Just another newbie hello :)

E

eddthompson

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Jun 23, 2004
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Hello from england :)

The wife decided she wanted clown fish (probably nemo inspired), so on tuesday we bought a 30 gallon tank, skimmer, and a large canister filter loaded with what look like noodles, some carbon and some phosphate absorber.

I put 1/2 an inch of coral sand over the bottom, added a few kilos of lava rock and ocean rock added the ro water and salt and set the tank going. Got to aq nice steady temp of 77 degrees.

Today (thursday) i popped back to my lfs to get some more ro water as i put a little too much salt in (1.025). The chap said it was a good idea to start the cycle now and add some live rock, so 2 kilos of uncured rock went in along with a kilo of cured rock.

Every thing sound good so far? How long should i put the lights on each day?

Thanks alot, sorry for the long message,

edd
 
Did you add crushed coral or sand?

In the end you will want 1 to 1.5 lbs of live rock for every gallon of water in the tank. This can be made with base rock and live rock as the base rock will eventually become live rock.

Also the filter will become a bit of a problem. It will end up being a source of nitrates in the tank which means you will have to do water changes more often if you plan on keeping any inverts like snails, crabs, starfish etc... You can still use the filter but remove all of the stuff in it. You need water movement to keep the live rock critters happy (current is a must). Otherwise if you can get powerheads instead of a filter.
 
Crushed coral is what i added to the bottom of the tank.

I under stand that the filter will cause higher nitrates, the chap in the lfs even said it would, but he said it will help until i have established the live rock and to do regular water changes.

2lbs in a kilo, so there is 6lbs of live rock, 5lbs of lava rock and 12lbs of ocean rock.

Ive taken a few pictures of the critters on the live rock, facinating, no idea where to host them to share them how ever.

edd
 
Welcome to AC!

There are many ways to skin a dead cat, or set up a marine tank. The most important thing is to learn a lot and keep a good eye on your tank, and it sounds like you're doing well in that department.

MattW set up a site called aquatic photos. It's free for anyone who wants to post photos of all things fishy.
 
Time is one of the few things i have, i run a small motel with my wife, so 80% of the time we are around the house.

I decided to follow the instructions of the lfs guy so i had some comeback if i ever had a probem etc, of all the places i visited in the local area this place seemed the best, friendly staff, good range etc.

ive read all the stickys on the forum, i thought they were great.

This is a photo of what looks like a christmass tree worm, its prtty small less than 1/2 an inch:
details.php


A few of these crawlled out a hole in the live rock, hope there good guys:
details.php


i know most people have seen loads of these, but novelty hasnt worn off yet.

edd
 
I still keep a magnifying glass right next to the tank. Never get tired of it.
The first one does look a lot like a xmas tree worm.
The second looks like an amphipod, tail up, head down. Nice little scavengers.
 
One slight warning with crushed coral: It does trap debris pretty easily (which leads to more nitrates). You will need to clean it regularly in some fashion.

Just FYI, 1.025 specific gravity is not too much salt. The ocean is about 1.025-1.027. A lot of aquarium stores run lower salt than that, but if you want a reef, 1.025 is perfect.
 
since its only a 30 gallon tank, i was told it would be too small for a reef. and its our first tank so its aimed to be fish only.

i was aiming for 1.022 as thats what the lfs tanks are.

edd
 
30 isn't too small for a reef. Orion Girl runs a 10 gallon reef. The main issue is that fish are much more tolerant of neglect than corals and other inverts. The smaller the tank, the more attention it needs and the lighter it needs to be stocked.
 
30 isn't too small for a reef (have a look at my specs), but you should do what you feel comfortable doing.

With only 1/2" of crushed coral, it should be pretty easy to vacuum it to keep debris from building up.
 
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