Hello there.

I've been lurking this and a few other forums recently as I've been getting my tank setup and established. I had a tank for a few months until a many-headed hydra of financial, relationship, and other personal problem reared their ugly heads, so I waited until things had seemed to stabilize for a while before getting back in. So they have (knock on wood), and it has led me back to saltwater aquaria.

Here's the important details about my (currently FOWLR) tank:

60 gallons, with 40 pounds of mixed white and black live sand, and about 50 pounds of fiji live rock and 30 or so pounds of dry base rock that is in the process of becoming live. My filters are all hang on as I really couldn't wrap my head around building or buying a sump, or even finding a place for it, but I'm happy with that for the moment. They seem to be operating well, and the water is generally crystal clear (except when I scrub algae from the side) I'm running a protein skimmer and a power filter with carbon and some chemipure, as well as 1 750gph powerhead and another that I think is about 180gph, which seems to provide ample water movement.

My tank is a rectangular cube, measuring 48x13x24. I'm pleased with the shape.

My lights are T5HO, with 3 54 watt bulbs and some blue LED moonlights. I'm running 2 10k bulbs and a 460 actinic bulb at the moment.

Parameters seem good. Everything has been spot on since the cycle completed a week or so ago (though I did have problems getting an accurate salinity reading until I got a refractometer.) The minor issue I've noticed is nitrates (20ppm), though I've read lately that nitrates really aren't the problem they were cracked up to be, and that phosphates are. I did my first water change recently, and nitrates seem to be holding steady at about 20ppm. I've been using treated tap water (don't get the tap water police on me, I will be switching to RO/DI as soon as I purchase a filtration unit, which will be very soon, I hope) but I test the tap water regularly and there doesn't seem to be too much in the way of bad stuff in it; at least nothing I can't get out with treatment. The livestock I've added so far have had no problem with the water, so I'm assuming it will be okay until I get the filtration system. I've had a back injury that I've been dealing with so going to the filtration place and toting 60 gallons to fill the tank and 5 gallons for a weekly water change seems too big a price to pay for something that works okay and will soon be rectified anyway.

The livestock in at the moment is 2 small Ocellaris clowns and about half of the recomended cleanup crew for my tank size. I did an order from the internet with one of their cleanup packs and they didn't have some of the species I wanted listed, so I thought better to stock it at half and then get some of the other species I wanted. Adding them has had no effect on the level of nitrates so far, so I think the protein skimmer and filter are doing a pretty good job of keeping things in check.

The only issues I've had so far are that the two clownfish were really angry with each other when I first put them in the tank. They fought for about an hour (I assumed establishing dominance) and the "loser" (or subjugated one, who I guess will be the male) didn't look really ragged afterwards, though a little upset. After this they have been pretty close, spending most of their time together and sleeping together. They don't fight anymore, but occasionally the dominant one makes a stance saying "Don't mess with me." Also, one of my newly bought hermit crabs has decided to go in the nude and has been running around looking for a new shell. I was going to give it a couple of weeks before I buy new shells, and I fear that it will be too late before I can get some. We'll see what happens. Perhaps he just decided to go streaking for a while, haha. The cleanup crew is doing a pretty good job of taking care of the initial bloom of diatoms (or whatever that kind of algae is called), though they're still working on it. Oh well, at least it will keep them happy and fed.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm 27 years old, I'm a bit of a geek. I play video games and read books and play on computers. I'm sure there's a lot more about me I could say, but I've already written more than enough as it is. Expect me to ask some questions, I've got a few that are confusing me and I'm willing to learn. I'm hoping to make this a reef tank after I change the water to RO/DI, so I'm sure some of those will be exploratory questions about that.

 

cool man welcome..

would love to see some pics of your setup..

other than switching to rodi everything looks good..

 

Thanks. It's nighttime right now for the fish so I'm not going to wake them up for a photoshoot, haha, but here a couple of pictures taken during cycling. The dry base rock hadn't been added, which has changed the shape of the rock a lot. I'm actually a little leery of adding any more rock; the dry base rock I got was really light and porous so it took up a lot more room than I expected. But, I guess that a total of 80 pounds of live rock (once the dry rock has been colonized) isn't bad. I really like the shape of the rockwork at present.

Anyway, here are the pictures of the cycling tank, posted as links because they're big:

With lights on (the water looks a little cloudy because of the microbubbles caused by the skimmer as it was breaking in. They're basically gone now.) http://gyazo.com/b1df6d8f17b289d9863315bf9d2322a4.png

With the moon lights on. http://i55.tinypic.com/25tuxag.png

And I just wanted to say the main reason I chose to join 3reef over any other forum I saw was because the people here seem far less prone to what I would call... I guess saltwater elitism. Like, they don't seem to scoff at people for having lesser tanks or don't say "YOUR TANK WILL DIE A CRASHING PAINFUL DEATH UNLESS YOU BUY A PROTEIN SKIMMER THAT COSTS NO LESS THAN $8000" or "YOU SHOULDN'T GET A SALTWATER AQUARIUM IF YOUR INCOME IS NO LESS THAN $100,000 AND ARE WILLING TO CANCEL YOUR WEDDING IN CASE YOUR FINICKY FISH ISN'T EATING" It seems like the general attitude around here is wanting to help people keep healthier tanks, not showing off and looking down on people. This seems to be a very good thing.

 

Welcome to 3 reef , martyd215

checked out the pictures
you are off to a good start there

Steve

 

Welcome to 3reef! Looking good so far!

Looks like you have a Coralife skimmer. I have a similar HOB skimmer. Some of the mods on this page about modding/tweaking Coralife skimmers helped me cut down on micro bubbles.

 

Welcome to 3reef.

Your right this is a very friendly and helpful site with really great members at all skills levels.

I am in the area surrounding Tuscon so if you make the leap over to corals let me know and I can set you up with good soft corals.



;D

 

Thanks for the comments!

Clonefarmer, I've actually stumbled upon that when I was initially concerned about it. I used its advice, but it seems like the bubbles were mostly a combination of breaking in and me turning the skimmer up too high. There's still some small amount, but it has calmed down vastly to the point where I barely notice them! Thanks for pointing that out to me though, it's a great page filled with great advice. If it ever becomes a problem, I will definitely refer back to it.

Corailline, that sounds great! I appreciate the offer and I would like to take you up on it. I'm a little surprised in a good way to see other people from the area on here. I'll have to talk more with you when it comes time for that to happen. If things go ideally that will take about a month, though I'm not going to rush it if rushing it means it can't be done right. I'm already stocking up on a few coral essentials, but as I said in my original post, I think I need to get the RO/DI situation situated before I make the plunge. While the water here isn't bad, and certainly seems to work fine in a fish only tank, I don't want to chance it with corals. I should have the money to buy a filter within the next week, it's just making a decision that I have a problem with. I'll hold off on asking questions about recommendations in this thread and make them in the appropriate forum when it's a few days away.

Where in the area are you from? I actually live in Oro Valley, but I say Tucson because a lot of times people just give you a blank stare if you mention it to them and if theyre not from the area. Heck, sometimes even people from the area give you a blank stare when you say it... haha. : I've found that if I mention to people in Phoenix, they have no idea what I'm talking about and just assume it's somewhere in the Phoenix area. xD

 

Green Valley so it is a trek to the LFS about 70 miles round trip. I love Green Valley though no traffic, and in the country. I just have a small nano, but it has some kenya tree frags and some xenia that are just sitting in the tank because I am not driving to Tucson unless I have to.

;D

 

Welcome to 3reef, good looking start to your tank.

 

Thanks 2in10! I appreciate the votes of confidence.

Yeah, Corailline, Green Valley can feel a bit of a trek when you consider how isolated Tucson is from any other town. Most people are barely aware of what's in between Tucson and Phoenix! Still, in the grand scheme of things, it's really not that far once you make it onto the expressway. If I ever have to go that way, it's not the drive between the two areas I hate, it's the drive to the darn interstate onramp! Just out of curiosity, which LFS's in Tucson do you frequent? I've been to nearly every one on the north half of town (except I couldn't find one called Southwest Saltwater at their address listed; I hear they moved but can't figure out where!) and the one I used to go to a few years ago (and loved), "Majestic Sea Life", was closed. Most stores seem to have a large selection of corals... and then like... 2-3 fish, looking sad in tanks without anything (or anyone) else. No inverts, no nothing. I found one store that sold hermit crabs. If this is getting too far away from the way this thread is supposed to go, feel free to private message me! Thanks.