So you are new here....

pilar

pilar

New Member
Wow!! What an incredible site!! I just recently, within the last week purchased a 29 gallon tank. :cheer: One of the other SWF members has been providing me a tremendous amount of help to get my new expensive hobby going!!
Right now the tank is cycling and all I have is sand and water to gaze at but I think I'm really going to enjoy wathing it grow!! We go every Friday, Saturday or any other day ending in "y" to our lfs so I'm learning a lot but have so much more to learn. Patience, patience, patience. I'm just going through the various posts right now reading up as much as I can and am finding answers to questions I didn't even know I would have. Guess that's a good thing!!
I've found that it really helps to have the bulletin board acronyms handy when reading the posts!! Thanks for the great advice!! :happyfish
 
ban4helpin

ban4helpin

New Member
your best bet is to not help anyone on the site, it may result in being BANNED!!!
post questions, but dont answer anyone, and definately dont HELP anyone out!
The mods have too much power and don't know how to handle it!
I tried to help out people with seahorses, and of course as expected the link got deleted..
So I made a new reply with ONLY my EMAIL ADDRESS, and they banned me!!
Enjoy the site, and BEWARE!
 
anderson's

anderson's

New Member
Has anyone purchased the reef packages. I was glancing at it, and did some comparisons to the lfs, and they are a great deal. The problem is our plan is for a fish only tank for now. Would I be ok still getting the reef package? If not what would you recomend for a fish only tank as far as crabs, snails, shrimp, etc.? For info on our tank see past post.
Thank you for the great help so far
 
anderson's

anderson's

New Member
Sorry, but I have another question. I looked everywhere for a answer, but must not have went to the right place.
Our 55gal tank came with 2 power heads. We are setting it up for fish only. My question is where in the tank should these be located (ie back, top, right side)? What direction should they be blowing? Do I even need both of them?
 
scotts

scotts

Active Member
To all you new members, WELCOME!!!
Pilar, Ain't it great to spend the $$$ on a saltwater tank and look at water?! I am sure you are still getting nose prints on your tank even with nothing in it. Do a search for "diatoms" to see what will be coming for you. Also look for bubbles in your sand. That means that the bacteria in your sand is starting to work and break down the waste
Anderson's. Do you still have the CC or did you switch to sand? (Hint for you now might be a good time for that). Either way a reef package would work for you, especailly since you have some live rock in there. Now about your powerheads, it is kind of hard to say if you need one or two. Since you already have some filters for water movement I would put one in, and watch what happens. You also might want to do a search on here for "turnover" Might give you some information. To be truthful with you I am not sure what turnover rate you would need for a FOWLR. I know there was a thread I read once about the placement of power heads with CC versus LS. I don't have CC so just kind of skimmed the thread and did not read it too much.
 
oceanbreez

oceanbreez

Member
Originally Posted by zipityzoom
nope no joke.....I know it seems like a lot. but these fish have all been in the tank for over six months and everything is fine. The water is clear and tests are great. No ich or other sicknesses and no problems with any algae. I would think that levels would be off but I have no ammonia no nitrites ph is 8.2 and nitrates are 4. No problems. There was a yellow tand and a heniocus butterfly but my mom kept them. I'll post pics later. Thanks for the constructive criticism though. Everyone on here thinks they know everything, but if you take care of you tank and monitor the levels to determine if the fish are doing well, you can have more than what people think you can.

one thing though also is that fish need space. They get bigger. That does
seem like a lot for that size. I'm keeping my amount of fish down right now
and I have a 75 gallon tank. I'm only going to put a few more in there and
I have five now. Good luck
 
fishfryer

fishfryer

Member
:thi i have been reading this site for a month and decided today to venture and add my name. i have been doing salt water mainly fish for about 5 years and added corals recently to my 55 gal tank. i dont add anything and just do biweekly water changes. my light are probably low but i just do mushrooms. i am so mixed up when it comes to figuring watts maybe someone can tell me. i have one 48 inch 50/50 actinic 6000 k that says it puts 360 output. so question is how many watts is that? my temp is 82 ph 8.2 amonia .25 and nitrates 20 nitates 0 calcium 420 alk 200 and never have a problem. i have a sand bed .i use walmart water for my changes and use instant ocean salt.i have been reading get a protein skimmer and get r/o for water but dont see why i need it. oh yes i have live rock i just added every month so i dont know how many pounds if i had to guess many 30# but who know it covers over half my tank.and i get it cured for me
 
zipityzoom

zipityzoom

New Member
Originally Posted by OceanBreez
one thing though also is that fish need space. They get bigger. That does
seem like a lot for that size. I'm keeping my amount of fish down right now
and I have a 75 gallon tank. I'm only going to put a few more in there and
I have five now. Good luck

I know. I got a little over zealous when I got the tank. I might have to remove a fish or two when they get bigger. i hope I won't have problems but if they get crowded I will take some out. Thanks for the comment. Constructive criticism is always welcome.
 
oceanbreez

oceanbreez

Member
Originally Posted by zipityzoom
I know. I got a little over zealous when I got the tank. I might have to remove a fish or two when they get bigger. i hope I won't have problems but if they get crowded I will take some out. Thanks for the comment. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

No problem and thanks for answering. It's confusing knowing how many
and what fish to get. I have a couple of books and a fish guy that is
helping me too. He also helped with the new setup and equipment. The
water is lookng beautifully now. Take your time and research the fish
and what gets along with what. Take care
 
anderson's

anderson's

New Member
Thanks for the hint on turnover. I found a thread that recomended your tanks water "turnover" 5-10 times a hour. One of our power heads would do 750 gallons/hour, and the other does 400 gallons/hour. So we went with the 400.
No we did not switch to sand, we still have the cc. It is not available around here. Plus I read quite a few threads of people that think cc is better. It seems like it is one of the thousand things in saltwater that is a personal preference. I did not see a whole lot of substantial evidence that proved sand is better. Just opinions. Let me know what y'all think.
 
nic nak

nic nak

New Member
I have found alot of helpful information on this message board. I haven't had a chnce to read through all of the posts but I will have to eventually because AI am clueless about this. I am just getting started with a saltwater tank, Rencetly I purchased a 55 gallon tank and would love to be able to have some nice looking fish for my son to look at. I live about 1 1/2 hours away from the closest aquarium stores that specialize or even know ANYTHING about saltwater tanks so I figured my better shot might be to ask someone on here. When I spoke with someone prior to buying the tank they told me to purchase a wet/dry filter and a skimmer. Is this true? I have found one online for around $300. I realize that this hobby takes time and patience which I am willing to do but I do not want to spend the next year getting everything set up and ready for fish and turn around and realize all of it is wrong. Can someone please help me figure out what I need to get started. I thank you so much. :help:
 
skytrack

skytrack

New Member
I have a new 55 Gal SW, I would like to put in some live rock. I have no speacial lighting and don't plan on having a reef tank. Can live rock make it with just normal lighting?
 
silleemee

silleemee

Member
Question # 1
In a 30 gal "fish only" tank with some live rock and live sand.
How many would too many fish be?
I was thinking a Neon Goby, Pajama cardinal, and several Cinnamon clowns.
With a Lawnmower or Engineer Blenny.
Some crabs, snails, and a few shrimps.
This tank is still on paper and no water is in the tank yet.
Still buying dry goods.
Mucho thanx in advance.
 
1

100 guppi

Guest
SilleeMee said:
Question # 1
In a 30 gal "fish only" tank with some live rock and live sand.
How many would too many fish be?
I was thinking a Neon Goby, Pajama cardinal, and several Cinnamon clowns.
With a Lawnmower or Engineer Blenny.
Some crabs, snails, and a few shrimps.
Yeah a little to many maybe 2 clowns start a thread in nano tanks you'll get more responses
Click to expand...
 
oceanwaves

oceanwaves

New Member
Originally Posted by zipityzoom
I know. I got a little over zealous when I got the tank. I might have to remove a fish or two when they get bigger. i hope I won't have problems but if they get crowded I will take some out. Thanks for the comment. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

No problem. Do post some pictures. I've had to learn the hard way.
Good luck :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top