My first salt tank what do you think

SahuaritaMike · #1 06/26/2006, 09:12 PM

This is month 2 of my first salt tank. Tell me what you guys think. I know the first comment will be the rocks on the glass I plan on changing and adding more LR. any suggestions would be great thanks.

sorry the pics are not good its my phone with the camera.

Michael

fishaholic911 · #2 06/26/2006, 09:25 PM

Looks like your off to a great start!!!!

jeasley · #3 06/26/2006, 09:28 PM

Just make sure to go slow on adding fish until you have more rock. Take it slow and things will go well.

Looks like a nice start to me!

Satori · #4 06/26/2006, 09:30 PM

You're off and running! You're right though, a little more rock and slightly different aquascaping will do wonders. What size tank is it?

SahuaritaMike · #5 06/26/2006, 09:33 PM

Its a 50gal
80lbs of LS
40-50lbs of LR
Gramma
perc
6line
firfish
prpleback dotty

I bought a 10gal tank to buy rock and start curing it so I dont add it premature

superman1013 · #6 06/27/2006, 11:42 AM

Very nice start...

kscrimshaw · #7 06/27/2006, 11:42 AM

Good plan to cure the rock before adding to the display tank. How much more rock will you be adding? Another suggestion: try putting the rock into piles, rather than just laying it down. Fish, esp the ones you have, like lots of little hidey holes and caves.

BonesCJ · #8 06/27/2006, 08:15 PM

Agreed, I have much the same fish as you do and they are constantly popping in and out of caves. They do however seem to spend more time out in the open when there are retreats close by, this is especially true for my yellow tang.

fishaholicWife · #9 06/27/2006, 10:35 PM

Better than I would have done with my first tank. Good thing Gary is in charge.

cerreta · #10 06/27/2006, 10:43 PM

Mike, welcome to the hobby. You actually have enough rock to work with at this time. I agree wtih the above. You just need to rework the aquascape.

Since you already have water in the tank, building a pvc rack is probably out, but it is an idea. I will see if I can draw a couple schematics for you and repost.

What are the tank dimensions? I like keeping rock off the back wall, however, if you have a narrow tank it is best to stack against the wall for extra space in the front and support.

SahuaritaMike · #11 06/27/2006, 10:47 PM

haha my other half thinks im like a genious good thing I read (red)some books and she doesn't know about reefcentral (where I got all my GOOD advise from). I will stick with the phrase "See honey I have a blue thumb"

SahuaritaMike · #12 06/27/2006, 10:48 PM

Its a 50gal and all I know is its 48" wide I gotta get my tape measure to get the exact dimension but any help you could give me would be great thanks.

cerreta · #13 06/27/2006, 11:33 PM

OK Mike, here are some schematics.

The idea here is to place your big rocks on the bottom and smaller on top. You want to be sure and push the rock down to the glass. This will keep your aquascape stable and prevent it from shifting in the future. Also, think caves! Don't stack rock tight on top of others. Try to stagger the rock and make open spaces. This will make the tank look fuller and give room for the fish to play hide and seek.

Do not stack the bottom rock against the glass. Bring them into the open and 4-6 inches from the sides. Let the upper layers of rock lean against the back glass if necessary for support, but try to avoid it if you can.

Remember to stack rock upwards. Ideally the highest points should be 6-8 inches from the top of the tank. This design is taller on the left than the right side.

This is a very nice design that you should have plenty of rock for. Save the largest rock for the right side, single rock island. On top of this island place your nicest coral, or in the future buy a nice coral on a rock and stack it here. On the left side stack all the other rocks. The red is a base layer, the black is midlevel, and the blue is upper layers.

This is by far my favorite design, but you need a wide tank to do it. I tried to do it in my 18" wide tank and did not have enough room. But, I use very big rocks.

cerreta · #14 06/27/2006, 11:35 PM

Mike, it is likely a 48x12x20. See how these work out for you.

BTW, if you need rock to wedge into the sand and raise up your good rock, try buying lace rock or dryrock. It is cheap and will work well for this purpose.

SahuaritaMike · #15 06/28/2006, 12:42 AM

thanks as if I didn't spend enough time with my tank now I am even more excited about seeing what kind of changes to make one question though will my fish get stressed with the move or should I take them out and put them into another tank while I change the rock around.

kscrimshaw · #16 06/28/2006, 10:24 AM

They would probably be more stressed by you trying to catch them! LOL. Seriously, though, they should be fine. Mine have survived several avalanches and dust storms.

cerreta · #17 06/28/2006, 12:05 PM

I agree with Karen. The fish will get more stressed if you chase them.

I would put some water into a bucket and place your corals in there. Then redo the aquascape and then replace the corals.

This prevents the corals from getting stressed and or broken when stirring things up in the tank. When the change is done, put the corals back, unless it is real cloudy. If cloudy run your filters for an hour or so to clear things up first.

Have fun and post some pics after you do it. Which diagram do you think you will try?

SahuaritaMike · #18 06/28/2006, 06:44 PM

I think I like the last one the best.

cerreta · #19 06/29/2006, 01:05 AM

Yeah me too, but it may be a challenge in a 12" narrow tank. If you use little rocks with the section that jets out, then it may work. When will you try?

SahuaritaMike · #20 06/29/2006, 08:37 AM

I will give it a shot this weekend sometime. Hey quick question I won't be able to make this frag thing are there any reefers that sell frags from their tanks on like a normal basis. I believe I only have a PC system 2 whites and 2 blues so I guess I would need corals that do well with moderate lighting. I am interested in almost anything since I plan on setting up another tank very soon. Thanks

Michael

Roll221 · #21 06/30/2006, 08:56 AM

I have to chime in here... Mike if you like the way the rock works looks I would leave it alone. It looks really natural to me and with the 12inches to work with you are going to find if hard to come up with more then a straight wall looking reef. I like what you have. There is a fish store here in Iowa City that have 8ft x 8ft shark tank with huge Bat fish in it in which has the entire bottom covered in only rubble rock. Looks like the fish is just cruseing over the top of a huge reef.

Ed

cerreta · #22 06/30/2006, 06:28 PM

Hi Ed! When do you get to play in your new million gallon reef?