Starter fish for a 125 gal tank

[chris200058]

I went to the store and bought 2 Dominoe Damsels, 2 blue Damsels, and 2 black and white striped Damsels as reccomended by the pet store for cycling the tank. A week later they all died because of the heating in the tank was set to high 86 degrees. After getting the temp down to 79 degrees I bought 3 more Dominoe Damsels. I currently have no live rock but have 2 fake rock structures that have caves in them.
I checked the Salinity and everything else and according the books it was all correct.
I want to know what is the correct temp for a FO tank with plans of putting some live rock soon?
Lighting-2 36 inch Perfecto Flourescent lights single bulb
Heater 1- 300 watt metal heater with thermostat
38 gallon overflow tank

 

[wrassecal]

79 degrees is fine. I keep mine at 78 - 80. I do question those domino damsels though. You will not be able to keep them unless you are doing an aggressive tank. They are very aggressive. You don't need live fish to cycle a tank if that is what you are doing with them. Just use a cocktail shrimp from the grocery store. I dfon't know what your fake structures are made of but if for freshwater they may have toxins from paint that could leach into your system. I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news just to let you know now so if you need to get that stuff out or the fish out you can do it before you add live rock etc and it gets more difficult for you. And welcome to the board, you will get good advise from many who have been where you are right now

 

[chris200058]

When I bought the figurines I made sure they were SaltWater fish useable and they were So I know I have no problem with that. But thanks for the advise.

 

[chris200058]

Here is another question though How do you control the temp in the tank when I turn the flourescent lights on the water seems to raise about 5 degrees. How do I keep the temp around 75-79 degrees if it keeps going up during the day to around 84 if the lights are on?

 

[wrassecal]

do you have a canopy? How close are your bulbs to the water? You may need to raise the lighting if it's close or if you have a canopy you may need to add a couple little fans to it to keep the water cool although your lighting doesn't seem to be so much that it would raise the water temp in a 125. Do you have a heater in there? I've already taken my heater out since it's in the 60's here now and the bulbs keep the tank warm enough. Just some ideas