New to saltwater

MidWestMike

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 13, 2013
154
0
0
Lancaster, Ohio
Finally I can call my self a marine aquarium keeper. This is day three, its 30 gallons with about 25lbs of live rock. I went ahead and got four yellow tailed damsels and a fist full of hermit crabs. Still waiting on some parts I ordered, mainly the aquafuge 2 ps refugium/protein skimmer and the jbj internal filter/uv sterilizer. I've got two power heads, one near the top at 425 gph, and one near the middle pointed slightly down at 240gph. There's an internal filter in there now rated for a 5 gallon tank, just till my shipment gets here. Also I ordered a 24" coralife dual t5 light fixture with blue actinic bulbs to compliment the existing LEDs. Tell me what you think!! :)


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Thelatinofishlover

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Oct 17, 2012
1,425
6
53
Mexico City
not bad, been thinking of getting in the sw game myself
 

MidWestMike

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 13, 2013
154
0
0
Lancaster, Ohio
The damsels are just in there to push the cycle, they're cheap. Real pretty fish but with their aggression I can't keep them, in about 3 or 4 weeks I'm taking them back and getting two clowns and and maybe an anemone


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quicklynx

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Apr 10, 2009
160
36
61
Maryland
That is not enough time to cycle for an anemone in my opinion. From personal experience, I had trouble keeping anemones healthy if I put them in a tank that was less than 3 months old.

Also, those damsels, with a little effort, can become hosts in the anemones. I did so with some by using a small breeder box. Stuck the condy and damsel in the box. Once they connected you couldn't get them apart. Domino Damsels, especially, take to them no problem. Dominoes are incredibly aggressive, but they get a couple of inches and are pretty awesome at such a large size.

Do yourself a favor and design a nice upflow algae scrubber in a separate tank. Google search it and you'll find a great write up by SantaMonica. Using the scrubber method, which I used a waterfall scrubber on my sw tank, was the best modification I ever did. The water was crystal clear. I did not ever use any other filtration. No skimmer. Red cyano never appeared, and the only algae buildup was on the scrubber, with the exception of coraline. Coraline, fish, and corals flourished. Best of all I never did water changes. I simply added water.

Also, the scrubber had a huge amount of pods constantly multiplying. I never had to worry about feeding the mandarin. I never had to worry about overfeeding the fish. Whatever was not eaten either became food for the scrubber or the corals.

When I tried to breed clownfish I did do water changes, just in case they were releasing hormonal stuff into the water. I was never sure if clowns do, but I wanted it out if it was to prevent growth stunting.

Colder is better! Leave the top off. If you are worried about fish jumping, ie. firefish, get a screen cover. A fan blowing across the top of the water is an excellent cooling method!

Hope this helps.
 

MidWestMike

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 13, 2013
154
0
0
Lancaster, Ohio
Due to the tanks design, taking the top off will be difficult as the LEDs are built into it. Though the lid is plastic, and I'm going to have to cut it to fit the hob refugium and protein skimmer, ill try to take a little extra off and leave as much open space at top as possible. But I do have a cat and three children, so I'd really prefer to leave some lid on there.


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quicklynx

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Apr 10, 2009
160
36
61
Maryland
Turn the refugium into a scrubber ;)

Get a chiller(expensive) or run a fan across the refugium.

LEDs definitely help by not emitting as much heat. Metal hallides are the big concern. T5's somewhat.

I think a fan will be sufficient for your setup since the water will be flowing into another tank. The transfer helps cool it.
 
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