Just started a 40g reef

[Bigjbones]

Hello - i recently just started putting fish & soft corals into my 40g (tall)tank. What i have now is a 405 fluval canister, p skimmer, heater, Marine land Reef capable LED lighting (24 - 36” - (23) 10,000K White & (4) 460 nm Blue 1W LEDs – 1670 Lumens), thermometer, hydrometer...i also have a handful of reef supplements, and about 30 pounds LR

after about a month of cycling my Amon., Nitrate & Nirtite all spiked and is now at 0..

Salinity is 1.024 - 1.025 / PH 7.9/8.0

Throughout the past 2 weeks i have been adding fish::: I now have 1 Yellow Tang, 1 Percula Clown(pretty small), 1 turbo snail, 1 hermit crab (small), 2 blue damsels(small), 1 purple firefish, 1 algae blenny, and 1 bi-color shrimp...

On Saturday i added 1 blue/purple/green zoo soft coral - about 10 or so actual flower tops (they came on a piece of LR) and a Toad stool leather soft coral.

I have a question about the T/S leather.. i see about two or three clear strings extend and retract from it.. Is this normal? ( dumb question: i assume its using it to get food)

I bout liquid food for the two Soft coral and i feed the other fish a mix of flakes / frozen shrimp (in the sq. plastic )/ pellets and sometimes put a piece of algae in the tank for a cpl hrs..

What are some other REEF SAFE fish that are full of color / hypnotizing to look at / Not aggressive / somewhat hardy / get along with the fish i have already?????


Also what are some other soft corals that would be a good addition to my tank...



also i just did a 20% water change last night... fish/corals are looking great..


FYI - for the past 3 years i had a FW tank *25g* and decided to change to SW *

even tho it's a lot more work -with saltwater - (i.e, research, equipment, water testng, etc.) its defidently worth it at the end of the day.

 

[hackteck]

That's a whole lot of ls in such a short period of time

Sent from my HTC ANDROID INCREDIBLE using Aquarium

 

[Bigjbones]

whats ls?

 

[Bigjbones]

come to think abt it i added my turbo/hermit/ and damsels on teh 11th of march . added the clown & fire on the 19th and this past weekend the algae and tang / shrimp . didnt realize it was April already. so busy at work can barely remember what day it is

 

[hackteck]

whats ls?

oops i meant live stock

 

[Bigjbones]

i've been doing alot of research and what i come to conclusion is 1-1.5 weeks (7-15 days) before you add more... thats about what i was doing...

is that wrong? more time?

 

[Swimzebras]

A yellow tang in a 40 gallon!?

 

[Bigjbones]

the guy at my lfs said the tang was OK.. its quite small tho.

was he wrong???

 

[Swimzebras]

Yea.....but you might be able to keep it if you really want to....others might disagree but I know how horrible it is to have to give a favorite fish back. This way it's not in someones 20 gallon at least....

 

[needmorecowbell]

Alright so first of all, they need swimming room. Like 6-8 ft of it. It is recommended for 100+ gal tanks. Also they have scaleless skin so they are susceptible to disease. They easily get ich, velvet, and other diseases. It is a mistake many people do and you are one of many. I would return it.

You said you wanted hypnotizing fish.. Just a heads up you will see a madarin goby someday. When you see it do not by the thing. It needs Copepods to thrive and that means getting them to multiply in your tank. You would need many things to do that and it is too much work IMO. But there are fish that will look great like.... Some types of gobies, clownfish (IMO), and many others that I can't think of right now.
This is just a heads up and good luck

 

[Bigjbones]

Thx for the replies. It's still a wip/ learning experience for me. Would any1 know what the clear white string is coming from the sortie. I just got home today and it's seems to have more.

 

[needmorecowbell]

Coulda been eating or excreting( nice way to say pooping). I am not sure though, I don't know if they do that. Some do though

 

[Bigjbones]

It's like a net of clear string. Really weird. Sum1 help! Just want to know if it's normal

 

[Bigjbones]

You can see it in the pic

 

[carey]

Hi there. did i see right that your nitrates are zero? Also, yes the tang is supposed to be in a 6ft or larger tank, they actually need ALOT of swimming room. I just got my 2nd SW setuo, a 55g and trust me I would LOVE a tang. part of the reason I got another tank. But unfortunately I dont' feel right in putting him in a four foot long tank, it wouldnt be right for the fish.

Please bear in mind the fish store will tell you what you want to hear to make a sale. Think how much you paid for the tang....fish store guy doesnt care if it gets stunted or catches a disease he got your $$ already. I've also read where a tang is more susceptible to varied diseases when kept in small enclosures. Just some food for thought.

With your current stocking i'm not sure you can really get anymore fish, maybe a mate for your clown but you seem pretty packed full already.

As far as the string coming from the leather, mine currently is doing the same thing. long sringy thing blowing with the water flow. He looks very healthy so I figured I'd give it a few days.

 

[Swimzebras]

What's it on again? A sortie? I'm not familiar with them....is sortie short for something?

 

[Swimzebras]

Wait! I just saw two other threads specifically about this! How many do you have? And why the need for multiple threads on the same subject?

 

[needmorecowbell]

What's it on again? A sortie? I'm not familiar with them....is sortie short for something?

Softy is a soft coral such as a mushroom, Xenia, or leather coral. They usually don't need a high light source or high flow. They are usually very easy to frag and a great beginner coral.

 

[Bigjbones]

is that bad nitrates are 0 carey? thought thats what they are suposed to be; along with nitrite n amon,,,

 

[carey]

Usually there are some nitrates, it shows that the cycle is complete as thats the last stage of bacteria. You def need ammon and trites at 0.

Did you just do a big pwc and test?