New at Salt Water Tanks

danray83

danray83

New Member
Attachment 228482
Hello everyone
My husband and I have recently set up our very first salt water tank. We have always wanted one and I was able to purchase one. We have a 55g tank and we have it set up with live sand, live rock and filled with ro water. We set this tsnk up 7/1/09 and I have tested the water everyday to check all the levels. I have a few questions at this point as we are new to this.
First about 2 weeks ago the tank had alot of the brownish alge covering the sand and it went away about 3 days later. It is now back and i am not sure what would be causing this? I took the water in to be tested today and everything came back perfect, so we are ready to add fish. We want to add corals and want to have colorful fish i do not want an aggresive tank. My children of course want a nemo and blue regal tang. My question would be do these fish do well with each other? What other fish can you put in with these, as well as what cleaner fish? Above is a pic of our tank.
Any advice would be great and thank you in advance
 
arvins

arvins

Member
Welcome to SWF.Com!
The algae is likely caused by a flow issue, what are you using for flow right now? You can move a powerhead to just lightly skim the sand (don't cause a sand storm though)!
What kind of filtration are you using? Sump, skimmer how many lbs of live rock etc.
Sadly a blue tang won't be good long term for that tank as they will get way to big for it, but happily a pair of "Nemos" will do great!
We also have a 55 and in it we have 2 false percs nemos, Solar Wrasse, Yellow tail damsel. You can do blennies, firefish, the wrasses are very pretty and your kids should get a kick out of them as they are very personable. My daughter named ours Tigger. Cardinals are neat especially the PJ cardinals, um hawkfish, gobies, the list goes on!
Also remember to add your clean up crew first, then after a couple weeks add one-two fish every couple weeks while making sure your levels don't go out of whack.
 
gio28

gio28

Active Member
i also just wanted to add...if i were you i would get rid of the damsel fish because those guys can be pretty aggressive and impossible to get out once you have more rock and stuff in your tank.
 
trouble93

trouble93

Member
First off welcome...as stated above you want to add your CUC before you add anything else. And some more live rock would not be a bad idea. Your live rock is your bio filter and will support your much needed beneficial bacteria. You want to have 1 to 1 1/2 pounds per gal. of water. Plus it gives your fish a place to hide and feel safe. Adding a power head or two will help with flow and help control algae. Coral is always a good addition to a salt water tank, it just depends on what lights have on the tank to keep certain types. As far as your fish list goes, I would suggest read read and then read some more. There are a lot of colorful fish out there, you just want to make sure they fit your system. Again welcome and awesome job so far!!!!
 
danray83

danray83

New Member
Thank you all for helping.. First thing.. We do indeed have a dual biowheel powerhead we bought,its a marine land. I went over size on it to ensure a clean tank. its rated for a 75 gal tank. we have a rena 2 canister filter.We have a protine skimmer. and as far as the lights.. I went with the GLO dual t5 HO 48" bulbs. we got the marine glo and power glo. the light alone with bulbs cost us about 210.00. I made sure to spend the extra money as i didnt want to replace with better stuff later. we have 40-50 lbs of live rock. we plan to have 110 lbs by time were done.. as you all know thats a costly part of the setup!! i think we have good flow because the current causes the sand to slowly form ravines if you will between the rocks. The damsels are going bye bye as we just used them to cycle the tank. we have a long tenticle anenome that has lived through everything and is thriving very well it has doubled in size since since we put it in. will emerald crabs or hermit crabs bother it? some told me it would some say it wont?? now that my tank has cycled, when i buy live rock it has to be cured correct? we have been to 3 diff LFS and we both have read for DAYS it seems like.. lol... oh and we used RO water,we learned that if you dont you wil end up with ALOT of alage.
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
I took the water in to be tested today and everything came back perfect, so we are ready to add fish.
Ok let me be the bad guy here. What did you use to add ammonia to your tank? ? When you are ready I would just try my hand at just fish before I venture into corals. Also please buy a good book on marine aquarium keeping if you have not all ready
 
danray83

danray83

New Member
I used 3 damsels and i have tested and my ammonia levels are at zero. We have a book salt water tanks for dummies and several magazines.
 
outsdr2

outsdr2

Member
Originally Posted by DanRay83
http:///forum/post/3094805
I used 3 damsels and i have tested and my ammonia levels are at zero. We have a book salt water tanks for dummies and several magazines.

Welcome! 1. buy a refractor. 2. there is no such thing as a bad question. 3. if any doubt refer back to 2
 
danray83

danray83

New Member
i am down to 2 damsels but i cant catch the 2 i have at all to get them out. I was going to pick of those up to today. any ideas on how to catch these fast little fish???
 
arvins

arvins

Member
Sadly to remove them usually takes dynamite

Honestly rock removal until captured is the easiest way, all though that way still sucks! Had to do just that last night to remove three peppermint shrimp that had decided to eat our zoas...leading me to believe that they were less peppermint and more camel shrimp! Just use two nets and try to corral them while you move the rocks around....yeah I know it sounds like fun doesn't it!
 
danray83

danray83

New Member
we have tried the bottle trap has not yet worked we have one damsel left in there and caught one last night. We bought our cuc yesterday. Some crabs, turbo snails and hermit crabs. We also got a choc chip star fish.
The only problem now is getting the damsel, he hides in the live rock and and i dont know how to get him out and remove that piece of rock with out killing it, any ideas?? I really dont want to distrub my entire tank but may have to.
I dont know any help would be appreciated :)
 
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