Reddit reviews Coralife 00232 Digital Thermometer
We found 3 Reddit comments about Coralife 00232 Digital Thermometer. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Attaches to aquarium via small suction cup3 foot long temperature probe for large size aquariumsBattery includedIdeal for aquariums and terrariumsReadings to 0.1-degrees Fahrenheit or Celsius
Been gathering info for a while now. Thanks to the fellow redditors for all the help and advice, especially K_draggon, LikeMaugal, Pllatium, Baboa, Tropheusdubosi, medym, and ispringer.
You guys gave me a lot of great advice that helped me put this together, along with information from nano-reef and ReefCentral
Tank is a 20 gal high spare tank I had. 50w heater, Light set up is Nova Extreme T5, pump is Hydor 425, Thermometer is Aqueon Coralife
The 2 larger rocks in the picture, was 1 large 11lb rock, smashed into 2 base pieces, picked up from Absolutely Fish in NJ
The rest of the rock was purchased from Gulf Live Rock
Tank was set up on saturday 2/25/12, which is the cloudy pictures. Tank finally settled around tuesday. Rock came in last night. Sadly a lot of the stuff didnt make the 2 day trip, but Im sure more stuff will appear soon.
First water change is scheduled tonight, as Ive noticed salinity has dropped to about 1.0 and Im told to keep it around 1.01-.02.
HOB filter is an AC70 which is getting El Fabs 'fuge mod in the next week or so.
Only signs of life so far are a sand trigger, about 4-5 bristle worms, which after researching more are "Fire bristle worms" And i read they are the worst kind and dangerous, So i will be plucking them out at night as I see them. And a few dozen peanut worms in the rocks. There was a small snail, and crab, that I found that didnt make the trip , which would of been nice to have.
I gave about 3 cups of sand to a friend, whos going to put it in his tank for a few weeks, and then give back to me, so I can get some of his copipods and other stuff he has living in his sand, and to help cycle my tank quicker.
10 gal is fine. I started my first SW tank a couple months ago and I got a 6 gal. Now, you will have to have to have live rock. Without it, it will be nearly impossible to have a stable tank. I suggest you get around 15 pounds. Get all the live rock you plan to have in you tank at once so your parameters don't get an ammonia spike if you have a fish inside. Aragonite sand should be fine. I would stay FOWLR (fish only with live rock) because corals are much harder. The cycle is also very similar. Set up your tank, add sand, fill with a few inches of water, add rocks and aquascape, fill up with water, add a deli shrimp, and you should be good to go. You will need some salt, a hydrometer, a good reliable heater, some lighting, a power head and test kit. And also a filter.
This is what I would get
http://amzn.com/B000260FUM
I would put the bio rings and carbon aside and replace with this,
http://amzn.com/B0002A5VK2
http://amzn.com/B004PBD4J4
Add the matrix when you start cycling, then add the purigen when you are getting fish. The reviews are speaking for the product. Purigen is simply a godsend
http://amzn.com/B00019JOSO
Go for a refractometer if you can afford it but this works fine for me as long as I tap it an there are no bubbles.
http://amzn.com/B001EUE808
The test kit.
http://amzn.com/B0036S4YZ0
This powerhead should do fine in a 10 gallon.
http://amzn.com/B003M7P9YU
This is one of the best most reliable heaters on the market. Many will fail and bake your tank but not the jagar.
http://amzn.com/B003EE5GUS
These make life a whole lot easier BN testing water or adding things like calcium. You get 10 so they should def last a while.
http://amzn.com/B008SJ1H7A
Get like 5 of these. They are extremely accurate and last around 3 months each. Wrap the wire around the tank and have one on at all times. They also help when doing water changes. You should also pick up an extra heater for water changes, via aqua and aqua top have good ones. These are made in china and sent out to companies like coralife to be package and sold for like 10 dollars, see
http://amzn.com/B0002DI4TO
Now, this is the salt I use for water changes,
http://amzn.com/B0002DJU0G
This should last you a year or two and is way cheaper then continually buying salt. I personally use tap water that has been heavily decholinated with this,
http://amzn.com/B00176CVK8
You should get your tap water tested for copper which can kill invertebrates. A 5 gallon bucket is really useful as is this siphon for water changes,
http://amzn.com/B002LL8BWU
This net is really fine and will catch most tiny debris
http://amzn.com/B008HPOCUE
You will probably find it cheaper in a store. I leave it in front of my powerhead for a hour or two every couple to days to catch debris and waste.
These tweezers help for when you don't want to get your hands wet.
http://amzn.com/B001CWDSYA
But they do start rusting after a lot of
use.
http://amzn.com/B0002E7ITK
This has been the best fish food in my experience but all fish should be fed a varied diet. This is a good staple and should be substituted with brine shrimp, mysis shrimp (frozen) and seaweed.
Not everything here is necessary, I'm just telling you what helped me make the jump to saltwater.
Here are some pics of my tank:
http://imgur.com/p3PP7X7
http://imgur.com/9kUaq1g
http://imgur.com/wtUfCb5
http://imgur.com/yl82GRn
One last thing, in a tank that size, draw a small line where you want you water level to be, when it goes below that due to evaporation, top off water. Test your salinity often in that tank. I use seachem marine buffer to deal with pH issues but chemicals and buffets should be avoided.
People will yell at you for keeping it in a bowl and some people will even recommend they have to have 10g of water to be healthy.
A bowl is not healthy for the fish, but I've kept bettas in 2.5g tanks with no problems. The most important part is getting a filter and a heater, and not over feeding.
You want more lateral space than height, so a cubic or cylindrical tank isn't optimal. A simple 2.5g from Petco is what I use and is fine; it has the foot print of a shoe box. Bettas aren't really vertical swimmers, then are lateral swimmers; they also benefit from more surface area, which a rectangular tank gives.
I run this filter on my 2.5g and haven't had problems with it for a year. It will do better if you clean it every month.
Heaters are tricky; my best advice is to get a digital thermometer like this one and watch the temperature. My 2.5g hasn't dropped below 79 in a couple months, and I'm not running a heater. In the winter I use a heater like this one to keep the temperature steady. When you do start using a heater, you want to watch your temperature closely to make sure you aren't over heating the tank!
I use a desklamp with a Spiral CFL light bulb as lighting; but I also keep live plants. Your lighting completely depends on what you have in the tank. Keeping some plants isn't hard, but it is a balancing act that you have to get used to. You also have to do a little research about the type of plant and it's needs. If you want plants, give me a PM and I'll give you some easy plant recommendations. If you don't want plants, get a 10watt spiral CFL "Daylight" (6300K) lightbulb and put it in a desk lamp that is a couple inches above the water; or just put the tank in a window that gets some light through the day.
Food is simple; a small pinch of flake food or a little bit of freeze dried blood worms every few days is fine. Obviously live food is better, but it is also more work and more expensive.
___
TL:DR
Here is my 2.5g now after I trimmed it and before I topped it off. It has ~20 Black Bar Endlers in it now instead of a Betta. If you want a tank with live plants like that it takes a bit of planning, but isn't too bad.
I'm giving you this list because cost increases with size. A great 2.5g will cost you ~$60-100 upfront, and not much in the long run. A good 10G will cost you ~$100-200 because you will need a stronger filter, larger heater, larger tank, stronger lights. A bowl is the cheap option, and your fish will lose its color, likely lose some fins due to fin rot, and I would be surprised if it lives a year. A tank with a filter and heater will solve all those issues.