Newbie to the site and SW

Hello everyone,

I am new the the saltwater world. I have had fresh water tanks for about 15 years and just jumped in the reef world. I did some research and found a local shop that only deals with saltwater fish and equipment. I purchased a 60g cube marinland reef ready tank and stand alond with the following:

eshopps rs-75 sump
eshopps psk75 in sump skimmer
solar xtreme 24" t5ho system with moonlight LEDs
marineland maxi-jet submersible utility pump 3000
200 watt submersible heater
koralia 2800 power head
instant ocean reef crystals
caribsea aragonite
redsea test kit
and various other odds and ends

I purchased the BRS RODI 4 stage system and have a extra heater and power head for mixing my salt in 35g rubber maid trash cans.

I put enough of the aragonite into the aquarium to create a 4 inch bed
then filled with RODI water. I put the power head and heater in and mix my reef crytals and let go for two day and a reading on my refractometer of 1.025. After that I plumbed up the sump and skimmer and got it up and running. I also put a bag of carbon in the sump (sliced the foam pad and place the carbon bag in there to force flow through it). I went back to the LFS and purchased over 70lbs of live rock that was cured and two false clown fish. The owner of the store said that since the LR was cured and would be kept wet during transport to my tank that I would be fine putting the fish in. He insisted that I would not have much of a ammonia or nitrite spike since the LR came from his established system and would be fine to putting the two fish in would not cause them any stress. So on march 30th I get the LR and fish in the tank and everthing seems to be fine. I have been testing the water everyday for the following: pH, alkalinity, salinity, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. pH, Alk, and salinity have been stable and all readings have be consistant. After the first day I had a very light reading of ammonia between 0-.25. The nitirite was .05 and the nitrat was 0. Since then ammonia is 0 nitrite is between 0 and .05 it is so hard to tell cause the colors are so close and the nitrate is at 2.5. On the 4th of april when I got home from work some of my LR was brown almost rust color. I assume that to be a diatom bloom. Since then it is starting to appear on my glass. The fish are doing great and eating well with no signs of stress. My water is crystal clear and was wondering if I could start building my CUC or should I wait. If I listen to my wife I would be buying a CUC and a anemone this week, but I don't usually listen to her, lol. Please let me know what you guys think about the CUC and what you think of my setup.

 

Oh that is very nice!!!!

I really like the cube look of the Marinland tanks, good choice.

Welcome to 3reef, sounds like your off to a great start.

 

absolutely beautiful tank! gorgeous tank with lots and lots of potential!

 

The 60 cube is an awesome tank - very cool to look at.

Things I like about what you did:

- It looks like you did your research on equipment.
- Your wife seems to be totally into it - that's good, I still hide new things from mine ;D
- You're being thorough in your testing
- Your LFS seems to be at least decent and probably good
- You came to 3Reef

Things to think about/Notes:

- The brown algae is indeed the diatom bloom.

- Depending on the corals you want to keep you will likely want to think about dosing for calcium and alkalinity. I use a Kalk and like the ease of it.

- At the readings you've got, you're probably good to go on your CUC. Additionally, it would be good to get a pod population going before you have too many fish. Take a look at: : : : : Indo-Pacific Sea Farms : : : : - I always start new tanks with stuff from them. Their $99 mix and match special is a cool way to go.

- Depending on what type of corals you want to keep, a quad T5 fixture might be a little low on the lighting side. You might be able to keep some SPS up high, right under the light, but not down low or away from the center of the fixture.

- Additionally, depending on the corals and where you put them, you might need a second circulation pump to get flow all around your center piece. It wouldn't have to be big since you already have about 46x tank volume in flow. Just take a hard look at the flow patterns.

Much of the above depends on your corals. What way are you going to go with them?

Anyway, great start on your tank and K+ to you!

 

Thanks guys, I will be getting another power head (was looking at MP10wES and then down the road get a second one to replace my koralia) before I dive into the corals. I don't think I will be messing with SPS for a long time and if I decide to try something I would keep it at the top. I setup my LR so that I can put things at just about every level in the tank. I plan to start with things that are easier to keep until have a better grasp of things. I still have some things that I want to add to my setup (refugium with light, ATO, tank controller and maybe a carbon and GFO reactor). This tank with just the two fish, LR and sand is more enjoyable than any fresh water tank I have ever had or seen. I am just getting started am already hooked. I already see a much bigger setup in the distant future, lol.