new to saltwater fish

[gwendy90]

Hi all. I have been wanting to keep saltwater fish for a while, but on discovering the cost of setting a tank up I decided it wasn't possible right now, but I was really happy to receive the entire set up for my birthday I have done abit of reading up but not much as I wasn't planning on having a tank so I would be really grateful if anyone can help.
I would like to know how long I should have the tank running for before indroducing fish (it is empty at the min) and also if there are any fish/plants more suited to beginers and also any I should avoid. Is there any good reliable sites I could use, I haven't looked at any as I worry about how reputable they are. The same with books if u know of any good ones. I can't belive the amount of stuff the tank requires and I would hate to endager the inhabitants due to a lack of knowledge and I want to find out as much as possible before I start so if there is anything u think I need to know, then please do. My connection is v v slow tonight so I haven't beeen able to have look around the forum yet so apolagies if answers could be found there. Thanks v much for reading. Xx

 

[lcaldwell85]

Hello, and welcome! You'll find plenty of good advice from the fine people of the SWfish forum that's for sure.

Good place to research before doing anything. There's no set amount of time that the tank needs to run before the fish are introduced. This is really more involved than any hobby you'll probably ever undertake. The thing to do first off is to cycle the tank. Some people suggest a cycle with live and hearty small fish, known as damsels. I do not. The high ammonia levels burn the fish, and it's a really cruel thing to do overall, even if they do survive the process. I would cycle using pieces of raw shrimp that you can pick up at any grocer's freezer. Not the precooked kind that you dip in cocktail sauce, make sure the bag states that they are raw. To start toss one of these into the water and allow it to rot. You'll want to pick up a good test kit. The main things you'll be testing for are nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia. You don't want to put any fish in the water with any traces of ammonia remaining. the ammonia and nitrite form to release nitrate, which while less harmful to fish, you don't want to allow to creep over ten ppm or so. I don't want to overwhelm you with too much starting off. What type of set up did you recieve? Some hardy beginner fish would be the damsels I mentioned earlier, and clown fish. (nemos.) Clown fish are a form of damsels as well. Angelfish can be really hardy once introduced into an established tank, but if you want one of those, I would wait until dead last. A. To get the Algae growth you need going, and B. They're evil little pissants when they become territorial. Introducing them last reduces that chance greatly.

 

[beaslbob]

My basic recommendation is to simply be sure to start the tank with lotsa macro algaes like chaetomorphia then do the rest.
That way your tank is balanced out and stabilized so that it to the maximum extent possible basically takes care of itself.
Still all and all that's just my recommendation which is worth at most.
.02