"New" to the game again after 10 years

[courtneyhawkins]

Here's my tank, it cycled for a month with the 25lb live rock, then I added 2 clownfish, unfortunately I lost one right away , but its been 10 years since I had a tank, and the tank I had then was already established and came with all the rock, coral, fish, etc. Soooo what else do I need? Do I need more rock? Do I need a background? Do I need blue light? (I'm not planning on having coral). I scrolled through hundreds of threads last night (when I definitely should've been sleeping lol) and learned or relearned lots, but there's still a few things I'm unsure about. Thanks for any help!

 

[Zach B]

Welcome I would get some good liverock to help establish your new tank. I would also invest in good testing kits or readers. Depending on what you want to keep will determine what kind of light you need as well. The background isn't necessary but if you'd like one you can, it may help the fish feel less spooked. There are endless threads with some great beginner and basic info here if you search Best of luck

 

[courtneyhawkins]

Welcome I would get some good liverock to help establish your new tank. I would also invest in good testing kits or readers. Depending on what you want to keep will determine what kind of light you need as well. The background isn't necessary but if you'd like one you can, it may help the fish feel less spooked. There are endless threads with some great beginner and basic info here if you search Best of luck

This might be a dumb question but is real reef rock considered live rock? The rock I have in the tank I got from our local pet shop (I live in a very rural small area so pet stores are few and far between) and it didn't seem like "live rock" to me when I got it. It was just in a gross algae filled tank lol, but they said it was and I paid live rock prices for it (which was unamusing to my husband haha) but you made the comment to get good live rock so I've been searching online and the real reef rock is all I'm really finding for live rock, other than the dry rock?

 

[Zach B]

This might be a dumb question but is real reef rock considered live rock? The rock I have in the tank I got from our local pet shop (I live in a very rural small area so pet stores are few and far between) and it didn't seem like "live rock" to me when I got it. It was just in a gross algae filled tank lol, but they said it was and I paid live rock prices for it (which was unamusing to my husband haha) but you made the comment to get good live rock so I've been searching online and the real reef rock is all I'm really finding for live rock, other than the dry rock?

Sometimes the stores sell "cured" live rock that is ready for a tank but not necessarily established with any real life yet. I believe kpaquatics is a good supplier of liverock and there are a couple more but I'm having trouble remembering. Eventually your rock will become established as it is if you keep your tank parameters good. Either way, I'd find a bit more rockwork for the fish and creatures you want to keep. Also if you have good water flow and disturbance of the water surface you don't need the aerator/bubbles in the tank. These tend to cause issues with salt getting on lights, tank, equipment. Absolutely get some good test kits and a quality refractometer to check your salinity levels if you don't already have one

 

[Zach B]

I'd recommend joining a local reef club as well. It looks like your from Michigan, I believe we have several MI reefers here. They might be able to steer you in the direction of some quality liverock and I'm sure they have great info as well

 

[mike89t]

Welcome back! I too recently returned to the hobby after a decade off.

How big is your tank?

How did you Cycle the tank? Did you measure the water parameters during the cycle? What test kits are you using?

What are the current water parameters?

Clownfish are pretty hardy. Did you see any evidence of disease? Was it acting weird? How did you acclimate them before adding them to your tank?


I just finished quarantining my two clownfish for 60 days in a 20 gallon tank that only had a sponge filter and a heater in it. All I did was cycle it before adding my fish. You don't need much to be successful.

Start up of my QT

I’ve been out of the hobby for a decade and a lot has changed. One thing that I always did back in the day was to place my fish in a QT before they were allowed into the DT. I’ll be following the latest QT advice provided by Jay...

www.reef2reef.com

Looking at your tank it looks like you have everything you would need for a clownfish.

 

[snorklr]

live rock is simply a rock that has spent sufficient time in the ocean (preferably) or an established tank in order for it to be populated by the proper bacteria to let the nitrogen cycle work...way back when you could harvest this stuff from the ocean it got shipped halfway around the world wrapped in damp newspaper...so there was so much dead stuff it needed to be "cured"...put in a big tank to slowly re-stabilize cause if you put it right in your tank it would kill everything....the rock generally available now is "marco rock" which is ancient reef rock quarried on dry land in florida or stuff like walt smith rock or "real reef rock"...which is the misleading brand name of a manmade cement based product...(usually painted purple)...now all this stuff is either sold as dry rock, put into an established aquarium till it becomes live (generally with not much more than just bacteria) or in the case of places like kp aquatics or tampa bay saltwater its put back in the ocean for months or years till it has significant growth and hitchhikers....then shipped in water(not cheap) so there is very little die off so it doesnt need to be cured like the old school stuff...hope i've confused you sufficiently

 

[courtneyhawkins]

live rock is simply a rock that has spent sufficient time in the ocean (preferably) or an established tank in order for it to be populated by the proper bacteria to let the nitrogen cycle work...way back when you could harvest this stuff from the ocean it got shipped halfway around the world wrapped in damp newspaper...so there was so much dead stuff it needed to be "cured"...put in a big tank to slowly re-stabilize cause if you put it right in your tank it would kill everything....the rock generally available now is "marco rock" which is ancient reef rock quarried on dry land in florida or stuff like walt smith rock or "real reef rock"...which is the misleading brand name of a manmade cement based product...(usually painted purple)...now all this stuff is either sold as dry rock, put into an established aquarium till it becomes live (generally with not much more than just bacteria) or in the case of places like kp aquatics or tampa bay saltwater its put back in the ocean for months or years till it has significant growth and hitchhikers....then shipped in water(not cheap) so there is very little die off so it doesnt need to be cured like the old school stuff...hope i've confused you sufficiently

lol you've confused and educated me sufficiently. We are traveling this weekend so I plan to try and find a few stores to stop at on the way home to grab some more rock for the tank. Thank you!

 

[courtneyhawkins]

Welcome back! I too recently returned to the hobby after a decade off.

How big is your tank?

How did you Cycle the tank? Did you measure the water parameters during the cycle? What test kits are you using?

What are the current water parameters?

Clownfish are pretty hardy. Did you see any evidence of disease? Was it acting weird? How did you acclimate them before adding them to your tank?


I just finished quarantining my two clownfish for 60 days in a 20 gallon tank that only had a sponge filter and a heater in it. All I did was cycle it before adding my fish. You don't need much to be successful.

Start up of my QT

I’ve been out of the hobby for a decade and a lot has changed. One thing that I always did back in the day was to place my fish in a QT before they were allowed into the DT. I’ll be following the latest QT advice provided by Jay...

www.reef2reef.com

Looking at your tank it looks like you have everything you would need for a clownfish.

I have a 50g tank, nothing huge but enough for the few fish I'm planning to have. I'm at work, so off hand I can't think of the name of the test kit, it came in a container with the test viles and the drops. The one I lost acted a little strange but it wasn't really anything that was alarming, it hung out in the corner of the tank for a little while, but I read that it was normal if they're insecure of a place, after that it just hung out behind the rock, it also had some white...almost scratches? on his head area, then I came home from work one day and he was dead by the rock the other one is quite adventurous though and seems to be thriving They were my first fish so I just let the bags float in the tank for 45ish minutes and then I put them in the tank