New Tank!

[JokerGirl]

Hi there! I'm new, this is my first time posting. Been talking to fishgeeks for a couple days and he referred me to you guys.

I've been keeping freshwater fish for many many years, mainly Frontosa but decided to start a saltwater in a 90 gallon tall I had lying around. For my birthday, my Dad picked up everything I needed for my boyfriend and me to get it going.

Having to learn all new techniques, fish, and all the corals has been really overwhelming and although I love my LFS dearly, they always seem a bit too busy to truly help me learn the things I need to, thus why I'm here.

I'm currently using:

90 gallon tall tank (so it's only 48" long)
Pro-Clear 125g Sump
Pro-Clear Protein Skimmer (not sure of the pump size but I think it's a 500gph)
Mag-Drive Supreme 700gph
Coralife Compact Fluorescent lamp, 400W, 2 Actinic and 2 Full spectrum bulbs
200w Titanium heater
My boyfriend rigged up a freshwater drip out of a Faygo bottle for doing top offs
Coralife Pure-Flo II 24gpd RO

Also have about 80 pounds of live rock, and about 3-4" of sand in the bottom so it's good and deep (I'd love to keep mandarins at some point and heard the deep sand bed is the way to go if you're gonna have them)

Well, my tank has been up and running for about a month now and seems to be doing great. The corraline algae has really sprouted, I'm noticing lots of small feather dusters on the rock, more and more worms showing up in the sand, and the hermits that got stuck in some sand my LFS gave me have stayed alive through the cycling process somehow.

Last Friday, we picked up a couple Yellow-tailed Damsels kind of as tester fish to see if they'd survive or not. So far so good, they've been eating and really brightening up. Fishgeeks told me I'll probably have to get rid of them due to their aggressiveness, makes me kind of sad but I guess you gotta do whatcha gotta do.

Here's some progress photos of my tank. The first few were taken when we got everything set up

Sorry for the really long post but I'm eager to learn as much as possible.

Like I said, it's been running for a month now and seems to have stopped cycling. All the parameters have been very stable, the only thing I'm battling is some cyanobacteria but it's only been growing on the sand, and the couple snails I have seem to take care of that overnight fairly quickly.

Anyways, how much longer do you think I should wait before getting some coral? I know I don't have metal halides yet, but should be getting it for Xmas Also, what should I look for in corals? I know that colour is a good indicator of health, but is there other things I should know as well? What should I go with first that is easy to keep, but that also has beautiful colour? fishgeeks suggested that I go with LPS first because I don't have metal halides, although I have fallen in love with Acorpora.

Everything I've been reading says that anenomes are fairly difficult to keep, is this true?

I'm trying to take things slow as I know the repercussions of rushing things will be more devastating that it is in a freshwater tank.

So many questions I havn't thought of yet, but any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!!

 

[HornetMech242]

Its going to be difficult to tell you if your tank is ready without any test results. When it is time to put corals in the tank i would start off with some softies such as schrooms, zoos, leather, xenia and LPS such as hammer, frogspawn. But i would not add any thing else until you get ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, calcium, Dkh, hydrometer and thermometer to post water perameters for further info.

P.S. I love that Detroit ghetto soda. (Fago)

Chris

 

[JokerGirl]

Temperature - 78 degrees
Hydrometer - 1.024
pH - about 8.2-8.4
Ammonia - 0
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0
Hardness - 300ppm at least.. test strip only goes to 300

Don't have a specific calcium/dkh yet, but like I said, I've owned freshwater cichlids for many years so I've already got the other testers Will be getting a good saltwater test kit soon, just been a bit broke

Oh, and Faygo Redpop is awesome Not many places to find it around here anymore. Happened across it at a dollar store a few weeks ago, figured the size would make a great freshwater drip system

 

[Nykademus]

first of all

[welcome]


Looks like you are off to a good start and for not knowing much about reef tanks you have a good start on your knowledge base, and seem eager to learn more.. better than most when they first start I would say.. kudos.

If the tank is stable I would do like Chris said and start off with some softies, but start fairly slowly.. since its a 90 you could add several mushrooms, several zoas (lots to choose from)... corals dont produce much waste.

I would wait on the anemones though until you have read enough to be familiar with them.. for two reasons.. the main one being that they can be a pain in a tank with softies since they will move around from time to time and could sting your corals causing scars or kill them.. the second which is minor is that ppl say they are not easy to keep, but have personally never had any issues keeping them.. just read up.

One thing I would do if your tank were mine is to get rid of the bioballs in your sump, they will cause problems later on with the denitrification process.. replace them with live rock if you do.. just some cheap base rock would do the trick (and also provide more pods for your mandarin down the road)

I didnt see listed what you have there for lighting but that will be your main consideration when purchasing corals since most are photosynthetic. Find out what they will require before you purchase.

Other than that.. hang out in the forums here and you will learn a lot.

Reef on!

 

[hatfielj]

Nice set up. It looks like you're off to a good start. 90gal is a good size to start with. Not too big to be overly pricey, but not too small to be especially difficult to keep stable. Anyway, 1 month is just the beginning in terms of cycling. I was just as anxious and eager to get things moving when my tank was at that stage as you are now and I wish I would have been a little more patient with adding things to that young of a tank. The best advice I can give you now having just gone through the same process as you would be to take things as slow as you can stand it. Even zoa's and some softies might still struggle in a tank thats only 1 month old. Theres still a good chance you'll have a couple more algae blooms and battles with cyano until the tank is fully matured. (by the way, snails don't eat cyano) Many corals just don't thrive well in a tank that is still maturing. Plus if you're planning on changing your lights that can be very stressful for corals in a tank that new. I can testify to this fact as I've spent money on corals early on that ended up dying or just not doing anything because my tank just wasn't ready for them. I'm going to be starting up a new tank in the next few months (a 120g, I can't wait!) and I'm planning on giving the tank at least three to four months with LR and a fish or two before bothering to buy any coral frags at all. I know its hard to control yourself at the start, but you'll be glad you did in the end. Good luck and keep reading up on stuff as much as you can and you'll be amazed at how much you've learned in no time. You could certainly try your hand at a couple small frags of zoas or softies (xenia maybe?) in the next month or so if you really can't stand to wait any longer. But like Nykademus said I wouldn't even think about anenomes for quite some time. I made the mistake of putting an anenome in my tank when it was only a couple of months old and the poor thing died a very slow and miserable death because of my ignorance. Good luck!

 

[Spiffyguy]

Looks like a brass valve on the soda bottle. I would watch that. could leak some copper into the system. Not too good for inverts. Looks good other wise.

 

[Ms. K]

I like your tank. I noticed that you want to keep mandarins in the future. Rock on! I love mandarins! I'd like to offer some advice based upon my own experience with mandarins.

1) Change mandarin"s" to mandarin (singular). I have a 125 with a 58 gallon in-line refugium that has been set-up for over a year and I could not support two mandarin dragonettes.

2) Get a bit more live rock. Try to get it to at least 100 lbs. An abundance of live rock is very important to mandarin health.

3) Add a refugium of decent size for culturing pods to feed your mandarin. If you don't like the look of a lot of rock in your main tank, your fuge is an excellent place to put extra rock. If a refugium is not possible, create some rock rubble piles in the tank which your pods can breed without being eaten.

4) Wait at least a year. Ask your boyfriend to buy you a mandarin for Christmas next year

5) Keep doing what your doing. Research, ask questions. The people on this forum are an excellent source of information and experience.

Good luck with your tank. It does look very nice.

 

[JokerGirl]

Thanks guys!!!

Nykademus, I'm currently running 400w Coralife compacts because my Dad wasn't willing to shell out another $800 on my birthday for the MH, but said he would be getting it for me for Xmas. I'll probably wait, like hat said, until I do get the MH so that way I won't be losing money on corals.

Looking around on this site, I was getting the idea of putting rock in the sump from all the photos on here of sumps. Fishgeeks told me to take the bioballs out as well. Should I get small pieces of live rock for in there or will any kind of a clean porous rock do? LR here in Indy is anywhere from $6-10 a pound, I'll have to see what this place up north of us charges when we go up this weekend to take a look at fish (trying to get a breeding colony of Mpimbwe Frontosa going if anyone knows what they are )

Hat, I didn't realize how long it really took for a saltwater tank to mature. Freshwater tanks only take roughly about a month to finish their nitrogen cycle and algae blooms. What can you suggest for the cyano? It doesn't seem to be growing on anything but the sand creating this bright red/purple colouration, and then it browns as the day goes on and is gone by the end of the night.

Spiffy, thanks for the advice on that! I talked to my boyfriend and he said when he had made it, he actually put a coating of silicone on any of the brass the water would be touching. I'm amazed he had thought about that because I sure didn't.

Do you think I'll have to get rid of my two damsels? I've kept aggressive fish all my life, and on a cichlids standards they're pretty weak

I was looking on eBay (how I found fishgeeks) and they have packages of pods you can buy for like $8. Do you think it's worth getting and throwing in my tank to get the growth of those going? I don't have a refugium and not too sure where I would put one as I planned on placing my 10gallon QT underneath. I thought about making the QT a refugium as well, but it wouldn't work too well as a QT then as the diseased water would filter back into my main tank. Any suggestions?

P.S. Mandarins/Gobies have got to be my favourite of the salties so far with the exception of puffers (my bf is obsessed with them) but they aren't reef safe, so we'll just have to stick with our brackish water figure 8 puffers

 

[CPT. MURPHY]

Is nice I like! BTW nice pics!

CPT.

 

[Chaotic Reefer4u]

congrat's...

 

[JokerGirl]

Thanks!!! :smokin: :smokin: :smokin: :smokin: :smokin: :smokin:

 

[Ms. K]

I wouldn't get the pods on E-Bay just yet. The damsels will dine on them. If your tank is mature enough (at least one year) you may be able to maintain a mandarin. I know some who have been able to, but a refugium is really helpful. My refugium is actually another tank that I had drilled near the center top of one side. I have it sitting on a stand beside the display tank. A powerhead with flexible tubing brings water from the main tank into the fuge, and a rigid PVC pipe allows water (and pods) to drain back into the main tank. If you have room for another tank beside the main tank, you may be able to do a similar set-up. Even if it is a small tank, it will be beneficial for your water quality and for culturing pods.

 

[Ms. K]

Oh, and the LR for your sump can simply be rubble. It doesn't need to be expensive, premium rock, since you won't be lighting it. The only thing you really need to grow on it is bacteria. You could even use base rock and seed it with a couple small pieces of live rock, or it may seed on its own as water flows over it.

The damsels might bully less agressive fish in your tank. They will make it difficult to keep passive fish like gobies, cardinals, firefish, etc. They are really personable, interesting, and beautiful fish, but they can sometimes limit your livestock options.

 

[drummereef]

Looks good so far. I'd agree with the above posts about ditching the balls and going for a 'fuge' type setup. Good luck and keep posting updates!

 

[Dan9]

Ms. K could you post a picture of your refugium and tank setup. I want to get a fuge going and like the way yours sounds. I'm trying to decide how I want to set mine up. Thanks

 

[aquamn1999]

glad to see your willing to spend the time to learn. As others have said get rid of the bio balls they will cause problems unless you plan on keeping a large bio load of fish and you keep a fish only tank.

 

[Nykademus]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8609085#post8609085 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JokerGirl


Freshwater tanks only take roughly about a month to finish their nitrogen cycle and algae blooms. What can you suggest for the cyano?

The nitrogen cycle should be about complete if not done already, but there is also an algae cycle.. its normal, just maintain good water quality and a good clean up crew and you should be golden.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8609085#post8609085 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JokerGirl


Do you think I'll have to get rid of my two damsels? I've kept aggressive fish all my life, and on a cichlids standards they're pretty weak

Say that after your 3 dollar fish kills your 50 dollar fish =)

 

[JokerGirl]

Yeah, you've probably got a point Nykademus Oh well... hopefully my LFS won't have a problem with me bringing them back.

 

[Nano Chris]

Looking good! Like your aquascaping.

I also would recommend you not use Windex on the glass or near the aquarium, so you don't get anything in the tank I'm sure some would agree and some wont on this one, i myself wet the glass with a paper towl, and dry using newspaper (gets rid of smudges and makes the glass perfectly shiny.)

 

[JokerGirl]

Thanks Criminal!

I thought about not using it, and tried just regular water and paper towels, but it wasn't taking the salt off I'll try the newspaper though, that'll probably do the trick!

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone! Ya'll have been really nice and helpful