I'm a newbie and need as much help as possible

[clown4u]

I have my first saltwater tank! I have had freshwater tanks forever and finally had the chance to purchase an already established saltwater tank. Now I have so many questions..... The tank I purchased came with everything, including water! It is a 65 gal hexagon, tall tank. The fish are an Ocellarus Clown, Cinnamon Clown, Snowflake Eel, Tibicen (Keyhole) Angel, and a fish (which hangs out on the rock) I can't identify. It has about an inch of substrate and probably 25lbs of live rock. The filter is an Ehiem canister type. There is a protein skimmer, but it leaks and I need to replace the o-rings before I can use it. Now my questions..... The top half of the water is cloudy. How can I clear that up? How many fish will this tank accommodate and what type? Is there any other equipment I need to keep the tank healthy? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[slugwall]

Sounds like a nice setup! I would start by doing a 20% water change and check the stats of the water first and then wait an hour or so and check the stats of the water again. you could also get a couple of blowers to move the water around and mix it up a little. What type of filtration do you have? HOB or Sump? is there plenty of water movement at the top of the tank? is there an algae issue at all?

Hope this helps...

 

[Salty Dog]

for just fish for now just be sure your water tests out ok before adding live stock. Keep your tank at 77-78 degree's. If your tank is in a room were it is conditioned in the summer you should be good also. I would do one waterchange with RO/DI water and let the tank do what it has to do. When you test 0 ammonia, and low trates you can add 1-2 fish. make sure when adding fish to acclimate and add your most aggressive last

 

[clown4u]

Thank you for your response! I'm not sure what the filtration would be considered. It is a canister that sits under the tank. There is not an algea issue right now. I was thinking I probably needed a power head to move the water. How soon should I do a water change? I did have to add about 25% water when we moved it in.

 

[clown4u]

I don't have an RODI filter for my water. Can I purchase the test for ammonia and trates at the pet shop? It only came with the thing to test the salt level.

 

[jcharrsn]

RO or RODI water are pretty important because of the levels of phosphates and other undesirable dissolved organic material in regular tap water. Undesirables will inevitably lead to a nasty algae bloom. You should be able to find some sort of test strip or color change based chemical test at your local pet shop and if there is a good saltwater aquarium specialty store close by they will sometimes test the water for you. Otherwise there are a ton of places online where you can buy pretty much everything you need.

 

[slugwall]

Start with Ammonia/Nitrite and Nitrate test kits from anywhere to get you started, You can also purchase from you LFS a bottle of that gets rid of chemicles from your tap water. So when you add water (Water Change) or top off you add the additive and your water is some what safe for your aquarium.

 

[H2O]

Always use rodi water the rust from city mains is just to much for a reef to handle the canister filter needs the media changed ones a month make sure u use good media. I'm sure the filter got poly pads that need to be cleaned 2 a week .
Sounds like u have no flow in the tank witch is bad. Buy a power head make sure the top of the water is always moving this is where your fish get their oxygen from
Post some pics its easyer for people to help u if they see your set up .