Brand new tank! Brand new to the hobby!

DominicGates · Oct 21, 2016

Hello everyone! This is my first post and I hope I'm in the right place!

My girlfriend and I have been keeping a freshwater for about about a year and she decided to get me a saltwater tank for my birthday! We're hoping it's going to be done cycling around my actual birthday! Nov 23.
I'm mostly looking for advice on what we have purchased, we tried to do a fair bit of research before buying and I think we did ok. Our set up will be as follows

40 gallon tank ( I know bigger would've been better, but budget didn't allow)
Fluval c4 hob filter (I wanted to build a sump but again with the budget, our lfs recommended this guy)
Hydor slim skim
Fluval aquasky led lights
25lbs aquamax Eco dry rock
40lbs caribsea ocean live sand
Microbacter7 (to help cycle)
2 x jbj 500gph power heads
Instant ocean salt mix
I also got a separate pump to mix and fill the aquarium.
We also bought our test kits and hydrometer.

Well I think that's all we have so far let me know if I'm doing anything thats completely wrong or maybe even right! Were still trying to figure out what we intend to stock it with and I will try and get some advice then too!

Duke4Life · Oct 21, 2016

Welcome! 1 thing I would do is get a refractometer to measure salinity as it's more accurate.

Brew12 · Oct 21, 2016

DominicGates said:
Hello everyone! This is my first post and I hope I'm in the right place!

My girlfriend and I have been keeping a freshwater for about about a year and she decided to get me a saltwater tank for my birthday! We're hoping it's going to be done cycling around my actual birthday! Nov 23.
I'm mostly looking for advice on what we have purchased, we tried to do a fair bit of research before buying and I think we did ok. Our set up will be as follows

40 gallon tank ( I know bigger would've been better, but budget didn't allow)
Fluval c4 hob filter (I wanted to build a sump but again with the budget, our lfs recommended this guy)
Hydor slim skim
Fluval aquasky led lights
25lbs aquamax Eco dry rock
40lbs caribsea ocean live sand
Microbacter7 (to help cycle)
2 x jbj 500gph power heads
Instant ocean salt mix
I also got a separate pump to mix and fill the aquarium.
We also bought our test kits and hydrometer.

Well I think that's all we have so far let me know if I'm doing anything thats completely wrong or maybe even right! Were still trying to figure out what we intend to stock it with and I will try and get some advice then too!

Welcome! Hope you enjoy your stay!

Tahoe61 · Oct 21, 2016

Welcome.

Be sure and create a build thread if you have not already.

Chrisfish · Oct 21, 2016

Welcome to R2R, its sounds like your off to a good start, one thing I did not see is a heater. Looking forward to seeing more

DominicGates · Oct 21, 2016

Tahoe61 said:
Welcome.

Be sure and create a build thread if you have not already.

Thank you! I will once everything starts arriving!

hybridazn · Oct 21, 2016

Welcome to R2R!

Let's see some pics!

DominicGates · Oct 21, 2016

Chrisfish said:
Welcome to R2R, its sounds like your off to a good start, one thing I did not see is a heater. Looking forward to seeing more

I have a spare from my other freshwater tanks! It should be about 5watts a gallon is that correct? I need to see if they are enough.

Squirrel_reefer · Oct 21, 2016

Welcome, this is definitely the best place for advice!

note: I thought the aquasky was a freshwater light not a marine light?

Chrisfish · Oct 21, 2016

DominicGates said:
I have a spare from my other freshwater tanks! It should be about 5watts a gallon is that correct? I need to see if they are enough.

I have a 30 gal. Nano reef and I use the Eheim jäger 100 watts on mine. Could be a little over kill but it's been great so far. Winter coming I just received my back up.

Brew12 · Oct 21, 2016

DominicGates said:
I have a spare from my other freshwater tanks! It should be about 5watts a gallon is that correct? I need to see if they are enough.

I do just fine keeping my tank at least 7 degrees higher than the house temperature using 2 watts per gallon.

I think it really is going to depend on air flow and the amount of heat added by pumps and lights, not to mention evaporation rate.

DominicGates · Oct 21, 2016

Squirrel_reefer said:
Welcome, this is definitely the best place for advice!

note: I thought the aquasky was a freshwater light not a marine light?

The box said it was salt+ fresh I'm hoping that's correct!

Squirrel_reefer · Oct 21, 2016

DominicGates said:
The box said it was salt+ fresh I'm hoping that's correct!

I would assume its correct then! a year or so ago I got a Fluval Marine Reef LED bc the LFS said the Aquasky wouldnt support coral. if the box says saltwater then its gotta be!

Brew12 · Oct 21, 2016

DominicGates said:
The box said it was salt+ fresh I'm hoping that's correct!

My only concern would be if it would support coral. It may only be good for marine fish only aquariums. Even if that is the case, you could always upgrade later when and if you want to add coral.

DominicGates · Oct 21, 2016

Brew12 said:
My only concern would be if it would support coral. It may only be good for marine fish only aquariums. Even if that is the case, you could always upgrade later when and if you want to add coral.

Absolutely, I think we are going to start with a Fowlr to at least get things established!