My new tank!

[jagermeister]

Hello all,
I recently purchased a used 55 gal. saltwater tank that was already up and running. It's now set up at my place and seems to be doing fine. Upon setup about 50% of the water was replaced.
It has about a 4" sand bed and approximately 30-40 lbs of live rock. It also came with 2 M.A.G.N.U.M. filters and each of those are attached to a bio wheel. The guy I bought it from said that was probably over kill but he wanted to be sure he had good water quality.
The fish that came with the tank are, 1 Yellow Tang, 1 Lunare Wrasse, and 1 Blood Red Hawkfish.
So here come the questions:
1. The specific gravity of the water is 1.020. I would like to raise this to around 1.022. What's the best way to do that?
2. The lighting fixtures for the tank are minimal. I'm planning on replacing the current two, 15 watt, 18" long flourescent bulbs with 2- 18", 15 watt Verilux full spectrum bulbs. That's only 30 watts total. I'm not really interested in growing all kinds of coral but will this be enough light to at least get something to grow out of the live rock? If not what would be a cheap alternative or retro fit?
3. Can anyone suggest a good cleanup crew? And when would I want to add them to the tank?
4. I would really like to get some percula clownfish. Would these be compatible to what is already in the tank? What about star fish? I'm thinking about letting the tank run for a couple of weeks before adding any fish though.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!!

 

[almarktool]

well i take questions 1 & 2 for you
1, best way to raise your salinity will be to add 1.023-1.024 salinty water when doing your top offs for now untill u get it where u want it to be then u can go back to just adding plain water
2, if it were me i would look into one of the power compact hoods that all glass makes u will get much better growth out of your live rock

 

[ryebread]

Welcome to the Board!
I would make sure that everything goes okay for a couple of weeks at least after a 50 percent water change. (you may not want to change out that much water at once) I don't know if you are going to have much happening with the live rock under that kind of light.....even if you upgrade to higher spectrum lights. I would also go with one of the Power Compact systems. The PCs will open up your possibilities for more growth everywhere. I got a great clean-up crew from SWF.com (this site in the build your own section) but you will want to make sure that they have something in the tank to clean-up. I would also reccommend getting that tang out of there, not much swimming room. If you want a couple of clowns, I would trade in your yellow tang for a couple of perculas. Starfish are somewhat hard to keep unless you have good water perameters.......I would wait until everything is where you want.

 

[slothy]

Like nutbread said, make sure you have stuff for your clean up crew to eat (extra food works).. snails you gonna want algae..
Dunno much about hawkfish as what there diet consist of , so they maybe a ya or na on what kinda clean up crew you can get..
the build it yourself kit is prob the best deal around (with free shipping too )

 

[fshhub]

Welcome Aboard, it is always nice ot meet someone else who appreciates a good drink.
anyhow,
q#3
may be difficult, since hawks and lunares like many cleaners
i would also look for another tank for the tang and ESP. the wrasse
as for q#4
the clowns should be fine with tose fishes, but i would not add anything else if you are gonna keep them, they will definitely fill the tank int he near future

 

[jagermeister]

So what I'm hearing is that by buying a cleanup crew I may instead just be buying dinner for the Lunare Wrasse and Hawkfish? Turns out it's a Falco Hawkfish. Their mouths seem too small to eat snails and crabs. But I'm new at this so I'm glad I asked first. In general, are local fish stores agreeable to trades?

 

[jumpfrog]

Just one more note on your hawkfish. I have one and the only invert he'll tolerate is snails. Anything else is "dinner."
Good Luck!

 

[fishfood]

Suggestion.. Go with what you are happy with! Here is my idea for the fish/inverts. Not sure if you like everything that you have but you obviously like perc clown and would like some cleanup crew and or other inverts. It is possible to trade things in at lfs and as said you may not get full price but to get what you really want does it matter. You probably didn't pay full price to get the entire set up anyway(maybe you did, i don't know). I would suggest that if you are willing to part with the wrasse and hawkfish trade them in for a pair of clowns. Keep the tang if you like it but keep in mind it may do better in a larger tank. Then you could get all the critters you want and a couple other smaller fish. As far as lights check out the VHO icecap 440s. I had them and had good growth with shrooms, polyps, Gorgonia, and leathers plus had great coraline growth.

 

[jagermeister]

Thanks for all the insights!!! I probably ought to get rid of the wrasse. After reading through the message boards I've heard a lot of bad stuff. But that little Hawkfish is just so cool!! Can anyone give me a good rule of thumb of adding perula's to the tank. I know you should get a pair. What about 2 pairs or more?

 

[jagermeister]

O.K. I'm very new so excuse this question. What do you mean by not getting a pair but rather 3-4 clowns. Wouldn't 4 clowns be 2 pair?

 

[jagermeister]

Also, where can I find $5 percs online?

 

[fishfood]

thats something i didn't think about.. trying some blue legs to see if the hawk would leave them alone, but imo there are many other inverts that are neat for a tank that doesn't have the proper lighting to support full coral growth. Also percs are all different and what makes them even more interesting is the ability to pick one with the pattern that you like. I have two tank raised false percs and got them at different times but i picked both because of their pattern/color. They still do not get along 2-3 months after getting them. From what i understand is that its best to get them at the same time.