Any Advice Or Tips To Complete My Goal.

swfishfan

swfishfan

Member
So I Read All The Posts For Newbies And I Read The Conscience Aquarinist Book And I Read The Post's Put Up Called Salwater Aquarium:101. So I Got All My Equipment Ready And Tested So Now I Have...........
Just Started My Cycle And I Was Just Wondering If I Was On The Right Path To Succes.
I Have A 15 Gallon Tall Glass Aquarium.
I Have A Stock Hood With A 18" 15k Powerglow Bulb.
I Used Oceanic 7lb Bag Of Salt, Used About 5 Lbs Of It.
I Used 20lbs. Of Carib Sea Agronite Black And White L/s.
I Have About 8 Lbs Of L/r
A Maxi Jet 89 Gph Ph.
A 150w Heater.
2 10 Gallon Bio Bag Filters.
1 Exterior Pump.
So Far I Am At The Waiting Step, I Added My Raw Shrimp On Tuesday June 7th.
The Only Thing I Have Noticed So Far Is That My Shrimp Is Decompossing, And I Have Small Red Caterpillar Looking Red Worms On My Rocks And Super Small Snails On Them As Well.
Just Wanted To See What People Think And If They Have Some Advice.....
Thanks For Reading, And Posting In Advance.
 
fmelindy

fmelindy

Member
Sounds like you're well on your way! However depending on what you eventually want to kkep in the tank, you will consider getting some more live rock, upgrading that lighting and adding on an additional powerhead. You may also want to invest in a simple skimmer.
 
swfishfan

swfishfan

Member
When You Say Upgrade The Lighting Do You Mean Adding A Better Buld Or Getting A Better Setup? And I Will Get A Skimmer I Need One, And I Have Already Thought About Getting Another Ph As Well.
 
fmelindy

fmelindy

Member
I guess waht I mean is that in order to keep certain inverts (ie corals or clams) you will need more wattage. Any I say that loosley because we all know I mean more "photosyntetically active radiation" which one could achieve at the same wattage levels by changing the intensity or type of lighting (for example, by moving from NO fluorescents to metal halides at even the same wattage levels, I think all of us will agree will achieve higher PAR). If you don't plan on keeping photosynthetic inverts then I'd stick with the lights you have as increasing them would just mean encouraging nuisance algae growth.
 
swfishfan

swfishfan

Member
Ok So If I Want Coral; Is A Coral Tank The Same As A Reef And Anenome Tank?, I Would Have To Upgrade My Lighting System Right? I Have Gotten Advice On Pc Lighting Are Those Good Enough For Coral?
 
fmelindy

fmelindy

Member
It really depends on how much lighting you have compared to the size of your tank, ideally measured by a lux meter. But not many people have those. So we have come up with the (decidedly inferior and controversial) method of calculating watts per gallon. Most people agree that 3-5 watts per gallon is good but generally more is better, depending on what you are trying to keep. (ie mushrooms are actually pretty low light and really intense light could actually harm them). Power compacts are good (metal halides deliver more intense, and perhaps more lumens or photosynthetically usefuyl lights as a result). Almost anything (except incadescent (shudder)) would be better than what you have now. I'd recommend at least a 60 watt or better PC fixture for your current tank and more than that would be nice. especially if you plan on keeping an anenome. (and they're really a bad idea in a tank that small in my opinion).
 
swfishfan

swfishfan

Member
Ok Thankyou For The Advice And I Will Be Looking For Pc Light Set Ups, You Do Not Have Any Idea Of Where I Could Get A Nice Set Up For Relatively Cheap Online ?
 
swfishfan

swfishfan

Member
IS THIS GOOD FOR MY TANK:
Power Compact 20" Hood
This 36 watt light has:
German mirror polished aluminum reflectors
electronic ballast
1 switch and 1 cord
It does NOT have a shield to go over the bulbs
Aluminum hood comes complete with your choice of bulb: Combo, 10000K, Actinic Blue or 6500K Freshwater. Great for a mini reef or refugium.
 
fmelindy

fmelindy

Member
Still a little low on the wattage. I'd suggest more than that. Perhaps if you built your own canopy or had someone build you a wooden canopy and then purchased yourself a retro-fit kit....
 
fmelindy

fmelindy

Member
A retro fit kit is a kit that has the bulbs, sockets and ballasts but no canopy so you can apply it to your existing canopy (it's just a screw it into the canopy you already have jobbie). Do a search for it and you'll see what I mean.
 
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