hoggle75

My otherhalf has gotten a redsea max setup for salt water we had to get a chiller for the tank as the water temp was to high for anything. what i need to know most of all at these moment is how long the run the lighting in it. it has both white light and moon light and we are not to sure how long to run them for. These tank is going to be use for a reef setup.

Peterpiper

Hi and welcome to Fishlore!
Lights are on for 8-10hrs on our tank, the white light will need to be replaved if you want corals.
Have a link that goes though all the steps for setting up a reef tank, it helped me heaps!

http://www.fishlore.com/reeftanksetup.htm

So what part of gods own you at ? Im in Perth

agsansoo

If there are no corals in the tank now, 4-6 hours is fine. Once you introduce live corals, 8-12 hours. Does this tank have T-5 lighting ? One more thing .... Where's the picture of you new tank !

Oh yeah ... !

hoggle75

well as to the pic i do not have one yet
and for you pete i am up in darwin
this is the first time i have use one of there so i am new to everything i guess

Peterpiper

See why you got the chiller! Get a bit on the warm side up there.
Have the link to the lighting
http://www.fishlore.com/aquarium_light.htm
T5's ( lighting ) would do fine for this size tank.
As this is your first tank,
Do you know about cycling a tank?
Do you know about LR ( Live Rock )
Many people ( including myself ) have had problems due to not knowing about LR and cycling a tank.

hoggle75

yes please pete well need all the help we can get as we have three freash water tanks up and running so the otherhalf want to try the salt water as we got freash down to a fine art

Peterpiper

Ok hope your up for some reading!
If you have any questions just ask!
The nitrogen cycle and how to cycle a tank
http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm
Live rock
http://www.fishlore.com/live_rock.htm

hoggle75

it all good that what the other half can do not my job it his hobby i just find and do all the research on it for him print it out and give it to him

Peterpiper

SOUND LIKE A GOOD SYSTEM!
Have this link for you, it has all the articles

http://www.fishlore.com/AquariumArticles.htm

Hope you got a heap of paper and ink!
Would love to see you other halfs face if you printed it all out

hoggle75

hey pete we did al the test last night and as we have to go to QLD for rocks and coral what are the reading we need to start doing the rocks and coral

Peterpiper

Temp 24-26
PH 8.2
SG 1.024
Live rock will have some die off due to the transportation from QLD. When you place the order for the rock let them know what size pieces you want, or thay may send you a rock to big for the tank.
When the LR arrives, open the box and splash some seawater on the rock, this will help stop the rock drying out. Now in a tub of saltwater give each rock a little scrub with a soft brush, this will remove any dead stuff. Get the rock in the tank as quick as you can.
Start testing the water around 4-6 days after the rock went in, you should have some readings for ammonia, readings for nitrite will start after ammonia. once the ammonia and nitrite readings are 0 you can start adding your corals and fish.

QLD is a long haul for the LR
Best place I have found for rock and corals is Oceanarium in Perth, They fly it to your airport and you pick it up, worth a look.

http://www.oceanarium.com.au/

hoggle75

the fish shop that we got the chiller from is going order the live rock and coral for us from there and they well fly it over to darwin the day the boxs and payment has be made

so what you saying is that we should get the live rock frist before we do the coral
as we are going to add everything slowly the guy at nielsen's in QLD was going to get us both rock and coral at the same time

and as he has a tank the same as us has asked about small to med size rocks and corals when we get all the reading right i have add the reading from last night in my porfile

Peterpiper

If the rock arrives in good condition, then there will be little curing and the corals could be added. I would wait on the corals until you have the rock and the readings for ammonia and nitrite are 0, would hate to lost the corals because the rock was still curing.

hoggle75

i know that the guy that going to do the order for us get his for his shop from coral farm in canies so the should be in good nick

just called the guy and he waiting on noticefiction if they can send in to darwin but i just it going to be the same old story that we send out of here and we may not be able to send in to darwin so this could be fun

Peterpiper

Ok, if you get the rock and corals at the same time, keep a eye on the ammonia and nitrite, if you get any readings you will need to do some water changes.
Do you know which corals your getting?

hoggle75

as i just edit the frist bit we are waiting to see if we can get the coral and rock send in to darwin as the old story we can send out but may not be able it send in to darwin

hoggle75

peta do you have msn or yahoo so that i can talk to you strigh up then going though here all the time as you seem to be a person that can help us out ?

Peterpiper

Trying to send you a pm but can't, can you send me a pm.
I am at work so no msn or yahoo
I can send my email addess, but it would need to be in a pm