my first 29g saltwater tank progress. input welcome

[RedLeggedHermit]

i have just started to stock my new/first saltwater fish tank. and would appreciate any suggestions you might have. i dont have alot of money to pour into this like i would like, so ive been just building it up over time. not much in it right now. 1 condy, 1 maroon clown, 1 strawberry dottyback, 1 chocolate chip starfish, 4 red legged hermit crabs, and 3 large turbo snails. as for the set up i have, its a 29 gallon tank with:
live sand and 2 medium and 4 small live rocks,
1 Marineland penguin 150 power filter,
1 Tetra submersible heater,
for light i have a coral sun actinic 420 17 watts T8 bulb,
to save money i built my own protein skimmer.

 

[RedLeggedHermit]

here are some pics of my tank and the creatures that now call it home. sorry the pics arnt really great. i used a PSVita to take them so they looked great but when i trasfered them over to the computer they didn't look so great.


this is a pic of the tank during the day. light from the nearby window can reach it. i have the live rock sitting on both sides of the tank. im hopeing as i fill it in it will look like two reefs with a stretch of sand in between.


this is my condy anemone. bought from petco (just like the rest) so hes looking a little bleached.


this is the maroon clown whom i am hopeing to have host my condy.


this is my brothers chocolate chip sea star.

 

[RedLeggedHermit]

more pics.

this is a pic after dark. the blue of the light is alot more dominant. i put this one here cause you can see in the upper right corner the protein skimmer i made.


this is my clean up crew. the turbo snails and hes kinda hard to see but theres a hermit crab on the left side up against the glass.


this is the strawberry dotty back.

 

[Beetlejuice]

Welcome to the saltwater/ reef game. Nice set-up. Would love to see a pic of your PS, just to satisfy my own curiosity. What else are you running on your tank? Didn't mention anything about powerheads.... A must in my book If your going to have a tank . I put in a small Rio powerhead to create more circulation in my 20 gallon. It's done wonders helping my tank stay cleaner moving the ditrlitus around my tank. It also was such a help in making my green beta very happy. Split a week after putting in the Rio..... Back to some worth mentioning adds to your set up. If your heading towards an fowlr or reef I would increase your amount of LR. In my experience the more the better. I just make sure it just doesn't turn into a mound/ pile of rubble in the middle of your tank. Uncle as that is the aqua scape your going for. 30 lbs at least to have in your set-up to start.

 

[RedLeggedHermit]

yes im defenatly getting more live rock for sure. not nearly enough in there yet. i dont have any powerheads right now. i will most likely be getting a new powerhead soon. i had one but it stopped working. i am going for a reef tank. ill post a couple pics of the skimmer for you.

 

[RedLeggedHermit]

i got the idea online. someone made a video of the one she had made and it worked so i copied it. i just made it last night so i havent seen any "dirt" in it yet. but its fizzing up like it should.


just a root beer bottle connected to the bottom of a plastic cup, which is connected to the bottom of an old tuperware box i had. and a fine bubble airstone in the bottom of it. the air pumb is a Tetra whisper air pump from walmart.


last night the foam was building up really tall but not falling over. it seams to be settled down now.

 

[RedLeggedHermit]

the anemone moved last night and settled in the crevice of the rock it had been on and the one below it.

 

[RedLeggedHermit]

just got a new Aqua-Tech 170gpm powerhead from walmart. but before i put it in i wanted to know if it was better to have the water flowing all in one direction or kinda mixing? also is it better lower in the tank or higher?

 

[Keithhjs]

If you are going for a reef you may want to consider getting rid of the chocolate chip star as I believe they are not reef safe. Other than that tank looks like it's coming along well. I saw the same video I believe of the DIY skimmer. It was a lady (she had used black electrical tape, right?). Btw yours looks like a better built version if it is.

 

[RedLeggedHermit]

If you are going for a reef you may want to consider getting rid of the chocolate chip star as I believe they are not reef safe. Other than that tank looks like it's coming along well. I saw the same video I believe of the DIY skimmer. It was a lady (she had used black electrical tape, right?). Btw yours looks like a better built version if it is.

yes thats probably her. and thanks. hmm really? thats a bummer. ill have to look into that. if he is then ill have to get rid of him. what a shame.

 

[Flreefer]

Statement about the star is true, almost all of the "knobby" stars are considered to be not reef safe.

 

[RedLeggedHermit]

well thanks for letting me know. thats a real shame but.. id be a little irratated if i came home with expensive corals and he ate them.

 

[RedLeggedHermit]

just got a new water quality test kit. ph is 7.8. the ammonia and nitrate levels are nearly zero. they both read between 0 and .25 ppm. nitrate is a little high though. guess its time for a water change. but this means that the tank is cycling properly. so thats really good. also got more live rock today. alot more. now my fish have plenty of hiding spots. and lots of stuff growing on them. i saw alot of sponges and other things i cant ID. two of the rocks have these little filter feeder things. they are REALLY tiny! the guy at petco said they might be little mini anemone. i thought they were pretty cool so i got the rocks. ill post some pics of some of the things i saw growing on them tomorrow as well as a pic of how the tank looks now.

 

[Flreefer]

just got a new water quality test kit. ph is 7.8. the ammonia and nitrate levels are nearly zero. they both read between 0 and .25 ppm. nitrate is a little high though. guess its time for a water change. but this means that the tank is cycling properly. so thats really good. also got more live rock today. alot more. now my fish have plenty of hiding spots. and lots of stuff growing on them. i saw alot of sponges and other things i cant ID. two of the rocks have these little filter feeder things. they are REALLY tiny! the guy at petco said they might be little mini anemone. i thought they were pretty cool so i got the rocks. ill post some pics of some of the things i saw growing on them tomorrow as well as a pic of how the tank looks now.

If you are putting more live rock, in an aquarium with inhabitants in it, you need to make sure that it is fully cured or you will experience ammonia from the die-off on the rock. Depending on the amount of ammonia, your bacteria colony may not be large enough to process it fast enough, causing it to build up, and stress your inhabitants. Keep an eye on your ammonia levels, and do a PWC if the levels climb.
As far as the little Nems, make sure they aren't Aptasia or Majano pest anemones. They are usually the only kinds that you get for free, on live rock. Sometimes you can get lucky and you get a Rock/Flower Nem, or another type of desirable Nem, but not usually.
Best of luck, Hernit!

 

[Keithhjs]

+1 on the curing. My guess if you got sponges on them they haven' finished the "die off" stage yet. Cure it in a separate tank with high water flow and good protein skimming.

 

[RedLeggedHermit]

unfortunately my "fish" is.. A .. fish (stawberry dottyback). along with some hermits and my condy and snails and the chocolate chip starfish. those are the only residents in my tank. i do not have another tank to put them in. so ill will have to just keep an eye on it. in case of emergencies i bought this stuff that will detoxify nitrites nitrates and ammonia. so if it does start to rise ill will add some of that. what do you mean the die off? ive never heard of that before. im not really sure if they are or not. one pic of Aptasia looks kinda like it. and they are too small to take a good pic of with out a real nice camera. whats wrong with aptasia? why is it considered a pest? do they just multiply like crazy or something?

 

[RedLeggedHermit]

here is a pic of the tank. not the best of quality pics sorry.


here is one of the anemone today after i placed his rock on the top of the pile of LR.


here is a snail with an oyster growing on his shell. a new addition.

and here is a filter feeder living on the shell of one of my original hermits.

 

[RedLeggedHermit]

just watched my condy catch, kill and eat a moth that was stupid enough to fall into the water. that was kinda awesome. lol

 

[Keithhjs]

Love the moth story, I've often wondered if a bug gets in my sump whose eating it lol. As for the die off I meant that live rock purchased from LFS, online, etc. unless it's fully cured still has organisms such as sponges and stuff that are still decaying. The live rock has to finish that cycle of die off before it is considered display tank acceptable (unless it's a new tank and you are cycling it with the live rock).

 

[RedLeggedHermit]

its a new tank and im cycling it with the live rock. its been about a month now.