First tank

[jellygirl]

I have a 35g long tank that i got about a week ago. This is my first tank and i want to do it right. I have sand and 18g of premaid water i got from someone in the tank. I have a powerhead in there keeping the water moving and im keeping the lights on from noon til about 11 at night. Im going to get some live rock in the tank in a week from tomarrow. Hopefully let the tank cycle how long should i wait before putting livestock in i always thought 4-6 weeks. Should i wait that long? I really wanted to put in a shrimp or hermits before i get fish or anything. Or should i just go with damsels at fisrt?

[papagimp]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11095576#post11095576 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jellygirl
and 18g of premaid water i got from someone in the tank.

? uh....LOL.

4-6 weeks is an estimated average of time to cycle the tank, if you get good quality live rock that's fully cured, expect this time to drop, if you get uncured rock, expect this time to probably go up some. YOu'll most likely want a clean up crew in their prior to adding fish and whanot, but wait until the tank has cycled. I wouldln't recommend starting with damsels, just cycle the tank and do it right from the start, nothign sucks worse than trying to catch out an evil damsel fish that you stuck in there "temporarily".
Do you have an actual gameplan as of right now or just researching? Theres tons of ways to go about setting up a reef/saltwater tank and figuring out exactly how you think you want it done now can save alot of money later on. Get an idea of all the equpiment, and setup idea's you ahve been thinking of, and post here. Lot's of us here to give advice and feedback.

[jellygirl]

Well i already have lighting and a temporary hangon filter. When i get the money Im going to get a protein skimmer from the guy that sold me the tank. The guy has probably everything im going to need for the tank to be successful im just having to do everything slow for money reasons. I just feel kinda weird everytime i see him swamping him with a million questions thats why i decided to ask some on here. I had everything narrowed down to what i wanted with the tank. I'm really interested in coral and especially clams! Im going to do some softies. Maybe one day sps but ive heard they are hard to keep alive and expensive.

[papagimp]

What type of lighting? what type of skimmer are you getting?

Sps can be a little more involved but keep in mind that if you are wanting a clam, you'll probably wind up with a system that'll handle sps as well. (depending on the clam species of course, some can handle lower lights but many that are kept need high lighting)

Have you looked into a sump/refugium yet? Can't recommend a refugium enough, it can make a world of difference with your tank and water quality. The DIY forum has so many different ideas that will helps save loads of money if you're willing to invest the time (alot of the DIY projects such as building a sump/fuge are actualy quite simple and easy to do)

[jellygirl]

i have pc lighting with moonlights and dualfans. Im not sure what kind of protein skimmer it is but ill find out. the tank is drilled with a hole in the bottum and pvc going through it for a undertank sump but i dont know if ill get one yet if i do it would be next year before i could

[jellygirl]

The guy that sold me the tank was using it and upgraded to 120g he has lots of coral and i think 3 clams and some fish. He said that he had his coral and clams under the lighting he sold me and they did just fine. He said the lighting was good enough for any just about any coral plus the tank isnt very deep.

[kaihonu82]

Don't bother with damsels. They might speed along the process of cycling the tank although there are a lot of people out there who call this unethical. I just think they're just a big pain in the a**. They're quite aggressive and you won't want them after you start getting different fish. They can be really difficult to get out of your tank after you put one in as they'll swim in and out of the rock work especially if you're chasing them with a net. Don't bother with them.

Why do you only have 18gal of water? I'd recommend buying at least 35lbs of live rock (to start, u should add more later) and filling the rest of the tank. Let it sit and cycle, lights aren't 100% necessary and would likely cause ugly algae blooms.

[jellygirl]

Well the guy i got it from told me that when i get the rock that is going to take up a large amount of the volume of the tank. He said just wait til i get the rock in the tank and if i need more water he could make it. He also said if i want to speed up the process to throw in a raw shrimp and it would help the bacteria grow. Dont i need the lights on to keep the bacteria alive though?

[WaterKeeper]

Hi Jelly,

This may help you on your undertaking The New Tank Thread (http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=239848).

:hmm2:
I wonder if I should use the word "undertaking" when helping a Newbie start a tank? ;)

[jellygirl]

Next friday when i get paid i plan on getting as much rock as i can afford, letting the tank cycle til after christmas that would give me plenty of time to get more money and go from there. I've always love maroon clowns... are they pretty good fish? Not to hard to keep alive or aggressive?

[kaihonu82]

maroon clowns are very cool fish and often easily host an anenome. but they are pretty aggressive and can grow kinda big.

[jellygirl]

Well the guy has a real small yellow tang that was in the tank before he upgraded he said he would sell it to me. I thought tangs needed a lot bigger tank but he said he had it in that tank previously and it did fine. Im really hopign for the clowns though!!!!

[papagimp]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11095882#post11095882 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jellygirl
He said the lighting was good enough for any just about any coral plus the tank isnt very deep.

I understand a 35g isn't very deep, but this sounds more like a sales ploy than anything, while it is possilbe to keep a wide variety under PC's, I'd not make the claim that you can keep just about any coral. PC's are what many of us consider the bare minimum for any coral that requires lighting. But it's possible, I'd have to know the size of the bulbs, how many of each, blah blah blah and ect. ect. Defaintly sounds like a solid start for your own tank though. I started off with pc's and was glad i did, altough I"m much happier since I've gone with "high lighting" instead.

[petoonia]

I had PC lighting on my first tank. It did really well with things like mushrooms, hammer coral, and xenia. I personally wouldn't try and keep any SPS, clams, or anemones under PC lighting. I would also find out how old the light fixture is, and when the bulbs were last changed. You dont need to run the light at all for now. Once you get your live rock then slowly start using the light, add an hour to the cycle every few days. This has always worked well for me. Make sure you have a heater on the tank when you get your rock.

I also would not put any tang in a 35 gallon tank. Maroon clowns can be aggressive, so you might have trouble when they get bigger if you plan on keeping any other fish in the tank.

Personally I would get a pair of ocellaris, or percula clowns. Then you could probably have about 2 (maybe 3) more fish. A blenny, goby, or firefish, would be some good choices.

Wait until the tank cycles, add your clean up crew. Then start thinking about adding fish. Then eventually you can get started with corals. I would start out with mushrooms, or polyps.


Good luck, also I would fill the tank up, you can always remove the extra water when you need to.