Newly Built 29 Gallon Tank Up And Ready

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Lioness2

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jul 13, 2011
Messages
35
Location
Massachusetts
Hey Everyone!

Hope everyone's weekend was great! So I just got finished setting up a 29 gallon tank that was a gift to my husband for his birthday this past Friday and I have pictures! (Lots of pictures really so be prepared!) Well, I finished and he is sitting in front of it obsessing.

So Friday I had the tank/equipment/stand all wrapped. 5 rolls of birthday paper from Wal-Mart and 2 hours later we have a gift! You can see our puppy (Aryana) even sniffing it. She had to follow me everywhere these past few days to see what exactly was going on (so cute)! I'll post lots of pictures below with the process of the tank.

Today we went to our LFS (Tax Free Weekend!) and bought a lot of stuff! We bought a Remora skimmer that hangs on the back and comes with a maxi-jet 1200 pump, about 45 pounds of live rock (10 lbs base and 35 cured live rock), 3 x bags of fiji pink sand, glass cover for the tank, and 30 gallons of ro/di water. Oh! Our buckets from Home Depot were an investment of their own as well (we even made a joke about how they need a home themselves they are so $$ these days)! At first the LFS owner tried to sell us a Red Sea skimmer (which we bought) and it totally sucked to be honest so we returned it for the Remora. The Prizm was super strange to set up, cheaply made, $$ and not worth it. BUT we did get a nice surprise when we set up the tank with that cured rock!!! We have a nice little visitor! He came crawling out of a hole very fast and has now been settled comfortably in a little nook on the rock. I really hope he wont die during this cycling period, as I had no way of knowing he was in there. Any ideas if he will live? (Posted a pic of him down below!)

I do have a few questions as always though! Any answers would be great seeing how I didn't really get a straight answer at the LFS.

1. How can you tell if there is a good flow in the tank?
-I put in two maxi-jet 400 power heads and am not sure really how to position them, any advice on position and telling how the flow is will be great.

2. There are three ways to set up the maxi-jet 400. If anyone has any ideas which way is better for the flow of the tank that would be great!

3. In one of the rocks there was this white almost worm looking thing (pic of it below) in one of the holes on the rock. Any ideas? It's probably nothing but I'm totally new to this and it looks strange!

Thanks Guys! I'll put up more pics later one, hopefully with fish! (I saw these True Percula Pair "onyx" clown fish and I soooo want them! (Any ideas on if that is a good choice?) :fish1::fish2:
 

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Okay, so I guess you can only attach 4 pics at a time so here are some more!
 

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I'll try to help best I can. I like quick responses. My assumption is the you are going to be doing a fish only with live rock (FOWLR) tank and not a reef? As far as flow in a FOWLR the sky is the limit - a good rule of thumb for a Reef is 30x / hr. That being said 30 gallons x 30 = 900 GPH, so between your PH's and you return you are in reall good shape.

The way to position the PH's are facing towards each other pointed slightly up enough to agitate the water on top of tank without splashing.

You will most likely have more questions, so you should mention what type of lighting you will be using.

The Clown family are usually all very hardy fish, if I'm not mistaken, and a pair should do well, once the tank is fully cycled. Usually with clowns people think about hosting an anemone. An anemone, especially the types that clown's host, typically need very stabile conditions in a tank running 1+ years. Just a heads up.

Looks good - good luck and keep the pics coming!
 
Opps, my mistake. I totally forgot like a dope to write what we were planning! I want to start with some fish (the true Percula Onyx Clowns) and eventually make it coral as well. I've been looking at these lights (posted in the link below). They were recommended by my LFS so any thoughts on them would be great.


AquaticLife T5 HO 4-Lamp Light Fixtures w/ Lunar LEDs

Thanks for the answer about the power heads. Right now I had them facing a bit downward because I saw them that way in a few tanks. :hide:
 
(I posted last night but it didn't show up so it may show up again ( :eek: ))


Opps, like a total dope, I forgot to mention what I had in mind for the tank. After cycling I hope to put in the two true percula "onyx" clown fish and some bottom dwellers. Along the way I really want to add coral. The lights that I was recommended by the LFS and did some looking at is the
AquaticLife T5 HO Light Fixture W/ 4 Lunar LEDs. I found them on Marine Depot for around $370. Any ideas on the lights would be great. Thanks!

Thanks for the answer on the power heads, I went and changed them last night. I set them up the same way I saw them in a tank at the lfs :hide: so I figured I would try a bit downwards.
 
That's the same lights I have. I love them as they are very easy to use, plug-and-play, and programmable for each set of lights.

The light cycles are up to you but I have mine set-up for:
Actinics on at 9:00a, off at 9:00p
Whites on at 10:00a, off at 8:00p
Lunar LED's on at 9:00p and off at 2:00a (these have no benefit for fish / corals so you can have them go off whenever you go to bed)
 
That's great! I like to hear about people having them before I actually go out and buy them. I've been trying to read up on things before I go into the lfs ever since I was talked into getting the Red Sea Prizm skimmer and having it be really horrible!

Any ideas on what corals are good and what are not with these lights? I was hoping to have a light set where you could house any coral but I have heard that you could harm the fish by such high light (not sure if that is actually true but if I really wanted fried fish I'd go out to eat :facepalm:). Thanks again!
 
You just moved past my knowledge... time for one of the experts to move in and help now. Good luck!
 
If you have the 4 bulb light then you can keep most corals. Zooa's, leathers, mushrooms, LPS corals etc....The only thing I would stay away from are anemones and clams as they require ALOT of light.

Fish don't mind the lighting one bit, its more for the corals and your viewing pleasure. In fact if you had no corals at all then you could keep a single light bulb and the fish would be happy. :)
 
Thanks guys! I'm hoping to buy the lights in the next few days. So far I have spent around 900-1000 on the setup with the equipment and cured live rock so I'm going to wait a few days! I was hoping to house lots of different corals. I love love love the corals that sway in the flow of the water. :fish1:

Carey, I saw your new Tang. He's so cute! Congrats on him.

Anyone have any idea what that worm-like thing is in the pic I posted in the rock? It's probably nothing but just wondering! :thanks:
 
Hey guys,

I have one more question for the time being! I have read the fishless cycling of the tank but I'm a bit lost. I have been assured by my LFS that seeing how I purchased 35 pounds of cured live rock that was placed in water from a coral reef tank (which was also added to the tank) that it would cycle just like that. Also seeing how there is so much live cured rock/and some water from a reef tank that has been cycled it will be a couple of days to a week to cycle. Is this accurate? Thanks!
 
The water is not gonna help cycle you any faster. The live rock can though. I used LR for my very first saltwater tank and also dosed pure ammonia and I was cycled in a week. the live rock I had was from a many years old reef tank that someone had just broken down.
 
Thanks Carey! How much pure ammonia should I be putting in to get it up? Also, will the ammonia levels go down by themselves without water changes? Thanks!
 
What you are doing by dosing pure ammonia or using a dead shrimp is getting the ammonia in your tank to hit a high enough level like 4ppm so that the nitrite bacteria convert it to nitrites. Then the nitrate bacteria converts the nitrite to nitrate. The ammonia levels will eventually go to 0 all by themselves as well as the nitrites. What this leaves is nitrates which is what your water changes remove. Macro algae also can consume the nitrates as well.

There a great sticky on this forum about cycling a sw tank.

Ammonia conversion to nitrate

Cycle your salt tank

Give them a quick read they are invaluable articles.
 
Thanks Carey, your such a stress reliever! I have been listening to my LFS and he told me that you can cycle the tank with just the live cured rock. It just didn't seem to me that it would do anything to the tank without actually adding something or doing something to the water. Is it actually possible to let the tank just run with the cured live rock and have it cycle?
 
Yep, it is possible. the die off from the liver rock can produce ammonia all by itself BUT it could take some time. I liked having the exact dose and getting to 4ppm under my own control.

You can also throw a dead shrimp from the seafood department in and it will also produce ammonia too. In my opinion it doesnt give you as much control over the amount of ammonia.

It's entirely up to you. people cycle all three ways. :)
 
So it has been almost 2 weeks into the cycle (first in this lifetime!) and there is some really nasty stuff growing in the tank! I tested the water today and the nitrates 40, nitrites 0, ph 8.8 (seems high!), ammonia 0. Because I went away for the weekend I actually have not seen the ammonia go past .25 BUT when I left the tank was totally clean and when I came back it was disaster! I have added some pics of it. Should I be getting a clean up crew in soon to get rid of it? I also placed in another shrimp just to be on the safe side because I honestly didn't see it go past .25 personally (should I be leaving it or take it out?). Any advice/ideas/input would be great! Thanks guys! :thanks:
 

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Hey All! Hope everyone is well!

I have added some new additions to the tank! I have a pistol shrimp, a yellow watchman goby (who actually is not yellow in color?), fire shrimp and a six line wrasse. The pistol has actually dug tunnels under all the rock and made a mess of the sand bed! But I am happy to say that him and the goby have made a relationship! The fire shrimp and the pistol actually had a nasty little conversation but the pistol figured out he is too small to take him on and the fire knows it too! To be honest, I think the fire sits outside the pistol's doorway on purpose! The wrasse is doing great, he is very active and even found a place in the rocks to sleep. I have posted a few pictures of them!

Does anyone know if gobys are territorial? This one seems to try and go after the wrasse with his mouth open!
 

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Thats all the goby will do, is the open mouth threatening thing, thats what they do. LOL I find it hilarious

Nice pickups!
 
Thanks Carey!

He does look funny with his big mouth wide open and then flies back to his hole with his new friend. He is just so stinking cute!!! Just making sure he wouldnt hurt the wrasse! Does anyone know if the goby will change yellow eventually? Because right now he is just a silvery color. The guy at the lfs said it was because he was still a baby but I'm not so sure about that!
 
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