Just starting off, need some advice!

[fishmonkey]

wow, thats too bad.

 

[sebastio12]

Yeah, everything survived though!

 

[thominil]

The light fixture you selected is basically the same one I have, just different brand (coralife). You should be fine with softies and most LPS, just try to place most LPS in the mid to upper regions of the tank for best results. I would change the bulbs out after they are about 7-8 months old as mine are at that point and seem to have shifted spectrum/color a bit. Just use your current light until you get coral then stick the new light on to save bulb life.

I would go with the Aqua-C as the Coralife Super Skimmers (CSS) suck from other peoples reviews and experiences. Reef octopus and CPR are other brands that make good skimmers for a good price. There are many crap skimmers out there like the SeaClone (sadly I got one...) and the CSS, so beware of what you are buying.

I would just grab a liquid test kit next time you head to the pet store because it is easier than running to the store every time you need to test parameters. If you decide to buy RO water, make sure it is actually reverse osmosis instead of the typical carbon filtration system that many stores have. Also use the 5 gallon jugs instead of the 1 gallon ones if you don't get a RO unit, just easier to haul than 10 little jugs.

I would go with the koralia 1's for powerhead, and get 2 of them. For future reference, you want at least 20x-30x turnover per hour in you tank. I have 2 koralia 1's in my 20g and I like them.

Hope this helps.

 

[sebastio12]

So two powerheads won't be too much? I do use the 5 gal jugs, I can't imagine travelling with a dozen milk jugs all over my car! I was also thinking of this light, Is it any good?

Thanks for the help!

 

[thominil]

That light is made by Odyssea, a brand that has a bad reputation primarily due to the fact that their lights are cheaply made and try to burn down your house. Lights are one area where you do not want to cut costs. Try the Current USA Nova Extreme Pro T5 HO system. It will allow you to keep almost anything you want.

Two power heads is fine, better to have 2 than one so you get a better distributed flow.

 

[sebastio12]

Might get a bigger tank, is 125 gal too much?

 

[fishmonkey]

it can never be too much, just remember that the bigger the tank, the more expensive it will be.

 

[sebastio12]

Too much to maintain or to buy? It's going for less than 500 bucks.

 

[abrahamavelar]

well kind of both, you will spend more money on salt , water if you buy it, aditives, like plankton etc, vitamins lights, electricity, equipment, etc

 

[sebastio12]

Both my fish died between last night and tonight, I didn't know the signs of Ich and when I found out what it was it was too late, it was too early in the morning to take them to my lfs and my sister was in the hospital all day so we had no time to take them.

It was extremely sad to see them suffer, but I guess this teaches me a lesson. I'm going to take it slow.

What do I do now? My tank has all my live-rock and live-sand in it. It still has two shrimp, two hermit crabs and a snail in it too. It's running with my skimmer and powerhead, is this fine?

I'll be running it for about 8 weeks without any fish. I might add some coral after I get my lights after christmas, does this sound like a good plan?

 

[abrahamavelar]

Im sorry to hear that that happen to me except i knew it was ich and i put them on the QT and all of them died that night except my clowns then they died two days later so right now in my QT tank i have a one inch yellow tang i royal gramma 2 yellow tail damsels and 2 black clowns