Maintenance Schedule Help

[rcmcg]

I have a 2 week old salt water tank with a yellow tang and a coral beauty. We want to eventually go to a reef tank, but I have a lot to learn before then.
What type of maintenance schedule do you recommend for a 40 gallon tank with crushed coral substrate and no live rock. We would like to add live rock as soon as we can...any suggestions on that would be appreciated as well.
Thanks for your help!

 

[unleashed]

most of us do weekly water changes .
because you have cc and not sand you will get a lot of people saying to ditch the coral.I personally prefer it so it really is a matter of preference.use a syphon type vacume and clean your cc when you do your water changes this will help keep waste levels at a minimum.I change out 25% of each of my tanks some do 10% even at least I dont recommend ever doing more 50% thats pushing your limits for a regular water change.test your water weekly also if you do not have a test kit go get one .you will need to test amonia.ph ,nitrate,nitrite. and SG .you need a hydrometer or a refractomere(which cost more but is very efficiant) read through this web site below you will will find it very informative
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/index.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/maintenance/index.htm
welcome to the hobby

 

[rcmcg]

Thanks!
I did a 10% water change last week. Do you aerate your water for a time before adding it? I have a carbon/floss filter with my skimmer. Should I replace them singley or together? On the same day as a water change or later?

 

[unleashed]

it does help to make up your new at least 24 in advance this ensure proper time fo the salt to desolve fully I use a small powerhead in my large container(50 ro bucket) and heat the water to desired tank temp.this also reduces temp change shock in fish.if your using tap water be sure to dechlorinate it before ading to your tank .I use a product called prime it removes chlorine, chlorimine ,also detoxifies amonia and nitrates. read up on that 2nd link it has all the maintanace information for you including a few things alot of do but dont think about when we are asked what to do. change filter media sep so you dont harm the balence of your good bacteria.

 

[rcmcg]

Thanks for your help and the links. They are very helpful.

 

[merredeth]

Personally, I do a 10% water change weekly and until I got to know how my tank was doing tests every day and then once the parameters were good and I saw consistency in my water change schedule I tested daily.
I also kept a journal with my parameters so I could go back and refer if there were any problems.
Not to play tang prolice but something you haven't thought about is the tang. The tang, in my opinion is too small for your tank. Tangs are ich magnets and you are setting yourself up for failure if you don't take it back to the store and get credit, buying a smaller fish.
Denise M.

 

[pchromis]

The yellow tang will get too big for a 40g. Not recommended because they need plenty of swimming room.

 

[rcmcg]

The tang was a bad example of trusting the lfs dealers advice without reading up on it. Coral beauty is not a good for a newly established tank either. Guess I need to work up the courage and ask them to take the tang back. What would you replace him with? I would like to go to a reef tank after I have my feet wet and can maintain a stable habitat.

 

[daninct]

In my 55 FOWLR when I had a CC base of about 2 inch or so I did a 5 to 10 gal water change weekly in order to keep the Nitrates between 0 - 5. I did the vacum of CC every other week and that drove the water change up a bit more. I have 32 gal container in the basement of mixed water with heater and power head and add to it a bit at a time to keep it close to full. You want the salt mix to really disolve and settle the PH before you add to the tank. THe closer the PH and SG as well as temp the less problem you will encounter.

 

[merredeth]

A couple of clowns with an anenome would be nice in a 40 gallon.
A Yellow Clown Goby or Citron Goby or would be good for sifting sand if you are looking for some yellow in your tank.
A Orange Anthias (Lyretail) will give you some red to orange in the tank and is pretty as well.
There are endless options you can do, but the tangs unfortunately will spell disaster for your tank - and the Coral Beauty needs a well established tank to survive. I'm unsure of tank size requirements for the Coral Beauty, but I believe your tank may be too small for it as well.
Good luck!
Denise M.