Another noobe!

[meadbhb]

Hiya!!!

This is my first post, so I thought I'd interduce myself. I've been involved in fish since I was 8 years old. I'd catch turtles, small fish, crustations out of our lake and keep them in my room to watch at night when I was supposed to be sleeping.
Did a few years in college studing marine bio, but decided it wasn't the right thing for me. Ahhh, the stupidity of that decision. Should have at least gone into biology and not business. Anyway...you know what they say about hindsight.

Well, I've finally decided to take the plunge and attempt a reef tank. I've been reading the board for about a month now, so have some insite, but not nearly the knowledge I need so I'll be sticking around asking stupid questions.
I'll be picking up my set up from lay away Saturday...can we say I'm going nutts with the waiting! I'm getting a 37g Eclipse, I've upgraded the lights to compact, using what I think is crushed argonite for my base, about 40lbs of base rock and some LR, not sure how much, depends on the money. OH, yeah, a prism protien skimmer. I wasn't going to get one, but my hubby said I really need to get one. This from the guy who asked me to sell my 65g freshwater show tank because it was to loud

He's got a hearing problem and the noise was just at the right tone to interfer with his TV watching. I'm not wanting to keep claims, or a lot of the HC's. A few fish, definately a manderan(sp), mushrooms and poylps. I REALLY want a christmas tree coral :yes:
So, do I need to let this system cycle like others? I can be patient...honest! :nope: I figure I would...fish are down the road, but I was told I could add LR right away, but I wasn't sure about the corals.
Okay...enough blab for now.

 

[bigarn]

First of all...Welcome to the board!
Yes, you should add the LR right away. You're tank has to cycle before you do anything else. If you're getting cured LR your cycle should be quicker.
I'm far from a coral expert,but I would wait until you have an established tank before adding them. Many corals need just the right conditions to live. I would go with fish and critters before the coral. There are many experts on this board who could help you out in choosing coral when you're ready.
GoodLuck!

 

[hookedonreefs]

Well, good start. - And welcome to the board.
You can get LR, and use that to cycle the tank with. That should take from a few weeks to a month. Then you can add fish. Be careful of what fish (reef safe) and the stocking order (most aggressive last).
Then after a month or so after your cycle, you can think about zoos and shrooms. These are good starter corals. Once they survive for a good month or two you can move into bigger softies and a few LPS. With your current setup that's where I would stop (IMO).
Also, with that size tank, you either have to go without a mandarin, or get one that will eat frozen food. There is little to no possibility that you amount of LR will support a mandarin with the pods it needs to live (if they only eat live food).
The x-mas tree coral may be OK. I've seen people misname them, so give the scientific name, or a pic and we can help you furthur on that.
GL
hooked :happyfish

 

[meadbhb]

Hiya,
Thanks for the welcome.
Ahhhh, no mandarin?

I LOVE these guys! They're the one reason that I caved and went with saltwater. So, how do I get more pods in my tank? Can I buy an aquacultured fish that was fed on frozen stuff? Thanks for letting me know it was most agressive last, I missed that. Though, I've pretty much decided on peaceful fish. A LMG, some of the blue and green damsils....their name escapes me right now.
Okay, I have to cycle the tank...I figured I would. No problem, will I still need to use a cocktail shrimp or will the LR cycle it for me? My store has LR that has been around for about a month, so it should be precured. Some of it came from a guy that tore down his tank. I've already spied two pieces I want that have some corals growing on it and some nice coraline algea. I really wanted the piece with the large plants on it, but someone else bought it

Temps supposed to be about 80 give or take a degree right? So, do I use a floating themometor or one that sticks to the glass to monitor this? If on the glass, where on the tank should I put it?
Thanks!!!

 

[rossim]

Welcome to the boards. I'm still a newbie myself, but just got done cycling my tank. If you are putting in cured LR, then you might want to use a frozen shrimp to jump start the cycle. Cured LR will have little die off to sucessfully start the cycle.
80 degrees sounds good to me. I think everyone has their own preference, but anything between 79-82 I think would be fine. As for the thermometer, it really depends on what you want. I personally use a digital one. One thing to note if you are setting up a sump, is to keep the thermometer in the display tank as the temperatures in the DT and sump may differ.
HTH

 

[meadbhb]

Morning!
Digital themometer? How does this work? I use one to test the formula on my bird formula, but I can't see sticking something like this into my tank to take the temp.
I'm going to use the cocktail method to help cycle my tank. One of my LFS people hadn't heard of this method, but was interested in knowing if it worked for me. I'm pretty lucky, I've got two LFS that I trust in my area.
Kim

 

[hookedonreefs]

I did the shrimp thing and it worked great.
They have digital thermometers made for sw tanks. You put a probe in the tank and that registers the temp. Yes, 78.5 - 82 is the preferred range.
Pods, well if you want more pods, you can put a fuge in your system. If you really want a mandarin, just keep an eye for them at your lfs. Then when they get them in, justwatch them for a while. Even ask the lfs to feed them. If the mandarin east frozen food on a regular basis - say across 3 days, then it's safe to get.
Mine eats both live food and cyclopeze.
Lastly, put the damsels in last. They are (usually) very agressive fish. Even clownfish (in the family of damsels) can be pretty aggressive.
GL
hooked

 

[rossim]

Most of the digital thermometers have the actual part that reads the temp attatched to a suction cup. All you need to do is place the cup and the glass somewhere in the tank and you're done!

 

[zap800]

i used a piece of raw salmon to cycle my tank. so really its just a piece of saltwater animal that will decay and release amonia into the tank. you can also just feed the tank with food like there are fish in it and that will also cycle the tank. i just use onr of those stick on therm's on the glass oppisite side to the heater. if you are getting the prizm skimmer get the upgrade kit too. it is about 20-25 dollas and it will help skimm the scum off the top of the water. i have that skimmer. lastly dont a good test kit.

 

[meadbhb]

Hiya,
My boss is going to kill me....I should be doing this at work, but we're slow!!!
Gotcha on the themometor. I'm not sure I'm going to need a heater. I was told that this lighting system puts off enough heat that I may actually have to drill holes in the hood to vent it. I'll have the cycle to figure that out, told them not to do that until I have it set up for a while and see what the temp does. Hmmm, now that I think about it...I'd better get one. Forgot the light goes out at night, the temp might drop to much.
Extra kit for the prism. Can this be installed after it's set up? I didn't ask him to get me one and my LFS is doing all the altering for me so everything works well together and looks unobtrusive.
I hear everyone say no tap water. However, can I do 1/2 RO, which will be bought from my LFS, and tap, or distilled water?
Meadbhb

 

[meadbhb]

Hiya,
So...it is possible to get a manderin after my tank has been set up for a while? That would be nice!
Can I add the manderin after I put in some green and/or blue cromis? Sigh...excuse my spelling, it really is bad.