New to Salt Water Aquariums

[cindyemtp]

Hello everyone! I am so glad I found this website. My husband and I have started on this saltwater reef "adventure" and I'm afraid we're starting to lose our way. It is so nice to have help readily available here. Greetings to all my new friends in this hobby!
My husband and I have had freshwater aquariums very successfully for over 2 yrs. including aggressives etc. This fall, John decided he wanted to take the leap and try a reef tank. We have a 40 gal. 48" long (regular rectangular model) set up with PVC pieces in the bottom, netting and sand layers as a friend of ours suggested. We purchased 20 lbs of live rock from a neighbor who was taking down her saltwater tank. Her aquarium had been running well for 8 yrs. (she decided to put a fireplace in that spot instead - lucky us!) We inherited 1/2 her water from the original tank. The live rock. Several damsels and one percula clownfish. She didn't have any invertebrates in her tank. We purchased a light hood used for floresent bulbs from LHS and put one white and one blue long bulbs in it. (Sold to us on recommendation by LFS). Our tank has been doing well for 3 weeks. SG has been staying where it should be. Got the temp right on a continuous basis... we have a very good filter set up with good power jets for flow and protein skimmer sold to us by reputable LFS.
My concerns after doing more research etc. is this... we want to be able to do some easy / moderate anemones. My particular favorite is pink tip haitian. My husband loves the crabs, shrimp, starfish etc. and is intending on doing mostly invertebrates. I think from reading here that we are in need of better lighting, (???) but the posts are confusing if you don't have experience. Please advise step by step in fairly plain English. We are not stupid people. My husband and I are both paramedics - but when it comes to this stuff, I seem to feel I'm reading Greek.
Thanks so much! Sincerely, CindyEMTP

 

[chamic1]

Well, if you want an anemone you will need Metal Halide lights. They are expensive and really bright. I don't know much about these lights, other than there need for anemones, some clams and others, but post some question regarding these light and hopefully someone on these forums can help you.
Best of luck and Welcome to Saltwaterfish.

 

[blemmy_guy]

Welcome to the Boards! I have anenomies, and i use actinics, you can get by on them and Metal Halides are the best but very expensive! I also have 2 corals and a Gorgonian, 2 scallops, all have done well on my lights, so you can get bu with them. I wish when i set my tank up though, that i would have known about the metal halides!! but my local fish store told me different. Until i came here i was pretty much blinded by them. these people on this site are an awesome amount of help. Ask a lot of questions then ( as a good person on the boards here told me) go with what your comfortable with. Good luck !!! Todd

 

[cnlight]

For a reef tank, you could also have a power compact lighting, maybe two lights, meaning four pc bulbs, and that would probably be enough for a pink tip.
Anemones need a tank that has been set up for at least six months, and very stable water. For corals, with the pc lights, you could easily do, mushrooms, polyps, zoos, even some leathers.
Also clowns don't normally go into pink tip anemones because they come from different parts of the world. Another thing too, is that your damsels might become a problem for other fish to be in your tank, they are very aggressive.
You might also want more live rock, because that is an important part of a reef tank, keeps the biological elements of the water in check. Good luck and ask lots of questions :yes:

 

[cindyemtp]

Thank you to all who responded. It sounds like we need to wait and be patient regarding purchasing anemones. It should be safe to add a few shrimp and crab etc. with the lighting we have now, right? What about a starfish? We were looking at the emerald crabs and think they are so cool. Also, some of the safer shrimp. If the damsels get to be a problem they can be sold. They were just part of the "bargain" with the neighbor. We really would prefer to go with invertebrates with this tank and not many fish really. Saltwater tanks are so much more vibrant with the blue lighting etc. Just beautiful!
We understood when we started this that it would be an ongoing long term project. It is hard to be patient when you see such beautiful creatures in the LFS etc. But everything I have read says that PATIENCE is a huge issue especially in Salt Water tanks.
Blemmy Guy, I see that you are a Nurse. Challenging field of work, isn't it! With all the cutbacks and shortages in paramedics and RN's... we have job security for sure, but are liable to age before our time from all the overtime hours we're conned into . Am I right?
Happy Holidays to you all.
CindyEMTP:santa: