Newbie Setup

[stargizma]

Hiya! I'm new to the whole fish aquarium thing. My dad and brothers have been addics for some time and its finally caught on to me. I wanted to take the dive into saltwater tanks. I've had this setup up going for about 3 weeks now, still waiting for it to cycle over. I just added some new live rock today (note the cloudy water, just re-arranged everything and it hasn't settled yet), along with two clowns and an anenome. I also have 3 hermits, an emerald crab, and a snail for keeping things tidy. I really want a blood shrimp, but I'm waiting for the tank to cycle over before I invest the cash. Any thoughts or comments?

 

[micstarz]

Nice, welcome to the hobby!

You're lucky to have two experienced-sounding family members to guide you.

are you starting your first aquarium with salt?

How big is your tank?

Is your Live rock cured?

Good luck with your saltwater, I'm starting my first saltwater too!!!

 

[stargizma]

Congrats! What's your setup? I'm running with a 29gal, 40lbs of live sand, 15lbs of live rock (cured)-so far, I want about 10lb more... and yup my first tank is salt. I know it's a risky move starting out, but by the time the tank is ready for anything really pricey and fragile, I'll have an idea of what I'm doing. Eventually I want to convert it to a seahorse tank,(if I don't kill everything in the next few months ) and move everything into a larger tank.

 

[micstarz]

Congrats! What's your setup? I'm running with a 29gal, 40lbs of live sand, 15lbs of live rock (cured)-so far, I want about 10lb more... and yup my first tank is salt. I know it's a risky move starting out, but by the time the tank is ready for anything really pricey and fragile, I'll have an idea of what I'm doing. Eventually I want to convert it to a seahorse tank,(if I don't kill everything in the next few months ) and move everything into a larger tank.

Awesome! Mine is a 10 gallon...I have 6kg of aragonite (or something similar) and 4 lbs of LR...I'll probably only be getting 6lb more unless I find a really good piece. I'm letting the substrate and my two HOBs seed. It's probably going to be a FOWLR (Or IOLWR Inverts Only with Live Rock) because I have my eyes set on a mantis shrimp...

I think you sound like you know what you're doing though, so you should be fine. Just remember that a lot of freshwater fish seem to have better personalities though...

A seahorse tank sounds nice! Just take it slow...

New Saltwater Adventurers rock!

 

[stargizma]

I'm taking it slow to help my wallet recover at the very least, I've already got alot invested in it. The tank, stand, filter, and air stone I got off my brother for $50 (family discounts are sweet! lol) and he gave me some of his left over marine food from when he went into setting up a saltwater tank this past summer and changed his mind. I'm not going into seahorses until I get my bigger tank to move and expand on my current set up. Maybe with my income tax return....Ooooh the stuff I could buy... Fish tanks have already taken over the basement, my mom is gonna absolutely freak! I'm also excited since I checked my amnonia lvls today and and found out that this baby is finally cycling! Woot! My nitrites were low but my nitrates were close to 5. YaY!!!

 

[Mantis411]

does your bulb anemone host your clown??

 

[stargizma]

Not yet but my domino damsel likes it. The two clowns are constantly swimming around the tank since they have nothing to be afraid of.

 

[Pufferpunk]

I think it was a terrible idea to add an anemone not only to a new tank but one that is still cycling. Same with fish but a nem must not be added into a tank <6-12 months old & stablized.

 

[stargizma]

I did the intial setup of chemicals like everyone keeps saying. I got this huge bottle that smelled like rotten eggs. It was the bacteria for generating the nitro cycle. I left the tank empty except for LR for over a week. But short of adding pinesol or bleach to the tank I don't see a better way of cycling the tank over. As for the nem, I took him back to the store. The poor thing was miserable and I didn't want it to die. The manager was p***ed that his guys even suggested selling it to me and refunded my money too. The nem is doing much better back it the store tank. As for the fish, they are doing fine, they don't have any odd behaviors and have a healthy appetite with lots of energy. I think in the future I will be more aware. When I setup my next tank, the moment the lvls start to spike I'll move the critters over to a safe tank and until its ok for them to go back. That'll probly be the best way of doing it without adding a bunch of bad chems to the water and keep the health of the fish in mind as well.

 

[Pufferpunk]

You don't need extra bacteria to cycle a SW tank, Live rock is enough. How many lbs are in what size tank? What do you plan on keeping in there? Have you read those articles I linked you to? Excellent info in there!