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AJimmy419

Experienced Reefer
Location
Greenwich
Rating - 100%
2   0   0
Hello everybody. I'm new to the forum. I just bought a 34 gal Red Sea Max Aquarium. I'm new to the whole salt water fish tank scene, but was dying to get involved. This tank was at a price that I couldn't refuse. The previous owner had everything still running when I picked it up today. He gave me his live sand and live rock, and even left me a couple pieces of coral as well. Now the question is where do I go from here? I want to start off by buying things like shrimp, snails, and hermit crabs. Anyone have suggestions on what to start buying first? Any thoughts on the Red Sea Max 34 gallon Aquarium. Glad to have found out about this site.
 

OzoneParkGuy

Advanced Reefer
Location
Ozone Park
Rating - 100%
88   0   0
Congrats and welcome aboard!!! Your going to love this hobby and hate it sometimes too!! Just be patient as your tank is going to spike because you have just moved it to a new location... give it about 2 weeks then start testing your water to see where your levels are. PH, Amm, Nitrite, Nitrate and Phos. Then after, start buying test kits for the other parts of your water like Alkalinity, Calcium & Magnesium. Hopefully the previous owner would have included thoose. Please research 1st, there's alot of info to be found here on the site and on the net. With that you should be on your merry way! GL and welcome to MR!!
 

AJimmy419

Experienced Reefer
Location
Greenwich
Rating - 100%
2   0   0
Hey ozone. Hope you won't mind answering a few questions over time.

1. Do you like the tank?
2. Besides cleaning the skimmer every couple weeks, and changing about 3 gallons of salt water every month (if this is incorrect, let me know); are there any other basic cleaning things i should know about?
3. This morning I woke up from my first night w/ the tank and when I looked at the tank, there was something wrong with it. The 2 pumps (2 tubes sticking out into the tank, in the back left corner) were pumping out what looks to be sand or could of been bubbles. I got real nervous about this and I shut off all the switches, so nothing was running. I took a look at the skimmer, and pulled out the top cartridge of the skimmer. It looked like there were bubbles in the skimmer, so I cleaned it out and put it back in. Then I turned on all the switches and everything seemed to be working fine again and has been running normal for the last couple hours. Know what might of caused this and do I need to do anything so this doesn't happen again? One thing I noticed was that my tank does tilt downward to the right, and the water level is not all the way to where the glass meets the plastic top. Don't know if all this might of happened cause I don't have enough water in the tank. Any thoughts? How high should the water level be?

Sorry that this is so long. As you can tell, I am new to this hobby and will freak out about anything.
 

AJimmy419

Experienced Reefer
Location
Greenwich
Rating - 100%
2   0   0
Hey Zanymaster. Hope you won't mind answering a few questions over time.

1. Do you like the tank?
2. Besides cleaning the skimmer every couple weeks, and changing about 3 gallons of salt water every month (if this is incorrect, let me know); are there any other basic cleaning things i should know about?
3. This morning I woke up from my first night w/ the tank and when I looked at the tank, there was something wrong with it. The 2 pumps (2 tubes sticking out into the tank, in the back left corner) were pumping out what looks to be sand or could of been bubbles. I got real nervous about this and I shut off all the switches, so nothing was running. I took a look at the skimmer, and pulled out the top cartridge of the skimmer. It looked like there were bubbles in the skimmer, so I cleaned it out and put it back in. Then I turned on all the switches and everything seemed to be working fine again and has been running normal for the last couple hours. Know what might of caused this and do I need to do anything so this doesn't happen again? One thing I noticed was that my tank does tilt downward to the right, and the water level is not all the way to where the glass meets the plastic top. Don't know if all this might of happened cause I don't have enough water in the tank. Any thoughts? How high should the water level be?

Sorry that this is so long. As you can tell, I am new to this hobby and will freak out about anything.
 

TimberTDI

Recovering Lurker
Location
Monroe, NY
Rating - 100%
14   0   0
train_wreck-782867.jpg
 

ZANYMASTER

Old School Reefer
Location
Bethpage,NY
Rating - 100%
411   0   0
That stock skimmer is junk.Invest in a Tunze 9002 nano skimmer.As for the stock pumps,I always leave one off and use a powerhead like a vortech or a tunze.Their pumps are kind of strong so I only use one even though they recommend to use two but when they are both on,it uses up a lot of water.I change the water once a week.5 gallons should do.The skimmer cup should be cleaned out once a week as well.
 

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