First Salt Water Tank!

[JakeSnake]

Hi I'm new to the saltwater hobby and just got my first tank recently. It's a 12-gallon that was already set up and running for 4-months with a pair of clarkii clowns, a file fish, and a orange spot goby. Lighting is an Aqueon Optibright LED and filtration is all internal behind the tank. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated, I'm hoping to add some sort of corals to it eventually as well as some inverts!

 

[Daddi0]

Welcome! You may need to upgrade that light if you get serious about corals.
Cheers! Mark

 

[JakeSnake]

Welcome! You may need to upgrade that light if you get serious about corals.
Cheers! Mark

Thanks for the heads up! I was thinking of staying with Zoas, and other soft bodied corals for this tank. Would the light still be ok for these? Maybe the next tank will be more diverse[emoji6]


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[Daddi0]

Honestly, I am a glutton for punishment and have a lot of sps. Mainly Acropora and they are picky about everything. I dont have many zoas/softies.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Jake, your led fixture is fine for almost any corals given your tank is only 12" deep. Staying with zoas, softies and some lps is still a good idea.

They are very weak leds and over a deeper tank, like 20" or 24" it would be basically a fish only light as it just doesn't penetrate the water enough for corals more than 12" to 18" at best. It will light a 24" deep take enough to view things with our eyes, but not enough for corals, and their zooxanthellae to do photosynthesis and stay healthy.

 

[Bpb]

Invest in a rodi filter with a tds meter and maintain it regularly. Buy a couple big boxes of salt and change 5 gallons a week. Expect some algae blooms early on. It's just part of owning a saltwater tank. Most important advice I could give. Corals can grow under inadequate lighting if water quality is perfect. The best lighting in the world will grow nothing if there is something wrong with the water


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[Icewing726]

Just remember when buying Zoas that palys are not zoas and zoas can still have palytoxins. Treat them with respect and you'll be fine.

 

[JakeSnake]

Thank you all for the advice!!! An RODI system is definitely something I've started to keep an eye out for, I also have quite a few carnivorous plants and vivariums that I use the the water with as well. I just did a water test and so far everything looks good, just a small bit of nitrates but it's under 20ppm. I'm going to do another test this weekend and hopefully will be able to add a few zoa polyps then! I found a lfs that seems really good and am going to bring in the clown pair to them to switch for a single occ clown.


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[JakeSnake]

How tall is that stand?

28 inches, it came with the tank.


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[ReefJak]

RODI system should be the first investment for anyone getting into the hobby

 

[bcb577]

I like your setup.keeping softies until you get more experience is a great idea,in the mean time hangout here and learn my only thing I might make changes to is I’d rescale a bit open it up a little and get some water running through it !