New 40 Gallon

[smccarthy]

I am new to saltwater fish and would like some suggestions for what I should and should not put in my 40 Gal. tank as well as what kind of a setup I should have. I have had it going for about a week now and have 2 blue damsels in it and 7 lbs. of figi live rock. Once it is done cycling the first time I would like to put a Percula Clown, an Aneneme and perhaps a Yellow Tang. Beyond that I am not sure as of yet. My lighting at the moment is a 20W Power-Glo and I was told by one person that my lighting would not be good enough for an Aneneme. My filter is an Emperor 280 and I have a bubbler going at the moment.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[smccarthy]

Also my Live Rock has green and black area's on it. Should I do anything about this? When I purchased the Live Rock from my local pet store I brought it straight home and put it in my tank. Should I have done anything with it first?

 

[lion_crazz]

Your live rock is fine, but you will need much more of it. You will want about 40-50 lbs. of it.
You do not have nearly enough light for an anemone of any kind. Also, they need established aquariums, so even if you did have enough light, you could not get one untill your tank established itself anyways.
I would probably recommend taking the damsels out, taking them back to the LFS and getting another 30 or 40 lbs. of live rock. This will spike all of your levels again and recycle your tank, but it is better to get the live rock now, if you can afford it, so that you do not have to cure it in bins later on down the road.
I am sorry to break the bad news to you, but you will not be able to do a yellow tang in a 40 gallon. It is just not big enough to sustain one long term. Fish that would be okay include blennies, gobies, clowns, basslets, pseudos, dwarf lions, dwarf puffers, dwarf angels, and other smaller fish.
Also, get rid of the bubbler and get a powerhead or two. Bubblers are not good for saltwater tanks. You also did not mention a skimmer, but you will need one of those two. They are essential to salt water tanks.

 

[smccarthy]

What would you recommend for tank janitors. I have a hermit crab in the tank now although I am not sure what kind that my buddy gave me.

 

[mopar9012]

if you go to the LFS and get more live rock, they might have already cured it so i would say it wouldnt cause a spike...but if you get some off the interenet you would probably have to cure it because of shipping

 

[smccarthy]

Yesterday I went to LFS and bought another 5 lbs of live rock and they told me that the stuff they have in the store is already cured. Thursday or Friday I will be going back again because they are recieving a shipment of 500 lbs of live rock. Hopefully I can find some cool pieces.
It is not easy having to wait out the first month before being able to start stocking my tank.
When it comes to plants I assume that they can't be put in either before the tank cycles? Are plant bad for a saltwater tank? Most tanks I see only have rock and coral.

 

[lion_crazz]

As far as clean-up crew, snails and hermit crabs always work pretty well.
Yes, also wait for the cycle to end to add your plants as well. I know it is tough to wait, but patience is one of the main things to having success in this hobby.
Plants are not bad for saltwater tanks, they are actually quite beneficial if they are allowed to grow without predatory animals being present. Here is my plant tank, which is often called a "refugium" in saltwater. I have a 20 gallon refugium that is right next to my main tank. Water is fed from my main tank to my refuge via a pump in my sump and it is drained back to my main tank via gravity. In it, I have chaetomorpha, caulerpa, red kelp, leaf caulerpa, halimedia, and some coral frags. This picture is a week old, so it does not include the huge piece of xenia that I have growing in the middle. However, you can see the finger, the pearl frag, the candy cane coral, and I have 2 frags of zoos as well as some button polyps and a few other frags also.

 

[smccarthy]

For an update my tank has been done cyclying for a couple of weeks now. I have around 23 lbs of live rock and another 23 lbs of base rock. The Blue Damsels are gone and I have 2 Percula (false) Clowns, 2 Firefish Gobies and a Royal Gramma Basslet. I also have 2 large Turbo Snails, 5 small, a Hermit crab and 3 Peppermint Shrimp and a Horseshoe Crab. I am thinking about sticking mostly with snails for clean up, what others should I get? The next fish that I thinking about getting is a pair of Green Chromis. How many fish would be to many for my 40? Also I did buy a Maxi Jet 900 and was thinking about picking up either another 900 or a 600. I do still have a bubbler going but alot of people on this site don't recommend them for saltwater tank, why? Any Pet Store that I go to they say that having a bubbler is OK.

 

[cain420]

sounds to me like u are overstocked for how old your tank is now... that is 5 fish in a tank that finished cycling a few weeks ago... adding too many fish too early will cause an overload of your bio-filtration and make it cycle again. i would seriously hold off on getting more fish until your tank can definately handle what is in there now.... you should be waiting at least one month in between adding livestock to give your system a chance to generate the filtration needed. and it is suggested that you add one fish at a time..

 

[aeval]

<How many fish would be to many for my 40?>
Hi~! When I started out in this hobby I got told that I would need 17 gallons of saltwater per inch of fish I added to my tanks. I have used this measurement, and not run into any problems yet.
As far as the bubbler in the tank, the coraline algae on the live rock and the live rock itself will trap and hold air, and any algae on the rock, and the rock itself will die. (This is what the lady in charge of the fish store told us when we asked the same question)
Best of luck on your new tank. It sounds lovely~!

 

[cain420]

if a clownfish gets to be 2" big (which alot get bigger then that) when it is full grown, and u go by your 17 gallons of water per 1 inch of fish, that would mean 34 of your 40 gallons would be just for your 2 clownfish.. then add the full grown length of the other fish and you are out of room...
i heard it is 1" of fish per 10 gallons of water.....

 

[smccarthy]

Originally Posted by Aeval
<How many fish would be to many for my 40?>
Hi~! When I started out in this hobby I got told that I would need 17 gallons of saltwater per inch of fish I added to my tanks. I have used this measurement, and not run into any problems yet.
As far as the bubbler in the tank, the coraline algae on the live rock and the live rock itself will trap and hold air, and any algae on the rock, and the rock itself will die. (This is what the lady in charge of the fish store told us when we asked the same question)
Best of luck on your new tank. It sounds lovely~!
What do you mean by 17 gal. of water per inch? Ary you saying that I should have only 3 in. of fish in my tank or do you mean that when I add a new fish for each inch of additional fish that I add there should be 17 gal. of water not being used by the fish already in the tank. And if this is the case what is the fish to water ratio for saltwater? I have heard 1 in. per gallon for freshwater but that it is less for saltwater. :notsure:

 

[smccarthy]

Originally Posted by cain420
if a clownfish gets to be 2" big (which alot get bigger then that) when it is full grown, and u go by your 17 gallons of water per 1 inch of fish, that would mean 34 of your 40 gallons would be just for your 2 clownfish.. then add the full grown length of the other fish and you are out of room...
i heard it is 1" of fish per 10 gallons of water.....
Even if this was the case all I could ever have in my 40 is 2 Clowns... :notsure:

 

[cain420]

lol thats what i was sayin...lol it dont add up right.

 

[aeval]

Maybe my tanks are understocked... I'll have to look into this. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

 

[aeval]

Viper930 says the ratio is one inch per 5 gallons of water. I hope this helps. Have a nice night

 

[reffer]

17g to an inch of fish CANT be right. with what smccarthy said, 1 inch of fish for a gallon in a freshwater tank, but in a saltwater it is roughly 1 inch of fish equals 2g which is about twice the ratio of water and inches of fish in a freshwater tank.

 

[smccarthy]

Originally Posted by cain420
sounds to me like u are overstocked for how old your tank is now... that is 5 fish in a tank that finished cycling a few weeks ago... adding too many fish too early will cause an overload of your bio-filtration and make it cycle again. i would seriously hold off on getting more fish until your tank can definately handle what is in there now.... you should be waiting at least one month in between adding livestock to give your system a chance to generate the filtration needed. and it is suggested that you add one fish at a time..

If I am going to wait a month between fish then what do I do for those fish that need to be in pairs or small schools such as my Firefish? :notsure:

 

[8x8nhl]

dude i sugest you do some REsearch befor you bought the tank but......you can't have a school of fire fish unless you talin anout 3....

 

[cain420]

i said it is suggested u add one at a time.. i have read of people adding 2 at a time with no problems but if u add too many at once, u will overload your bio-filtration and cycle again.