Introduction

[10achik]

Ok, I'll start off by saying I know very little about salt water tanks, or atleast I don't think I do. I've been raising/breeding various F0-F2 cichlids for the past 7 years. I've downsized from 7 tanks for just 3 now, a 150, an 85 and a 30 gallon for a hospital tank.

Today I was given an opportunity to get into the salt water arena. A friend of mine wanted to get rid of his 12g Nano Cube for $75, and I had to jump at the chance. As far as I know there are only 3 snails in there and some live rock, and some live sand. in the back there was the typical three chamber deal, sponge in the first, bio balls and phosphate filter in the second and some small live rock in the third with a heater in it.

The lighting looks like three compact bulbs with each bulb containing a 50/50 and an actnic. The moonlight was shot, it didn't work.

I pretty much have no idea about the "pink" hue on the rocks, it's hard to the touch, I've heard this isn't exactly a bad thing. But I think I'm starting from scratch here. But for $75, I figured it should be a good way to get into this side of the hobby. (My wife wasn't at all happy about this considering my past with the cichlids :D ) I'm working on getting a RO filter for the house, but until then I guess I'll be bumming from the guy I got it from, he said he could hook me up for a little while until I can get one.

Anyway, here's what I'm starting with, any suggestions on where to start, what to get would be appreciated. In my mind, I'm thinking I should start with some kind of cleaner crew, then move to a coral (something that would be hard for me to screw up at this point), then go from there, with adding fish to be towards the end...don't know why but that seemed logical to me???

Here's the setup:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/100_0544.jpg

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/100_0541.jpg

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/100_0542.jpg

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/100_0545.jpg

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/100_0548.jpg

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/100_0549.jpg

Here are the pic's, feel free to give me any advice you want on a starting point, honestly I'm a clean slate here:D In the mean time I'll be searching the heck out of this forum. BTW I'm a Moderator on another forum, so I promise not ot try and ask to many noob questions that can be found by using the search function.:lol:

[the2ofus]

10achik,

[welcome]

Nice score..why cant I fins good deals like that?

[the2ofus]

The pink and purple on the rocks, glass, and back is coraline algae. Good stuff.


Looks good to.
I take it you emptied the tank and refilled it or carried it home mostly full?
The tank will need to cycle however, yours looks way past that.

Not much of a cleaner crew yet, there's nothing to clean until you introduce a fish or shrimp and start feeding it so the cycle can start and algae can start and need cleaned.

[10achik]

Thanks for the welcome, as far as the deal, it's a bitter sweet thing really. My buddy got laid off from work and needed cash quick, I would have let him borrow the money, but he said he didn't like to owe people so I just couldn't pass on the deal.

I think he wasn't as into it as he thought he would be, as you can see from the pic's there's not much there, especially compared to the pic's I've seen on this forum so far. I'm simply amazed at the tanks on here. Hopefully soon I'll realize what I'm actually looking at :D

Right now it's, ooohh look at that pretty orange spiky thing, and ahhh a green disk shaped thing with tentacles....ccooooool. That's always the biggest frustration when I start a new project, the learning curve.

Thanks again for the welcome :wave:

[10achik]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14128677#post14128677 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by the2ofus
The pink and purple on the rocks, glass, and back is coraline algae. Good stuff.


Looks good to.
I take it you emptied the tank and refilled it or carried it home mostly full?
The tank will need to cycle however, yours looks way past that.

Not much of a cleaner crew yet, there's nothing to clean until you introduce a fish or shrimp and start feeding it so the cycle can start and algae can start and need cleaned.

Good to know on the algae, as far as setup, I basically put the live rock in a bucket with about 4 gallons in it from the tank, then I drained it down to about 2 gallons and then the guy had already made me up several gallons of salt water to refill it for when I got home. He also gave me a gallon of RO water for top offs until I can get some RO filters in the house.

So do you think I need to add a shrimp or two to get things started, I could go do that tomorrow if I needed to?

[Mojo Jojo]

Welcome to RC and to the SW hobby. Like said up there first lets make sure you get a nice cycle going a cocktail shrimp should do it. Let it rot for a few days maybe a week? Test parameters like you would FW ammonia, nitrate, etc. When all is done you should be ready for the clean up crew.

IMO I would not add corals and then fish. Being that its your first time take it slow and add one or two fish. Later when you understand how cal, mag, and alk work add corals very slowly not to disturb your bio load. Read around the forum and ask questions if you are unclear about your reading.

O yea almost forgot you dont need bio balls or sponges. Avoid having a nitrate factory in the future. Again you would read about this in a sticky somewhere. Phosphate remover is fine, but make sure its not getting blasted with flow.

Good Luck :)

[10achik]

Just read about the bio ball thing, lol. I'll be removing those over the next couple of days, I checked the Nitrates and it seemed hight compared to my FW setups. So the sponge should go as well, guess I can do that too then.

I was also finding out about the fish first thing as well. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with all this new info I'm finding on your site, it's very extensive, but luckily I'm also finding that patience is the key to a good SW tank, so usually patience = time, so that should be a good thing for me at this point.

Thanks again!

BTW this tank was setup for a couple years without being taken down until yesterday when I moved it, I believe I kept about 2 gallons in it and the back with the media (bio, carbon, phosphate remover and sponge were completely submursed the whole time.

[chrishet]

Welcome! and you are in the right place! folks in this thread are very helpful...looks like you are off to a good start and keep asking questions!

I agree with removing the bio-balls...not needed and can be a problem later down the road....I would also remove everything else from the back (like filter pads) - right now I am cycling a new tank and I have nothing in the back but a return pump.

I would also suggest changing the bulbs in the hood. If this system has been up for a while then these are probably old and need replacement...check with you friend on when/if he replaced them last.

After the tank has been running for a few weeks I would start doing water changes, at least weekly...and check your tank parameters...here is a great article on water chemistry (just read the recommendations if you aren't interested in all the science stuff)

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php

Once the parameters are down to acceptable levels (could be a few weeks) then you should add a hardy fish and some crabs/snails...but keep the water changes going and test often.

Also, there is a New To The Hobby thread in RC with some good reference posts...

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1526752

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1031074

Good luck!

[10achik]

Awesome! Thanks for the links!

The lighting was changed about a year ago he said, also one of the 3 sets of bulbs was out though. I was planning to change that one along with the moonlight.

I'm still working on a RO filter setup for the house, until then I'll be buying water from the store I guess. The LFS has it for $.99 a gallon for already made RO salt water, is that bad? The rest of his stuff seemed high in there, so I figured the water was too. I will be going to the RO setup within a couple weeks so I guess this won't be too bad for now.

[chrishet]

I would change all the bulbs at least yearly...I am planning on every 6 months with my new tank. To be honest you don't really need to worry about them at this stage as long as there is some lighting...but before you add corals you will need good lighting and water flow (think about adding a power head now as well...that will keep down some of the bad algae).

Buying water from the LFS is probably a good thing, I also don't have an RO/DI system in my house yet. .99 is kinda high but they probably charge less for plain RO water. You will need plain RO/DI water (for evaporation loss) and salt mixed for water changes. To keep it consistent I would just buy the RO/DI water and mix your own salt...I use Reef Crystals. I picked up 2 plastic Jerry cans from Walmarts camping department the other day and they work great for hauling water around.

Hope this helps....

[LulusMoogle]

Nice score! :thumbsup:

Welcome to the hobby. Once you go salt, you never go back. ;)

You've got a great start going and I do have a few recommendations to push ya in the right direction...

For fish, I find that clown gobies are so entertaining to watch. Hardy and full of personality. I used to have one (my favorite), but I lost him and an angel to an ich outbreak (something you'll definitely want to read about).

A good place to do your basic fish research: LiveAquaria.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/

As far as equipment, people have already started you down the right path. Get rid of the bioballs and any sponges/pads you may have. I made the mistake of leaving them in my BC29 and now it's coming back to haunt me.

A Hydor Koralia Nano powerhead may be just right for your tank. They're relatively weak powerheads, but I think it could be just right for this tank. Do some research and make your own decision, though. Koralia and Tunze are popular and reliable brands. I prefer Koralia, myself.

If you intend to add corals in the future, you might want to look into finding a protein skimmer that's small enough to fit in one of the back chambers of the tank. Protein skimmers pull out nasty gunk from the tank and are thought to be important to a reef setup.

I just found a link in a thread that you'd probably be interested in when you're ready to make your purchase.

http://www.nanotuners.com/product_info.php?cPath=51&products_id=357&osCsid=9c7da1152b8386705a2bc97285722de5

Also, replacing the lights wouldn't be a bad idea as mentioned earlier.

One more thing...!

Water chemistry is vital to maintaining a healthy tank/reef. Read about the basics so you know how it works and what you're doing (:D) and then purchase some ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate test kits. This should get you started.

Phew. I hope that helped a little bit and gave you a few ideas. Sorry it was a little jumbled. :o

Happy reefing! :cool:

[10achik]

Good info here, thanks for all the help. I do have the test kits from my FW tanks, I'm very familiar with the whole PH, Nitrates, nitrites and basic fish cycle process. I've been doing the cichlid thing for about 7 years.

I did my test this morning and everything was in check with the nitrates being slightly higher than I was thinking it should be, not bad, but it's something I would do a water change for in one of my other tanks. Anyway, I removed all the bio balls and the sponge filter and left the phosphate remover in place and went to church. After church I ran to the LFS and picked up 5 gallons of salt mix (didn't read this first :D ) and 1 gallon for ro/di mix. While I was there I also picked up a turbo snail and a clownfish (that clown was an impulse buy, he was just to cool not to get).

Here's a couple shot's (BTW I found out it's nearly impossible to get a clownfish to stay still long wnough to get a picture of it, lol):

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/clownfts.jpg

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/clownsts.jpg

I temperature acclimated him for 30 minutes, then did the whole drip line thing for 30 minutes and then put him in the tank, he's really liking it so far. He's very active and seems to be doing fine.

Thanks BTW for telling me to go fish first, then cleaners, then corals. So I guess I'll sit tight like this for a few weeks and then add some shrimp and a crab or something to clean then sit on it for a month or so and add a coral or two...does that sound about right?

Thanks again guys!

[chrishet]

Clowns are hardy..good choice...and will help the whole cycle thing...

The Phosphate Reactor might need new media. I just got some GFO from Bulk Reef Supply, reasonably priced...

[10achik]

Also should have said that I just replaced the Phosphate remover yesterday too :D I've got a whole lot of that as well, I'm currently searching for the RO/DI system, I found a cheapie on amazon that looks like it should be sufficient for what I need.

http://www.amazon.com/Mighty-Mite-50GPD-DI-Added/dp/B000XDK2IE/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1231718629&sr=8-4

I have a pretty good size credit over there is why I was looking there, I found another good one at BRS too.

Anybody know anything about these moonlights? I looked at jbj and it said to just replace the LED, if that's the case would one led make the whole thing not work, it looks like there are 5 leds (I think). It may be another problem, I haven't dug into the hood yet, just wanted to get an idea of how that worked with the LEDs.

[chrishet]

For RO/DI stuff, I've done business with these guys and they are awesome...
http://www.thefilterguys.biz/

One the mod front check out these links...
http://www.nanocustoms.com/index.php
http://www.nanotuners.com/

[ecostitcher]

Welcome to Reef Central!!!

[10achik]

Thought I'd give another quick update, I added 4 scarlet hermit crabs, and another turbo snail. They all appear to be really healthy and I felt confident enough in the setup and the balance that I added a couple mushrooms. They've been in there for a full week and appear to be settling in nicely. The photo was about 2 hours after I put them in. They are actually spread out a lot more with the smallest being the size of the largest in this pic below.

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/mushrooms.jpg

I found a reef store about 45 minutes from here that's suppose to have some descent frags for $10-$20, so I figured I'd see what they have on hand. All the frags at my LFS start at $20, which really isn't that bad I guess, but it never hurts to have a couple of stores, right?

[chrishet]

it starts!

[10achik]

haha, yes it does. I made a trip over to that store today and picked up a Zoo, GSP (no photo of that one, as it wasn't fully out yet), and a purple mushroom frag. :) They had some nice stuff in there, he said he tries to keep lots of frags but he was a little short this week, I think I'll check back over there in a couple weeks to see what he has.

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/100_0618.jpg

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/100_0619.jpg


Heres a better shot of the striped mushrooms from earlier.

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/100_0621.jpg

[10achik]

Here's some new photo's of the tank, I guess I should just call this my build thread huh, lol. Oh, and I found a local guy that is giving me a frag of Green Toadstool Leather tomorrow, looking forward to checking it out. Anyway, here are my latest additions, I'm really enjoying my new hobby, it's coming along great and the balance is still right on target.

I picked up some new food from my LFS called Rod's food, the whole tank seems ot be enjoying it.


One of the GSP frag I got, it's starting to come out a little more.

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/100_0628.jpg

Oh and the little purple mushroom I had that was on the rock rubble decided he didn't like the little piece it was on and decided to change homes, now he's living on my live rock :D

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/100_0629.jpg

Here's a new piece of Galaxy I got, this is about an hour or so after I put it in, I really like the look of this one.

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/100_0626.jpg

FTS

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/100_0630.jpg

[ducklabdad]

Well there goes another freshwater enthusiast.
Once again some "pusher" has given this poor man a dose of Saltwater, and it appears he is now addicted.

Quick tell his wife to hide the grocery money, or it will be spent for another "fix" at the LFS.

Sorry but it is obvious he is too far gone for "intervention" to take place.

Welcome to our world!!!:rollface:

[yousmellsfishy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14269655#post14269655 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ducklabdad
Well there goes another freshwater enthusiast.
Once again some "pusher" has given this poor man a dose of Saltwater, and it appears he is now addicted.

Quick tell his wife to hide the grocery money, or it will be spent for another "fix" at the LFS.

Sorry but it is obvious he is too far gone for "intervention" to take place.

Welcome to our world!!!:rollface: :lol:

[10achik]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14269655#post14269655 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ducklabdad
Well there goes another freshwater enthusiast.
Once again some "pusher" has given this poor man a dose of Saltwater, and it appears he is now addicted.

Quick tell his wife to hide the grocery money, or it will be spent for another "fix" at the LFS.

Sorry but it is obvious he is too far gone for "intervention" to take place.

Welcome to our world!!!:rollface:

Trust me the wife knows the deal, after the cichlids, the geckos, the Jeep, the motorcycle, the redline, the truck, and the kimber...all of which have been modified to as much as I feel like they need to be, my wife has learned to just live with it. I have a habbit of going overboard on something until I get it the way I want it. Luckily she put's up with me and my obsessions, 17 years and she's still here :lol:

And to add to it, here is the toadstool I picked up today...for free I might add from a nice guy in the local area. I also bought a Yellow nightwatchman goby from him too. I guess there are worse things to be addicted to, right :confused: :D

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/100_0634.jpg

[10achik]

This weeks update, didn't add anything new except the lighting, I added an extra compact and an extra moonlight, so now I'm running 1-10k, 1-10k/480nm, & 1-480nm, and two blue moonlight LEDs.

Anyway, everything seems to be progressing nicely, here's the toadstool I picked up last week and a new FTS.

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/100_0642.jpg

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/100_0641.jpg

[ngn8dogg]

Dont know if this was discussed I briefly went through this thread, BUT, It looks like your Rock has Aptasia anemones covered on it. Aptasias are a PEST in the SW hobby. If any of your coral are next to them they **** with them to the point of even killing . I would toss that top rock since there is so many and get a new piece of CURED live rock. It has been a long day so if they arent aptasia sorry for babbling on. Welcome to your new addiction by the way :)

[10achik]

Which picture are you seeing something that looks like an Aptasia? I really don't know what it is, but I did try to search google and find a few pictures of it and I'm not seeing anything like it in my tank.

Seriously, if you can point it out I would really appreciate it, I definitely don't want something like that wrecking what few coral I have. If you can point it out maybe I can get a close up shot so you can see it better to make sure.

[ngn8dogg]

I could be trippin and it could be hair algae but it looks like them in the first few pics on the top rock. it has been a long day so sorry to scare you if its not

[10achik]

Now I do have a ton of red hair algae on the top rock. There was a lot more but something has been eating it, I don't know if it's the turbo snail or the hermits, but it's slowly going away.

Hopefully that's it, thanks for noticing though, I'd rather be safe than sorry. :)

[ngn8dogg]

for sure. Have fun with your new tank!

[10achik]

Annnnnnnd the addiction continues, lol:

Here's this weeks update:

Picked up a nice little pepermint shrimp to help out the cleaner crew:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/100_0655.jpg

I also thought I would try my hand at anenomes, picked up this little bubble tip, he's attached himself here on this rock, I placed him more in the light and he backed into this area, not sure why, but he seems to like it there. My clown has tried a couple of times to host but the BTA just closes up...hoping one day they become friends.

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/100_0657.jpg

Sorry for the bad pic, but here is a shot of the little emerald crab I got too, he's a hungry little guy and seems to eat everything in sight, which in my case with all the algae isn't a bad thing.

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/100_0658.jpg

I thought I needed atleast one more fish in there so I got this little Blue Damsel, I was worried he wouldn't get along with the clown, but they seem to be getting along pretty well.

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/100_0663.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/100_0667.jpg

THe next series of pic's are kind of funny, I was in the LFS and found a homely little frag of zoo's and asked what they wanted for it and they said $5. So I told them I'd take it, when they picked it up it fell in two pieces. I figured well not a biggie I'll just put them in differnt places and maybe they will spread out. Then after acclimating them, my son noticed there was some rubble in the bottom of the bag, I told him it just looked like it was just a piece of the rock it was mounted on but I told him we would drop it in the top and if there was something there it would show up later. Sure enough there was one little zoo at the top just hanging out by himself :lol:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/100_0666.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/100_0665.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/100_0664.jpg

[10achik]

Here's a few more shots that are a bit clearer.

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/anomone.jpg

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/emeraldcrab.jpg

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/mushroom.jpg

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/topdownshot.jpg

[10achik]

I picked up a ricordia today, he's a little guy, but he looks nice. Hopefuly it's not to close to my bta.

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/ric.jpg

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/richordia.jpg

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/richordia1.jpg

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/richordia3.jpg

[dixie2oscar]

your tanks is coming along nicely.

[10achik]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14377173#post14377173 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dixie2oscar
your tanks is coming along nicely.

Thanks, it's really funny, I have (and had) many hobbies over the years, I'm 35 now and I have to say this is one of the more interesting ones. I'm seriously like a kid in a candy store when I hit any of the LFSs. I search all the tanks looking for anything I can ID, scowering the bottom for the possibility of a frag or a mushroom that may have dislocated itself...it's a sickness I tell you :lol:

Just for comparison, of my several other hobbies, this is one of my other one that use to consume most of my time, but now I only get out a few times a year, so I need something to occupy my time more. I tell my wife all the time, "A man without project's is lost" :) She always replys, "A man with to many is usually divorced" :D

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/GSMW%2008/kenwj4.jpg

[10achik]

And this weeks update, I had a good week, I took a trip over to Planet Reef in STL, it was awesome they had so many different things I wanted and the prices were unbelievable. Figure I'm at the point now I can let this stuff grow out and see where I'm at for a month or so and then see where the gaps are and add more. Anyway, here are the latest shots, Enjoy!

Here's a button frag I picked up:
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/Button.jpg

And the Acan:
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/acan.jpg

And a nice mushroom collection:
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/mushroomrock.jpg

A small piece of Xenia:
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/xenia.jpg

and some Yellow Polyps:
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/yellowpolyp.jpg

and of course the new FTS:
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/fts16feb09.jpg

A lot different than what I started with, lol.

[nona]

The aptasia looking things are macroalgaes, some type of chateo I belive. Beneficial to any reef system, won't overgrow corals like hair algae does.Your rocks are beautiful and very mature looking.
I like your tank, take it slow, it seems like a very promesing set up.

[10achik]

Well it's been about a month since I updated, not a whole lot going on, I added this and that but mainly have been letting things grow.

I added some Chaeto to the middle chamber along with a submersible LED light.

I also added a Flowerpot:
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/flowerpot.jpg

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/flowerpot1.jpg

I picked up a red serpent starfish as well, I know, I know he will get to big for the tank. Don't worry he will eventually move over to my 85 gallon when I get it set up.

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/starfish.jpg

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/starfish1.jpg

My BTA moved a little higher in the tank, and reanchored here"

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/anomonebuttonpolyp.jpg

And of course the FTS:
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/fts12mar09.jpg


Oh and I almost forgot, I walked by the tank and had to get this shot, it was hilarious, the starfish was hanging out under the Greenstar and it looked like Afro Man :lol:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m288/10achik/NC12/afromanlol.jpg