Saltwater beginner, a few good tips please!

I have a 30 gal with some fish and live rock, a few anemones. what kinda things should I look for now that it has been up for a few monthes?

 

What type of fish do you have, and anenomes? How long has the tank been setup? What type of setup do you have? (what filter heater protein skimmer etc.)

 

baby bubble tip,long tentacle,rock anemones coralbeauty,blue and yellow tail damsels tomato clown fish, and 20lbs of live rock. its been up for 1.5 months, maybe 2.

 

I only have a hang on the tank filter right now but I do think better filtration is necessary, don't you. I just put in some mush. polyps and a green featherduster. so, what types of things should I look for?I see some green algae growin now that I have a 130 watt coralife light.should I have more light or is that sufficient? thanks for the help guys!!

 

question??? my coralife light is a 130 watt light,10,00k and true actinic 03 straight blue , what type of lighting is it?

 

baby bubble tip,long tentacle,rock anemones coralbeauty,blue and yellow tail damsels tomato clown fish, and 20lbs of live rock. its been up for 1.5 months, maybe 2.

I only have a hang on the tank filter right now but I do think better filtration is necessary, don't you. I just put in some mush. polyps and a green featherduster. so, what types of things should I look for?I see some green algae growin now that I have a 130 watt coralife light.should I have more light or is that sufficient? thanks for the help guys!!

question??? my coralife light is a 130 watt light,10,00k and true actinic 03 straight blue , what type of lighting is it?

Ok from my limited knowledge so far on corals and fish as I'm still learning I would do a little research to see the specific care of your anenome, if it needs more light and target feeding. I am not sure on your fish compatibility as I do not know a lot about fish but I would definitely research it.

130watt coralife fixture gives you little over 4wpg which isn't all that high, it would be best if you do some research on lighting and the various types such as t-5 and metal halide.

For filtration you can look into getting a skimmer, the brand aqua c are highly recommended and help remove more waste from the tank.

What are your test results, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, pH, calcium, alkalinity?

Have you read the articles on saltwater on fishlore.com?

Hopefully somebody more knowledgeable than me will be along soon to help you out some more.

 

thank for the info! I haven't found anywhere that says a tomato clown is compatable with a long tenticle but he loves it.Its cool watchin him sleep in it. My brother in law has a bubble tip that cloned and I got the clone, its a little bitty than,pretty cool to.
HERES A PIC.

 

The Tomato clown (Amphiprion frenatus) has three natural anemone host. In this order.

1) Bubble Anemone (Entacmaea quadricolor)
2) Long Tentacle Anemone (Macrodactyla doreensis)
3) Sebae Anemone (Heteractis malu)


Andy

 

crystalg228,
I noticed you don't have any powerheads in your aquarium. These are very important for natural filtration !
(10x - 40x) So your 30 gallon should have 300gph to 1200gph water flow.

 

yea I'm pretty new at this so I don't really no what everything is but I am really liking this forum thing.its cool to get first hand info from yall that no what your doin,thanks alot!!
a powerhead does what? do I have to order them off-line or can I get it from a pet store? Is the filter I have now sufficent or should I be gettin something better?

 

Powerheads are little water pumps, for water movement in your display tank. You can get them at LFS and online vendor carry them also.

 

where exactly should I put the powerheads?maybe one on each side on the back side of the tank? again thank you for your help.
Also, 3 of my fish died out of nowhere 2 nites ago! I don't no why. I had 2 yellowtail damsils in there but they dissapered,my g/f moved all the rocks but didnt find them, could that be a reasone?I no if you have dead fish or to much uneaten food, it will make the nitrate leves go crazy so maybe that's why.what do u think?

 

will someone please post the corect levels of nitrite, nitrate, ammonia, ect. it will be much helpful.

 

Ammonia and nitrite should both be at 0. Nitrate should be 20 or less.

 

thanks,I just went and picked up some nitrate/nitrite test strips and eveything was ok exept the nitrate was almost 40, a little water change should bring it down to normal though.

 

where exactly should I put the powerheads?maybe one on each side on the back side of the tank?

One on each side would be good. Pointing upwards, to break the surface tension of the water at the top of the tank.

 

hey I have been reading on these t5 lights and it says that it comes with a 10,000k light and a actinic blue light, what is the differance from those to the light I have? mine has a 10,000k and actinic light too.and why does it sometimes look greasy on the surface of the water?
here is a picture of the light.

 

These look to be powercompact fluorescent lights and not T5's. Do you have a photo without the fixture lights on ?

 

here they are

 

Yeap ... They are powercompact fluorescent lights ! Your BTA (bubble tip anemone) Should be OK for a while. These lights (powercompact fluorescent lights) aren't idea for anemones. Just watch the color bleaching on your anemones. Later on look into (HO) T5's or Metal Halide lighting. Lighting in a saltwater tank can be the biggest expense. Hope this helps.

Andy

 

you have been a big help and I hope we can stay in contact. thank you.
johnny

 

HI everyone. Just like Dart I'm brand new to saltwater. My new 28 gal temporarily fishless setup shows all readings normal except the ammonia was .5 ppm. I don't think the bio cycle has started as nitrates and nitrites are 0 and I don't see any algae forming on the 20 lbs of live rock. The man at the fish store said to toss a shrimp in and let it decompose to start the cycle. Readings are as follows:
PH is 8.2, AM is .25, Nitrite is 0, Nitrate is 0, Specific gravity is 1.021, Temperature is 76 F.
I'm told Clowns are a good start up fish as they are a little less susceptible to enviromental fluxuations.
Thanks in advance everyone, I really want to succeed at this.

 

Your off to a good start so far. Bump the temp up to 78. Don't add anything to the tank and don't do any water changes, it will cycle itself. Keep and eye on your levels. Right about the time its done you should have a whole bunch of algae built up.

When you don's see any ammonia and you see NO3 then you can add your cleanup crew such as snails, hermit crabs, shrimp. Then wait a week or two to let them do their job and clean up the place then you can add a fish. If you want more fish after that one wait another few weeks then add one more.

I would also like to recommend using a powerhead or circulation pump in addition to the skimmer pump. This will help you bio filtration out a bunch. This can be added at any time but preferably before any stock is added.

Once you get the first fish in you can start your weekly or bi-weekly water changes. I will also recommend using RO/DI water if you plan on any corals.

Yes clowns can be good beginner fish. If you don't want to be restricted to them check out Liveaquaria's beginner and nano selection.

 

Thanks Sharkdude, but I already took the fish store guys advice and threw in about half a tsp of frozen brine shrimp. The Eheim filter seems to be circulating the water vigorously, could I remove the filter media so it acts only as a powerhead?

 

Yeah, you could do that if you have a way to aI'm the current over the rock work. It's okay if you did, it won't hurt anything...it just doesn't help much. If you really want to speed up the process you could get some Dr. Tims one and only or some bio spira.

Personally I don't think you get much more speed in the start up. This is the longest and most difficult time for a salt tank. This process can take up to a couple months. But its worth the wait. Just don't rush anything because that's how tanks fail. Good luck with your tank! Pics are always weclome!

 

Good morning and Welcome to Fish Lore!

I hope you enjoy the site!

Ken

 

Freshwater is getting a little tiresome, pics attached.

 

I tested the water today, New Years Eve. P H is still 8.2, AM is between 2.5 and 5 ppm, Nitrite is .5 (rising), and Nitrate is between 10 and 20 ppm (also rising). Lot's of green algae is starting to appear on the live rocks along with a little red and some mysterious looking bubbles that look very durable. Some people say lights on, others say lights off. Doesn't light help algae grow? I've got a lot to learn.

 

I would say lights off for the cycling process. The bubble stuff is quite simply bubble algea. A very nuisance algae but can be taken care of with emerald crabs.

 

Nitrite is still .5 ppm but nitrates (NO3) look up to between 20 and 40 ppm, ammonia is still .25 ppm (not dropping) and algae is coming out of the woodwork. Sorry, meant rockwork.
Added 3 small blue legged hermit crabs this morning (about 3/4 inch long, $1.99 each), aclimated them with 1 part store water and 3 parts my water and they're dining on algae. They've got their work cut out for them. This was 3 hours ago and they're moving all around and still seem quite aggressive so I'm hoping this is a good sign.
I should have tested the store water just to compare readings to see if the readings on my water are close.
I've read that test strips aren't that reliable, they sure seem a whole lot easier to use! Anyone care to comment? Ciao for now.

 

Here is an acclimation guide. I follow this to the T with fresh, brackish and salt. Never once had a problem. It's kinda long but please take the time to read it all.

 

I'm having a of a time with this protein skimmer. I think I understand how and why the bubbles carry the grime up to be collected in the cup via the overflow from the middle tube. What I don't understand is why there is such a small distance between the top of the middle tube and the cap of the unit. The unit keeps overflowing through the vent holes in the lid when I adjust it so the bubbles carry the grime over the middle tube to the collection cup. PLEASE ! I need some insights. Thanks

 

Hey sharkdude or stangman, just a couple of questions. I did my second water change -25% Sunday and my tang doesn't like it. Everybody else is fine, perky and eating but the tang seems weakand is hiding out at the bottom behind a rock.
Ammonia is between 0 and .25. I was testing with a freshwater color card and didn't think the colors would be different between freshwater and saltwater but they are. I thought I was reading 0.50 when it was actually 0.25.

N02 is 0, N03 is 0, but the ph is up reading 8. Also the hydrometer is reading the salt level at 1.023 .

I'm really concerned about the Tang. I've attached 4 pics, your opinions would be appreciated, Thanx.

 

What livestock do you have in the tank? How did you fill the tank with clean water?

 

Livestock is as follows. 2 fire gobis, 1 osceleris clown, 1 convict tang ( the one I'm worried about) and 2 fish that I forget what they're called but the fish store guy assured me are compatible and they're not aggressive.

I've attached a picture of the same fish but it's not mine nor is it my tank, I downloaded it for reference only..


Filling the tank.
- Fill 5 gallon pails with RO water, add salt, put an air stone in the pail to aggitate and monitor the temp and hydrometer readings.
- When the levels are acceptable I use a milk bag pitcher to add 1 liter at a time.

 

Geez, you were off to such a good start.

You started the tank at the very end of December. By a rough guesstimate, your tank would have cycled about a week or 2 ago. Only then should you have added a SINGLE fish. You have SIX fish. that is WAY too many fish Way to soon. the other fish is a PJ cardinal.

The salt should be brought up to 1.025 by adding more salt water. Don't just add salt to the tank. Dissolve the salt in some water and then dump it in the tank.

You need to get rid of that tang IMMEDIATELY. That tang will grow to be over a FOOT and should only be housed in tanks about 200 gallons and above. It's also not a convict tang. That's a sailfin tang. It is hiding on the bottom probably because of your ammonia reading and the fact that it's in way too small a tank. If the LFS sold you that tang for a 29 gallon tank then you need to find a different lfs now.

 

+1 on that. Way too many fish too fast.

Yes that tang is a monster. I would also recommend getting rid of the cardinal since they are schooling and you don't have the room for that unless you got rid of everything else.

You should continue to do water changes to keep the ammonia down. I would also say to dose prime in the water even though you're using RO water as this will keep the ammonia from being toxic for 24 hours.

 

I'll see about returning the tang and the 2 cardinals to the lfs. That would leave the clown and the 2 gobis. Is that too many?

What is "prime" ? and at what level does ammonia become toxic?

The API saltwater ammonia test kit color card shows my reading of barely 0.25 ppm as the next best thing to zero and that the levels could be much more severe, is there an acceptable ammonia level?

 

Any amount of ammonia is toxic. A fully cycled tank should never have ammonia present.

That stock will be fine until its back to normal. Prime is a chemically used primarily by freshwater people to dechlorinate the tap water, it also detoxifies ammonia and NO2 for 24 hours.

 

Livestock is as follows. 2 fire gobis, 1 osceleris clown, 1 convict tang ( the one I'm worried about) and 2 fish that I forget what they're called but the fish store guy assured me are compatible and they're not aggressive.

I've attached a picture of the same fish but it's not mine nor is it my tank, I downloaded it for reference only..


Filling the tank.
- Fill 5 gallon pails with RO water, add salt, put an air stone in the pail to aggitate and monitor the temp and hydrometer readings.
- When the levels are acceptable I use a milk bag pitcher to add 1 liter at a time.

Don't use an air stone that creates gases and are not released from the salt content. Use a power head or a pump that is submesible. Mix the salt for 12-24 hours before you add the water this helps for all the water to mix properly so that it will match what you are replacing back to the tank. When adding back to the tank add all the water and start the tank up.
As long as the water is stabile and has aggitated for the time that I had mentioned then you can addd the water.
The reason I say this is that the aeration from air pumps does not mix the water enough to aggitate the salt to disolve.