New 90g, have a few questions.

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Niisan9178

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 14, 2007
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North Carolina
I picked up my third sw tank (have a 29g and a 10g) and this one is 90. It came with 8 fish, live rock, a coralife light, two mushrooms, one nice clump of polyps, and a few more spread out on other live rocks. $600 later and I have my birthday present early.


1) All of the fish appear to be breathing hard, and at first I thought it was the stress, but the tank has cleared and been setup up for 36 hours now. I tested the water, and everything seems to be normal. Any thoughts here?

2) The light. Here is a link to what I have, but it has two power cords opposed to one.
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewI...~idProduct~ES53106~idCategory~FILTFIPCFE.html

I read some where that I should turn on the actinic bulbs an hour or two before the other ones, and leave them on for an hour or two afterwards. Is this correct? If not what should I be doing?

Disclaimer: I do not claim to be an expert in anything, much less SW aquariums. I've only kept various damsels and a serpent sea star previously, I'm wanting this to be a fun learning experience. :)
 
yes have the actinics run a bit before your brighter lighting. this will help "wake" the corals up before blasting them with intense lighting.

The light the tank came with is fine, but it lacks the power on deeper tanks. basically this just means your coral stock is going to be a bit more limited on types of corals and placement of these corals within the tank. Stick to softies and most LPS. Lps should be placed mid to upper portions of the tank because they require more lighting then most softies. Softies will go on the lower portions of the tank because they don't need as much intense/direct lighting as lps coral would.

as far as your fish breathing hard, it sounds it does have a lot to do with stress. The stress may be caused by some of the water being out of balance. Making sure to check the pH and ALK as well as Water temp can help determine what is going on. I would try adding some air into the tank with an air pump just to make sure theres enough oxygen in the tank. Are you running a skimmer?? if so what brand and model? If your not running a skimmer then id suggest getting one. you don't by any means need them but i like having one.

If you could post your test results that would be awesome. id guess that you have released a bit of nitrate within the process of moving and I'm curious as to what those levels are at.
 
Unfortunately I don't have a skimmer. I'll be getting on in about a week, waiting on a paycheck. We do have an air pump running. Here are the test results that you requested.
The water temp was at 81.
Ph was at 8.8
Nitrates and ammonia were both at 0
SG is 1.021
Can't find the alk test. Picking one up tonight.
 
temp is/was a bit high, ideal for any tank, especially on a new tank. This will make the fish gasp a bit when stressed. pH sound a bit high as well and i think you have a typo. Is the NITRITE or NITRATE at 0. At the age of the tank its possible but im just checking. My guess would be that you do have some nitrate but not nitrite.

Another thing i would like to check on is your source of water. Are you using RO/DI or just plain tap/well water. Before adding any mixed water and salt, its a good idea to let if mix for a full 24 hours to fully disolve and let the water stabilize.

I hope this helps a little bit.
 
According to the tests that I ran yesterday, both the Nitrite, Nitrate, and Ammonia were all at 0. I'm going to retest tonight. I went to PetSmart for an Alk test, but I couldn't find one. (Do they exists ;)) I'm using my RO/DI filter before mixing the salt.

And yes, all advice helps. I appreciate all advice.
 
Okay, I'm rather tired but that's no excuse, alkalinity test aka KH test was sitting at 11 dKH
 
Yes I have what appears to be crushed coral mixed with carbon on the bottom, along with approximately 100lbs of live rock. As of this morning the yellow tang seems to have recovered. I've lowered the temp to 80.5 via a cooling fan, and I'm doing 10% WC /day
 
crushed coral and carbon?? im thinking you mean black carib sand. That should be fine. Just ensure you have good water movement to prevent dead spots were detritus can settle and this will also help oxygenate the water with plenty of surface movement. 100lbs of LR is great. The fish should hopefully do well in another day or so longer. Once the tank has settled down, you can go about starting a further stock list. before you add anything it would be wise to do a nice water change and clean the tank a bit. Also consider a clean up crew if you dont already have something established into the tank. These little guys will help eat any uneaten food off the bottom and help pick the rock clean of leftovers as well.

Do you have any future ideas for fish and corals at this point?? Also a pic would be sweet, we like pics here. lol
 
I'm going to hope that it's black carib sand, but I'm pretty sure the woman that I bought it off of said that it was carbon.
Sorry after re-reading all I had posted (I also was consulting carolinafishtalk.com's forums for advice) I left out my concern regarding the yellow tang. That was the fish that took the longest to "recover". It had was (I was told) "septicemia". However after dropping the water temperature to 77 today, the only sign he has is slightly inflamed gills. But the red discolouration is gone, and the gills look alot better than he did. All water changes are currently on hold as I am waiting on salt(should be here tomorrow).
There are a few hermit crabs and various snails in there now, but we will be investing in a better suited clean up crew after the protein skimmer is bought.
I'll try and get some pictures, but for some reason my computer isn't recognizing my SD memory card.
According to the woman I bought this from, I have 3 different types of corals. I'll try and take pictures and hopefully you guys can help me id them.
 
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