am i ready for a coral or anemone

[alanwest]

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Phosphate .25
Calcium 460
Kh 107.4
salinity 1.0245
here r my water peramiters. I have had the tank up for about 2 months my clean up crew all survived and I have one fish left. Hes a jerk killed my other 3. He will be heading home soon to the lfs. But as the tital states am i ready to add some anem or corals. I was hoping to get one of each and replace the blue dam with 2 clown. My last fish died yesterday so I dont think it will be a bio overload just because the fish was in there for 2 months straight so the bacteria is used to having 3-4 fish in there. any comments or ideas please let me know.

 

[earlybird]

Originally Posted by alanwest
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Phosphate .25
Calcium 460
Kh 107.4
salinity 1.0245
here r my water peramiters. I have had the tank up for about 2 months my clean up crew all survived and I have one fish left. Hes a jerk killed my other 3. He will be heading home soon to the lfs. But as the tital states am i ready to add some anem or corals. I was hoping to get one of each and replace the blue dam with 2 clown. My last fish died yesterday so I dont think it will be a bio overload just because the fish was in there for 2 months straight so the bacteria is used to having 3-4 fish in there. any comments or ideas please let me know.
I'd work on getting your phosphates down to zero. You could probably get away with some hardy corals but I'd wait until your tank matures a little more. A few more months. IMO. Why did your fish die?

 

[perfectdark]

I agree on the phosphates, and also wonder why your fish died. Although if all checks out I dont see why you couldnt add corals in. I have had mine up for 3 months and I have quite a bit of soft corals in my tank. My yellow polyups have fragged twice now too.

 

[renogaw]

sorry, but if you were ready you wouldn't be asking.
you are definitely not ready for an anenome.

 

[aquaguy24]

i think he said his fish died cuz the blue damsel killed them..

 

[chellie4u2]

I think he's just trying to do things right by asking everyones input, you all seem to know so much about how to do this or that I see no point in being rude to someone for just asking for help.. IMO

 

[aquaguy24]

Originally Posted by Chellie4u2
I think he's just trying to do things right by asking everyones input, you all seem to know so much about how to do this or that I see no point in being rude to someone for just asking for help.. IMO
agreed...we all didn't just woke and knew how to keep a sw tank..well anyways maybe u can add one fish and let it sit for a couple of weeks..if u want anemones u might have to upgrade ur light if u don;t have MH or t5..

 

[alanwest]

I have all the proper equipment for keeping corals and anemones . the only thing i dont have is the sump. And im sorry renogaw im not at verst in keeping a sw tank as you are. I just dont want to get a coral or anemone and kill it because im still very knew at this. The only reason the 3 out of the 4 fish i had died was because one of my blue damsels beat the crap out of them and i used them it cycle my tank which i now know is something i dont want to do because its cruel to the fish.
My equipment is as follows
75 lbs live rock
cc bed
t5 lighing 260 wts
coralife 65 gallon protien skimmer
55 tank
2 maxijet 1200 power heads
and a 100 dollar filter system with bio wheals.

 

[renogaw]

I'm just saying, we cannot tell you if you are ready. You need to be ready in your own mind. You have nice equipment, but corals can be a little tougher than keeping fish. If you feel comfortable you can try a couple softies. Get used to keeping a kenya tree or something. But, only YOU can tell us when you're ready.

 

[alanwest]

Originally Posted by earlybird
I'd work on getting your phosphates down to zero. You could probably get away with some hardy corals but I'd wait until your tank matures a little more. A few more months. IMO. Why did your fish die?

I am buying wally worlds water. I originally used tap water. Ya i know dumb move. But my last 3 water changes have all been ro water and i use Essential elements to add the minerals back in. Also I think my phosphates where zero but it was kinda close and hard to see so i went one up just to be safe.

 

[jackolopolis]

Originally Posted by renogaw
I'm just saying, we cannot tell you if you are ready. You need to be ready in your own mind. You have nice equipment, but corals can be a little tougher than keeping fish. If you feel comfortable you can try a couple softies. Get used to keeping a kenya tree or something. But, only YOU can tell us when you're ready.
I dont think he meant himself as a hobbyist, but his tank. Imo, you do have really nice equipment. The only thing I ever add to my ro water is salt mix. I am not familiar with the essentials your talking about. What is in it?
Also, I like kenya trees and stuff like like. And I have had great luck with cabbage corals, mushrooms, and zoos in younger tanks. If you want to try an anenome, I say go for it!! Those phosphates of yours, if your reading is accurate, could be a problem though, they really dont like that sort of thing.
Good luck!

 

[aaron7405]

I will recoment you to read a book. any manual and find out whta the anemonies needs are, if you think you can handled (equipment and compromise to care it) and then go for it. But inform you about the anemonie than you are trying to buy. Many of us have learned from mistakes (include my sealf), and is until we read a gide we know we start some times backward.
My best advise inform about your annemo you want to buy and if you suit it needs buy it.

 

[trigger11]

Sounds to me like you are ready for some corals. As suggested I would try some of the hardier one's first. Like zoo's or mushrooms. I wouldnt try an anenome until you get confident you can keep the other guys going. Looking over your tank list there is one item you may have to pay a little more attention to and this is the CC. Having CC in there instead of a sand bed will mean you will need to do more frequent water changes to vacuum the detritus from the CC. If you leave the detritus there it will go through the cycle and then end up as nitrates which coral doesnt like. My recommendation would be to change the CC out and put in LS. Best of luck on your reef journey.

 

[alanwest]

Originally Posted by trigger11
Looking over your tank list there is one item you may have to pay a little more attention to and this is the CC. Having CC in there instead of a sand bed will mean you will need to do more frequent water changes to vacuum the detritus from the CC. If you leave the detritus there it will go through the cycle and then end up as nitrates which coral doesnt like. My recommendation would be to change the CC out and put in LS. Best of luck on your reef journey.

Im getting a 125 gallon in like 3 months from now for 200 bucks. Its a great deal Im not goin to turn it down. Im goin to transfer everything over buy new lighing sand bed a huge sump the coralife skimmer and probably at least 100 lbs more live rock. I plan on getting rid of the cc at that point. The darn lfs told me cc was better. wish i knew about this website before i bought it.
You said to do more water changes would it be ok if i did 10 gallon water changes every other week and 5 gallon in between. Like this week do a 10 gallon next week do a 5 gallon next week do a 10 jumping back and forth?

 

[cadillac swang]

thats funny i never read a book when i started salt water, i just got the stock list i need when it was fowlr and heard how to cycle. i dont check for nothing but ammonia due to i have 2skimmers, 2 hang on filters, 4 powerheads to keep movement going, on and pretty big size tank (80 gallon) which is alot better when bigger so when things die or levels are raised some what it doesnt affect the tank as bad. only thing i ever lost was due to an uncovered powerhead sucking things up that got to close

 

[trigger11]

I myself would avoid using different sized water changes every other week. If I have learned one thing about keeping a sw tank going it is to try to be as consistent as possible. During times when I have not been able to be consistent is when water parameters got squirrelly on me. But maybe that is just me.
Knowing for sure you are getting a 125g in three months could change things for you. If I knew I were upgrading to a larger tank in a few months I would use the KISS method and keep it simple. Yes indeed, 200 bucks for a 125g is a great deal. I wish I could find one of those myself. And convince the landlord to let me keep it as well. LOL

 

[alanwest]

ok well i went to the lfs and got a coral and an anemone.
condylactus anemone
and orange polythea. his had writing is horrible but i think thats what it says.
now i have to wait and hope everything goes well

 

[cgrant]

I dont recommend starting off with an anemone, I would start with some shroom's and like yellow polyps.
I had my anemone and it was not as easy to take care of as i thought, has to be fed, i used this pampered chef tong looking thingy that i swiped from the wife to feed him 1 krill a week and they require strong lighting, you have ~200 watts of t5's so you will probably fine as far as lighting goes.
Beware of power heads, mine swam into one and got diced into my tank.

 

[alanwest]

Originally Posted by CGRANT
Beware of power heads, mine swam into one and got diced into my tank.
'
ya mine did a back flip as i put him in it freaked the crap out of me

 

[farslayer]

Be aware that anemones will move, they will sting anything in their path (including corals), and no clown will host a condy that I know of. You also have orange palythoa, which is a very easy to care for softy. You can feed him mysis and cyclopeeze if you like, and if you do, they will grow and spread very quickly. I have several types of palythoa in my tank and they are very nice looking under the actinics. Google "purple people eaters" and have a look at some pics of those. If I were you, and if this is truly your first tank, I would ditch the anemone and try my hand at some softies and perhaps an LPS or two to see how well you do. You do not want to invest a lot of money in things only to have it all die, know what I mean? Patience is a virtue But either way, good luck with your tank, if you are successful you will have a very enjoyable hobby.