My first saltwater aquarium help!!!!!

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Since your not adding coral lights won't be a big deal. The more white/yellow spectrum the more algae can grow.

You do need a circulation pump aimed at surface for flow. This will help oxygenate the tank. Before buying to much, let's find this out.

What fish are you wanting to keep?

Since new and haven't seen you list let's make sure what you want will work in that size tank. Let's us know the must have fish you want as you may need larger tank. Also need to look at compatibility.

From there if tank is appropriate size then you will need more rocks and power heads for oxygen and movement. But if you want to upgrade you'll need to order even more and larger power heads possibly

 

[-XENOMORPH-]

Consistency.

Temperature
Flow
Filtration.

Enjoy your journey.

 

[jailah]

Since your not adding coral lights won't be a big deal. The more white/yellow spectrum the more algae can grow.

You do need a circulation pump aimed at surface for flow. This will help oxygenate the tank. Before buying to much, let's find this out.

What fish are you wanting to keep?

Since new and haven't seen you list let's make sure what you want will work in that size tank. Let's us know the must have fish you want as you may need larger tank. Also need to look at compatibility.

From there if tank is appropriate size then you will need more rocks and power heads for oxygen and movement. But if you want to upgrade you'll need to order even more and larger power heads possibly

I just one a pair of clown fish, and maybe some cuc like shrimp and a snail or two?
I eventually want to upgrade my filter and lighting to add corals. But I’m way to new and would like to wait a year before I go to deep into buying coral.
I am going to get a couple more lbs of live rock.
Is my aqueon filter okay?

 

[jailah]

Consistency.

Temperature
Flow
Filtration.

Enjoy your journey.

Thank you!

 

[Spare time]

Since your not adding coral lights won't be a big deal. The more white/yellow spectrum the more algae can grow.

You do need a circulation pump aimed at surface for flow. This will help oxygenate the tank. Before buying to much, let's find this out.

What fish are you wanting to keep?

Since new and haven't seen you list let's make sure what you want will work in that size tank. Let's us know the must have fish you want as you may need larger tank. Also need to look at compatibility.

From there if tank is appropriate size then you will need more rocks and power heads for oxygen and movement. But if you want to upgrade you'll need to order even more and larger power heads possibly

White/yellow light is less favorable than blue for algae.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

White/yellow light is less favorable than blue for algae.

While it is true that blue light is used, white provides much rounder use so to speak. Yellow and green is very little used and more reflected by the plant. The white/yellow produces both blue and red light that algae use. Blue also doesn't need as much intensity as white or red in our tanks and we tend to turn those up or at least new hobbyists for visual. This adds more par than needed and more reds and blues. We have to go by par for hobbyist, we don't have access to anything that really measures pur. Blue penetrates deeper but also doesn't require as much par. Why some people can grow corals at much lower par levels as well. Red is also important to most pest and macro algaes as well. And being more PAR in the white settings can also contribute cause you will have more par.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

I just one a pair of clown fish, and maybe some cuc like shrimp and a snail or two?
I eventually want to upgrade my filter and lighting to add corals. But I’m way to new and would like to wait a year before I go to deep into buying coral.
I am going to get a couple more lbs of live rock.
Is my aqueon filter okay?

With just a couple clowns and cleanup crew, if you add more love rock and more circulation pumps, filter won't matter as much. Issue will come depending on what corals you want and add. You may end up wanting to automate top off, dose, add skimmer, etc. while there is many solutions and hang on back items, it will begin to take over display area and hang above. Some people are ok with this.

A 40 again with couple clowns, directly target feeding, and a small cuc and staying on water changes shouldn't have an issue with setup other than flow and gas exchange. You start eyeing more stuff, you will want to possibly upgrade filtration or do more or larger water changes.

Stay with current plan and do some reading and seeing what you really want to do. Then talking with various people for setups. Everyone has an opinion and there is more than one way. Lighting can be your biggest, but will be one of the most important purchases for corals.

 

[CannaJake]

I am start a fowlr tank.
This is my first fish tank ever but I am sure I am capable of this. I’ve watched 1000 YouTube videos, tik toks, read articles, researched everyday until about 1 am about this stuff..
my tank is set up and has been going for about a week now. It’s a 29 gal, glass, long tank. I mixed my water with instant ocean salt.
My live rock is only about 6lbs. Not much. I plan to add more. I started it July 31st, so it’s been running for a week.
I tested 4 days in and got
Ph- 8.0
Ammonia- 0.50 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 5.0 ppm.
The first day I set it up I added good bacteria (quick start)

(8/6) The second test, which I took two days later read,
ph - 8.4
Ammonia - 1.0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate - 10 ppm

(8/7) I tested tonight, and received these results Ph- 8.0
Ammonia - 0.50 ppm
Nitrite- 0 ppm
Nitrate- between 0-5.0 ppm

I just need answers lol. Advice. Is this okay??! Should I not be doing this for my first aquarium ever. I’m sure I can handle it as I have so much free time.
Should I add more ammonia? And let it cycle some more.
I’m willing to leave it as long as I need before adding fish.
One more teeny issue. I may or may not have not mixed the salt before adding water. I stirred it good. And my salinity reads between 1.022 and 1.023. I’ve tested the salinity everyday. And it has stayed semi frequent except for day one and two, I did a water change because my salinity was very high. I believe I added too much salt at first.
Let me know. I hope this makes sense. I really just want a pair of clownfish. And maybe a few corals. Thanks!

I have the aqueon filter to filter a 29 gal, live sand, and a few decor and rocks. Let me know. Thanks

I am also very new to the hobby but have the same determination. I have had many freshwater but I am working on my first reef tank. Keep researching and testing your water. Sounds like your tank is cycling. I would def let those numbers drop and do water changes before considering adding fish. Do you have any power heads yet? Or an air pump? I didnt see those items in the picture. It seems if you are doing live rock and fish only with no clean up crew you would need a pretty solid filtration game. You said you have watched a lot of YouTube videos. I highly recommend the Bulk Reef Supply channel. They have a series called the 5 minute guides and 52 weeks of reefing that break down setting up a tank and managing it in 5 minute sections so its very easy to process and learn in little chunks. Good luck and keep working on it! It will be fun to see your progress!