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bcool22

Fishy McFish's alot
Hello everyone,

My name is Brandon, I just got into Salt water tanks about a year ago. I started out with a 30 gallon tank and it failed horribly. My live rock is still alive and my Fish are doing ok. However everything else just want to Hell. I blamed it basically on the crappy filters I used sometimes cheap is not always best.

So Basically a friend gave me a 42 gallon Hex tank and I decided to almost start completely over. I have the basic stuff setup right now. My filter system is a Fluval G6 a 250 heating element which seems to be keeping the water at about 79-80 degrees F. 40lbs of Live sand. That is my setup right now. My conductivity is about 45% right now which for those Gravity people is about 1.022. I am going to get it to 1.024 mind you this tank is only 3 days old at this point. I use RO water and put my own salt in it. The flow rate of the Fluval is 600 so I do not have a power head in it as of yet. From my research 502 is ideal or 12 per gallon. I am alittle above that so I am going to leave it there for now.

What will be added.
1 Marine Fusion Truelemen LED light setup
1 Medic dosage system with a 3 gallon supply. (Manual no float valve yet)
approx. 42lbs of Live rock (Fiji)
2 Clown fish (Mated pair)
3 Engineer gobies

My goal is to have a complete reef tank with a few fish in it. I don't wanna go fish crazy but I do like to see them moving around. Coral is my biggest issues my last tank just killed everything even after I did the Kalk plus 2 stuff in there. Hense the reason why I am doing the Medic dosage system.

Here are a few pictures of what I have now. Suggest and comments are great!!

IMG_20110819_095241.jpg

IMG_20110819_095235.jpg

IMG_20110819_095225.jpg

 
Hello and Welcome!

I would highly suggest you do some more research and go back to the basics.

You dont need any type of mechanical filter, you live rocks will be your primary filtration and you can add on a protein skimmer for additional filtration.

I dont know why you are already planning on dosing. You should only be dosing what you test for and have a proven need of. 90% of people have no need to dose. Regular water changes are more than enough to keep all of your levels in check. It sounds like you overdosed in your last tank causing the crash of your tank, and im sure the filters didnt help your case either.

For water movement, you should use a powerhead and you want your tank to be turned over around 40x per hour.

you are also going to want 1-2 lbs of rock per gallon in there. You can get mostly dry rock (way cheaper) and just a piece of live rock to seed the dry rock and then all of it will become live rock in no time flat.

Also make sure that the LEDs will actually support a reef. I have seen lots of really cool looking but totally useless LED kits and fixtures.

Also you are limited to 1 small fish for every 10 gallons, especially in new tanks. And you should only be adding one fish every three weeks, a pair of clowns being the exception. Also multiple gobies will fight to the death, so only put in one.

Here are some good articles for you to read to brush up on the basics:
https://www.livingreefs.com/basic-equipment-list-t19611.html
https://www.livingreefs.com/cycling-tank-adding-fish-and-corals-t26452.html
https://www.livingreefs.com/water-chemistry-t31270.html
https://www.livingreefs.com/why-using-tap-water-bad-idea-t19865.html

I hope that helps and we get you on track to building the reef of your dreams!
 
+1 little fish
Welcome to the site! Don't be afraid to ask questions, lots of people here with tons of experience can set you on a path to success.
 
Little_fish, Thanks so much for all your supported information.

Maybe I should go into alittle detail about what happened with my other tank. I started out with the basic tank with a T5 light and a Protein skimmer at the suggestion of many people and some research. I did about 17lbs of Live rock cause at the time I did not know about dry rock I do know now. The Protein skimmer failed to work at all and I then replaced it with a basic filter with a Bio ball in it. It was made for my tank size actually larger but then it broke down some how and instead I just purchased another one that was perfect for the tank. That failed to deliver and successful growth of anything. My lighting was set to 10 hours of day light and 0 light at night. I then decreased it to only 8 hours of light at the suggestion of many hobbies-ts. Nothing besides the fish would live in there. Even after bi weekly water changes; doing 10% changes. Thus where I am at now.

As for the Fish they were in my 30 gallon tank and are still there until I move them over. They have been doing just fine with each other. When I bought the gobies they where all in the same tank together and I kinda had the heart thing happen and did not just wanna buy 1 so I bought all 3 like they where family. I know that is not likely but who knows they seem to get along just fine. As for adding more fish I do not intend to. Maybe a cleaner shrimp and a few inverts.

As far as the equipment is concerned the only reason why I have the dosage medic is for evaporation as well as if I do need to dose at all I would use it for that. The only time I actually dosed anything on my 30 gallon was when the water test came back needing alittle added. The LED is designed specific for Marine and Reef tanks I made sure of that. Has the 12k Diamond white and the 8k Blue aquatic light.

My concern really is if I should add the Powerhead I do have a 500 powerhead if need be but the Flow rate on the G6 is rather High at 600 so not sure if I should add more. My research says that with reef tanks to high a flow rate is not really a bad thing.

any other suggestions for anything?
 
What kind of protein skimmer did you get? There are lots of crappy skimmers out there. Also, you really should avoid those mechanical filters and bio balls. Unless you are cleaning them every 3 or 4 days they are going to cause you problems down the road.

Also you should be adding pure water for evaporation, not more saltwater or dosed water.

It really sounds like water quality issues are preventing you from keeping anything other than fish. I highly suggest you start this tank off fresh, and dont add any of that fancy equipment. Just stick to your water changes.

8 or 10 hours of light is fine, the two extra hours arent going to hurt or help anything at that point.

Also more flow is always better, the ocean is never still and neither should your tank

If the fish are already living together than i wouldnt worry about it, but i wouldnt add any new fish, that is already a ton of fish for your sized tanks.
 
Yea I was not going to add any more fish in the tank just inverts that is all. I think that might of been a big problem with what I had before. No inverts so the tank got over run that problem is going to be fixed. The skimmer was crappy. The Bio stuff is not a bio ball it is bio media in the Fluval I will take pictures of it. From the reviews of owners and actual people who are on the fluval forums I am on the right track for now. I want to see how this thing works it is actually really nice and works wonders. It actually tests my water for me for gravity and temperature as well as it reminds me if I have to replace a filter which is really what I need. I guess I had such a bad experience with the protein skimmer I dont wanna attempt using another one.

As for the Flow I will actually add my power head as your right about the ocean so I am good with that.

And dosing wise I always used fresh RO water never added salt to my tank unless the gravity was low then I just dosed it
 
Not having any inverts wont cause any issues, many people run fish only tanks.

Also, i am very suspicious of your filter and i would like to know what the actual test results are for your water.

Do you know what your nitrates are at?
 
little_fish said:
Not having any inverts wont cause any issues, many people run fish only tanks.

Also, i am very suspicious of your filter and i would like to know what the actual test results are for your water.

Do you know what your nitrates are at?
Click to expand...

Since it is only really 2 days old I have not done a nitrate Test yet. I am going to check it tomorrow or sunday once the gravity level is stable. Unless you have a different suggestion.
 
Ah yeah I have not checked that maybe I will check that at the same time I check the new tank. hmm did not think about that.
 
so I wanted to do my water test lastnight and I completely forgot that is what happens working in my profession and working till midnight then having to come back in at 8 am. I am going to do it tonight when I go home. But my New tank is looking great it is at 47% conductivity which is about 1.024 gravity and it has been stable for about 6 hours now. That is the great part about the Fluval it actually records and keeps that information for me.
 

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