Don't laugh....

[Ryan]

....because I'm a rookie and I always will be a rookie at this. Some more pics. Protein skimmer up in the upper right and the close up of the skimmer is from the back. Let me know any sugestions you might have. Willing to go get whatever I need to get. Tested water and all levels seem to be dead on including salinity.

609

610

611

 

[dustin_P74]

the tank is looking good, how much live rock is that, and it has some really nice coraline growth on it

 

[Ryan]

About 17 pounds worth. Adding it slowly. More will be stacked and probably rearranged depending on the rock obviously. Thanks again for the help. Any suggestions Dustin? What do you think about the skimmer?

 

[dustin_P74]

if you buy cured live rock you dont have to add slowly you can just throw it all in there, and you can also buy base rock and throw all you want in there and be fine since there is nothing on it and base rock usually runs you about 1-3 dollars a pound.

 

[Ryan]

Yep, all cured rock from my local store. My friend has a 75 gallon reef and looking to down size to a 45 gallon. He told me that he'd give me a steal on his live rock so I'm waiting to see what he has to offer instead of paying a boat load per pound. Just thought I would get it started with this though.

 

[dustin_P74]

well until you get the rest of your LR i wouldnt add anything else to your tank since there is little biological filtration in there

 

[Ryan]

Yes, nothing more will be added to the tank until I get more live rock.

 

[cthegame]

Looks great.

 

[yote]

The tank looks good.I can barely see the skimmer,but it looks like its producing pretty good bubbles.
Now a little tip to help save some cash.
Look at some dry base rock.Its a lot cheaper than live rock.And since you've already got some live rock,it wont take long for the base to become live.

 

[Bifferwine]

I think it looks great. You're off to a good start!

 

[RyanG]

Its looking like you are off to a good start. If I were you I would start looking into upgrading from that surface skimmer. Itll tide you over for a while but wont handle much of a bioload.

 

[Ryan]

Sounds good Ryan. How long would you say I have? Do you think I could go until Christmas with usual water changes like I did today with the RO water?

 

[RyanG]

What is your livestock? If you are diligent and keep up with weekly water changes, making sure to blow or suck off the detrious on the rocks and subtrate, you could probably go longer than that. Just make sure you monitor your nitrates(dropper test like refered in other thread). If you start seeing them getting above say 20ppm then you need to do more frequent changes.

 

[Ryan]

5 snails, 1 arrow crab, 1 hermit crab, and 1 peppermint shrimp. Thanks Ryan.:Cheers:

 

[Bifferwine]

If you add fish sparingly and not too fast, you can definitely make it until December. In a small-ish tank like yours, lots of people rely on water changes very heavily since water parameters can be hard to keep in check.

 

[Ryan]

Won't be adding fish soon. Taking my time at it.

 

[yote]

If you stay with small fish,you could probably even make it till tax time.