just want to know how im doing

[shimin]

Ok I'm gonna cover everything about my tank and there is a lot of ?s in there but if someone doesn't have something to say that will help me fix the problem and/or learn from it please don't post so here we go tank is 48l x18w x22t 90g 3-6 in of sand around 100 lbs of rock (alot mabe half is in the sump)sump is 40g (only half full so 20g) return pump is 1050gph(-9 for head loss) skimmer is a DAS ex-2 (if you know anything about these please pm me) 2 powerheads 1 is 1000gph 1 is 850gph on a wave maker is cheap it runs the pumps at 90sec intervals that's my first ? How much flow is to much?and how would you spend $600 on pumps/wave maker I got my complete setup used and now I'm upgrading . I have a dozen or so hermit crabs 30ish various snails 4 blue green chromis (gusts what I cycled with ,1 pj cardinal ,1 yellow headed sleeper goby,1 harptail blenny 2 black and white clowns ,2 green emerald crabs and a brittle green star .I have been adding fish about every 2-4 weeks I just check my water every other day and my water has b een great amonia has only gone up to .1 when I added the clowns but was fine 2 days later no2 has been 0 no3 has been around 10 to 20 ph is 8.1 to 8.4 temp is 78 it was 80 for days sg is 1.024 to 1.026 ( its a little high but Its starting to stay at 1.024 calcium is at 500 I'm waiting for it to drop before I dose again ill add some pics but there taken from myok phone so they won't be that great ok so that's about it atm any feedback would be great or if I left something out let me know and this is from my phone so sorry for any misspelled works thanks for your time. Mike

 

[swannyson7]

Looks like you're off to a great start! I'm unfamiliar with that type of skimmer, so I can't really help you there, but I'm sure someone will chime in. As for pumps, a lot will depend on what type of corals you plan to keep. I know that in your lighting inquiry you had said that you plan to stick with mainly softies for now, but would like the option to add SPS later on. Softies generally do well in low-moderate flow, but the SPS will require moderate-high flow. The most important thing in the early stages of your tank is to ensure that you have flow throughout the entire tank to prevent the buildup of detritus in dead spots. By keeping the detritus suspended, it will allow your filtration to remove organics before they result in problems with your water parameters. Corals prefer random flow, which your wavemaker will help you acheive, but you will probably need a couple more powerheads than you currently have. I think you'd be surprised just how much flow you can put in your tank without any issues. FWIW, I have roughly 10,000 gph max flow in my SPS dominated 180g, provided by 2 MP40s (3000 gph each) 2 MP10s (1575 gph each) and QuietOne 6000 return (1660 gph before head loss). My 40B frag tank has about 3500 gph of flow from a mix of Maxijets, Koralias, and a Seio pump. Providing flow can be relatively inexpensive if you go the route of cheaper pumps with high flow, but can also cost a fortune if you go for programmable pumps with wavemakers like the Vortechs or Tunze pumps.

It sounds like your CUC is a good starting point for your size tank and you can add more as needed. Your parameters sounds pretty good, but your calcium level is a bit high. Most people shoot for around 450 with their calcium and the fact that it is that high makes me suspect that your alkalinity is a bit low (Calcium & alkalinity have an inverse relationship i.e. if Ca is high then alk is usually low and vice versa). If you plan on diving into SPS keeping, your Ca, Alk, & Mg will need to be stable or else you will likely lose pieces randomly with swings. As far as salinity goes, 1.026 is a common number for people to aim for with mixed reefs. Although many people keep their salinity lower in fish only systems, the corals benefit from the increased levels of trace elements found within the salt by raising the salinity to the magic number of 1.026. This isn't nearly as important with softies, but it will help with growth & color in SPS & LPS without requiring too much dosing of various additives.

 

[shimin]

Thanks again for another reply and yes my calcium is high my lfs said just add it you always need calcium so I did for a week then got a Ca test kit it was at 500 and I stopped adding its been awhile since I added ill just do another 10% water change and see and ill go get a alk test kit also thanks

 

[shimin]

No ones used a DAS bx2 skimmer?

 

[Saltgator]

Good start so far. No questions of your that I can answer that haven't been cover. Keep up the good work and all will be good.

 

[bigronbo]

I would say it is a start. i'd say you need a lot more rock.

 

[shimin]

Yes I am gonna get more mabe 100lbs just over time my lfs just got some crazy purple rock that would be great shelving he wants like $9 a pound but I'm try to trade a coke fridge for 40 lbs and I'm looking on Craigslist too any advice on buying live rock from someone ?I'm gonna test his water before I do anything

 

[islander84]

So far your off to a good start I would suggest that if you plan on keeping mostly sps in the future you might as well spend your money as if you were already keeping sps so that you dont buy equip twice..... and be wise when choosing live rock as you dont want to bring in any unwanted pest....ex: aptasia...majano....ich...flatworms...nudis....red turf algae...or any unwanted macro algae....theres alot of things that you have to watch out for when buying rock. Also place your rock based on what you will want your grown out reef to look like...

 

[shimin]

That's what I'm tryn to do islander84 its hard to see my big picture when I'm new and learn so much everyday my plans do include clams ,a purple vase sponge or mabe a Orange or blue sponge ,a bta of some sort and in the far far future a Mandarin

 

[islander84]

i would go through the sps forum and look at all the totm pics and get ideas do as much reading and research as you possibly can! Read all the threads where people have posted for help or had experienced problems with there sps tanks. Research and patience and youll get there.

 

[Me z]

The only thing I noticed is you dont mention where your makeup and top off water is coming from. If its from a tap and your just using a dechlorinator like prime thats a big no no considering most tap water has phosphate and nitrate. If you eventually want to keep sps you will need a good RO/DI filter. I have seen some beautiful sps that dont run anything but a fuge and regular water changes with a good RO/DI unit, they dont even run a skimmer. Also the best advice I have been given is take care of your water the corals can take care of themselves. Also you need to check your magnesium level it should be in the ball park of 13-1400 with your calcium that high. If your mag is low your calcium and alk will do the yo yo and go up and down on you. Where you dont have any kind of a load for calcium on your tank put down the supplements and just do water changes with a good salt that has high calcium I try not to recommend brands. Getting started always hurts the pocket book but is well worth it in the end. Good luck!

 

[shimin]

All water is ro/di and salt is warner marine I'm gonna get some more test kits I think I only need mag mabe 1 more I have a shopping list for when I get paid lol your right about start up costs wow I never would have thought " a fish tank" could be this costly but well worth every penny

 

[Me z]

seems like youve done your homework and you arent afraid to do things right. U will succeed. U should post some pics of your tank.

 

[shimin]

I'll post pics later tonight

 

[shimin]

pics

Ok these are off my phone so there not the best also I just upgraded my lighting and have not had time build a new canopy so there just sitting on 2x4s atm some pics are under 1/2 lighting and it looks more blue I don't like it like that was but some do so enjoy

 

[shimin]

O and I have some black sand mixed in the white if it looked funny I'm slowly adding more black till I get the ratio I want

 

[tomle]

good start so far