Ummm.. Hi I'm the new kid....

[jlessary]

I recently got out of the Military and moved to Okinawa, Japan to live with my wife. I have always had a pet for as long as I can remember. When I found out my appartment didn't allow pets i was ... well lests say I wasn't happy! Then i started asking questions and found out I could have fish. So... here I am new to Salt Water and trying to figure it all out as I go. I am not a very good planner. I usually jump in head first. Like now and I am just learning as I go. I have problems with the internet. I would much rather speak to a live person instead of read an article. So this is killing me since I don't speak Japanese!!! Well anyway I got myself a small starter tank (56 liter ~ 12.3 gal) and then if it goes well I can upgrade. As for most of what I know the local shop keeps sending me to the ocean rather than taking my money (which is cool because it gives me a reason to be in the water and my wife can't omplain). We baught the tank then for the substrate she picked Milk Sand and just got "live rock" today (12 Mar 09). Not sure where exacly I am supposed to go from where I am except tp watch the tank for a few weeks (geussing) and then add fish if all goes well. My wife wants the Finding Nemo fish tank theme... Go Figure.

 

[austinsdad]

Start with one of our articles in the "Articles" section. This one on cycling a tank. Find stuff to read first before committing do doing or buying stuff. You say you usually jump in head first on things. My advice would be to restrain on this endeavor as you will spend uneccesary money, kill stuff, and get frustrated. SW tanks and fast movement or judgement don't mix.

Good luck and welcome!!

 

[melosu58]

Welcome aboard. Remember in this hobby Patience is good thing.

 

[loneranger]

Nice start but do LOTS of research and all will be great. Just a note on the 'nemo' theme. All the characters but nemo himself (clownfish) will be too large for that tank by a reasonable amount. Certainly no porcupine puffer, bannerfish, yellow tang (or any other tang). The cleaner shrimp would be fine tho, think there was a basslet (pink/yellow), that would probably be fine also.
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[jlessary]

One thing I forgot is I have had the tank for over a month with water in it and filters running for half of that time. I had to take a break form the process to build the stand. (the one we baught at the shop was a piece of crap and the first good bump and the tank would be in the floor)

 

[Tank2379]

Welcome to AA...

 

[Ronald]

Stick to invertebrates and you should be ok. That tank's quite small for having too many fish... but would be ideal for a few clams, leather corals etc...

More live rock too. It's amazing what you will see after a few weeks on your live rock...


...and go slowly! Observe your tank, check its chemistry regularly and get a feel for how the tank as a living organism is behaving.