Set up advice

[The Fish Pimp]

Here are some pics of my 75gal saltwater tank set up. Anyone have any advice on what I should get next? I go to alot of different shops and I get alot of mixed answers.




Here is my list and please correct me if I am wrong

1. Change my lighting to a Corallife 48" Delux compact set up

2. From what I was told my filter that I have will do the job but from what I've seen people have 2 or go with a hidden filter that is under the tank in the cabnets. So possibly change the filter.

3. Protein skimmer

4. Water heater wich I will be adding right away cause my water is cold.

5. More fish I was going to give my current clownfish "Taco" a hommie to kick it with. I am going back to the same fish store I got him from, and getting one that was in the same tank as he was. I was also going to throw in a yellow Tang. Any advise on other fish I should get is incouraged.

6. Sea plant life sea corals or anemanies (bad spelling) snails for cleaning ect.

Well that is about it so all advice is appreciated!

[tawolcott]

IME your going to regret placing the tank in front of that window, even more so if it's south facing. You might want to start reading the Algae sections now. If it's in a south facing window that baby is going heat up in the summer.

[esaone]

You're going to need a heater like yesterday, it's really bad that you have a fish in that tank with no heater unless your house is 85+. That filter is also not going to come close to cutting it. I have that same filter on a 20 gallon tank. You are also going to need a couple of powerheads. You need more but I'll let some of the more experienced folks talk about that.

[roka64]

1. You want to shoot for about 1.5-2Lbs of LR per gallon. You can buy base (dried out rock) which is pretty cheap and will become live over time. Or you could buy more cured live rock (LR), this tends to be more expensive.
2. Definitely get a heater. Personally I like Finnex, titanium heaters. I use two in both my tanks for redundancy.
3. Get the Sale Master's Test Kit, it is a good starting test kit.
4. I like the fluvial filters. I have a 304 on my 55 and the FX5 on my 125.
5. Read this on acclimation: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articl...ion/Page1.html
6. Check out these other articles: Saltwater
7. You probably don't have much food for your clean up crew (snails and such)
8. Take a sample of your tank's water for testing at your LFS.
9. If ammonia or nitrItes are present, do some PWCs to bring them to 0.
10. I don't run a skimmer, so I am no help there.
11. Depending on what corals you want, you will need to take that into account when buying lights.
12. An anenmoe will require a mature tank of at least 9 months.
I'm sure I have missed a few things, but others will chime in and give you more advice.

[blindskate]

I'm all about my Hydor Koralia, you should get 2 of them since your tank is 5 times the size of mine. =) and...you should get a big big rock for your centerpiece, or maybe make a cave out of flat rocks. would look cooler in my opinion. mag floats are fun but dont let it just sit there all the time, it'll just collect algae like a wooden floor collects dust bunnies. snails are cool, but mine died because when I got them I had no algae so I guess they didnt have anything to eat..(not sure). But, i have two clowns and no anemone, in a post I posted alot of people told me they weren't sure if my clowns woul host an anemone, so not sure if it would be a waste of money for you or not. But...my two clowns are buddies. you should get a cow fish, theyre really cute and they get pretty big, not aggressive at all, atleast mine isnt.


have fun!!

[Kurt_Nelson]

I'm gonna take a giant step backwards and ask if the tank has been cycled yet? If not, then definitely don't add livestock, and in fact you might want to find the clown a foster home until you get it cycled. The Saltwater articles roka64 linked to are a good place to start if you haven't checked them out already.

[esaone]

Originally Posted by Kurt_Nelson

I'm gonna take a giant step backwards and ask if the tank has been cycled yet? If not, then definitely don't add livestock, and in fact you might want to find the clown a foster home until you get it cycled. The Saltwater articles roka64 linked to are a good place to start if you haven't checked them out already.

Yeah unless you bought a hundred dollars worth of Bio Spira you need to take that fish back to the pet shop.

[Kurt_Nelson]

The Fish Pimp...

I see in your other thread that you transfered over the sand to this tank, so in theory, you have "live" sand. You may get lucky and not end up with a cycle.

BUT... if you don't have an ammonia and nitrite test kit, I'd get one ASAP and start testing your water. You might get lucky and not have a cycle, but I'm thinking that this might not be the case. When people transfer over sand, it usually kicks up a bunch of nasties that were buried in the sand and kick starts another mini cycle. If you end up with any ammonia levels then either do water changes to keep it as low as possible, or transfer to the fish to a "foster tank" and let the tank cycle naturally.

Oh... and welcome to Aquarium Advice!

PS... don't worry about the tank in front of the window too much. What's done is done. It's not the best place in the world, but at least you have blinds that you can close! Just be aware of the issues.

[land locked]

[IMG]file:///C:/Users/Teresa/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/Users/Teresa/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot-1.jpg[/IMG]I feel your pain. I am just a few weeks a head of you. This site has been great for help. I only have two pieces of advise for you since I am new. Get this book, It is small quick easy read and gives alot of the advice these folks here have advised. Don't trust your LFS! Second; dont put another thing in your tank until you get lots and lots of rock in there. I did not put all of the rock in at first because of cost, they did not have big pieces like I wanted. Now I am curing it in another tank and I don't know how I am going to get it in there without crushing some of my critters. Wish I had bit the bullet and did it all up front.

[cmor1701d]

Stepback and think about what you want your tank to look like in a couple of years. You mentioned adding corals. What type? Don't make a decision on your new light untill you decide that. A PC fixture is not going to allow for more than some low light lps corals. A six bulb T-5 would allow for a lot more.

You'll also need a lot more rock. That should be added now. As Scott said you want 1½ - 2 pounds per gallon of base/live rock.

Get a heater TODAY, preferably 2 for redundancy.

Please skip the anemone. They have a pretty bad survival rate in captivity.

The rest is pretty much what has already been said. Get some good quality testing kits (API, SeaChem, Salifert, etc.).
Consider getting a RODI unit for top off and pwc water.
Consider using a sump/fuge or get a better filter as Scott mentioned.