Newb with setup and questions

[Dubge]

Hi all, I have been lurking for a few days, absorbing as much as I can and I would like to sat you all have great site and hope to be able to contribute someday! I will start off by saying I have always had fishtanks as a kid (all fresh) and have always wanted to do a salt tank. Well after dealing with my pond and tanks (for the winter months) for the last 3 years I decided to take the plunge! I have had my 45G hex tank going for just over a month and have been doing things on recomendations from the LFS's and finding that they are not that knowlagable I started searching the net for more knowlagable people! (I should have done that in the begining)
Now here is my setup....
45 Gal hex tank with a fluval 303 canaster filter, heater, about 1-2 inches of live sand/crushed coral mix, 2 8" air stones, for small fish I have(less then 1 inch) 1 stripped damsel, 2 blue damsels, 1 yellow tailed damsel, 1small clown(nemo type) for med fish (about 2 inches) 1 maroon clown, 1 yellow tang and 1 blue hippo tang I also have 1 cleaner shrimp and 1 chocolate starfish
Now the LFS said this is fine in this tank but I feel it will get crowded fast and plan to upgrade to a bigger or another tank in addition (55G - 125G) but that wont be till the springtime.
All my levels have tested fine and amonia just a little high, not in a danger zone but reading this board I am thinking I should have waited on adding the fish that I have! If anyone has any advice as to what to watch or do next (I want to prevent the fish from dying)
There is also a little bit of brown algee growing on some of the fake plants. I just did my first water change and the salinity tested between 1.022 and 1.023

thanks
Ray

 

[4angel]

First of all welcome to Reefs.org. Second remember that there is no such thing as a stupid question, only stupid answers. Having said that,
I beleive that you may have started out over stocking the tank.
A 45 gal. hex may seem like a large tank but it is relativly small for so many SW fish. there is an opinion out there that a tang should not be placed in anything under 100 gal. tank. If you are really interested in having so many fish in one tank buy BIG now 100+. I see you stated that you have had a fresh water set up before. Then you should have an idea how bad ammonia can be for live stock. The live stock could be in for a prety bad time. Please dont take this the wrong way but spend a little more on the literature before you stock up on anything els. I would suggest Natural reef aquariums by J. Tullock even for a fish only tank. The book is a prety simplified approach to a SW set up.
_________________
markets investing

 

[Dubge]

Not to worry I dont take anything the wrong way, I can handdle someone being brutally honest! I know I have a bit to much in that tank, the wife had a little part in the last 2 :roll: but I hope to have a 55G setup next to the 45 sooner then the spring then I can look for a massive tank

Ray

 

[Lostmind]

I wonder if the LFS would let you bring back a few fish while you get things straightened out? They should have said something to you when you spent all that money on livestock.

Definitely recommend a skimmer for your tank too - they remove so much from the water.

 

[Anonymous]

Here is what I would do

its tough but this is the route I would go having killed many a fish while learning in my first year

1. Take the 2 tangs back to the store.

2. Don't worry about the algae until the tank has been running for 6 months or so, the tank will go through several algae cycles before it is established, and I find that there is no sense battling it in the beginning

3. Get a skimmer, a good one

4. That book recommended above is definitly worth the price, I have it, and still find myself looking up stuff in it.

5 take it slow, nothing good happens fast in a saltwater tank



Hope that helps

Bryan

 

[Meloco14]

I agree with the previous posts. You need to take a couple of the fish back. A lot of stores are pretty good about taking back damsels, since they are often used for cycling, and then people dont want them anymore. However, the tangs are far more delicate and more likely to get sick or die if you keep them. Also, make sure you get a skimmer. If youre not going to get live rock, I would either get a deeper sand bed, with finer sand, or get a bio wheel for the fluval output, or both. You need some strong bio filtration to counter all those fish wastes. A lot of people dont like the bio wheel for reef tanks, but since you dont have any kind of wet/dry, this would be the cheapest way to go.
I also have the same book and definitely recommend it. I have read it cover to cover multiple times and still find useful info in there.
Good luck

 

[Dubge]

Well thanks for all the input
I ended up finding a GREAT deal on a 75 Gal with a corner overflow today so I am going to try to get that set up as soon as I can and transfer everything over. Any tips on the best way to do it?

thanks
Ray

 

[Anonymous]

here's what i would do:
get rid of the fake plants....you will constantly have algae growing on them and get an unnatural look..

i assume you have no sump, and that's ok you don't have to get one....i would buy some live rock....but don't get boulders.....you don't want the tank to look like someone threw in a bunch of potatoes. get very complex porous rock...jagged stuff

dump the canister filter and the airstones, get a skimmer try to remove as much of the crushed coral as possible and buy more live sand and just place it over what's left...

have at least 2 maybe 3 powerheads close to the surface....do whatever it takes to kepp the surface of the water clean and clear....send back at least the tangs until you have a bigger tank...

do weekly water changes.....and all you really need for filtration is a skimmer , live rock, and some sand...keep studying and you'll be ok

 

[Anonymous]

oh yeah, get rid of the chocalate chip starfish because when you do get some live rock they will scour the life from it.....

also, any amount of detectable ammonia is really too much and if it does not kill the creatures outright it will certainly shorten their lifespan...

 

[dhuv]

I though the fluval is a bad idea for saltwater tanks. Isnt that meant only for fresh water? Shouldnt there be a sump or wet/dry or both? I started out with only a wet/dry. I found that I needed the live rock and still havent removed the bioballs although the guy from the LFS recommended it, I will be doing it soon. Does anyone know exactly what goes wrong when you have live rock and bioballs?

Thanks,
dhuv

 

[Jolieve]

The problem with bioballs and those ceramic pellets that you drop into a fluval is that they collect bacteria that produce nitrates. Nitrates are relatively harmless in a freshwater tank, but high levels of nitrate can be lethal to saltwater fish. This is why it is recommended that you do not use bioballs or the biowheels in some power filters in marine setups. The live rock has all of the biological filtration you need, including the bacteria that eats the nitrates and reduces the levels of that in your water.

Hope this makes sense and that it helps!
J.

 

[Jolieve]

Oh.. I should add, that it is not necessarily bad to use a fluval on a saltwater tank. You just have to clean the media FREQUENTLY. This means removing the fluval from the tank and rinsing the filter media inside until your hands are sore, then putting it all back together again and returning it to the tank.

This gets very... very tedious over time. I don't think any new reefkeeper or saltwater enthusiast wants to do this every single week without fail. It's too much work.. and let's admit it, we're human. We want to be lazy. We want to sit back and watch our fish swim and not have to worry about doing the weekly scrub out. You're better off leaving the fluval in the store and coming home with the best skimmer you can possibly afford, live rock and a deep sand bed.

J,