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littleyea1

littleyea1

Reefing newb
Hi my name is Fred, I have a 29 gallon tank that has been running for about 2 years, I have t5 lighting, as for fish I have a dog face puffer, 2 sergant majors that i caught over the summer, a snowflake eel. As for soft corals I have xenia, leather coral, and toadstoll which i just recently purchased. I have 3 enemones, one carpet and to atlantic. My puffer seems to not eat them wich is good. I have a urchin, and 2 turbo snails. In the past six months I started adding corals to my tank, I am not really profecient yet in treatment. I would like some suggestions on what i should add to my tank. I have never tested my water quality once, I have about 20 lbs of live rock and a protein skimmer and i hang on filter that are running. I guess I shoudl invest in some water quailty treatment chemicals, like calcium for my inverts and corals, but I dont know which ones, any suggestions? also will this lighiting work as far as giving my corals enough light to grow.?
Accommodates ultra efficient, high output T-5 lamps Included 1 x 39w 10000k blue and 1 x 39w 10000k white
1 switches and 1 power-cords Cool operation and NO noise
36"L x 5"W x 2.5" high
well I hope I get a response back and thanks again.
 
Welcome to the forum. It's amazing that you have your tank stocked so heavily and have never tested your water. It sounds like it must be ok, thats not to say it's ideal. A good test kit is a Must especially for a reef. Throw some pics on when you get a chance I'd love to see your tank.
 
Hi and welcome! The basic test kits you should have are pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, alkalinity and calcium. You should have a hydrometer or refractometer to test the salinity of the water also.

Once you test calcium, you can determine if you need to add a supplement. Lots of people don't need to supplement calcium unless they have a lot of SPS corals (which you don't).

Welcome to the site!
 
HPIM057899999ham.JPG
 
Sorry teh pictures aren't so good, but its all I have. The red cups are some frag pieces that I cut off to try and get them to stay on some rocks I picked out for them. I have a hydro meter so I always keep my salinity correct but as for everything else I'm new. I also had a question, wondering if salt water was better for you tank from the ocean then just mixing salt. I was talking to an aquarium guy and he said it is cheaper and better for your corals because its pretty much always the same and has nutrients already in it, and you dont have to worry about chlorine. He also stated that there are hardly any diseases though its possible but thats how he gets his water.
 
Welcome to the site.Biffs got you covered on the test kits and supplements.
You know that every one of those fish are eventually going to outgrow your tank right?
 
Collecting your own sea water is fine, as long as you get from as far away from the shore as possible (several hundred feet is recommended). There are tons of pollutants close to the shore, and the further out you get, the more diluted the pollutants are. You don't want oils/boat fuels and crap in your tank. Also, don't take it from the surface of the water, because that's also where pollutants will accumulate.

If you use RODI water, you don't have to worry about chlorine. You should never use tap water anyways.
 
Welcome to Living Reefs?

Out of curiosity,what are the three floating things and are those real algae plants?

Your lights should be good enough for lowish light corals like soft corals.I'm not sure if anything else will thrive in there.I am curious about one other thing.For a system two years old,there is usually tons of coralline algae but I see none.
 
yeah i think the coraline algea from what i see in other tanks is that pinkish algea on the glass am i right? i dunno why i dont i thoguht maybe that grows better with chem ical element people add tot here tank im not sure cause i definitly have not added anything.the cups are my make shift fragging i did for some new xenia i bought and a leather and a toadstool wich was small and tought the t5's would work better if the frags were in shallow water. and no the plants are the only thing not real besides the red cups holding the frags wich worked fine by the way cause all my frags attached to there rocks well and water flow was slowed down
 
Cool idea with the frag rack system.

It's so odd to not see calcium.You might to test calcium,alkalinity and magnesium if you choose to lean toward the reef aspect of the hobby.Your fine that most corals and corraline share the same needs in they all need calcium,alkalinity and mag at certain levels to survive and grow.
 

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