Hello.... New to the hobby... have mercy

[Thinslis]

Ok... I'll start with the fact that I broke most all the rules.

I got my 65g tank about 5 weeks ago and the events went as follows.

1. Started with tap water, live sand and 20lbs of live rock (LFS told me to add Kent Marine Ammonia Detox to the tap water).

2. Added two Percula clowns after 1 week

3. Added 15lbs of live rock week 2

4. Added Clarki Clown, Scooter Blenny, 3 Cleaner shrip, and long Tip Anemone week 3

5. Added 15lbs of live rock, large emerald crab week 4

6. Potter Angel, 6 line wrasse, Diamond watchman gobby week 5

7. Upgraded light to SunPod 2x250w 14k MH light week 6

I want to get to about 70-90lbs of live rock and I want to get corals eventually and a star fish.

I have a protein skimmer and a Ehime filter. Everything is still alive and active.

I haven’t done my due diligence to this point on my research but I have since bought a couple books and I'm reading.

I want to upgrade my filter system and install a sump system and move the heater and skimmer into that. What is the best way to go on a sump or refugieum setup?

I'm starting to get green / brown algey growth, should I add snails / crabs?

Thank you

-B

PS: Don't beat me to hard =)

[papagimp]

I'll try not to beat you to badly but here goes:

all livestock was added too early, should just now be thinking of adding fish/inverts.

You'll need some kind of algae eating crew in there, I'd recommend getting an assorment of snails, some astrea, some cerrith snails definatly, maybe some trochus snails. You could add some hermits but they'll kill snails for shells as well. I have both, love em both. snails are cheap. The algae growth will worsen and eventually be replaced by more algae, your tank has alot of phases it's yet to go through and it's going to be hard on alot of the livestock. The anemone was a very poor choice that early on, but a choice many of us made, I lost two before I decided no more anemones in my tank. Tell the LFS that said you oculd use tap that their a bunch of morons and check here on reefcentral prior to listening to them. Tap is not a good choice....ever. I don't care how "clean" your water is. Even a low TDS reading can still be bad stuff in the water, you don't know what that low reading is comprised of. The canister filter...well, read up on canisters in a marine system. You'll see. Also, you got so much research and reading to do before you should add anything else at all to that tank. I wouldn't spend another dime unless it was on a book to read about marine and reef tanks. Good choice on lighting though, the anemone will appreciate that, as will any corals you get in the future. I'm unfamiliar with the Potters angels, but you should read up on them, most angels get pretty darn big, much to big for a tank that size. As for the sump/refugium, I'll direct you to the DIY forums, were you can find lot's of great info about making your own for very cheap and they work just as good. I use a 10g glass tank for my refugium, and my tank stays pretty darn optimal most the time. The occasional smidge of phosphate show up, but it's intentionall.

You said you eventaully want corals and a starfish. Well that eventual should have included the anemone obviously, and for starfish, research very well before making a choice, many starfish will eat corals. They're some good ones for a reef tank though. As for corals, make darn sure to research them prior to buying. Nothing sucks worse than flushing away several hundred of dollars on livestock and corals that you were not ready for. And finally, look up as much info as you can find on keeping multiple clowns together in a tank, specifically multiple clowns of different species, it's a disaster waiting to happen.

[papagimp]

oh yeah, welcome to reefcentral, :D feel free to hollar if you when you have more questions or need any advice. best of luck!!!

(also, these people around here eat up photo's like reefer crack, get some pics up soon! :D)

[Thinslis]

Papa, I appreciate your advice. I just ran across this site this weekend and I've been reading lots! =)

The Potter Angel is a dwarf Angel and will not get much bigger then it is now. The Clarki clown is harrasing the Percula clowns but he came with the Anenome as a matched pair so I really enjoy watching him swim in the Anenome.

The friend who gave me the tank just had his Chocolate chip star fish eat his corals so I learned that lesson through him already. I want the Blue star fish (don't know the name off the top of my head).

I will go read the DIY forums now =)

Thank you,

-B

[Thinslis]

Here is a really bad picture from week 1 / 2

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l112/pokinu_EQ/924122-R1-08-15_009.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

[papagimp]

the blue star is most likely a Linkia Starfish, i'd advise against one since there hasn't been alot of research done into them and it's pretty much unkown what they eat in the wild. It's a crapshoot if your tank will have what it needs or not. Fromia's are pretty hardy and good, so are serpant stars. I had a sand sifter wich looks awesome but they munch alot of the goodies out of the sandbed. Theres plus and minuses on them.

If you got rid of the Clarkii, you may get those percula's to host that anemone instead. but two varying species in the same tank will equal a match to the death.

fwiw, I quit going to any other "reef" site after finding this one, the knowledge database is just too great to overlook. And be sure to check out the Reefkeeping magazine they put out, it's full of so much useful information. Check the links for the past issues and read through some, you won't be disapointed, much better than lfs magazines, lol. :D

[Thinslis]

Yes, Linka star is what I was thinking of. My friend has one in his tank but the emerald crab I have was in his tank and had ate up the Linka pretty badly so he gave me the crab. I figured I would keep the emerald till I got far enough for a Linka but I'll have to read up on them. =)

Thank you,

-B