Newbie Introduction

[scott99c2]

Hello to everyone,
Just wanted to drop everyone a quick introduction as I start to become a lurker in your world :reading:

I bought a used saltwater tank off of Craig's list in December that was stocked and already set up. I paid a local person to move it and maintain it while I figured out how to do things. It didn't take long for me to figure out it wasn't that hard to do what he was doing, so I've been taking over.

My set up:
65g Red Sea Tank
2 Vortech MP10w's
LED swap with controller
AquaMaxx Cone S skimmer
10g Refugium
10g ATO tank

Critters:
Large Blue Tang
Sailfin Tang
Mated pair of Clowns
World's messiest Diamond Goby
Flame Angel
Sifting Star
Lots of crabs and snails

Corals:
Hammers
Frogspawn
bubble tip anemones (home to the clowns)
Back is mostly covered in Green Star Polyp
Brain Coral
Montipora
acropora
Pulsing xenia


I need to figure out what to do with the old Red Sea Stand. It looks like hell, maybe someone here has a template to build from? I'll go back to being a lurker for a while until I can't find the answers to my questions!

[Stolireef]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but let's get that out of the way first. Your tangs are not appropriate for that tank size. Opinions vary, but anything less than a 90 gallon four foot tank is too small (and, I'd bet that a significant fraction of the reefing community would say nothing less than a 180 gallon). BTW, a large blue tang is about a foot long.
Other than that, you have a pretty nice stocking list.

What are your basic water parameters? Ca, kH, Nitrate?

As far as the stand is concerned, if it's structurally sound, just clean it up and perhaps paint/skin it. If it's not structurally sound, ditch it and look on the DIY forum here for tank stand plans. Lot's to be found and it's pretty easy to build one.

[ReefEco]

I'd have to agree with Stoli - your tangs should be given to the fish store for credit. I'll go even further and say that basically tangs ultimately need a 6ft tank at a minimum. Smaller juveniles may be ok in a 4 foot tank for a while, but will outgrow it. Look at some smaller wrasses, firefish, etc to replace them. Your sand sifting star may also slowly starve to death, as that is also a small tank to support its constant sifting - in competition with the diamond goby. Keep the green star polyps and zenia in check, or they can overtake real estate for other corals.

All in all, it is a good starter tank - so congrats. Are you using an RODI unit for fresh water topoff? As Stoli intimates, having a handle on your basic water parameters is the foundation of success - so monitoring kH, CA, Nitrate, pH, Temp, and salinity are the basic parameters you should be in touch with.

Welcome Scott - lurk away! : )

[sde1500]

Welcome! always nice to have new members. Even if they cheated and bought a set up that is already running ;)

Tangs def should go, as for stands, there isn't too much of a template out there, but if you want to over engineer the bejesus out of one, check out RocketEngineers stand template in the DIY section.

[scott99c2]

Thanks for all of the input guys. I was traveling and didn't get a chance to check back. Our blue tang is what I'd call of questionable size for the tank already, honestly.

The previous owner gave me an RO system, but it seems easier just to buy it 10 gallons at a time at our local store than to mess with it. I'm doing the same with saltwater from there instead of mixing it. it's $1 a gallon for RO and $1.25 for salt water.

The sifting star was not very helpful, but given our luck with Gobies being suicidal he may last longer than the Goby!

[Stolireef]

Get that RO/DI set up. Once it's up and running it's zero effort and way way way cheaper than buying your water at the LFS. It's also far more reliable for water quality. You won't find too many experienced reef keepers on tanks bigger than 40 gallons that don't make their own water.

[ReefEco]

What Stoli said. You are looking at like 5 cents per gallon once setup for RO/DI water, which will be likely much cleaner than what you buy. 65 gallon you'll maybe get 1/2 -3/4 gallon of evaporation a day? So that's ~$20/month plus saltwater for water changes. It'll add up. And if you do continue to use store bought water, make sure you spot test batches - I wouldn't trust anyone else to make water for my critters. Test at least salinity and nitrates, phosphates would be good as well...

[Ron Reefman]

If you are going to buy water, at the very least, get a TDS meter for $20. Then when you buy RO/DI water from the LFS. ALWAYS test it. Just because they have a store, doesn't mean they can't have issues with making water they sell to other people.

Once you've been lugging around water and doing trips to the LFS for a while, you'll see the advantage of having the RO/DI at home! I started with a 30g tank and it took me about 4 or 5 months to go for an RO/DI. Now I have one that makes about 25gph (I have almost 400g of saltwater in the house... 4 tanks).

[heathlindner25]

If you are going to buy water, at the very least, get a TDS meter for $20. Then when you buy RO/DI water from the LFS. ALWAYS test it. Just because they have a store, doesn't mean they can't have issues with making water they sell to other people.

Once you've been lugging around water and doing trips to the LFS for a while, you'll see the advantage of having the RO/DI at home! I started with a 30g tank and it took me about 4 or 5 months to go for an RO/DI. Now I have one that makes about 25gph (I have almost 400g of saltwater in the house... 4 tanks).

The TDS meter will never read 0 with this method .Once the water leaves the RODI machine ,dust, particles in the storage containers, ect, Will accumulate TDS.