3 week old 46g bowfront

[Cinaed]

Hi everyone,
This is my first tank and its only a few weeks old. So far I only have a peppermint shrimp in it to keep the aiptasias at bay.

Still need to upgrade the lightning then Im planning on putting some anemones and clownfish in there, and a maybe a crab or something if I can find something I like that wont eat eachother.

[DaChrisDude]

Welcome to the boards. :)

I'd definitely take your time, go slow. Read everything you can. Get an idea what you might like to have in your tank, then research how to take care of it. Feel free to ask questions, but first use the 'search' tool here on the boards to make sure someone else didn't ask the same thing a day an a half before... :rolleyes: ;) ;)

You'll definitely want to hold off on putting an anenome in there for a little while. Research "cycling" a tank....

[Noob]

youll have fun gaurantee it!.. just make sure you dont make the same mistakes as me.

I once wanted a 400 Watt MH for a 40 gallon tank :cool: I didnt know why i needed it I thought the more lighting THE BETTER.

make sure you get 3-5 wats per gallon in your tank

and top off with FRESH HUMAN RO DRINKING WATER DIONIZED.

I used to top off with salt water :cool: Man was i IN for it....

thats why I M THE NOOB.

[TripleP]

Welcome to SDREEFS!!!!!

looking good. like Chris said wait to put Anemone in you tank. I waited about a year. but most people wait about 6 months

[Cinaed]

its almost done cycling Im fairly sure. Ammonia spiked after the first week and is down to 0.1 already, nitrite has spiked and down to 0.1 as well but nitrate hasnt budged yet =/
trying to wait another week or so to be sure before I add anything else but staring at the water is getting old fast :p

As for the anemone Id need better lighting first anyway which i cant afford after yet buying the whole setup at once =x

[DaChrisDude]

staring at the water is getting old fast :p


Lol, yes, that's true...

Anenome's for whatever reason seem to be especially fickle. They need a long-established tank to live.

[Redeye]

I would add more LR IMO

Get a black stealth heater, so you don't have to stare at that ugly thing, they blend right into the black background

The more LR the better Denitrification

start doing water changes every few days to get those nitrates down

and get ready for the algae blooms!

[Nick_Kun]

I know its boring looking at an empty tank but patience pats off in the long run.

[Redeye]

Sucks alot more to take the time to find that one coral you gotta have, forking out $60, just to pull a deal skeleton out in 2 days

wish I had this forum when i got started...i would drive a nicer car...

[Cinaed]

More live rock? =/
Spent a good 5 hours trying to get the 50 pounds set up how I liked it Id cry if I had to do that again with a few more pieces lol

[BigAir]

More live rock? =/
Spent a good 5 hours trying to get the 50 pounds set up how I liked it Id cry if I had to do that again with a few more pieces lol

Grab a beer and cry some more. Reef tanks really do need a decent amount of LR.

[Cinaed]

hehe, well I cant really afford anymore LR atm anyway, does it matter if I add the new rock later (but still before the fish)?

[coral diver]

Welcome to the hobby and the group word of advice its addicting and we have meeting and coral frag swap (sale) here in tha south county next weekend my sugestion is for you to attend you'll learn alot of thing regarding the hobby check the LOUNGE section for details. this invitation is for all members

[FlipCyd]

is that really 50lbs.? make sure when u buy lr it loses some water, otherwise u end ep paying for saltwater. u should add it before u add fish and let it sit for a while. even cured live rock needs some time for die off.

[Cinaed]

yeah it was around 50ish, dont remember exactly but it was more than 1 pound per gallon so I thought it would be ok.
Bought half of it from one store and the other half from another to try and get some variety with the stuff growing on/in it too.

there are 2 big slabs half buried in the sand you cant see in the pics covering about 80% of the bottom right under the sand

[mramc3]

i got a 46Bow front also.. welcome to the BOW FRONT CLUB!!! I just had a green bubble tip anemone.. that cruised into my powerhead this morning. POS! I did a 50% water change and everything seems copestic. Hold off on the anemone till your tank is more established. I would invest in some hermit crabs (they eat up the algae bloom) and some nass. snails. They will keep your sand clean.

[swissfish]

Welcomme

LR:

Look at it this way. If you get more rock you'll have more places to put corals :)

Btw I started with the same amount of rock as you and just added piece by piece after the tank was cyceled and half stocked with fish and corals. Just don't add huge amounts at one time, that your existing LR can handle the denitrification.

[Cinaed]

well, I borrowed some money and got another 15 pound rock. fits perfectly between 2 of the pieces i already had.
Also found a baby starfish in my tank when i was putting the rock in :D no idea what kind it is though, its greenish/greyish with 6 arms, tips of the arms are white. if that gives anyone some ideas?

ill post a pic soon and hopefully someone knows what it is?

[onad75]

WELCOME !! Cinaed

[Som1else]

Look for LR from people on the boards, it usually goes from $2-$3 a pound somtimes more somtimes less. Same thing for livestock and corals.

[mramc3]

if you are looking for another chunk I have some. 5-10lbs. I am in Otay Ranch.

[Cinaed]

well i got more live rock like redeye suggested, rearranged it a bit and added the cleaning crew.

still haven't decided for sure what kind of fish i want to put in it =/

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/4531/tank51607biglu4.jpg



has anyone had any problems with snails getting in their protein skimmers? one of my astrea snails keeps getting into it, thinking i might need a screen or something to cover the opening where it pours back in the tank?

[iVgOnMaD]

I have a eurobraced tank and the water is right up to the rim so my snail walk around the glass and hang out on top of the tank for a while.

[fishfinger]

I stacked up all of my LR so that it hides almost all of the hardware,pumps etc. It 's a major pain when somethimg has to come out or be serviced but for me I can't stand looking at the pumps and hoses etc. None of my rock is pegged together. Just stacked so that removal is easy. I even went so far as to add an extension hose to my skimmer powerhead so that it sat down near the bottom behind the rock. Then I ran an extension onto the inlet so that it still skims the water from the top of the tank. I dred the day when the pump needs work. lol.
Anyway add stuff slowly like eveyone says. You will save yourself a lot of grief and money. Wish I had know about this place when I started also. But I had some good books and very few real problems. Waiting for all of the various algea blooms to cycle out was the most frustrating part for me. I ended up getting a cheap back up tank for curing live rock and isolating stuff that I bought so I could check it for parasites before adding it. That helped a lot. Here is my 37 gal. I can hardely wait to get a bigger one!!!!!

http://i19.tinypic.com/6h60lkk.jpg

[onad75]

nice tank fishfinger, i like that yellow accessor.

[Vayder1]

Nice Tank! Now that you're full are you content, or like me and have to upgrade to a large tank?

[fishfinger]

Nice Tank! Now that you're full are you content, or like me and have to upgrade to a large tank?
Well I was content for about a week. Then I wanted a bigger reef......lol. I have a 125 fish only. a 50g freshwater Discus tank. a 29 reef back-up iso tank and a 29 with a 20 gals refug that I am experimenting with in the garage as sps only tank . Now I am running out of room and time and money to manage it all..........So I think I will sell the big fish tank and the two 29s. and get a 120 reef.........or something like that. It's out of control...lol
Have to run now and do all of my weekly water changes, then work on my motorcycles, water my garden and get ready for the work week and fishing for 3 days next weekend. Life is short.......work and play hard guys.