New to Saltwater and lost...Help!!

[kntrywyde74]

Start with this:

Thank you very much for the video..

 

[Oldsalt01]

BEFORE you do anything, research, research, research! This forum is a great place to start. Great people, great info, if contradictory at times, but a boatload of experience. You have to go through your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate cycle first before you can add any livestock. It will be a about a month before you can consider adding anything, so now is the time to read up. I'm sure you want something in the tank today, but that's not going to happen and not turn to tears. I'm not trying to discourage you, but reefing isn't like setting up a guppy tank. First, consider what type of rock you want in there to act as a biological filter: dry rock (no active life on it. Safe but takes longer to establish a bacteria base), live rock (cycles the tank faster, but brings in possible harmful or pest hitchhickers), artificial rock (again, no active biological base, so takes as long as dry rock to cycle the tank). There are products out there that will help move the cycle process along: Dr. Tim's, Bio S, to name a couple, that add live bacteria to the tank to establish your biological base once your ammonia has started to build. As a community we try to discourage using live fish to kick-start the cycle. As responsible pet owners we feel this puts the lives of our charges at unnecessary risk, as ammonia in particular, is extremely toxic to organisms. Using a regular old frozen shrimp is a popular, if stinky, method of starting the cycle, but if you use live rock the inevitable die-off of organisms on/in the rock will do the same thing.
Welcome to the obsession. Don't be afraid to ask questions here, actively do your research on livestock BEFORE YOU BUY (considering compatibility, food needs, adult size (a 5g is gonna severely limit the size and number of fish you can keep), etc. Most of all: TAKE THIS SLOWLY. This is a great obsession, but it can drive you mad if you try to rush the process. One more thing: consider where you want your next tank to go. Reefing is like eating potato chips, or having cats. One is never enough, lol! Keep us posted on your progress. And take pictures! A foto journal is a great way to document a tank's process and maturation.

 

[kntrywyde74]

7500k spectrum and corals? not gonna work sadly. You may be able to keep some soft corals with that lighting but no way a LPS.

Thank you. I am looking for a new light today. I was told over 10,000kv.

 

[kntrywyde74]

Welcome to R2R!!!

Thank you very much..

 

[kntrywyde74]

BEFORE you do anything, research, research, research! This forum is a great place to start. Great people, great info, if contradictory at times, but a boatload of experience. You have to go through your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate cycle first before you can add any livestock. It will be a about a month before you can consider adding anything, so now is the time to read up. I'm sure you want something in the tank today, but that's not going to happen and not turn to tears. I'm not trying to discourage you, but reefing isn't like setting up a guppy tank. First, consider what type of rock you want in there to act as a biological filter: dry rock (no active life on it. Safe but takes longer to establish a bacteria base), live rock (cycles the tank faster, but brings in possible harmful or pest hitchhickers), artificial rock (again, no active biological base, so takes as long as dry rock to cycle the tank). There are products out there that will help move the cycle process along: Dr. Tim's, Bio S, to name a couple, that add live bacteria to the tank to establish your biological base once your ammonia has started to build. As a community we try to discourage using live fish to kick-start the cycle. As responsible pet owners we feel this puts the lives of our charges at unnecessary risk, as ammonia in particular, is extremely toxic to organisms. Using a regular old frozen shrimp is a popular, if stinky, method of starting the cycle, but if you use live rock the inevitable die-off of organisms on/in the rock will do the same thing.
Welcome to the obsession. Don't be afraid to ask questions here, actively do your research on livestock BEFORE YOU BUY (considering compatibility, food needs, adult size (a 5g is gonna severely limit the size and number of fish you can keep), etc. Most of all: TAKE THIS SLOWLY. This is a great obsession, but it can drive you mad if you try to rush the process. One more thing: consider where you want your next tank to go. Reefing is like eating potato chips, or having cats. One is never enough, lol! Keep us posted on your progress. And take pictures! A foto journal is a great way to document a tank's process and maturation.

Thank you so much.. I have a 480 gallon freshwater tank that is well established for the past two years. But I am brand new to saltwater. So I wanted to start with a Nano tank to get started.

 

[mckinleyw]

welcome and good luck. Google and youtube are your best friends. lol I agree with the rest of them slow is key. ill keep my eyes open for build thread. lil tanks are interesting to me but not on my list to build.

 

[Ruben's Reef]

!!! Welcome to R2R !!!

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Welcome. As others have stated, take it slow. After the tank has cycled, clown fish are a good starter fish. They are pretty hardy and can withstand fluctuations in your tank parameter while you learn. In a small tank, I would recommend getting two clownfish at the same time, an established pair or a larger and smaller clownfish of the same type. This will help eliminate territory wars with the fish.

 

[Erick Armanii]

Hopefully this helps!

I had the fluval v for a few months as an office tank and packed it with softies! It looked great and did not need an additional light source for my application..

I added a few small peices of live rock that I picked up from Petco.

For my corals;
- colt leather
- pulsing Xenia
- branching hammer
- torch
- green star polyps
- and a handful of zoas

For the most part the colt leather got REALLY big and I had to transfer him to a diffrent tank.

Any of those corals that I used would be a good start.

Just make sure you refil the evaporated water from your tank with fresh water!

Welcome to the club!

 

[recess62]

Don’t go out and buy a new light yet. Take some time to get your feet wet give your tank time to settle. The light you have will be fine for a cleanup crew and fish. If you rush out and purchase equipment I guarantee you will probably regret your purchase down the road. Take your time. Read read and read some more. Formulate a game plan of what your wantyour tank to look like then purchase your equipment to allow yourself to be successful. Many people here spend months planning their tank build and accumulating equipment o that emit right the first time

Welcome to the club

 

[JeepinReefer]

Just make sure you refil the evaporated water from your tank with fresh water!

I'm glad you mentioned that. It is a small detail that could easily be missed, but is really important!

 

[Garbonzo]

I highly recommend "The Reef Aquarium" vol 3 as a great read just starting out and for reference.

 

[Oldsalt01]

When they say "freshwater", they mean either RO/DI or distilled. NEVER STRAIGHT FROM THE TAP!!!! Just thought I'd straighten that out. I would add no more than one clown to it down the road, as 5 gallons isn't really large enough for more than that. They are pigs when eating and thus put a lot of nutrients back into the tank through excreta. AND they can be very prone to bullying. My female beats the snot out of the male when it's feeding time, and they've been together for 2 years. The rest of the time she doesn't bother him. Women! (no offense, ladies).

 

[reef lover]

Welcome to r2r!

 

[Erick Armanii]

Don’t go out and buy a new light yet. Take some time to get your feet wet give your tank time to settle. The light you have will be fine for a cleanup crew and fish. If you rush out and purchase equipment I guarantee you will probably regret your purchase down the road. Take your time. Read read and read some more. Formulate a game plan of what your wantyour tank to look like then purchase your equipment to allow yourself to be successful. Many people here spend months planning their tank build and accumulating equipment o that emit right the first time

Welcome to the club

Agreed! Plan plan plan!!
I’ve started a new tank build late October early November and I haven’t mixed a drop of water yet! Just ordering supplies and gear.. I’m almost ready to get started just waiting on a few little items to get in stock..

Question for @recess62 ctars member? That’s a Connecticut team? I’m located in danbury..

 

[S.O.MLemos]

Sounds like you got a lot of advice from others which is what’s so great about this forum/app. The only things I might add is I’ve noticed the salinity in the imaginarium ocean water is a little low at least for me and my corals.(its usually about 1.022 and I like to run 1.024-25). Also if you like Fluval products you might look into a Fluval sea halo and digital timer, that’s what I have on my pico that I’m starting. I have a Fluval light on my big tank too and I have all sorts of corals thriving (no SPS though). Also there is an app called aquarium ID that has pretty good quick info on most common species of fish/inverts/corals. It comes in handy when your about to make an impulse buy on something new. Good luck and don’t get discouraged if something goes wrong it’s almost inevitable in this hobby. I started 2 years ago and I’m just now starting to get confident in what I’m doing

 

[S.O.MLemos]

Also I’m assuming your doing most your shopping at petco by the brands you mentioned so I’ll add that I like Kent marine products which they sell some of although it’s way cheaper on amazon

 

[rockstarta78]

welcome to r2r! This forum has some really really knowledgeable people. You will get answers to almost all your questions. I know it's been mentioned in this thread before, but go slow. When you think you are going slow, slow down even more. This hobby will test you patience but at the end it's so worth it........or at least that's what I tell myself .

 

[recess62]

Agreed! Plan plan plan!!
I’ve started a new tank build late October early November and I haven’t mixed a drop of water yet! Just ordering supplies and gear.. I’m almost ready to get started just waiting on a few little items to get in stock..

Question for @recess62 ctars member? That’s a Connecticut team? I’m located in danbury..

Yes CTARS is a very active club in Ct. They have monthly meetings and sponcer 2 large regional frag markets a year check out their forum page under the club section.