looking for help

[Tony Barrera]

Hello, I am new to this hobby and I sure could use some guidance. My kids surprised me with a fluval m90 tank/kit for my 60th birthday in September. I realize I should have searched out this information prior to tank setup in September , but...... I didn't. So, with some basic info from my local store I set up the tank. I decided to setup a reef tank. The tank seems to be running fine, but I have many concerns and don't know where to find the answers. Do I buy a book? What book? different people have different opinions.
The tank is a 37 gallon tank however with the back portion sectioned off, there is actually only 27 gallons of actual tank space. I currently have about 40lbs of live rock, a half dozen fish, a half dozen corals, anemone, snails, and crabs over the last few months. All my levels are holding fine. Here are my questions.
1) Do I have too much rock?
2) The kit only comes with a skimmer and a circulation pump. Do I need a filter system? It seems I am just circulating the same dirty water? The skimmer motor has gotten plugged twice from waste. I have been able to clean clean out.
3) Seems the skimmer is awful slow removing water. I see minor film floating on the surface of the water and it simply floats right by the skimmer?
4) What is a "nano" tank?
5) Do I need a sump and/or refugium tank?
6) Do I need a "quarantine tank"
7) My anemone are recent, do I have to feed them with a tube? Local store says no but I'm not convinced. I can probably go on for a long time but better stop for now. Thank you all in advance. Tony

 

[Big G]

Welcome to R2R! What great kids to get you a tank. Nice
- one pound of rock per gallon is a common number to hear recommended.
- Can you post a picture of your tank. Especially the sectioned off part. And tell us what if anything is in it. Is that where your skimmer is located?

 

[SaltLifer]

Sounds like you're off to a good start! I'm no expert but I've been doing it for about 5-6 years and here's my take on it.

1. The more rock the better. It allows surface area for your nitrifying bacteria to live. 1lb/gal is usually the norm.
2. When you say skimmer, are you talking protein skimmer or just the overflow? You could add filter sponges to catch the bigger particles but they need to be changed/cleaned at least weekly.
3. Depends what type and settings.
4. "Nano" basically just means small tank. But not super small or it would be "Pico". I don't know what the actual gallon criteria is but 37 probably fits. Smaller water volume means small changes in parameters have a more drastic effect, therefore usually implying they are more difficult to care for.
5. Nobody "needs" a sump. Lots of people just use hang on the back filters. In your tank, the back "sectioned off part" is basically your sump. Refugium is an extra chamber in the sump for growing macro algae in order to compete with nuisance algae. Again, not needed but just one method of nutrient export.
6. Everyone will tell you that you need to quarantine everything and its true that this is the safest way to avoid killing everything in your tank by introducing a diseased fish. I say it depends on where you get your stuff. My fish store quarantines all their fish before they sell them so I don't have a QT. As far as coral goes, I dip them and put them right in.
7. I've never had anemones but I've always heard that they do best in established tanks. My guess would be try to feed them, if they eat, good. If not, they might be getting enough. Might keep them from eating your fish. Like I said though, I've never had one. There's an anemone forum on here, I'm sure you can get all the advice you need.

 

[SaltLifer]

As far as searching for answers, search this site. I can almost guarantee that someone has already asked all the questions you have and you can learn a lot just by reading these posts.

 

[Chef Tommy]

I ordered The Reef Aquarium volumes 1 & 2 and really enjoy the books. Also Julian Sprung has some wonderful books available & his coral guide visits LFS with me all the time! Welcome to the hobby and this site has so many helpful reefers just ask away.

There should be some sort of media basket the water flows into from the display to catch debris using filter floss. You can add seagel by seachem for example to then be a chemical filter, I suggest that because that's what I used in my nano.

Then a skimmer & heater and finally the return. I do not think you can have too much rock either as long as your fish have room to swim.

Did u cycle with just rock and add bacteria? You can always add bacteria now.

I always use a qt now, learned the hard way!

No anemone experience

Hope this helps!