New(ish) to aquariums

[BayTib13]

So, my parents when I was younger had a..I think..70g SW aquarium, and I loved it. Now, I finally got the chance to start my own. Right now I only have a 36g bowfront, but once I get closer to being out of school, and being more settled, I hope to upgrade to around a 100g or larger.

So far, my setup is as follows.

36g Bowfront, with matching stand.
Aqueon 40x filter(came with the starter kit)
Fluval 205 filter(with carbon and bio-max medias)
All glass Aquarium 200w heater(came with starter kit)
Inside and outside thermometer.
Coralife 2x14w t5 HO (1 10000k,1 actinic)
~40lbs of caribsea sand
~20lbs of liverock

Fish:
4 green chromises
2 4 striped damsels
1 yellow tailed damsel
1 flasher wrasse
1 true percula
1 false percula

Edit: I also have some kind of tiny starfish, will post a pic. Maybe someone can ID him.

I've had my aquarium up for probably around 4 weeks now, and for the first 2 weeks I was checking my nitrate,nitrite,and ammonia levels 2-3 times a day. Since then I've been checking them 1-2 times daily, and adding water as needed.

Right now all of my levels are as follows:
.25 ammonia
~1 nitrate..or nitrite. and the other is 0
Ph is ~8.0-8.1
SG is ~1.024

I'm not looking for anymore fish, as to me this is at if not a little above the recommended amount for my tank. But, I am looking to get a horshoe crab and a couple peppermint shrimp(aiptasia problem), and then get into some coral.

Any opinions, suggestions, etc are appreciated. I'll have pics as soon as I get them on my laptop

Pictures:

 

[the_fish_man]

Welcome to aquarium Advice! First thing the little starfish i can prob say 99.9% sure its a asternia starfish. second a horse shoe crab would not do well in your tank.They die very often in captive no one knows why. But if you have a 100+ gallon tank so once you get settled you can try one. Then you would have a big enough tank but you would have to target feed him.

 

[BayTib13]

Thanks for the quick reply! Your advice is duely noted. I hadn't heard about this with horshoe crabs, but then again I havn't read up a lot on them yet.

 

[the_fish_man]

Well it is mainly feeding. You can keep one in your tank but you wouldnt be able to have anything else in the tank so it would get enough food. I had a friend once that was doing experiments with them and he found out they will work fine in a tank your size you just cant get anything else in the tank so it gets enough food. If you have other things you have to have a 100+ tank and target feed so nothing steels its food. Perhaps you could get a side sw tank maybe a 40 gallon and put one in there then you could have one

 

[BayTib13]

I was thinkin about that. I only got a 36g because of spacial issues. I'm thinking about clearing off and getting rid of an old computer desk, so I may look into that at some point.

 

[the_fish_man]

ya they are brilliant creatures when my friend was doing the experiment he was having to kick me out of his house lol

 

[BayTib13]

Lol yea, my parents had one with their aquarium, and as far as I can remember it did ok, can't remember if it died or if they got rid of it. Can you take a look at the picture with the brownish stuff on my sand, and tell me whether you think it is diatoms or red algae please?

 

[the_fish_man]

kk

 

[the_fish_man]

ya the starfish is asternia. and it looks like diatoms. lol get rid of them quick i thought that cyano the colorful type was a "coral" when i first begun. Then i realized what it was. then i did my best to get rid of it and i finnaly did. then i got diatoms and i am still battling them they keep going away then coming back

 

[BayTib13]

Thanks for the advice! I will be doing a PWC probably tomorrow when I get home from school, so maybe that'll help. I read though that diatoms are helpful, I think, during cycling? or is it just that they're inevitable?

 

[the_fish_man]

they can be somewhat helpfull during cycle for building up bacteria but now that your cycle is over GET RID OF THEM! Yes a pwc should help