First Saltwater Tank

MarkoD · #1 12-30-2010, 01:25 AM

ok so i bought a 55 gallon saltwater tank off someone on kijiji (like craigslist)

went to his house, it was set up and him and i took apart the liverock, put it in buckets and rubbermaid containers. had them fully submerged in tank water.

left a little bit of water at the bottom to cover the sand.

brought it home, set it up. put the liverock in and filled it half with the old tank water and half with new water.

salinity balanced out at about 1.025

came with an emperor 400 and a powerhead that i have running in there right now...

..... a little cloudy but seems to be settling down.

there seems to be a lot of hair algae on the sand and on the liverock, have already been told that a lawnmower blenny will help.

i am also looking for some Chaetomorpha if anyone has any to sell me locally

Wayne · #2 12-30-2010, 02:12 AM

Do you have a sump for the cheato? Or is it going in the display?

Nice tank lots of potential, which direction where you thinking about going, reef, mixed or fish only? Please don't hesitate to ask as many questions as you can think of on here, will ensure that you can make this hobby as enjoyable as possible. Welcome to Canreef!

MarkoD · #3 12-30-2010, 02:46 AM

i will be going with Fowlr

maybe corals in the future.

and i was thinking of keeping the cheato in the HOB filter

Wayne · #4 12-30-2010, 03:05 AM

You can put it in the HOB but it needs light to grow really well... Plus once it grows, it grows fast and you may be pulling out blocks

Fish only is a good start, so your system can get established. Any fish that you have in mind?

www.liveaquaria.com is a good reference, but take it with a grain of salt

MarkoD · #5 12-30-2010, 03:14 AM

i was thinking about getting a breeding pair of clown fish.

and maybe a foxface...... but im not sure if it'll get to large for my tank

eventually i plan on converting my 80 gallon cichlid tank into salt water (already has 90 pounds of aragonite and 100 pounds of dried coral)

reefwars · #6 12-30-2010, 03:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkoD

i was thinking about getting a breeding pair of clown fish.

and maybe a foxface...... but im not sure if it'll get to large for my tank

eventually i plan on converting my 80 gallon cichlid tank into salt water (already has 90 pounds of aragonite and 100 pounds of dried coral)

the clowns would be fine but a foxface will grow out of that tank eventually, best to aquire fish you can keep long term. in terms of your long hair algae maybe turbo snails would be a better choice than a blenny but ultimately nutrient reduction will be your only sure way to get rid of it, grazers just help. keep your phosphates and nitrates as close to zero as you possibly can.

MarkoD · #7 12-30-2010, 04:20 AM

thanks for the advice.

i have a 25 watt UV sterilizer that i've been using on my cichlid tanks.

just wondering when would be a good time to transfer it to my SW tank?

before or after i add livestock?

reefwars · #8 12-30-2010, 04:31 AM

a uv sterilizer isnt really necessary for a sw tank you can use them but they take out the good bacteria as well so personally id ditch it or sell it and use that money towards something else

MarkoD · #9 12-30-2010, 04:22 PM

thanks for the tip.

im probably just gonna keep it for my cichlid tank.

i dont want any ichy surprises

MarkoD · #10 12-30-2010, 06:23 PM

im just using tap water for now. so thats why i add prime

heres a small update: changed background to blue and cleaned the sand a little.

did 10% water change