New Tank, Need some seriosu help with my anenome!

wow, that looks like a serious problem...Im going to try and return him and make the guy aware of that. Okay next few things are this, I had 3 green chromis, Im almost positive they all have ich, I took one back and the other two have ich now, im going to take them back, I was told that if I waited a good month, the ich would exit the system and I wouldnt have to treat, because I wanna stay away from treating for disease in my tank, and to be honest I dont mind getting rid of the two fish as of now. I want to eventually add some fish like clownfish (which is popular) and other things, can anyone advise me to what things I need to have a cleaning group, right now I have 6 turbo snails. The green chromis I will probably take in to the shop with the anenome tomorrow. What are some good colorful fish that would be good in my tank. PLEASE look at the above picture of my tank, like I said I think its 50 gallons im not sure because my neighbor gave it to me and he wasnt sure, I put 2 inches of sand in it originally and I counted 41 gallons from the sand to where the filter is, also the guy told me to take out the bio-wheel and filter catrige due to it having carbon and the biowheel being a nitrate sponge. I did so, do I need to get those back, Im just double checking everything because now I cant really trust this guy. He also sold me a featherduster and it doesnt retract when you take it out of the water or when you tap really hard on the acrylic but sporadicly itl go inside then come back out is that a bad or good sign. do the brain corals look healthy, and do they really grow that colorful in the wild, I just hope chemicals werent added to give them color or something. My lights are as follows:
2 Coralife 12 inch (because I only have 15 inches to work with) 2-18 watt lamps (36 watts)
are those okay, and I have:
2 Penguin 150's like I said with the bio-wheel and filter removed so its just moving water at this point.
I have 2 of everything due to the 2 separate sides, and if you could give me some ideal fish I could add to my tank, I have a 4 by 4 inch. tube connecting the two, so keep that in mind.
 
also, do you guys beleive in removing as much sand as possible? he told me the less sand, the better but I like to see sand so I left maybe 1/2 an inch, should I add more sand to it, I originally had 2 inches of sane but I added the rock after, and so I redid it and added the rock then tried to put all the sand back.
 
you need to take a huge step back. I dont want to discourage you in any way, but you need more research in the hobby. With the problems your having and crappy LFS advice, this hobby will chew you up and spit you out. Use the internet to research everything before you buy it. Learn the requirement of you livestock before you get it home. Dont want this to sound like a lecture, Good luck.
 
Along with all the other suggestions to research, I would suggest you go to WetWebMedia as a online resource for info. along with Reef Central.

Regular water changes will provide most everything you need in terms of trace elements and minerals. Never add anything to the water you can't test. Again, the best bet is to do regular water changes with a reputable brand of salt using R/O water--or at the very least, tap water that has been dechlorinated/dechloraminated, circulated over night, and brought to the proper ph. Reef crystals or Instant Ocean, Tropic Marin, Kent, etc. are examples of quality brand salts that many anemone keepers use successfully.

As far as how much sand, there are a range of opinions. Some say deep sand beds, 4-6 inches, some say shallow sand beds 1/2 inch or so, I've done both. I currently prefer a shallow sand bed and rely on chaetomorpha algae to help with the denitrafication process. I would say essential components for you to have success at your current level of experience: regular water changes, good protein skimmer, activated carbon, proper temp for the animals you're keeping, proper water flow for the animals you're keeping, proper lighting for the animals you are keeping. If I were you I would check ammonia and nitrite at this stage of the game to insure the tank is cycled and then long range occasionally check the nitrates, ph, calcium and alk. You will get to a point where you can look at your tank and tell when something is a little off, but for now a few tests are in order.
 
I didn't read all the long posts on here so I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this, but if that anenome actually dies in your tank, it will release toxins that are horrible for the other inhabitants. IMO, get it out and to someone else SOON.

Also, you should research every single animal before you add it to your tank.
 
Sorry to hear that you are having such a rough start. Unfortunately as everyone else has already stated this hobby is a very slow process due to the delicate balance of your system. I think you might do well to start from the beginning. Take some pics of your setup and equipment, forget buying ANYTHING else until your tank levels out, with sick fish and sick coral there is obviously something very wrong. As I said before you may want to verify that all your equipment is up to what you are trying to accomplish and that it is filtering your system properly and that your lights are up to supporting your corals. Next, as you have already picked up go SLOW i know it is difficult with all the cool stuff out there, i made a few mistakes myself when i first started my tank, so don't feel like the lone ranger everyone was new at some point. I am not sure on your budget but in my opinion the equipment can make all the difference in the world and also help compensate for mistakes. hope this helps and you start having a little better luck, like everyone here say go online and research everything google is great from the amount of sand to the types of fish and compatibility with each other and corals, this stuff costs way to much just to let it die because of some dumb mistake.
 
Danley said:
My lights are as follows:
2 Coralife 12 inch (because I only have 15 inches to work with) 2-18 watt lamps (36 watts)
are those okay, and I have:
2 Penguin 150's like I said with the bio-wheel and filter removed so its just moving water at this point.
I have 2 of everything due to the 2 separate sides, and if you could give me some ideal fish I could add to my tank, I have a 4 by 4 inch. tube connecting the two, so keep that in mind.
Click to expand...

There is not enough light, for sure. What are you doing for filtration? I haven't heard any mention of a skimmer, carbon, or cheato? What are you doing for nutrient export?

It also looks like you have this double tank set-up full of rocks. It looks like it would be difficult or impossible to have good flow in and around all those rocks. I think you should remove half of your rocks. Just have one small island in each tank (no rocks touching the back wall) so you can have water flow all around the rocks.

I'm guessing you do not have a sump or really any kind of filtration other than LR. I don't wanna rain on your parade, but I think you need to step back and start over.

The people here are telling you to slow down and wait. Unfortunately, I think you could wait a year and THAT tank will still not be ready in its current state (because of equipment). You really need to beef up the lighting and filtration. You need to plumb this tank to a sump, add a protein skimmer, and add a 150W metal halide above each of those tanks. You mention in your first post that your parameters are "wonderful". This can be accomplished by starving a tank. (BTW, you still have not mentioned your salinity or given realistic numbers for ALK and calcium). What you want to be able to do is have "wonderful" parameters while being able to feed your inhabitants at least twice a day. "Feed hard, Filter (skim) hard". This can only be accomplished with proper filtration in an established tank.
 
Question, does anyone know where I could get a 12 inch 150 watt metal halide light? If you could give me a link it would be great!!
 
Alright, probably the best question I could ask you guys!

Alright, probably the best question I could ask you guys!

Alright,
so I have been thinking and I have gotten a lot of feedback as to I'm basically doing virtually everything wrong, but I'm glad I can catch this somewhat early...
Here's my question, I got this whle tank for free, but I cant find all the crap for it, like a sump, I dont have room anywhere for that, I guess I did rocks all wrong, theres really no room for a decent skimmer, my lights are horrible, and everythings just gonna go belly up on me. My parents paid around $1000-$2000 on this tank, and the last thing I wanna do it go belly-up on them. Granted I'm slowly paying them back with the money I'm getting from my job but $200.00 every week just doesnt seem good, granted Im 16..
I don't wanna screw these things up, so heres my question.... If this was your tank, what would you do?
I'm thinking about seeing if I could work a deal with someone to where I give them everything I own for around $1,500 and I instead buy a 100 gallon tank, and take my time on it..What do you guys think? As much as I love the design on my tank, its a pain to buy 2 of everything, and I wanna go about this the right way, I just kinda jumped into things, forgetting about research and design all along the way, so heres my question, I would like to do a whole new tank, evertything new but no weird aquarium design maybe a bowfront or simply a glass tank thats rectangular, leaving me enough room for a sump, ect... heres my question (like I have said this 70000 times) considering all the problems I had can someone give me a good setup, maybe pick out a nice sized tank preferably 50-100 gallons some pretty rock (Online?) with the amount of pounds... what would also be awesome is almost a time frame for setting it up ex:
1st week install tank, lighting, sand, filters and sump...
2nd week add live rock and water, sit for 2 weeks
5th week add your first few snails and shrimp.

Now, thats my first and hopefully the opton I will be choosing, depending upon my parents.
My second option is this, lets say they dont wanna put out any more money, I of courcse have a tight budget, how do I make it work......
 
I found a 16 inch pendant metal halide 150 watt light fixture that's $104.92 would that be alright for my tank as far as a protein smimmer what size do I need for a 50 gallon tank
 
DO NOT spend money on your current tank if youre planning on selling it and getting a new one. I would suggest starting over from scratch, with a normal tank. The link posted above is a great beginners tank and comes with pretty much everything you need to start a tank but the livestock. I dont know what your budget is. but im quite sure you wont be able to get 1500 for your tank and equipment. In this hobby with reselling equipment it usually drops value considerably 70% ish in some cases. Check out Craigslist in your area, check out the selling forums here. See whats for sale and see whats in your budget.
 
you will just have to shop for it i recomend craigslist, reef central, and of course Marsh there was a really nice setup on here complete for 1K i mean really nice, you might also look at the bio cubes thats what i started with a 29 gallon one i sold for $250 complete, it is a much cheaper way to get started and see how you actually enjoy the hobby the only problem with that tank is that it is kinda small when it comes to keeping lots of fish
 
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