New 40 Gallon Breeder...wish I knew about Reef Sanctuary before but too late now

JellyBean41

JellyBean41

Member
Love the Forum so much great reading!


The story goes family visits LPS, days go buy, dad lets get a fish tank, please dad can we have an aquarium? You know the deal.
So the IRS sends a nice direct deposit to bank and dad who was totlay taken buy the live corals says ok we can get a fish tank but only if we can have the salt water one to hold corals. :thumbup:

So on 3/13 family goes back to LFS to see what they recommend. We say we want some pretty corals, clown fish, and other small fish. OK a 40 gallon should do just fine.
  • 40gal GALSS BREEDER TANK
  • 40lb live cured rock (some right out of the displays)
  • 2 Bags of Carib Sea ARAG-ALIVE (indo-pacific Black)
  • 30gal SALT WATER (heated/filterd/well water)
  • 120w 2:1 BLUE/WHITE LED (84 blue / 35 white)
  • 150w HEAT STICK
  • MARINELAND PENGUIN 350B FILTER
  • HYDOR POWER HEAD
  • HYDROMETER / THERMOMETER
  • SEACHEM PRIME (70 drops day one)
  • SEACHEM STABILITY(4 caps day one / 2 caps per day for 7days)
The store is only 4 miles away we had the spot in the house all ready to go so the tank was up and running in less than an hour. After our Daughtergot off the school bus we went back to buy some live stock and more water and the deposits on 5-5gal containers...
  • 2.5 gal FRESH WATER + CONTAINER
  • 5 gal SALTWATER + CONTAINER
  • 2 BLUE CHROMIS FISH (one lost was in a rock alive day 2 but cant find now :(
  • 1 TINY YELLOW / ORANGE FISH
  • DAISY POLYPS ON A ROCK
  • MUSHROOM CORAL ON A ROCK
  • 10 HERMIT CRABS
  • 5 SNAILS
  • FLAKE FISH FOOD (AM one pinch PM one pinch)
  • SEACHEM PHYTOPLANKTON (2ml every other day)
  • ALGAE SCRAPER PAD

Yesterday We picked up an API Salt Water Test kit at Petco the #are
  • pH 8.0
  • AMMONIA 0.25ppm
  • NITRITE 0ppm
  • NITRATE 5.0ppm

Well thats it we love the tank, from reading on here not the ideal setup so please advise best route to take from here.

[video]http://s1203.beta.photobucket.com/user/131dude262/media/20130317_1227051.mp4.html[/video]

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nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
welcomefish.gif

to ReefSanctuary, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members
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Start a new tank thread & share your tank with us so we can follow along - we love pics :)

We all start somewhere & the great RS members will do all they can to help you have success :dance:
 
DianaKay

DianaKay

Princess Diana
RS STAFF
Hi JellyBean :wave: glad you joined us!
Get those posts going, excited to see your pictures.
This is a good place to share & learn. :biker
 
DianaKay

DianaKay

Princess Diana
RS STAFF
Looks good so far, You need to hold off on adding anymore livestock (corals or fish) until your tank has plenty of time to cycle through the ammonia & nitrite spikes as it will be hard on them to survive. Use your test kit & log it so you will know how your tank is progressing through it's cycle. This is exciting but you have to have lots of patience. :)
 
JellyBean41

JellyBean41

Member
DianaKay said:
Looks good so far, You need to hold off on adding anymore livestock (corals or fish) until your tank has plenty of time to cycle through the ammonia & nitrite spikes as it will be hard on them to survive. Use your test kit & log it so you will know how your tank is progressing through it's cycle. This is exciting but you have to have lots of patience. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info...How often should I test the water this first month?
 
DianaKay

DianaKay

Princess Diana
RS STAFF
JellyBean41 said:
Thanks for the info...How often should I test the water this first month?
Click to expand...

While your tank is going through it's beginning cycle, you should test the ammonia & nitrites pretty close to daily until they are at ZERO. After they both get to zero & you've gotten your nitrates to a safe level...Your tanks cycle should be done. If you miss a day of testing, it's OK...but test often so you will know how it's progressing.
Ammonia goes up, then down followed by nitrites going UP & back down & then a nitrate spike that you can reduce with a water change. Nothing happens fast, it's a long process. There's more reading on one of the forums here that explains in more detail. It's a "sticky" post so it's not hard to find. :eek:lsmile:
 
JellyBean41

JellyBean41

Member
Hey my tank is looking great!
pH 8.2
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrites 0 ppm
Nitrates 10ppm (was 20ppm till 5ga WC yesterday)
Its been the same test results 3 days streight is the cycle done?
My girls want some clown fish bad:heart::heart:
 
DianaKay

DianaKay

Princess Diana
RS STAFF
YAY JellyBean...can't wait to see your pair of clowns :bouncer:
That's what I got 1st too....and I L:heart:VE MY CLOWNS!
Just add very slowly (like Glenn advised) & enjoy the journey. Thanks for sharing your progress :)
 
DianaKay

DianaKay

Princess Diana
RS STAFF
Congrats on your Clowns: Very Pretty! I'm glad you found a pair that quick!
Your coral looks good too...going to look for me one like that :)
I'm going to my 1st frag swap at the end of this month, hope to find some nice corals.
 
JellyBean41

JellyBean41

Member
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My ammonia finally got back to 0 after adding my clowns and dropping half a square of shrimp type food in tank (oops). the ammonia went 0 .25 .25 .50 .25 .25 .25 0 so 8 days the nitrites NEVER BUDGED
My fish are all happy and are doing the twitching things to see whos boss so cute!
 
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