New to hobby!! HELP ME

Today 7.8 ph, 8 ammonia, 5 nitrite, 140 nitrate. We are gonna start looking into sumps and see what i can find. To be honest saving money on it would be nice but i dont wanna find out i could have spent 100$ more and had better performance later is main thing. Levels shot up today but ammonia is still turning the vial black lol
 
It's not your primary concern now, but you should really look into moving some of your live rock. You have it too close or leaning on the side glass, which you will be unable to access and clean later. Believe me, you'll go nuts because of it. Also, your LR is all stacked at the back, leaving absolutely no flow in the back of your tank. This is where all the garbage will get stored, lack of flow will cause it to rot and foul your water.

It is easy to browse this board for images of other tanks - you will see most are setup much more openly, with a lot of passages, caves and overhangs. That will give your fish space to hide when they want, but also give you place to put your coral on.

As for sump - I would never run a tank bigger than 30g without a sump. It's just so much easier and the equipment choice is much, much wider. Such a big sumpless I would actually call "unusual", and you probably don't want an unusual tank.
 
Is the rock movement that imperative? The rock i bought i was able to fit together almost 100% into a puzzle where there is very little space at all behind them. I just liked that build better because being a 90 there is only 18 inches to play with and i wanted the most room in the front so it was more open and fish could swim threw the tunnels and stuff i made and the coral would be easily displayed. If that wont work ill follow suit with the other tanks i just wanted something more open
 
Other than that what about the big jump in levels today on the water? Are nitrates ammonia and nitrite supposed to max out on a tester like that??? What can be expected next or what should i do to help the tank ?
 
A jump in nutrient levels is entirely expected with new rock that was shipped across the country - a good deal of stuff dies in shipment, and you have to wait out the establishment of a stable bacterial base to process the nutrients given off as the result of the die-off. Essentially, this is what is meant by "curing" live rock.

Three suggestions - first, don't succumb to the temptation to put in any fishes or other critters until at least 4 weeks, and only after your ammonia levels have dropped to zero. Second, don't run the lights unless you're using them to observe your tank. While live rock is curing and there are so much nutrients in the water, illumination invites algae growth. Third, you might consider purchasing some aquarium carbon and some mesh bags for a few bucks. If your rock was quite fresh, then the tank will smell pretty bad for a few days, and putting some carbon in a mesh bag and putting it in the penguin filter will help control that odor.
 
Ok running 2x jbj 1600 gph + duo wavemaker, Remora-s protein skimmer with cobalt mj1200 pump, T5 HO lights 1 blue 1 reg ( the kind that I can snap another one into if I want and have a 4 bulb display later, and a penguin 350 filter. I moved the rocks around again today to let some of the stuff growing on it blow around in the extreme current I have now and within 5 mins everything was all clear again so now just to wait for all the ammonia / nitrate / nitrite levels to get to 0. Also the ph has been dropping day by day and now its down to 7.4 is this bad? it was 7.8 yesterday and 8.2 the day before
 
Don't worry about pH niw, you need to check only ammonia, nitrites and nitrates for the moment. Also, keep your lights off.
 
KK lights are off but rocks are still covered in algae after only a few days with them being toothbrushed clean. I never turn the lights on
 
Ok all levels have been down to 0 except nitrate at 10 for 3 days so i added 2 firefish yesterday and today i did calcium test 520, carb 12, phosphate 0, ph 8.0, salinity 1.025. Suggestion on starter coral?? Can i start with bubble tip anemone? Or should i get soft coral first??? I really want the bubble tip :-(
 
Ok all levels have been down to 0 except nitrate at 10 for 3 days so i added 2 firefish yesterday and today i did calcium test 520, carb 12, phosphate 0, ph 8.0, salinity 1.025. Suggestion on starter coral?? Can i start with bubble tip anemone? Or should i get soft coral first??? I really want the bubble tip :-(

Your calcium is going to be to high right now for a nem, they are very finicky and shouldn't be gotten until your tank is at least a few months old. Personally I've gotten some shrooms and a couple Lps and softies to start off. Get some fun colorful easy ones to start with. Just don't let someone talk you into Kenya tree or Xenia, unless you really like them as some do.
 
Ok im just gonna get some zoas and maybe a soft coral and see how they do. Whats my limit on fish btw? Like how many can i have in this 90??
 
Ok i was just wondering if there was a scale i could go by to know this. What about cleanup crew?? Everyone seems to have different amounts
 
Back
Top