New Here, Need Help!

[saltwaterpuffer]

I finally decided to check this site out. I have heard nothing but great things! My name is Jeff, live outside the Buffalo, NY area. I have been in and out of the fish hobby for around 15 years or so. I have had tanks from 10 gallons to 125. Right now I have a 75 Gallon cichlid tank, and i'm about to start up a 46 gallon reef tank. I'm a bit nervous considering I have never done salt water before.

I'm hoping to get help on starting this salt water tank up.

Here is what I have so far,

46 Gallon Tank & Stand

Coralife 36 inch deluxe lunar series fixture - is this good?

Marineland(Stealth) 200 Watt Heater

Marineland Bio-Wheel Emperor 400 Filter

(4) 15 lbs. bags of crushed coral

(2) 50 lbs. bags of Instant Ocean Salt

(1) 20 lbs. bag caribbean live sand

(1) Instand Ocean Hydrometer

Ok, what do I do first? Is there anything else I should get?

Thanks for the help!

 

[tarpon12]

I would suggest more sand. Never use tap water use reverse osmosis water otherwise you will be plagued with algae and your future corals and inverts will not like it. Fill the tank and let it cycle before adding anything expensive. There are lots of ways to cycle a tank. What I did was fill the tank waited two weeks and added a couple of chromis, they were cheap back then and hardy. Also look in to adding some live rock. That will help. I would not recommend adding allot of fish and corals until your tank has cycled. You might also want to consider getting a good protein skimmer. That will help with removing disolved organics and improve your water.
Good luck and ask lots of questions!

 

[walkthedog]

[welcome]

I would read the welcome threads at the start of this forum. Waterkeeper has several very good threads for those just starting saltwater. I would read those threads then ask ?s if something don't make sense. Wecome to RC.

 

[davewbush]

I would stay away from using the cruched coral and get another bag or 2 of the sand. First thing I would do is read as much as posible, starting where walkthedog sent you. When your done read you will have a million more questions, but a better understanding of where you headed.

 

[KarlBob]

The biggest thing to remember: Nothing good happens fast in a reef tank. Patience will be your biggest ally in this hobby. Impatience, on the other hand, can lead to some costly mistakes.

Next big piece of advice: Read, read, read. Read questions and answers in this forum, read books, and compare the things you read to each other. Sometimes the "established experts" are wrong, but the "cutting edge experimenter" can be wrong, too. After a while, you'll develop your own opinions. For now, go with what makes the most sense to you.

Personally, I'd advise replacing the bio-wheel filter with a protein skimmer and 46-70 lbs of live rock (1-1.5 lb per gallon). I also advise buying a Reverse Osmosis/DeIonized (RO/DI) water system as soon as you can afford it. Until you do, you'll be spending money and time acquiring purified water from someone else.

 

[stricknine]

Read Whys new set up thread at the top of the page, great starting point. Too much to list at once;

- Ditch the bio wheel
- 1-2lbs of liverock per gallon depending on how much will fit
- Protein skimmer almost a must
- DONT, cycle the tank with fish, if you wish it is just as much benefit to pretend you have fish and feed the empty tank small amounts of food. Just because people survived Chernobyl doesnt mean its ok.
- Your light depends on what you want to keep under it
- And keep reading, WHYS post at the top is a great start. Answers questions, and prepares you for more.

Just remember, nothing is cheap, nothing is easy, and nothing is fast.

Good luck, and welcome to RC. The only thing that got me this far!

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central And Good Luck</b></i></big></big>