Hello all!
I'm excited to say I'm starting my first reef tank and decided to join the forums to ensure I stay on a good path and don't shoot myself in the foot.
That said, this is actually my first tank at all if you don't include a little 10gallon betta tank that my girlfriends kid keeps in her bedroom.
For most of my life I've stuck to dogs but have always wanted a reef tank.
More recently I discovered a couple of YouTube series about starting your first tank and watched them both beginning to end, twice. After that I decided it was time to start.
- I acquired a 60 gallon hex tank that is a bit dated in style(it's laminate wood) but the tank was clean and the seals are solid.
- I ordered an RODI filter, live sand, Red Sea Salt, and some dry live rock.
- I filled the tank with the RODI filtered water and added my salt which is now at 1.023sg(I'm going to try to get it around 1.025 once I get more salt).
-- Unfortunately my Red Sea Salt came in a box from Amazon with all the salt in the box instead of in the bucket and most of it was wasted so I have to wait a couple days to get it right.
- I had to do the water first as in an apartment I don't really have space to be keeping large buckets for mixing and storage of salt water.
- For water changes I will be using a 5 gallon bucket, cleaning it each use, and storing it in a small closet with my 3D printing equipment as it's out of the way and the space is otherwise useless.
- Because I filtered the water first before adding the rock/sand, obviously the tank is super cloudy now.
-- I am hoping I can at least see in there today so I can arrange the rocks a bit better as they are more or less just placed in the bottom.
I purchased a test kit from Amazon that tests NO2, NO3, high PH, and Ammonia.
There is a lot of conflicting information on what comes next, I think because of the amount of different rock/sand/chemicals/water purity that can be used to start a tank.
My understanding is I should be testing the water every day or every other day and looking for the Ammonia and NO to spike and then come back down, and once they come back down it's OK to add fish.
Is this correct? Is there a similar way to determine when corals and plants would be ok to add into the mix?
I also have a Fluval 405 filter that sits in the cabinet under the tank. It only has 2 hoses that hang over the tank top, one goes to the bottom and has a 10X10 flat screen that sits under the sand for suction and then has a small return that sits about water level height and causes some turbulence at water level.
Is this something I should use with a salt water system?
It has several materials in the filter I have no idea what they are.
One looked like charcoal or carbon, a big red mesh filter, something that looked like cork pieces, and some white powder Tony Montana might enjoy.
Right now I have it running the tank with just the red filter as I don't have a skimmer I figure this would at least take out bigger chunks of things. I can the rest as modules that slide into slots in the canister if one thing should be used and the others not.
I do still need to get a light but I don't know what to do there. My tank has 2 fluorescent bulbs that are probably 25 years old. They still work but I'm sure they aren't the right colors in the right amounts.
The light is part of the top and I'd like to remove it but I'm not sure having an open tank would be a good idea with the kid and the dog that can get a little wild at times.
What do people usually do with their open top tank with a mounted light? Get plexiglass cut? or just leave it open?
Last question I swear.
I have 2 different pumps. One that sits fully submerged and circulates water at a lower level and one that sits closer to the top of the tank with an air hose and shoots small bubbles into the tank I guess to aerate it.
I know eventually the plants help with getting O2 into the tank, but do I need something like this in the meantime or will the tank take care of itself with the algae/bacteria in it.
I know this is a lot of questions/information and it's only my first post but I am super excited to get this going and I really don't want to screw it up.
Side note: First fish will of course be a pair of clowns. I understand they are easy to start with, help keep the tank clean, and are really robust. The kid will also love seeing "Nemo" every time she sees the tank and that's enough to make the whole process worth it for me.
I'd add some photos but it's so cloudy and embarrassing right now
I just added the sand/rock today. Maybe in a few days.
Thanks yall, excited to be part of the group.
I'm excited to say I'm starting my first reef tank and decided to join the forums to ensure I stay on a good path and don't shoot myself in the foot.
That said, this is actually my first tank at all if you don't include a little 10gallon betta tank that my girlfriends kid keeps in her bedroom.
For most of my life I've stuck to dogs but have always wanted a reef tank.
More recently I discovered a couple of YouTube series about starting your first tank and watched them both beginning to end, twice. After that I decided it was time to start.
- I acquired a 60 gallon hex tank that is a bit dated in style(it's laminate wood) but the tank was clean and the seals are solid.
- I ordered an RODI filter, live sand, Red Sea Salt, and some dry live rock.
- I filled the tank with the RODI filtered water and added my salt which is now at 1.023sg(I'm going to try to get it around 1.025 once I get more salt).
-- Unfortunately my Red Sea Salt came in a box from Amazon with all the salt in the box instead of in the bucket and most of it was wasted so I have to wait a couple days to get it right.
- I had to do the water first as in an apartment I don't really have space to be keeping large buckets for mixing and storage of salt water.
- For water changes I will be using a 5 gallon bucket, cleaning it each use, and storing it in a small closet with my 3D printing equipment as it's out of the way and the space is otherwise useless.
- Because I filtered the water first before adding the rock/sand, obviously the tank is super cloudy now.
-- I am hoping I can at least see in there today so I can arrange the rocks a bit better as they are more or less just placed in the bottom.
I purchased a test kit from Amazon that tests NO2, NO3, high PH, and Ammonia.
There is a lot of conflicting information on what comes next, I think because of the amount of different rock/sand/chemicals/water purity that can be used to start a tank.
My understanding is I should be testing the water every day or every other day and looking for the Ammonia and NO to spike and then come back down, and once they come back down it's OK to add fish.
Is this correct? Is there a similar way to determine when corals and plants would be ok to add into the mix?
I also have a Fluval 405 filter that sits in the cabinet under the tank. It only has 2 hoses that hang over the tank top, one goes to the bottom and has a 10X10 flat screen that sits under the sand for suction and then has a small return that sits about water level height and causes some turbulence at water level.
Is this something I should use with a salt water system?
It has several materials in the filter I have no idea what they are.
One looked like charcoal or carbon, a big red mesh filter, something that looked like cork pieces, and some white powder Tony Montana might enjoy.
Right now I have it running the tank with just the red filter as I don't have a skimmer I figure this would at least take out bigger chunks of things. I can the rest as modules that slide into slots in the canister if one thing should be used and the others not.
I do still need to get a light but I don't know what to do there. My tank has 2 fluorescent bulbs that are probably 25 years old. They still work but I'm sure they aren't the right colors in the right amounts.
The light is part of the top and I'd like to remove it but I'm not sure having an open tank would be a good idea with the kid and the dog that can get a little wild at times.
What do people usually do with their open top tank with a mounted light? Get plexiglass cut? or just leave it open?
Last question I swear.
I have 2 different pumps. One that sits fully submerged and circulates water at a lower level and one that sits closer to the top of the tank with an air hose and shoots small bubbles into the tank I guess to aerate it.
I know eventually the plants help with getting O2 into the tank, but do I need something like this in the meantime or will the tank take care of itself with the algae/bacteria in it.
I know this is a lot of questions/information and it's only my first post but I am super excited to get this going and I really don't want to screw it up.
Side note: First fish will of course be a pair of clowns. I understand they are easy to start with, help keep the tank clean, and are really robust. The kid will also love seeing "Nemo" every time she sees the tank and that's enough to make the whole process worth it for me.
I'd add some photos but it's so cloudy and embarrassing right now
I just added the sand/rock today. Maybe in a few days.Thanks yall, excited to be part of the group.
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