after sorting out the water as best I can I resorted to adding another canister filter to my tank.
The new filter is a Sun- Sun with 4 ballast trays. So now I have a 3 tray filter and a new 4 tray filter.
I fitted all of this last night and straight away the water looks crystal clear and this morning the nitrate, nitrite and ammonia level are going down. We are keeping an eye on the water but this seam to have solved my new problem.
I am sure now I have more than enough filter capacity for my tank, but time will tell.
No more fish or anything will be added to the tank now until another 6 weeks so the new filter can have time to bed in.
I will post some pictures of the fish, set up later on today.
Thanks for helping me out. I have learned a lot thought reading posts to help with some of the major and minor problems I have had.
I will once everything has settled down add some more coral, but fish and cleaner crew, coral are so hard to find – well ones which stay alive are here in Dubai.

[rbailey]

Hi,

Creature Oasis (+971 4 344 2154) in Satwa stock H&S Skimmers (Good brand).
However still not found a good source for livestock :-(

Cheers,
Richard B.

[nemo31]

Thanks for the tip.
I want to find a shop which will order livestock.
I have placed many orders, even searched the web to give the full names and everything, but they never deliver !!
World of Fishes is the only shop i know which gets cleaner shrimp, but do not buy fish there, I spent around £200 and they all died ! I was well p!ssed off I can tell you !
Also most shops now don't have any stock at all, some I know have had nothing for weeks !
Value for money though Dragon Mart is the cheapest place for filters and skimmers. I got quoted 2000aed from one shop for a new canister filter, got it from dragon mart for 320aed with all media. Yes i know the make Sun-Sun is not the best but my other filter has done really well so far. I have a skimmer, which i know is crap - so might invest in a new one soon.

Thanks for the advice.

Gerome

[railroader46]

Your tank params are not right. Ammonia should be 0/ Nitrates should be basically 0/ nitrites shoud be 0/ and ph should be around 8.3. You shoud probably stop adding livestock and let your tank mature for a a couple weeks. go slow let it grow