First Post New Tank Start Up

[mbootag]

I am the FNG in this saltwater thing and I am really enjoying it. Just a little history 1 month ago went out to buy my 2 year old a tank for her room got bit by the saltwater bug. Its been alitte over 2 weeks since my start up:
46 gallon Bow Oceanic, stand and hood
Rena xp2 pump
Remora skimmer with surface prefilter box and maxjet pump
40 lbs live reef sand
33 lbs live rock
Current orbit 36inch compact flourscent on timers and 3 moon leds
As you can see I probably went over board but the tank is doing great. Added 8 tiny damels 4 days ago and they are loving the tank. One thing I notice on Friday and Saturday is my rock are exploding with growth green and brown algae. So i picked up a small cleaning crew hermits, snails, 1 green crab and my 2 year ol just loves watching them and even helps me with the testing. I would like any feed back on my set up and if I jumped the gun adding to many creatures, I found out I am running my lights to long and that probably jump started the algae growth went from 12 hours to 8. I will stop here thanks for listening.

 

[joshradio]

you sound like you're doing fine... I would say the tank is nearing it's bio limit, (for being new) which could be why you had the bloom... but only being 2 weeks into the cycle, that is a lot to add... in the cycle process, you'll tend to get the brown and then comes the green, and then you generally stabilize... inverts don't add to bio load, but I wouldn't add anything else with fins! Congrats and welcome to the boards!

 

[wax32]

¡Hola! WELCOME TO THE BOARDS!

You may have jumped the gun a little adding stuff to that tank. But no need to panic.
Did you complete your cycle?
Just so you are aware: those "8 tiny damsels" will overload that tank before long, once they grow a little. You want to limit the amount of fish in saltwater tanks, it isn't like freshwater. You for sure don't want to add anymore fish to the tank till you lose some damsels.
All that said, we all make mistakes when we start out, relax and read a LOT!

My personal favorite newbie book: Reef Invertebrates by Anthony Calfo and Robert Fenner. It has EVERYTHING you need to know about a new tank. It can be bought at any online book store.

 

[mbootag]

Thanks for the info. the damels are loaners and will return them in a month or so. I am mointoring the water how will I know when it completes its first cycle and when to do a water change and clean the filters.

 

[superh]

Monitor ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels. For my 40gal with 2 damsels, 3 chromis, 40lbs live sand and 30lbs live rock, ammonia peaked and dropped to 0 in about 5 days, then the nitrites peaked and are almost zero and nitrates are rising. I would say the cycle is finished when ammonia and nitrites are known to have peaked and have both dropped back to 0.