New :)

[littleboyblue16]

Hey everyone
just thought i would introduce myself!
i been lurking around on the fourm for awhile but here i am!

my name is Matt i am 16 years old and work at a petstore here in Edmonton YAY! haha anyways, i just started my first saltwater fishtank just a 20gal becuase i am moving in a couple of years, i got my substrate and salt and water all mixxed up and ready to go
but i need lights!
i am looking for the best deal out their, anyone know of a place to get it, i need lighting for corals and such, so the brightest it would be anyways. anyone know a good place to get them?

[clowntrigger]

hi there matt, glad to see another person from edmonton around. we got too many of them calgarians here you know. heh j/k guys.you say yah work at a fish store here in edmonton ? which one i probally seen yah there. i live at them fishes places, well that is when i am not working.

any clue what type of fish tank you want to set up ? probally a mini reef or fish only with some live rock.these guys here a quite helpful

p.s who s going to the heritage classic hockey game at commenweath statium. i would love to go

[littleboyblue16]

i work at petcetera on the north side here, i hate working their but its a job, no one knows nothing but me, and my friend mike,
anyways i wanted to have a nano reef, thats what i always wanted -drools- haha, my petstore carries nothing for saltwater, but carries the fish stupid eh? haha ya i wasl ooking for the lights as you probly guessed
anyways haha


no i am not going to that game, i wish!

[Quinn]

Go to Aquarium Illusions and talk to James. Your choice of lighting will have something to do with what you want to keep.

[littleboyblue16]

see i want to have corals and all that, and i know i need good lighting, i went their before they are too expseive for me, nor they are really kinda mean, becuase i am 16 i don't think they think i can handle it

[kuatto]

Welcome to the club Matt. :biggrin: Power Compact Lighting should be enough for a 20gal.Maybe someone in the club has some their not useing they could either sell or give you.If you have just normal florecance you could get some of the soft corals,like mushrooms or leathers untill you get better lighting.
If all goes well,I might have a couple of mushrooms you can have to start your tank (as soon they start to anchore themselves to some rubble)

Cheers :mrgreen:
Jim

[littleboyblue16]

YAY! haha, right now on the tank i just have a powerglo thats it, i know i need a blue bulb too, but i have one just need the light thingy to hold it

i am buying a new glass lid tomorrow hopefully at pjs for 20 buck good deal haha,
i have to buy a new heater i don't trust the one i have, and i need liverock which i have not got yet, any good places to get that?


ok i have a hang on the back filter and i was thinking of putting just bio max in their and run it, or am i just better to go for the liverock to filter it?

[kuatto]

what part of the city do you live in?might want to call around for price on live rock(i pay $8 a pound from ray at saltwaterfantasies in castledowns)the more filtration the better.If your tank isn't cycled yet,buy a couple of mollies(cheap)instead of more exspensive fish. :biggrin:

[littleboyblue16]

i live in lauderdale, and i been to SF before, i love it their, i would only need like 10 pounds of liverock though, god its so much money oh well haha!

i have feeder fish could i add those in their, i know that they will not live long like balloon mollies but hey its a start, but if i cycle the tank without liverock and then add liverock it will cycle again won't it?

hmmm

haha

[Quinn]

There is no need to risk killing fish by using them to cycle your tank. Get your live rock, and throw in a cocktail shrimp. I cycled my tank without any added organic matter, just the rock.

[littleboyblue16]

just let the shrimp decompose kinda thing

hmmmm a good idea!

[Buccaneer]

If you get the live rock there will be some die-off and that alone will be sufficient to start the cycle ... as Quinn stated first that is all you need.

Cheers

[littleboyblue16]

hmmm i might have to go run and get some liverock then

[AJ_77]

Here's some info:

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/setup/index.htm

Happy Reading!

:biggrin:

[littleboyblue16]

we all love reading don't we all eh? haha

[AI Man]

Hello Matt,
I'm sorry that was your experience in my store. Accept my apologies.
Come in again and talk to myself (James) or Ron. We are the managers here and should be able to help you. Maybe you could PM me as to what you mean by:
they are really kinda mean, becuase i am 16 i don't think they think i can handle it

I've had many young aquarists in the store. Age doesn't really matter to me.

[littleboyblue16]

hey everyone sorry i have not posted in awhile :)

well not posted well whatever

is this a good light for the tank? http://petsolutions.com/cgi-bin/cgiitmls?m=ThisP&p=1052.380000&l=1


but if you know a good petstore that has better lighting for cheaper please tell me!, i want corals and everything in my tank so i need the best lighting
[/url]

[Quinn]

No one else is really responding so I guess I'll throw my two cents in here (gaining steadily on the US dollar mind you).

You are really asking to get into the old PC versus MH debate here. I think most would agree that 96w of PC are adequate for your needs, personally I would probably go all out and put a 150w MH fixture over a 20 gal but that's just me and I really don't know if that's the smartest thing. I think you should be able to find a used PC setup for quite cheap, cheaper than the one on that site, that's for sure. Or check www.jlaquatics.com, I don't know much about PC lighting but they have pretty good prices I've found. I still think you should check in with AI. Obviously a store here in the flatlands is going to be more expensive than the shops on the coast, but you're going to get away without shipping charges and with good customer service.

I don't know much about lighting. I was told I needed the most powerful lights I could afford and I ran with it, and am quite satisfied. If you really get into this hobby, I expect you will soon want to upgrade. It might be worth keeping this in mind when you shop for your lights.

By the way, aren't most 20 gal tanks 30" long? That fixture you're looking at is 36" long. And that site is American, and they don't ship internationally.

[Jack]

i want corals and everything in my tank so i need the best lighting

what about filtration?

[Bob I]

No one else is really responding so I guess I'll throw my two cents in here (gaining steadily on the US dollar mind you).

[quote]By the way, aren't most 20 gal tanks 30" long? That fixture you're looking at is 36" long. And that site is American, and they don't ship internationally.

Twenty gallon tanks are usually either 24" long for the 20H, or 30" long for the 20L. I use Coralife Aqualights on my 50, and 15. Available fron J&L, or for more money, but less shipping from MOPS. :rolleyes:

[littleboyblue16]

i am going to AI tomorrow to talk with the guys their, see if they can hook me up, which would be great haha....

for a filter i was told the liverock would do the trick
otherwise i got an old fluval i could hook up, or one of those over the side filters i could use, but i got a powerhead in their right now, so ya

[StirCrazy]

personaly I would do a 175 watt Ushio MH and a couple small vho actinic bulbs. while most soft and LPS do well under pc's and such they do much better under MH in my experiance. Also by doing this investment now you won't go down the road I did and try every type of lighting imaginable to man in order to avoid MH. now I am a firm believer in MH but my belief is from experiance not hearsay. I am thinking of throwing a 250 watt HQI over my 25 gal tank but I haven't finnished deciding what I want to do with that tank yet.

Steve

[littleboyblue16]

so many ideas :S haha

[littleboyblue16]

got the liverock today, only like 11 pound or so i wasnt really paying attion since i had my newph with me, i got it at AL Thanks James for the help :P

but James! i forgot to ask you, i can;t have inverts eh? becuase of my lighting?


and i got another thing i hooked up my filter but it creates alot of bubbles, my damn tank turns white with bubbles, how can i change that? i have another filter, but this one i finally got working and i love it haha, anyways, thanks again James :P

i will ass a picture sometime soon

[Buccaneer]

i will ass a picture sometime soon

:confused: :question: :razz: :eek: :confused: :mrgreen:

[littleboyblue16]

holy crappers haha, i mean add not ass haha sorry

[littleboyblue16]

these are the fish i want in my tank

Firefish Goby
and 2 perculas

i can't think of another fish, nor do i know much about the goby, and going to go learn some,
i was thinking just to have 4 fish, and maybe some shrimp or something

but the good part is, algea is starting to grow today, even just with the normal tube lights, getting vert excited, i just knoticed white stuff on the top, which i donno how to get off, its the stuff my filter can't get, hmmm i donno, i need like a surface cleaner, i desided to take the powerhead out becuase the filter made the water move alot more, and if the power head was on, the fish would not be able to swim haha anyways, thats is what happening in the tank so far, i am going out today, to go look at some fish, i think i might go to the pjs on the southside and look, and all those areas, just to look, i am noting myself just to look haha, alright everyone

bye

[littleboyblue16]

new picture of the tank, i also knoticed while watching the tank so much that i got white little see thru bugs, their really tiny, i can't get a picture of them i tried, and it also seems like small polyps are popping up everywere their red and brown tried to take a picture but my camra went all fuzzy it was weird, but anyways here is the picture

http://www.geocities.com/littleboiblue161/fish/tank1.jpg

knoticed the white stuff on the top of the water? hmmm weird[/img]

[Aquattro]

Pretty sure you can't link to geocities from outside sites. Nice red "X" though :razz:

Here is the link to the pic

http://www.geocities.com/littleboiblue161/fish/tank1.jpg

[littleboyblue16]

oh i hate geocities! (geoshities) sorry had to say that

[Quinn]

littleboyblue16 you can post your photos in the photo gallery, the link is on the top right of the forum.

[littleboyblue16]

i sure can :)



oh those polyps things, one of them has moved on the rock, like up more to were the light is! weird haha

[littleboyblue16]

there, they are in there :)

[littleboyblue16]

my first little feather duster, haha, hes cute, i grab a picture of him later

[Marcus K]

can you not get Live Rock from Petcetera? They will do a special order for rock at the store here. Not sure on the how good it is but maybe you can get a staff discount.

[littleboyblue16]

hey, yea we can do it
but right now they are having troble with it, i was told,
but persoanlly they freeze the rock and i don't like that, i rather get it right from a tank, plus i would only get 15% off, and personally thats not anything

[Quinn]

They... freeze... the... live... rock? That would make it... dead... wouldn't you think, coming from ~80F water, the organisms on the rock wouldn't last long. And trouble getting live rock? Maybe they're getting it from the arctic, that would make sense, and I can see why they'd be having problems, considering it's beginning to freeze up there now... maybe Petcetera has an exclusive supplier in Alert.

[StirCrazy]

or maybe they freeze it to kill any organisms off so all you get is rock. which is what I wish I would have done. hmmm I do have two freezers now :eek: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Steve

[littleboyblue16]

i guess they don't freeze it but like its try, its hard to explain
their weird

[littleboyblue16]

i need help, i knoticed ALOT of little bugs, their white well seethru and they have like a white line down their backs, and theirs like hundreds of them, what are they, i would take a picture but they are too small to see on the camra

[Aquattro]

Little white bugs are generally good (and normal)

[littleboyblue16]

so they are a good thing? ok good, got kinda worried their, becuase i heard of these little bugs that people have proble with, and i thought that was them, like i woke up this morning and it look like they were little bubbles all over the glass, but it was them, weird haha, its really weird, i tested my water, everything is to par, but todally scared of putting a fish in haha, but i got 2 snails haha

[AI Man]

Hello,
I can't remember if you bought lights or not. If you still have only the one powerglow, than you can only have mushrooms and maybe some small leathers. Until you upgrade your lighting buying corals would be a waste of money.

I agree with Quinn's recommendations for lighting.

I looked at bringing in the fixtures you were looking at, but as they are not CSA approved I decided against it. The states have many lighting supplier options but the Canadian market is too small for them to justify the paperwork and changes to meet our electrical safety standards.

I am currently reviewing various equipment lines. DT's Phytoplankton, G2 and Bullet skimmers from Precision Marine are the latest additions. Within 2 weeks we will also carry their Calcium reactors as well.

[Quinn]

littleboyblue16 if I can offer any advice based on my months in the hobby, it would be to read, read, read, and read some more. It looks like you are very interested in this fantastic pasttime, and you cannot go wrong if you take the time to learn about it. I think the more one knows about the hobby, the more they will enjoy it. I spent a fair bit of time reading up and asking questions before I bought any livestock, and I don't regret it.

[littleboyblue16]

hey james no i never bought those lights
i want to though their just pricy


Teevee i know alot i been reading almost every book i could get my hands on, and still reading i been reading for like 7 months, and you still learn things and you should know that

[littleboyblue16]

i just added my first thing to the tank, 4 hermit crabs, i got alot of algea so i thought i would get some, my boss gave them to me for free so its all good hehe

[littleboyblue16]

i forgot to tell you, i got my first fish, a clown
and i know you are all going to say they do better with a host, well ya, and thats why i am getting one

[StirCrazy]

i know you are all going to say they do better with a host, well ya, and thats why i am getting one

actualy I have never heard anyone say that.. what I have heard is they do fine with out one so if you don't have a tank that is ready for a anemon don't get one.

Steve

[Jack]

Steves right. Anemones are a bit difficult and clowns are fine without a host. Sounds like you are doing the right thing by reading, keep it up! :mrgreen:

I find books can be outdated quickly so sites like Canreef and Reefcentral are really handy sources for good information, straight from hobbiests.

[chicki]

Welcome Littleboyblue!!
Hey I have a little powercompact from my 20 nano that I'm really not using...if you would like to have it you can. You can also have as many feather dusters as you would like :biggrin: I can probably round up a small powerhead if you can use one of those too.
Love to see young people enthused about this hobby. If your interested you can email me. I'm on the south end, just outside the city limits.
Lynn

[littleboyblue16]

hey,
i find books very outdated too, but it still a good read if your a reader like me, i also join alot of places like canreef i think i am on five and i acully most lurk on most of them.


Chicki, i e-mailed you :)


ya but thats weird i heard they do better with a host, hmmm i guess more reading is on my hand again haha

[AJ_77]

It's great that you're doing so much research - much better than the average uninformed customer that sets up a tank and in 3 weeks has a BTA or LTA in there under fluorescent lights.

Seeing as your tank is only a 20, it will be subject to more fluctuations in water quality, temp, etc... harder to find its groove, stability-wise. I have a 20 with a baby BTA now in there now, and it is more challenging than my other tank, and more work...

My ocellaris clowns did great for almost a year without any anemone - they liked soft corals, and especially LPS (Hammer, Forgspawn, etc). Anemone not necessary, but I'm glad to have got one after almost a year and a half.

[littleboyblue16]

i know about the problems with nanos, but really i am moving in a year and i didnt need the hassle of moving like a 77gal fishtank it would of not been fun haha, i think i am just goint to get some small things like mushrooms or something like that, i knoticed alot of pylops in the tank growing, i tryed to take a picture of them once, but for some reson the pictures always came up blurry so i have no idea,
lots of stuff is growing big time, i just need to get some snails i am having my big algea fun haha and the hermits are not doing their job

[littleboyblue16]

Well, one of my clowns died! got some fugas on him, but see i get a new one from work anyways becuase my boss said so becuase all the ones at work died of some fugas, so i think it was the same thing they got, but one is still alive so its all good, and i ordered a firefish goby so hehe can't wait, i can't find any of my hermit crabs i think they died, or they are just hiding who knows :S

[Quinn]

Perhaps Amyloodiniumiasis. Read through http://www.wetwebmedia.com/amylloodiniumart.htm and links. Bev recently did battle with it, unfortunately without a great deal of success. Careful with the firefish if you have an open top, some talk in the past of them being jumpers.

[littleboyblue16]

Teevee, thanks for the read, i will read asap....

i am getting a top for him, but other then it being open its not to open, i think theirs like alittle space, but nothing for him to fit in...
alright another battle hehe