20H Update.

[MikeTaurean]

Obviously I'm a complete newbie to do this. But this is a start. I think I did what people said not to do. My lighting is not that good. Heater is not fit for this size tank. I'm not sure if the skimmer is alright but seems to me is fine. Its a berlin air lift 60 from Red Sea. A Maxi-Jet 1200 for flow and live rock is coming in a few days. Salt is at 1.023. Needs some top off badly I know! There is nothing in the tank except sand from a beach down south. New Jersey. Lots of shells though. No thermometer. It broke last week and a half. Had to remove my sand. Dump water. Scrub. Scrub. Make sure its clean. Fill it back up. Salt. More sand. Good thing I have a lot of it. Please do not go to hard on me and crush my hopes. Its easily crushed. I wish I can do a nano reef but my lighting is probable not the best lol. I can't afford anything so my dad says "Hey, use my halogen 250 Watt work light. Don't drop it in the tank." So I decided to try it. Maybe if I can get xenia or GSP they will multiply and I can use them to maybe buy a nice light system. Or wait for my b-day. In August. Please point me in the direction I need to go with this. I'm afraid I'm gonna do something incredible wrong when the rock gets here. Its about 15 pounds of fiji. Uncured. I know I need a test kit, a better heater, thermometer right now. I got a hydrometer, magfloat, the other things listed above, a fish net, and I really don't care if my stand gets beat up from the salt water. Its all good. Pulls in the rustic feel in my room. Lol, joking. I would like to upgrade my light to T-5. Maybe keep a few lower light sps. If there is such a thing. Lps, gsp, xenia, zoos and mushrooms. I also need to hang my lights better. Darn my ghetto self sometimes. I was raised what is considerd ghetto but come on. I moved out of there. And I'm not ghetto. Cheap, yes. By the way. I'm on a tight budget.

*crosses fingers* Hope no one bites my head off. Like last time.

 

[MikeTaurean]

Can anyone just recomend some lights, ideas, brands, some improvments? Any problems that I might be facing?

 

[StunnaShadez]

getting sand from a beach is not a good idea. there can be pollutants in them and can probably introduce diseases into the tank. i dont know about using that lighting fixture, havnt read about using or not to use them. as with the budget, i know how it is like. i just recently spent 300 on a nano! but it was for the best if i wanted to keep the livestock happy in the future. now im flat broke. well, i think you should get a power compact lighting for a start. look online for it. some goes for 50-100. sorry if im not much of a help. and oh yea, do LOTS of research before you buy any livestock.

 

[chris687]

Hello-

I know how it feels when you want something and you don't have the money to invest in it. First of all, don't use that light...If you have to go to home depot and get a cheap clip on light and some compact flourenencts...

Take your time, take it slow...By the time August rolls around your tank will be cycled and ready to go...

I wouldn't add any live stock for awhile, unless you want to cycle your tank with a damsel.

Read, Read and Read...Good Luck...Christopher...

 

[chris687]

Maybe you can sell or trade that surface skimmer?

 

[chris687]

Take that sand out of there please, it will give you too many problems in the long run...

 

[herostar]

First of all ditch that sand. You can pick up a 15 lb bag of aragonite for about $10. The Maxijet will be a good addition once you have your rocks in there. It will probably take 3-4 weeks to cycle. During this time you don't need alot of light in the tank if you don't have it yet... Speaking of lighting, that 250w halogen really isn't a very good light source for the tank. I'd guess that the spectrum is very low (~3500k) and they aren't very efficient. If you wanted to keep a light similar to that you can retrofit one of the 500w fixtures to fit a 150w metal halide light (you'll need to do a little searching for DIY instructions), or if you wanted to go the route of power compact lights you could do something like THIS or even a 1x65w fixture. The light spectrum you're going to want is 10k/actinic in a 50/50 ratio whether it's a 50/50 bulb or a 10k bulb and an actinic bulb.

 

[zma21]

You will be able to grow NO corals whatsoever with that light. It may be strong, but it's not hitting the correct spectrum for them to grow.

I got a coralife 48 watt t-5 setup for $38 at my LFS and things are growing rapidly, also it is Very bright.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

i agree w/everyone on the sand and zma on the light. Do you even know what kelvin rating it is? My guess is prolly like 3500 or something, but reefs need at least 6500

 

[StunnaShadez]

i think the most important you need to get now is the lighting.. well the livesand, then the lighting. you can easily find cheap fixtures on ebay or look on RC or NR for local reefers taking their tank apart.