First tank! 28 Gallon tank

[JJsChaos]

Good day,

As the title says, I'm a first time reefer. I bought my tank 12 days ago and lots has changed since then. The first thing I realized, mostly after reading in this forum, is surround yourself with good people that want to see saltwater and reef tanks be successful. The person I dealt with in the store misinformed me and now I feel like I've rushed a bit and want to slow things down and get recommendations from the community.

Here are the specs and equipment that came with my tank:

28g Aqua Euro tank
Filter and Media
Caribbean Sea Bio active sand
Fluval Sea Salt 50lbs
Fluval Sea Hydrometer
Marineland 100 Watt Heater
Marina Thermometer
Hydor Circulation Pump



The first day I added 15lbs of live rock, sand and water. Here is the results of my last test:

pH - 8.0
Salinity - 1.023
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0

I received a start up kit that has me adding chemicals to the tank with water changes.

The person I was talking to said adding a fish on day 4 of the tank was just fine. Here is a list of all fish and inverts in the tank:

4 blue-legged Hermit crabs
3 red-legged Hermit crabs
2 Trochus snails
1 Emerald crab
1 Ocellaris Clown fish


This is what I use for my biological filtration and here is my tank as of yesterday

 

[Frankie_Garcia]

You have to let the tank cycle first and go through the nitrogen cycle. Which can take a few weeks. Did you use live sand? Where was the water from? A main tank or some the LFS mixed up?

You will learn that reef keeping is a learning process. But there is always solutions.

I like the tank but yes you were misinformed.

 

[JJsChaos]

I did use live sand. I used tap water with a water conditioner that was recommended by the store.

 

[Frankie_Garcia]

That's good,
Some things to follow by..


1. Do not use tap water. Use RO/DI water.
2. Perform your water changes.
3. Stay on top of nitrates, nitrites, phosphates, those things.
4. Use a good reef salt.
5. Change your media monthly, weekly.

 

[JJsChaos]

Awesome, thank you Frankie.

I've noticed these little translucent looking bugs on my live rock. From what I've been able to research it seems they are a Amphipod. Is this correct? Are they harmful to my tank?

 

[Frankie_Garcia]

You're welcome.

And anyway you can send a picture? Could be amphipods or copopods, not harmful.

This sounds dumb, but if you ever need help, come here first before you LFS. They may be good to help but also think they just want to make sells. No disrespect to the your LFS salesman, but there are way more educated people on here!

 

[JJsChaos]

That is not dumb at all.

I'm tracking everything I put in the tank, water changes, etc. Does anyone have a good maintenance schedule besides the obvious water changes.

 

[Frankie_Garcia]

Well what filter media are you using?

 

[JJsChaos]

I posted it up top.

 

[Frankie_Garcia]

Done tests lately?

 

[JJsChaos]

I did one 2 days ago and everything is great. I'm doing a water change tomorrow.

Can anyone tell me what this is? I went to the store and asked for a hermit crab and this came out of the bag.

 

[Frankie_Garcia]

There is a coral on it? Seems like

 

[10gal_nano]

That's cool! One of my snails has a feather duster on it!

 

[JJsChaos]

It's a coral, but what kind?

 

[Frankie_Garcia]

Some kind of leather coral!

 

[Frankie_Garcia]

Like a colt or a Kenyan tree

 

[JJsChaos]

Six Line Wrasse added today. We're living her!

 

[JJsChaos]

NaVarro, the Cleaner Shrimp

 

[JJsChaos]

Our Zoanthid that is just starting to open up.

 

[Frankie_Garcia]

I love six line wrasses, very nice additions