New to the hobby

Jdouglas88

Jdouglas88

Reefing newb
Need some advice.. I want to know if I am doing it right.

So let me begin, I have recently decided with my newly acquired time that I would take up the hobby. I have a 10 gal that i am using to get the hang of the idea of a salt water aquarium and a 75g that i will eventually set up.I have done a lot of reading on the subject books, internet, forums ect...

What I have set up right now is the 10 gallon with a HOB filter and about 8-10 pounds of live rock small which i believe to be cured. 2 fish, clown around an inch long, and a basslet that is just over an inch. A good sized Cleaner Shrimp and 2 small blue legged hermits. a 3 inch Anemone. some polops on the left side of the tank. and a small piece in the middle. and 2 pieces of rock being held together by coral..
The food i have right now for the 2 fish is dry flakes thinking about changing. does not seem my clown is eating much.

10g tank

Temp 75
hydometer reading 1.028
Ammonia .25ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm
PH 8.0

Questions:

1. I have attached some pictures of my progress, how does everything look so far? are there any things that look like i am not doing correct? :)

2. Are there any other water tests i should be preforming that i have not listed.

3. My Anemone has taken a position in the sand against the glass and one of its arms has some spots on it. is that alright?

4. The coral in the middle attached to the live rock seems healthy but when i moved it a few minutes ago it started to send off these white strings.. is that normal?

5. the smaller pieced of live rock that are at the sides of my tank started pretty white and are not starting to adapt some colour. I assume this is good?

6. my clown fish does not seem to be eating the dry fish flakes.. even when I crush them pretty small. what can I do?

Thanks so much in advance, I am looking forward to being an active member of this forum.

- Jordan
 

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Well I can only help a little bit...
Your salinity is a little high... I would aim for 1.026 or so...
Your tank looks great! And it is definitely a good sign that your rock is getting some color.
Sorry I can't help more... and welcome to the site!
 
Nice looking tank. I wondering how transferring to the larger tank will go. I'm new too so I couldn't help :) lucky you have a 75 gal. How much you pay for it?
 
ErinCahir: Thanks I will do that :)

Rufio808: Thank you, and the 75 gal I payed $150(from someone on kijiji) with 2 seeming cheap 60gal/h HOB filters(Including the 10). looking into a hang on protein skimmer for that. Im sure ill be posting a whole new set up questions when I start setting that one up.
 
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+1 Erin on the Salinity

How long has your tank been set up?

#1 go away from the flakes... they will just end up with excess decay creating nitrates... Go with frozen Brine or Mysis Shrimp.

3 fish seems like rather much for a 10g, (= high bioload) however I have a feeling between the HOB filter and live rock you should have a decent bacteria population(hopefully >_<)

The last 2 could be reason for your reading ammonia. Keep an eye on that if it continues to go up it could start to be lethal. which leads me to my next point.
^(Do water changes in even of an emergency, test frequently if it is of concern)^

Around here we don't recommend Anemones until you have a well established tank (~1 year old). Mainly because they are kinda sensitive and if they die can nuke the tank killing everything..

Temp is not a huge issue but just make sure that it stays as stable as possible (+/- 2*)

Welcome to the Reef!
BTW, Tank looks great! You got some great looking LR there, prolly has tons of life on it! :)
 
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Thanks Ulta, ya frozen Brine was what i was thinking about going to this week. Also the tank is just over a month old. What should I do with that Anemone? keep and eye on it or sell it?
 
Oh, and the other test kits that you might want to look into next:

Phosphate (Should always read 0, can be pretty lethal to certain things and cause unwanted Algae growth if present)
Alkalinity
Calcium
 
Jdouglas88 said:
Thanks Ulta, ya frozen Brine was what i was thinking about going to this week. Also the tank is just over a month old. What should I do with that Anemone? keep and eye on it or sell it?
Click to expand...

Up to you but I would sell it, there are a number of corals that give similar looks and won't kill everything if they die :shocking: Until you gain more confidence in the stability of your tank. New tanks tend to go through a lot of ups and downs until we get them just right :coolgleem

Not saying you couldn't do it... but its risky!
 
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+1 on the frozen food. My clown wouldn't touch flake food or dried brine. I put in some frozen mysis and he's gobbling down everything.
 
What kind of lights do you have over your tank?
Try frozen mysis.It has more of the nutrients your fish need.Brine is like giving them a candy bar.
Thats a good looking little tank.
 
Tank looks great! Instead of buying a HOB skimmer for your 10, if you plan on moving to the 75 soon, look at turning that 10 into a sump for the 75. Just a thought I like the sump for extra water volume plus it gets all the equipment out of the tank so you can see your fish and corals. BTW you could most likely get a bigger tank under the 75 if you go that route. Do you know what that coral is "that is hold the LR together"?:Cheers:
Oh yeah welcome to the sight.
 
yote: I do not know what kind of lighting or the wattage... umm the only indicator is a sticker on the light housing that says YING G108W..And thanks I will try the mysis.

andersoned14: I do not know what kind of coral it is acutally..? I have been trying to research and find out. also dont know what kind of polops are in the tank or what kind of anemone that is... :(. ya I was looking into the sump idea.. when i fist started researching it seemed a little much but now that i understand it more it seems like the better idea then a hang on skimmer.
 
lol ya thats exatly what I thought... Im thinking that i am going to ditch everything i got with that tank except the tank its self..

I am actually going to look into and order this week the stuff i need to buy for my 75 gal while I build a stand for it..

I have a few questions about that..

on my 75 Gal I am planning on buying a Rena Filstar XP2 ... now is it possible to use this as my only filter? and do I require a skimmer to go along with this? I plan on having a reef with fish set up.

and I am obviously going to need to replace the lighing it came with... any sugestions?
 
So if I updated to a 55 gal could I use my 20 as a sump? Would it be cheaper than just buying a overhanging filter? Sorry I'm totally new to the whole sump / refuge deal.
 
You can use the 20 for a sump refugium. If you can though, you should try and use the biggest tank that you can fit under your stand.
 

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