New to Saltwater

[buddahi]

Hello everyone,
My son (age 11) decided he wanted to make the jump from fresh to Saltwater so here we are.

He is currently looking at the types of fish he wants which for now looks like he wants the Green Mandarin as his center piece. He knows they are challenging, honestly if there is anyone in my house that can make it work it will be him.

I promised him I would sign up and share an account here with him so look from him to start posting soon.

Here are some details about what we are working with:

Tank: 44 Gallon Bow Front
Filters: AquaClear70 and 55LB of Dry Rock, 5LB of Live, 40LB of live sand.
Filters to be purchased: HOB Skimmer (probably a Reef Octopus BH1000)
2 800 GPH Submersible Circulation Wave Makers

His plan is to finish cycling the tank (we are on Day 7: Ammonia (0.25), Nitrite (2), Nitrate (5), Salinity (1.025) and Ph (8)) Then add the clean up crew along (he is still researching what he wants), convert his freshwater Mollies to salt and then start adding saltwater fish (looks like he is going for the typical finding Nemo fare before adding the Mandarin. Corals and other stuff will happen after he saves enough for the right lights.

Attaching an image of his tank as it sits today (Day 7 of the Cycle).

Thanks for looking.

Scott and Aiden.

 

[Nibrown9]

Welcome!

Enjoy the most addicting hobby, when your ready for corals let me know I'll have a frag for you both!

 

[johanasu]

Hello!

I started with a 46g bowfront, hob skimmer, etc and thought it made a nice reef tank.

The mandarin should definitely not be added for a few months. They only eat live food (copepods) and they are going to need time to populate the tank. You will also want to avoid any other fish that compete for pods like some wrasses. You can buy reef stew locally that has copepods and you can order online from Algaebarn or similar sites to stock up on copepods.

A pair of clowns should be great for that size tank. I would say a few other fish friends would be good as well.

I'm actually an 8th grade science teacher and I have five saltwater tanks in my classroom and a large display tank in the hallway. My science club students (13-14 years old) take care of almost everything so I have faith your son can make it happen.

Ask lots of questions, preferably before making decisions

Good luck and have fun with it!

 

[HeavyWater247]

Welcome...made my jump into saltwater last year coming from fresh as well. The AZ Saltwater community here are a great bunch of peepz so you'll have plenty of support to get you through the rough times I have a 36gal bowfront with a HOB skimmer and 20gal refugium under the tank. I have a scooter blenny who's been scooting all over the tank including the side walls and overflow/jets. johanasu is definitely correct about waiting to get the mandarin. I made the mistake of picking up a blenny prior and thinking he would eat frozen brine shrimp but he never did and starved to death. I've since established the refugium and populated it with live rock/chaeto and seeded it with reef stew which has a crap load of pods/live brine shrimp (Ocean Floor on I-17/Thomas) sells it for $2 a cup, and my blenny's been doing fine since (probably 4 months now). I love my clowns, and they love their bubble tip anenome Good stuff.

 

[buddahi]

Hello!

I started with a 46g bowfront, hob skimmer, etc and thought it made a nice reef tank.

The mandarin should definitely not be added for a few months. They only eat live food (copepods) and they are going to need time to populate the tank. You will also want to avoid any other fish that compete for pods like some wrasses. You can buy reef stew locally that has copepods and you can order online from Algaebarn or similar sites to stock up on copepods.

A pair of clowns should be great for that size tank. I would say a few other fish friends would be good as well.

I'm actually an 8th grade science teacher and I have five saltwater tanks in my classroom and a large display tank in the hallway. My science club students (13-14 years old) take care of almost everything so I have faith your son can make it happen.

Ask lots of questions, preferably before making decisions

Good luck and have fun with it!

Thanks for the advice, right now I have Aiden doing research on each type of fish listed as Mandarin compatible as well as research on timing and feeding the Mandarin. Your information will be helpful as I try to keep him honest and searching for the right information...easy right now as we are waiting for the cycle to finish, may be harder later once he is able to life to the tank.