Need help starting off

[cotigostar]

Hey everyone,
I finally moved into my own place and it's time to get things started!
I bought a 55gal tank with stand from a neighbor and they gave me some lights and filters.

I don't know much about the filters except one says Milenium 2000

and this is the other.

The lights are (1) Coralife 50/50 6000k actinic 03

and the other is an Eclipse natural daylight bulb (couldn't get a picture).
As of now that's all the equipment I have. I'm very new to this hobby (that's why I took all the pictures. In case I mess up someone can set me straight

) I had a simple yet rather important question for everyone. Are dead hard corals ok in a setup? I have a piece of coral and two pieces of barnacles my mom got from a store in the keys because she thought they looked cool.

She was going to use them around the house but she told me if I wanted them I could have them. They dont seem like they've been treated with any chemicals, but what do I know? lol Has anyone had any experience using dead pieces? I think the coral would give my tank a very nice look without the hard work and the barnacles could be hiding places.

Again, I am very new to this hobby and I need as much help as I can get.
I have some experience in freshwater and my roommate and I had a pair of clownfish last year but her boyfriend pretty much set the whole thing up for us. I know the very basics:
-cycle the water with live rock for a min of 2 weeks
-add sand after rock so that they don't shift
-don't cycle the tank with a damsel
-get a refractometer rather than a hydrometer
-clownfish are very hardy
-ummmm lol I told you I was new.
I don't have alot of money right now so I wanted to know what I absolutely need to start cycling the tank so by the time its cycled I have some more cash to start putting things in it. I'm sure I'll need a power head or two and some live rock (that I'm working on getting soon), but other than that what else?
If anyone has any words of advice they would be great!! I'll take this time to start reading up and try to find the best LFS around. Thanks in advance for the help and I hope to hear from you guys!

 

[fishfreak1242]

Originally Posted by cotigostar
http:///forum/post/2684558

Hey everyone,
I finally moved into my own place and it's time to get things started!
I bought a 55gal tank with stand from a neighbor and they gave me some lights and filters.

I don't know much about the filters except one says Milenium 2000

and this is the other.

The lights are (1) Coralife 50/50 6000k actinic 03

and the other is an Eclipse natural daylight bulb (couldn't get a picture).
As of now that's all the equipment I have. I'm very new to this hobby (that's why I took all the pictures. In case I mess up someone can set me straight

) I had a simple yet rather important question for everyone. Are dead hard corals ok in a setup? I have a piece of coral and two pieces of barnacles my mom got from a store in the keys because she thought they looked cool.

She was going to use them around the house but she told me if I wanted them I could have them. They dont seem like they've been treated with any chemicals, but what do I know? lol Has anyone had any experience using dead pieces? I think the coral would give my tank a very nice look without the hard work and the barnacles could be hiding places.

Again, I am very new to this hobby and I need as much help as I can get.
I have some experience in freshwater and my roommate and I had a pair of clownfish last year but her boyfriend pretty much set the whole thing up for us. I know the very basics:
-cycle the water with live rock for a min of 2 weeks
-add sand after rock so that they don't shift
-don't cycle the tank with a damsel
-get a refractometer rather than a hydrometer
-clownfish are very hardy
-ummmm lol I told you I was new.
I don't have alot of money right now so I wanted to know what I absolutely need to start cycling the tank so by the time its cycled I have some more cash to start putting things in it. I'm sure I'll need a power head or two and some live rock (that I'm working on getting soon), but other than that what else?
If anyone has any words of advice they would be great!! I'll take this time to start reading up and try to find the best LFS around. Thanks in advance for the help and I hope to hear from you guys!
Welcome to this crazy time and money consuming hobby! First of all, I would ditch the dead corals and go and get some live rock. You can get some dead rock and a piece of live rock and it will seed the dead rock and become live over time. Also, you should get a good protein skimmer. Stay away from the cheaper ones like Seaclone and get one that is more reliable like Aqua-C, Euro-reef, or Octopus. These are great skimmers. After your tank is down cycling, take things slow and start out with a few snails or hermits and then work your way up to a fish. Patience is key in this hobby. Remember to do research before buying ANYTHING. I learned the hard way to do this. Good luck with your tank

 

[cotigostar]

Originally Posted by fishfreak1242
http:///forum/post/2684685
Welcome to this crazy time and money consuming hobby! First of all, I would ditch the dead corals and go and get some live rock. You can get some dead rock and a piece of live rock and it will seed the dead rock and become live over time. Also, you should get a good protein skimmer. Stay away from the cheaper ones like Seaclone and get one that is more reliable like Aqua-C, Euro-reef, or Octopus. These are great skimmers. After your tank is down cycling, take things slow and start out with a few snails or hermits and then work your way up to a fish. Patience is key in this hobby. Remember to do research before buying ANYTHING. I learned the hard way to do this. Good luck with your tank
Ditch them completely? I really like them colorwise. I'm getting live rock regardless. That much I know I need, I'm just waiting on someone who is local. But do I need to get rid of the other stuff as well?

 

[errattiq]

cotigostar,You can definitely keep the coral pieces if you want, they will not effect anything. First, you need to purchase some liverock (approx 50 lbs in your case). If you want, you can get a fraction of that number live and purchase whats called base rock which will eventually become live rock just by being in the same tankfor a bit (definitely a more cost effective option). Now, in terms of your lighting. Those lights you have are reaaaaal small for your system if you plan on keeping corals or anemones, you will have to beef them up depending on what you want to keep (but thats another conversation). You will also need about 50lbs of live sand for your tank. It doesnt matter the order you put the rock or sand in, just make sure the rock is seated good, thats all. To get your tank cycling, the only thing you will need is liverock/livesand. Fill your tank up with saltwater with a Specific gravity anywhere from 1.020-1.025 for a fish only tank (no corals), if you want to keep them down the line, just set up your system now with a specific gravity of 1.023-1.025 and you'll be fine. Make sure your tank tests 0 for nitrate,ammonia, and nitrite before you add anything! That usually,like you said, takes a few weeks, just periodically test the water. Once that happens get yourself a skimmer like one mentioned in the previous post, I have the aqua-c and love it personally. After that, your first addition, in my opinion, should be a hardy fish such as the clownfish you mentioned. Leave him be for a few weeks. That way the tank has time to mature and your cleanup crew (crabs/snails) will have something to actually eat lol! As lon as you plan on only keeping fish, your lighting essentially doesn't matter so if you want to keep those lights you can (but I recommend upgrading soon). One of your filters is a penguin filter made for use of a biowheel. You can pick up a spair biowheel usually at any fish store for a few bucks and it mounts its pegs in the little purple holster pieces in the filter's outlet. I'd use that one primarily because the biowheel spinning allows the growth of beneficial bacteria (just make sure that sort of filter is rated for at least 50 gallons, if not you must use your other filter on your tank as a supplement to your biowheel). Other than that, feed your clown sparingly, do weekly 5% water changes or a 20-25% water change monthly. This is only a brief description of what you should do, but please pick up a book and read, it does TONS in terms of describing what to do. I recommend "The New Marine Aquarium" because its easy to read, short, and real informative. If I forgot something, anyone with experience feel free to chime in and supplement my post!!!!!!
-Josh

 

[cotigostar]

Originally Posted by errattiq
http:///forum/post/2684761
cotigostar,You can definitely keep the coral pieces if you want, they will not effect anything. First, you need to purchase some liverock (approx 50 lbs in your case). If you want, you can get a fraction of that number live and purchase whats called base rock which will eventually become live rock just by being in the same tankfor a bit (definitely a more cost effective option). Now, in terms of your lighting. Those lights you have are reaaaaal small for your system if you plan on keeping corals or anemones, you will have to beef them up depending on what you want to keep (but thats another conversation). You will also need about 50lbs of live sand for your tank. It doesnt matter the order you put the rock or sand in, just make sure the rock is seated good, thats all. To get your tank cycling, the only thing you will need is liverock/livesand. Fill your tank up with saltwater with a Specific gravity anywhere from 1.020-1.025 for a fish only tank (no corals), if you want to keep them down the line, just set up your system now with a specific gravity of 1.023-1.025 and you'll be fine. Make sure your tank tests 0 for nitrate,ammonia, and nitrite before you add anything! That usually,like you said, takes a few weeks, just periodically test the water. Once that happens get yourself a skimmer like one mentioned in the previous post, I have the aqua-c and love it personally. After that, your first addition, in my opinion, should be a hardy fish such as the clownfish you mentioned. Leave him be for a few weeks. That way the tank has time to mature and your cleanup crew (crabs/snails) will have something to actually eat lol! As lon as you plan on only keeping fish, your lighting essentially doesn't matter so if you want to keep those lights you can (but I recommend upgrading soon). One of your filters is a penguin filter made for use of a biowheel. You can pick up a spair biowheel usually at any fish store for a few bucks and it mounts its pegs in the little purple holster pieces in the filter's outlet. I'd use that one primarily because the biowheel spinning allows the growth of beneficial bacteria (just make sure that sort of filter is rated for at least 50 gallons, if not you must use your other filter on your tank as a supplement to your biowheel). Other than that, feed your clown sparingly, do weekly 5% water changes or a 20-25% water change monthly. This is only a brief description of what you should do, but please pick up a book and read, it does TONS in terms of describing what to do. I recommend "The New Marine Aquarium" because its easy to read, short, and real informative. If I forgot something, anyone with experience feel free to chime in and supplement my post!!!!!!
-Josh
Thank you so much for the advice!! I think I'll stick with the lights I have while I cycle and put my clown and clean up crew in there and upgrade as I get closer to corals. What do you recommend as far as lights? Im in school and on a budget and I know lights can get pricey.

I have some base rock in there (don't know if you saw in the pictures or if I put it in the post) so I'm trying to get local live rock within the next few days. Do I need to stock up on rock from the start or can I add as I go? Also do you recommend sand over anything else like crushed coral and all that stuff? I hear mixed feelings about them. Thanks again for everything and I'll go out and get that book as soon as I get the chance!

 

[cotigostar]

any more opinions about the corals and barnacles?

 

[errattiq]

I know how you feel about the budget, I just graduated from college in May LOL and I've had my system since my sophomore year. A good starting light fixture in my opinion would be power compact lighting. you can get them off E-bay real cheap and they can support most soft corals (not the best for sps, or anemones though, for that, you need metal halide and thats $$$). I have a 55gal reef now with 2x250watt hetal halides and 2 110watt actinic VHO bulbs. When I was in your position, I bought a 240 Watt power compact fixture (2x65W 10000K daylights and 2x65W True 03 actinics) that I bought off E-bay and just upgraded when I had the $$ but that thing supported all my coral. You just need to know the length of your tank so you know which ones to get. In terms of stocking up on rock, the answer to your question is yes and no. You MUST stock up on the amount of liverock you'll want now, but you may add base rock as you go. The reason for this is that the die off from the liverock you'd be adding to to your tank after can cause a mini cycle and may kill your livestock (I literally just helped someone in that situation 1 week ago on this site, lost 2 clowns, a yellow tang, a trigger and a damselfish). So buy as much liverock as you can now and supplement as you go with base rock if necessary. I'd go with livesand as well. It not only looks better in my opinion but crushed coral allows for different algaes and bacteria to gain a better foothold not to mention if you have fish that reside on the bottom or graze the ground from time to time can get injured from that stuff.
If you need any other help let me know, or you can just private message me by clicking on my username in this post;
-Josh

 

[cotigostar]

Originally Posted by errattiq
http:///forum/post/2684898
I know how you feel about the budget, I just graduated from college in May LOL and I've had my system since my sophomore year. A good starting light fixture in my opinion would be power compact lighting. you can get them off E-bay real cheap and they can support most soft corals (not the best for sps, or anemones though, for that, you need metal halide and thats $$$). I have a 55gal reef now with 2x250watt hetal halides and 2 110watt actinic VHO bulbs. When I was in your position, I bought a 240 Watt power compact fixture (2x65W 10000K daylights and 2x65W True 03 actinics) that I bought off E-bay and just upgraded when I had the $$ but that thing supported all my coral. You just need to know the length of your tank so you know which ones to get. In terms of stocking up on rock, the answer to your question is yes and no. You MUST stock up on the amount of liverock you'll want now, but you may add base rock as you go. The reason for this is that the die off from the liverock you'd be adding to to your tank after can cause a mini cycle and may kill your livestock (I literally just helped someone in that situation 1 week ago on this site, lost 2 clowns, a yellow tang, a trigger and a damselfish). So buy as much liverock as you can now and supplement as you go with base rock if necessary. I'd go with livesand as well. It not only looks better in my opinion but crushed coral allows for different algaes and bacteria to gain a better foothold not to mention if you have fish that reside on the bottom or graze the ground from time to time can get injured from that stuff.
If you need any other help let me know, or you can just private message me by clicking on my username in this post;
-Josh
Thanks again for all the help!

I'm looking for some better lights locally and on ----. I put my water and salt in so it would mix over the next day or two and then I can get some rock and sand in. It'll probably take me a few weeks to get it all together because of my class schedule and having time to pick it up.