Greenhorn--Please read and offer advice. Greatly appreciated!!

[jpwmlw51]

Local fish store blew us off(knew we are new, but didnt want to offer help) so we walked out and i am now here to get some real help and answers-thanks in advance.
New 150 gal running 4 weeks -- all systems go. Fast snails and crabs are doing great and very active. Live rock seems to have good amount of new growth. Local store guy would not stop talking about "purple" growth? but would not elaborate. Need to add more live rock and will shortly-was told to only add 5-10#'s at a time. only need about 50 more pounds worth.
Having trouble getting good advice on our lighting schedule-have 42" deluxe lunar light. Use a timer but switching lights must be done by hand which is hard to maintain schedule-not always home at same time daily. Help with switching between the 3 different lights would be wonderful. (1)10,000k Super Day Light, (2) True Acting 03 Lighting, (3)Lunar Blue-Moon-Glow Lighting. 1-2 on same plug but two switches on the above tank light, 3 on its own plug and switch is under tank in stand.
Looking to start adding fish and have a list of fish we want but would like to start with 1-2 tester fish. Local guy listed about 15 different fish i could get and walked off after telling us to come back when we knew specifically what we wanted. ( i understand he deals with worms like me all day but with the amount of money i already spent and the amount i was going to spend(going to saltwaterfish.com now!!!) i sure would like a little bit of respect) I would just like someone to say "Hey Justin, I think that Blublablee and Bleeblubla would be a great way to start your tank. They work with everything." I look forward to the more expensive, exotic, etc. fish but dont want to blow money on our first fish and have something not be right. We are more into the soothing type of tank and are not interested in aggresive fish. Would almost rather a few larger more colorful fish than a bunch of little fish. What would be a good number of fish?
Coral is next. i understand flow and lighting arrangements, but again would like input on a good starter coral.
I realize this post is long and i have many, many more questions but if some kind soul would help a fellow hobbyist out we would sure appreciate your time and effort. I will check back often and post more questions later.

 

[scopus tang]

Originally Posted by jpwmlw51
http:///forum/post/2618305
Local fish store blew us off(knew we are new, but didnt want to offer help) so we walked out and i am now here to get some real help and answers-thanks in advance.
New 150 gal running 4 weeks -- all systems go. Fast snails and crabs are doing great and very active. Live rock seems to have good amount of new growth. Local store guy would not stop talking about "purple" growth? but would not elaborate. Need to add more live rock and will shortly-was told to only add 5-10#'s at a time. only need about 50 more pounds worth.
Having trouble getting good advice on our lighting schedule-have 42" deluxe lunar light. Use a timer but switching lights must be done by hand which is hard to maintain schedule-not always home at same time daily. Help with switching between the 3 different lights would be wonderful. (1)10,000k Super Day Light, (2) True Acting 03 Lighting, (3)Lunar Blue-Moon-Glow Lighting. 1-2 on same plug but two switches on the above tank light, 3 on its own plug and switch is under tank in stand.
Looking to start adding fish and have a list of fish we want but would like to start with 1-2 tester fish. Local guy listed about 15 different fish i could get and walked off after telling us to come back when we knew specifically what we wanted. ( i understand he deals with worms like me all day but with the amount of money i already spent and the amount i was going to spend(going to saltwaterfish.com now!!!) i sure would like a little bit of respect) I would just like someone to say "Hey Justin, I think that Blublablee and Bleeblubla would be a great way to start your tank. They work with everything." I look forward to the more expensive, exotic, etc. fish but dont want to blow money on our first fish and have something not be right. We are more into the soothing type of tank and are not interested in aggresive fish. Would almost rather a few larger more colorful fish than a bunch of little fish. What would be a good number of fish?
Coral is next. i understand flow and lighting arrangements, but again would like input on a good starter coral.
I realize this post is long and i have many, many more questions but if some kind soul would help a fellow hobbyist out we would sure appreciate your time and effort. I will check back often and post more questions later.
First welcome Justin! Can't answer all your questions, but here's a start.
1) Never heard of adding LR 5 to 10# at a time, and have no idea why you would want to, unless you are on a budget or are hand-picking rock and want if from different shipments. Every time you add LR to an already cycled tank, you risk experiencing a minicycle.
2) "Purple growth" is purple coralline algae ~ if you got good quality LR, you should already see some on your LR (some of it will fade and disappear as the various algae blooms come on, and your LR adjusts to your lights), you should see new growth of coralline fairly quickly if you have good quality LR. If not you need to seed your coralline buy getting some rock that already has coralline growing on it. Don't add products like Purple-up or calcium supplements without getting a test kit for calcium and testing your levels first.
3) Best method I've found for three way lighting is the coralife power center with dual timers (runs two different daylight options on separate timers, and when actinics switch off, moonlights switch on). Do a search on this timer in the forums though, because some have not had good luck with these, and suggest they may pose a risk of fire ~ your call. Other option is three separate timers on two different powerstrips.
4) No good with fish - hopefully someone else will chime in, but I personally would add a very limited number to start, add corals, and once you have the corals placed add the rest of your fish. If you put in all the fish first, then try to add corals, you may have some issue with fish nipping/eating corals as they try to open up and adjust.
5) As for corals, what type are you planning on running in your tank? Hard (SPS or LPS) or softies, or combination of both? More info will help us in helping you ~ zoanthids in general are a great starter coral IMO, and work well in any type of tank.
Hope that helps. Feel free to continue asking questions, but also use the search button in the various forums, as it will help you find old threads that will also answer some of your questions.

 

[sbaumann14]

Originally Posted by jpwmlw51
http:///forum/post/2618305
Local fish store blew us off(knew we are new, but didnt want to offer help) so we walked out and i am now here to get some real help and answers-thanks in advance.
New 150 gal running 4 weeks -- all systems go. Fast snails and crabs are doing great and very active. Live rock seems to have good amount of new growth. Local store guy would not stop talking about "purple" growth? but would not elaborate. Need to add more live rock and will shortly-was told to only add 5-10#'s at a time. only need about 50 more pounds worth.
Having trouble getting good advice on our lighting schedule-have 42" deluxe lunar light. Use a timer but switching lights must be done by hand which is hard to maintain schedule-not always home at same time daily. Help with switching between the 3 different lights would be wonderful. (1)10,000k Super Day Light, (2) True Acting 03 Lighting, (3)Lunar Blue-Moon-Glow Lighting. 1-2 on same plug but two switches on the above tank light, 3 on its own plug and switch is under tank in stand.
Looking to start adding fish and have a list of fish we want but would like to start with 1-2 tester fish. Local guy listed about 15 different fish i could get and walked off after telling us to come back when we knew specifically what we wanted. ( i understand he deals with worms like me all day but with the amount of money i already spent and the amount i was going to spend(going to saltwaterfish.com now!!!) i sure would like a little bit of respect) I would just like someone to say "Hey Justin, I think that Blublablee and Bleeblubla would be a great way to start your tank. They work with everything." I look forward to the more expensive, exotic, etc. fish but dont want to blow money on our first fish and have something not be right. We are more into the soothing type of tank and are not interested in aggresive fish. Would almost rather a few larger more colorful fish than a bunch of little fish. What would be a good number of fish?
Coral is next. i understand flow and lighting arrangements, but again would like input on a good starter coral.
I realize this post is long and i have many, many more questions but if some kind soul would help a fellow hobbyist out we would sure appreciate your time and effort. I will check back often and post more questions later.
you should add all of your rock at first to get the cycle over with, but you can add peices over time (after all, that's what some corals come attached to) just be careful to add sparingly. remember that each thing you add will change the biological makeup of your tank and your filters will need to adjust accordingly.
the first fish you need to start out with are the non agressive and non territorial ones. something with peaceful personallities so that when you do add your more agressive fish later, there wont be a territorial dispute. there are many good suggestions as to what kind of fish to avoid, just use the search this forum feature and type in "fish to avoid"... should help you out.
as for corals, start off with some nice "softies" like zoo's and mushrooms and leathers. then progress on to the LPS stuff and round it out with some SPS after you kinda got an idea of how to keep your chemicals up. yeah, i know the clams are beautiful, but the lighting and water parameters have to be PERFECT... dont start with these just yet.
keep up the questions... everyone is here just like me... to learn something we may not know. we'll try to help

 

[gregghia]

As far as fish slow it down. I was eager on the fish side but lost alot at first. The fish are going to only do well if parameters stay consistent. If you must do fish just go with Green Chromis. I think they are an underestimated fish. They are great looking fish as far as color, very active and school well. If you get 4-5 they will swim great in that 150. The best oart is you can get 4 or 5 for no more than $25 at a good store.
They are hard to get though so if you don't like them it would be hard to get out. But I started with 3 over a year ago and still have three and love them.

 

[jpwmlw51]

With the bad vibe that i got from my local store(they are the only fish store in our town...***** but no way) What are ya'lls(yes TEXAN!) ideas about online shopping? In our research many people differ on acclimation and trust issues and many people say dont do it.
I want to go ahead and finish my LR but again local guy was the one that told me to start out w/ 100# and add remaining 50# in 5-10# incriments. I just think that he didnt want me to clear out his LR Tank. So my question is would it be a good idea to buy SWF.com's Tukani Ultra Premium Live Rock or do i just have to bite the bullet and go back to my crummy fish store? I would rather not give them another dime!

 

[sickboy]

Did you add any fish yet? If not then I would say that the Tukani would be fine. The reason being is that I just got a box of the Tukani yesterday and found out that they use the term "cured" very liberally. It is very cool looking rock, and came with all sorts of coralline (like the green, orange, red, etc) shown in the picture but there was a TON of dead stuff on it that I had to scrape off. I'm not complaining about the rock as it is really cool and I got some really nice pieces, just if you added fish you might want to reconsider due to the inevitable die-off/cycle.

 

[sickboy]

I forgot to add that my buddies who have been into reef tanks much longer than I (I just started), will ONLY order online unless they find a super deal at the lfs, which is rare. In fact they just got a huge order in from swf yesterday.

 

[jpwmlw51]

No, no fish yet. I am going to wait until the holiday is over then get a shipment of Tukani and let it cycle for a while. then i will start with the coral and work on chemicals and lights. might add 1-2 fish for the kids to look at but realize and relish in the fact that we have a long way to go.