New to RC... Starting 1st Tank. Needing Advice!

perhaps the pcs will work. but IMO u wont be dissappointed with a 6 bulb 24 inch tek light. hang that light right over your tank, and i promise the colors will be amazing (if u use the right bulbs of course)!

i also agree with TMZ, that VHOs are quite short lived compared to t5s and PCs and also halides for that matter.

also, im sure you could trade the anemone in for some nice frags. im not sure about the hippo tang though. if you plan on upgrading in the near future, im sure he would be okay for a few months. but if the current tank you have is going to be around for a while, i would either sell him, or donate him to a fellow reefer and make a friend! (i have a 55, so im not hinting at anything :))
 
FINALLY did the transfer!

FINALLY did the transfer!

Hey Guys/Gals...

So last night, I finally went over to my buddies house and did the tank transfer. WHAT A STRESSFUL NIGHT!!! 8 buckets and two garbage bags later, I transfered over about 40lbs. of live rock, 10lbs. of sand, the entire livestock, and 30 gallons of water... PHEW!

The entire process of getting everything from one tank to another took about two and a half hours, with the fish/lr only being in buckets for about an hour. So heres the status of things:

-I was scared that by leaving the LR (and especially fish/anemone) in the buckets for too long would create dieoff and stress the fish, I basically just dumped EVERYTHING in the tank to let it get settled for a few days. The tank is currently holding a LTA, a few mushroom/polyp corals, a small purple hippo tang and a pair of clownfish.

Everything seems to be doing fine, but I have two concerns I'm stressing out about so PLEASE help me if you can...

1. I have a penguin 350 w/ biowheels removed, a seaclone 100 skimmer and a koralia 2. Now... I ran the penguin and skimmer starting last night because the tank was a mess from transporting, and they've helped to clear it up a lot. Everyone told me to get a good power head so I got the koralia, but I'm wondering if I have too much flow? I turned the powerhead off after about an hour because it seemed the LTA didn't like it and the clowns wouldnt go near that side of the tank. I added a pic (crappy quality, sry!) to show my setup and where everything is, so advice would be GREAT!

2. The hippo tang didn't seem to like the transport at all, and I did my best to get it into its new home asap, and it immediatly disappeared when I did. This afternoon it just started to come out but it has some white spots (about 3-5 on each side, each spot about the size of a pencil eraser.) Should I be worried this is ich and gonna spread!? I don't have a quar. set up, but I was advised to feed it as much algae as I possibly can and it should clear up. Let me know what you guys think, I don't want to kill the fish and DEF don't want to infect my entire tank! :(

I added 3 pics... one of the tank under full light, one w/ the actinics and lastly one of the LTA/clowns which seem pretty happy.

Sorry this post is so damn long, remember I'm a newbie and just want to make things run smoothly! Thanks a ton in advance! :)

<a href="http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a353/Clarence6988/?action=view&current=2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a353/Clarence6988/2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a353/Clarence6988/?action=view&current=1-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a353/Clarence6988/1-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a353/Clarence6988/?action=view&current=untitled-3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a353/Clarence6988/untitled-3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Again, sorry about the quality! I lost my camera so I have to resort to my phone!
 
<a href="http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a353/Clarence6988/?action=view&current=4.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a353/Clarence6988/4.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
 
no... everything looks happy and healthy. other than the microbubbles of course, but thats a minor thing.

so there really isnt anything for us to say i guess.
 
Ok

Can't reallly comment on the Hippo's white spots.Ich spots are not the size of a pencil eraser more like a grain of salt or a bit large. It might be lymphocystis which is a viral infection often related to stress and nutritional deficiency. Lymphocystis is not treatabe other than with low stress and good nutrition. It is not usually fatal. It good be amyloodinium or brooklynella or ... Really need a picture to be of more help.

Typically a Macrodactyla doreensis( long tentacle anemone) needs to bury it's disc in about 4 inches of sand or mud.They have a poor survival rate in aquariums. Since this one was living in a tank before you may have better luck than most. They don't like much current: your tank though needs the flow,so you'll have to figure out how to accomodate both.
 
PS I don't wan't to make you feel bad but your chances for long term success with the anemone or the Hippo Tang in a small tank are limited,so it is difficult to give advice beyond what has been given.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13298298#post13298298 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dan10342
no... everything looks happy and healthy. other than the microbubbles of course, but thats a minor thing.

so there really isnt anything for us to say i guess.
Click to expand...

OMG i didnt read the whole thing. all i looked at was the pics. and i didnt see the hippo, so i thought it was gone. im so sorry.

i would say, the long term success with a tang, esp a hippo regal tang, in that tank, might not work well for you.

also, regarding the anemone. i would have givin it to the LFS, and let your tank mature, and maybe after coral success, then try an anemone again. but, the tank is a bit small.
 
Hey Guys... thanks for the response! I found out that the spots/marks on the hippo are actually abrasions from it lodging itself under the rocks when I moved the rocks/fish. I bought some stuff which helps clean the water as well as treat the fish to restore slime coating. As soon as I get the hippo back to good health (hopefully in the next few weeks), I'm going to sell it back to the LFS and get something else. As for the LTA, he seems to really like the tank setup, he is almost fully expanded and looks healthy. My problem now is that I'm starting to see small amounts of aiptasia on my LR. I stopped to A.R.C. tonight and bought a few peppermint shrimp, so hopefully they'll disappear before they start to really multiply. BTW, a big thanks to the guys @ ARC, you were really helpful and that store is insane, I'll DEF be back next month!

I must admit... this hobby can be VERY stressful, I'm hoping that the next few weeks will allow the stress factor to go down, then I'll be trading some fish with the lfs and getting what I want! =D
 
By the way... what I thought looked like waste is turning out to be TONS of feather dusters on the LR... should I clean some up and suction them out, or leave them alone? Is this normal? I've read that they're basically harmless but theres a lot and some almost looks like fish waste! What to do, what to do... thanks guys.
 
I would leave them alone. They will reduce in number as nutrients in your tank are reduced. Sometimes they can infest a clam or zoanthus and irriate them. In those cases they can easily be removed with stainless steel tweezers. Yes. the hobby is challenging and stressful.Success comes hard and failures are easy and often beyond control. The worst part can be not knowing why something died or having so many theories that it can make you dizzy. Go slowly . Study hard and be very patient in developing your tank. It can take years to get it close to where you wan't it to be and then almost inevitably something will go wrong and humble you.
 
...I was going to try and sell a few of my fish aquired with my tank (mentioned on second page) but my post got deleted by the mods because apparently you have to be a 3 month+ member on RC in order to sell things. I don't know if I can wait that long, but if so I hope I can get rid of a few things to you guys. Thanks!
 
Just an update in case anyone is interested...

I sold off my entire livestock (tang, clowns/anemone) and re-did my aquascaping in the tank. I have also been trying to steady my parameters and so far so good. The only things I have now are about 10 snails and a brittle star. I'm going to start adding fish in a few weeks and maybe some coral from the fragswap, which I'm looking forward to meeting everyone! :)

I took a photo (CRAPPY phone quality) but it just shows my tank so far and the aquascaping which is 10,000x better than before. How long before I should start expecting some coraline growth? I know this is a debatable issue, but whatever.

Hope everyone has a good week! :)

<a href="http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a353/Clarence6988/?action=view&current=IMG000571.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a353/Clarence6988/IMG000571.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

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Jon, tank looks pretty good. Just remember to take your time stocking the tank. I would add a few fish first, then wait a while before adding anything else. If you rush into stocking it you may not get good results. Just take your time and be paitent.JMHO
 
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