Diary of a Beginner

20/09/04 - First day of Aquarium

I went to my local aquarium shop to buy a small desktop tank. Found a size, not to big, not to small, the assistant then helped me pick out the rest of my requirements.
55 litre Aqua Pro A020 Tank
Aqua Pro heater
Coral Life Specific Gravity Hydrometer
Bag of crushed coral
Bag of salt
2 Bottles of Bacteria
4 test Kits Ammonia, Nitrate, nitrite, ph
2 piece of fake coral for decoration

And 1 Damselfish, free (Mistake no 1, fish aren't meant to go in for a few weeks, despite what the pet guy told me)

Total Cost: $530 AUD

When I arrived home I floated my Damselfish in its bag on the top of another heated fish tank in my house to keep him warm while I set up my tank. *Tip

I rinsed the crushed coral in a large bucket with fresh tap water; it takes a lot to rinse it clean. While it soaked I rinsed the tank with warm water, and then added the crushed coral. It's a good idea to have a deep coral bed about 5 cm or more, makes for better filtration.
I then added fresh tap water plugged in the heater and started scooping the salt straight into the tank and swirling it around, I waited for it to dissolve and tested the water with the Hydrometer. (*mistake 2, 3 & 4 mistake 2 is the salt looked dissolved but really just lied on the crush coral bed, later to dissolve properly and raise the salt levels, mistake 3 I didn't read the hydrometer instructions and apparently the metre has to soak for 12 hours to allow the needle to balance, something the pet guy forgot to mention, and 4: I was filling the hydrometer from the top causing bubbles to stick to the needle giving me inaccurate reading.) With no knowledge of the mistakes I just made at this stage, I eventually got a stable salt reading and put my fake coral in. I poured my bacteria into the filter and allowed it to circulate. The temp was right, all test kits were right so I floated my fish on top of my new tank. I cut the bag open all the air escaped, I started scooping water from my tank into the bag to allow him to get used to it, the bag started collapsing so I needed to let him out, eventually he swam out and then….. DISASTER!!!! My new little damselfish sunk and laid on his side in the corner of the tank. I went into panic mode screamed the house down while testing the salt water again, the needle went off the chart... guess what my salt had dissolved properly now… I started grabbing buckets to take out water and replaced it with fresh water, mean while my fish was DYING! I was crying and it was a big mess with water flying everywhere. With half the water changed the fish picked up a bit and hid behind my fake coral. Every time I tested the water I was getting different results from my hydrometer. My sister's boyfriend read the instructions, so I now knew I was a dingbat, and we needed to find another way to test the water. Luckily we knew someone who has a marine tank close by (Andrew), we took a bucket of water to Andrews and he tested the water from my tank, there is now NO SALT. Since there was no way to measure my water salinity he gave me a bucket of ocean water he had collected that day and I filled 60% of my tank with it. The fish immediately improved but stayed hiding for the rest of the night.

>> Day 2

coming soon.