Well i decided to start a saltwater tank. i hope to have live rock, corals, anenomaes, and invertebrea with a couple fish. right now i have about 15lbs of live rock, 3 damsils, and a couple orginizims on the live rock, (featherdusters, tiny snails and a 1'' crab). with crushed sand as the bottom. for filtration i have 2 power heads and a non-effeciant protien skimmer.after researching i have orderd a new protien skimmer and a canister filter. you think thats enough? Some people say the canister is a good thing....but what do you guys think. also i have no room for a sump, but if you have ideas please tell me. And yes i know i need some better lighting as i just have the light that came with the tank. 2, 50w florecent bulbs.
My New 40 galllon tank
- Thread starter vipperdave
- Start date
Well, I'm sure your going to get hammered with questions on how you setup your tank....
1. Did you get cured live rock?
2. Did you allow your tank to completely cycle before adding ANYTHING?
3. You do not need a canister with saltwater tanks. They will only build up nitrates, which turn into nitrites, which turn into ammonia.
4. I'm a big fan of flow, how many GPHs are your pumps?
5. What kind of skimmer did you get? I hope not a sea clone.
Your lighting is perfectly fine for now, but they will definitely not support corals. Mushrooms could work, but I wouldn't recommend it. DO NOT add an anemone until your tank has had plenty of time to mature... min 6 months to a year. You want stable parameters too... No ammonia, nitrites, very little nitrates. NO phosphates.
You don't have to have a sump but they definitely help. I ran a 55 for about 1 1/2 years with only a little DIY fuge. Macro algae in a fuge will greatly help cut down on excess nutrients, nitrates, and phosphate.
You really should have done the proper reading before starting up a tank. A PH of 6.2 is very BAD I don't see how anything is still living. You need to bring it up, but very very slowly. It needs to be between 8.1 and 8.4. You do not want to see any nitrites... Did you test ammonia?
I would recommend before you go any further read all the stickies on this forum. You can loose a lot of money quickly in this hobby without the proper understanding on husbandry.
1. Did you get cured live rock?
2. Did you allow your tank to completely cycle before adding ANYTHING?
3. You do not need a canister with saltwater tanks. They will only build up nitrates, which turn into nitrites, which turn into ammonia.
4. I'm a big fan of flow, how many GPHs are your pumps?
5. What kind of skimmer did you get? I hope not a sea clone.
Your lighting is perfectly fine for now, but they will definitely not support corals. Mushrooms could work, but I wouldn't recommend it. DO NOT add an anemone until your tank has had plenty of time to mature... min 6 months to a year. You want stable parameters too... No ammonia, nitrites, very little nitrates. NO phosphates.
You don't have to have a sump but they definitely help. I ran a 55 for about 1 1/2 years with only a little DIY fuge. Macro algae in a fuge will greatly help cut down on excess nutrients, nitrates, and phosphate.
You really should have done the proper reading before starting up a tank. A PH of 6.2 is very BAD I don't see how anything is still living. You need to bring it up, but very very slowly. It needs to be between 8.1 and 8.4. You do not want to see any nitrites... Did you test ammonia?
I would recommend before you go any further read all the stickies on this forum. You can loose a lot of money quickly in this hobby without the proper understanding on husbandry.
as u know u want at least another 25lbs of live rock, IMO damsels are a very poor choice of fish for a few reasons being they can be very territorial and harrass any future addions plus IME they get big and ugly 
not to mention they can be impossible to remove, like joe said ditch the canister, and crushed coral substrate isnt the best either if u want corals and such youll definitly wanna upgrade the lighting as youve mentioned btw u could prolly use a 10g as a sump if u really want one but its not absolutly neccassery....
you got it backwards joe! ammonia turn into nitrites, nitrites turn into nitrates
not to mention they can be impossible to remove, like joe said ditch the canister, and crushed coral substrate isnt the best either if u want corals and such youll definitly wanna upgrade the lighting as youve mentioned btw u could prolly use a 10g as a sump if u really want one but its not absolutly neccassery....you got it backwards joe! ammonia turn into nitrites, nitrites turn into nitrates
ok thanks...i dig get cured live rock. the setup has been there for about a year. and i did a 50% water change when i got it. how do i raise ph? and if not a canister what? the only reason i dont want a sump is because i dont have a stand. and it would show but if thats the best then i will look into it. the protein skimmer is a prizm skimmer. I live in south korea so they really dont have much to offer. so i bought the skimmer online. And no idea on gph they came with the tank. when i bought it it had 1 rock and the 3 fish. i added the extra rock. maybe the tst equipment is crap cause eveything looks happy
Yep, I did get them mixed up...
Ph can be raised several ways, but should be done extremely slow. An aragonite sand bed would help stabalize ph levels. You can also had a ph buffer. Your skimmer should be fine, but how many gph is the pump on it? Are you using test strips to test your water? If so, get yourself a better test kit... They are much more reliable.
Ph can be raised several ways, but should be done extremely slow. An aragonite sand bed would help stabalize ph levels. You can also had a ph buffer. Your skimmer should be fine, but how many gph is the pump on it? Are you using test strips to test your water? If so, get yourself a better test kit... They are much more reliable.
after reading all night for the whole weekend. tthe ph tster i got from the guy i bought the tank from are for freshwater. well at least the ph. next chance i have i will be bying all new tst eguipment. the 2 powerhead filters are also from him. and its all in korea so i have no idea on gph. Also i have read many pple use canisters. Is it really a bad thing. the one i orderd is a 4 stage with uv sterilization. "Reaction 4-Stage Canister Filter". if a 10 gallon sump would be better, were you suggest on ordering it? Like i said before im in korea and the suppliers arnt the nicest when it comes to this. My friend will be watching the tank for me when i go gack to the states mid sept. till mid oct. should i get one in the states? i figured this would be a great breaken period and not buy anything extra till after. THANKS for all the help you guys
ok so im ditching the canister. and possibly the skimmer. i found this online. what you guys think? Protean_400 i have a place to put it as well.
so im ditching the canister. maybe even the protien skimmer?? i saw this online..what you guys think?Protean_400