What now?

Depends on the type of Anemonies you want in the aquarium. Best way to get the aqurium started is put the Live Rock in at the start if its uncured, anything that dies off will start to cycle the aquarium that way. Another methode that works is to drop 1 or 2 cocktail shrimp into the aquarium to start the cycle, once ammonia and nitrite are both 0 you can start to adds a small amount of fish or inverts.

If you put a Damsel as the first fish, it will claim the whole aquarium as its territory and fight off any other fish that invades its territory, which either means you will be stuck with a damsel that will fight off any new addition to the aquarium since its territory is being invaded (Damsels will also even fight off fish much larger then it is). What prevents a Damsel from being eaten by attacking a invading fish? Its speed! You will have a VERY hard time trying to remove a Damsel since they swim incredibly fast.

Well, there's no way to learn like jumping in. Welcome to the steep part of the learning curve :laugh:

Why wait to put the rock in? There's nothing in the tank to feed the bacteria right now. Either put uncured rock in now, or add ammonia or a few cocktail shrimp.

If you want anemones, you will need light. How much have you got?

Stars are tricky. I just spent the weekend reading up on them.

Common serpent stars are about the best bet, especially if you are starting out. They are tough (I've certainly proven that), relatively harmless, and scavenge (although target feeding is recommended).

Asteroids, which are the standard-looking stars are different. Some species, like sand sifters, do pretty well in aquaria, but will not be an option with a coarse sandbed like yours.

Grazers, like linckia and fromia, ship poorly and you have to be pretty lucky to get a healthy one. Plus, they generally need a large, healthy reef tank to be able to feed.

Oreaster species, like the chocolate chip, are ravenous eaters, that need to be fed a lot. That is a challenge, both in terms of keeping them alive (with success measured in years rather than months) and keeping the tank clean with all the meaty food going in.

Except for serpents, I have little experience with stars, other than watching a lot of linckia turn to liquid in LFS and friends' tanks. I don't know what species you were thinking about. Just thought I'd be a little ray of sunshine this morning.

Originally posted by Deniz
I'll add in some live rock this weekend. Is there any 'right' amount I need to put in (ie a water volume to live rock ratio)?

Other fish that interest me are:
* Maroon clownfish (I absolutely love their colours)
* Mandarinfish
* Yellow Tang (if I really feel like dishing out the $70- who knows, I love these fish to death)
* Royal Gramma (?)

*Red starfish are nice looking but how easy are they to take care of..?

Anamones.. not sure need to do some research.

Another thing, do I still do %10 weekly water changes in a SW tank? And if so, do I do it while cycling the tank? And do I make up saltwater to add in or does the salt stay in the tank and not evaporate so fresh treated water is fine?

Its a lot of questions but thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

Let's see...
*I like about 1.5 lbs/gallon of live rock.
*A maroon clown, or pair, would be good in a tank that size. The royal gramma is another good choice. Mandarins need a bigger tank, with a lot more live rock, to be able to find enough small invertebrates to eat. I'd say the tank's too small for a tang.
*Not sure what kind of red starfish you're thinking about.
*10% per week water change is very good, but you can wait for the cycle to end.
*You top off with freshwater, otherwise the salinity will creep up.

One other thing, you will probably want to boost the circulation. Turning the tank over at least 10X per hour is a good target value.

Turning over the tank 10x per hour refers to how much current is in the aquarium. In this case having a power head (cheaper) or a filter without any media (more expensive) has to be able to cycle through 40 gallons 10x every hour to provide enough current. Current is not very important in FW, but SW the fish come frmo the ocean which constantly has water moving at a very rapid speed.

I guess the deal with the circulation is that I like it to be from more than just one place. Your tank is roughly 150 liters, so you're turning it over about 6 2/3 times per hour. Respectable, but not great, especially since the filter will probably be pushing less water than the nominal value.

Adding a powerhead or two will add more circulation and, depending on how it's aimed, generate turbulence. Marine organisms like turbulence a lot more that a constant stream.

Sorry about the confusion regarding water changes. In my opinion, topping off with FW should be done at least several times a week (I have a system to do it automatically several times a day). That will keep the salinity a lot more stable. Then do water changes every week or two to remove debris, excess nutrients, and replace depeleted minerals.

There are several good books that may save you some grief. The New Marine Aquarium by Michael Paletta and the Simple Guide to Marine Aquariums by J Kurtz are both brief, useful (and cheap) introductions to marine fishkeeping. My favorite for understanding the basic principles is Fenner's Conscientious Marine Aquarist. Less than $30 online in the States, and well worth it. Any of them will help to sort out a lot of the issues you're trying to figure out. Please keep asking lots of questions here, I just think it helps to have some good books on hand.

Hello! Just wanted to make a few more comments that are mostly just IMO but they worked for me. I wouldn't add much just enough to introduce some bacterial to sort of jump start your cycle. The ammonia will kill lots of the inverts on your l.r. so it's really just a waste to add it all up front. You also might consider adding a little live sand in lieu of the live rock it will do pretty much the same thing. I noticed that you're going to be using a canister filter for your circulation and your want critters like anemones? I'd remove all the media from the canister from the very start or you'll probably end up with high nitrates down the road and they won't like that at all.
hth
Chris
p.s. welcome to salt water land ** surgeon generals warning** SALT WATER FISH ARE ADDICTIVE