newbie with new tank setup...

[beattyr]

Just popped into the message boards for the 1st time and seems like theres a pretty nice crowd here so I decided to intoduce myself instead of lurking.
My name is Rob, I'm 32 and I live in RI. I have been active with aquariums for about 3-4 years now. I have a 90 gal Af Cichlid tank running with Frontosa I am trying to breed. I also have a 20h with community fish in it. I decided to try salt a few months back and kept loosing fish and was just about to give up when I read about reef tanks and how they really arent hard to keep once they are done correctly. Here's what I have so far.
I had a 20h that was fish only for about 4-5 months. Nitrate never went below 40ppm . I set up our 37gal (30"x12"x24?") as a reef. I put 20lbs of coral substrate (1-2mm) including the material that was in the 20h. I also put in about 5 lbs of live sand and about 10 lbs of playsand. There is currently about 10 lbs of LR in the tank as well. I am running a Marineland Magnum250 filter and a cheap venturi skimmer good for up 60gal tanks. I also have a pair of 175 gph power heads. Living in the tank now are inverts currently. 1 coral banded, 1 cleaner shrimp, an emerald crab, a sally lightfoot, about 12 bluelegs, 25 turbos. Nitrates have finally dropped to about 20ppm and I'm hoping they continue to drop. I will be adding more live sand a lb or 2 at a time till I get to about 3-4", i currently have about 2".
My current goal is to setup a fore-reef Caribbean tank as my live rock is already from the Carb. I have been reading Natural Reef Aquariums by John H. Tullock and learned alot from that. My next addition to the tank will be a Royal Gramma or 2. I hope to pick one up tonight actually.
I guess if I have a question I'd like to post it would be what is a good choice of anemone for a pair of percula clowns that is also from the Caribbean?
Thanks and I look forward to talking to many of you.
Rob Beatty
Rhode Island

 

[jim672]

Rob,
Welcome to the Board.
Before you put anything more into your 37....how long have you had it running? What are all of your water parameters? If your tank has completed its cycle and nitrate is the only thing that's above normal limits, your can do water changes to reduce it.
Anemones are generally not recommended, particularly for new tanks. They require intense lighting and excellent water conditions.
For a reef tank, they're not recommended at all. They will move at will to find a comfortable spot and can wreck havoc in a peaceful reef tank. If you'd like to read some more good inf about anemones, you can go to the Board Homepage and go into the "Information for Hobbyists" and select the anemone section.
Jim

 

[ocellaris_keeper]

Rob,
Sorry to hear you had trouble with sW fish. I have been running tanks for about three years now and have some war stories too.
Before you go any further with your reff tank I would suggest you plan for more lighting. In a reef tank, specifically the carib reef you are planning - the animals and lighting requirements are essential.
I would also add a bit more live rock laid flat for coral popluation and a bit more filtration. GEt yourself another cheap skimmer (two will do nicely, and you can clean one and have the other running)
Start off with two clown fish (without the anemone) and a yellow tang (he'll help with algae).
Get some polyps first - their pretty hardy and go from there. Try searching local pets tores for ggdo pieces of LR that have some cool stuff on it and of course - enjoy and I hope to see some pictures.

 

[beattyr]

Lighting was something I forgot to mention. I am currently researching lighting. I was going to go with Custom SeaLife PowerQuad 2x96 and build a hood myself with a couple of red incandescent bulbs for night viewing. I have just come across a 110W powercompact that would fit perfectly so I may go with that and just add a little bit more wattage to put me over 3W/gal. I am holding off on any of the light needing creatures till I resolve that matter.
As far as water conditions.
as of last night PH 8.2-8.3, Am 0.0 Ni 0.0 Na 20ppm with the 2bottle tetra test kit. According to the store I also brought water to last night, the water was perfect. (Its where I buy my live rock). The tank (20h) the sand came from was up about 5 months. I have had this tank up about 4 weeks now and I have already had my amm/nitrite spike so I'm fairly sure I have finished my cycle and just need to continue to establish my Na removing bact colony in the sand/rock.
I have also done 2 40-50% water changes, one last sat, the other one on monday, using RO water from work (I work at a hospital and have it on tap in my office heheheh)
The Na has held steady at -20ppm for 24hours + now.
Rob