New to the site

[Amari]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm new to the site and to the hobby. In the past my passion has been freshwater (African chilids) for the last 5 yrs. I finally decided to make the venture into the saltwater territory and purchased a 90 gallon tank (not reef ready) with an overflow box, wet/dry filtration system with about 60-75 lbs. of live rock; it's been running for about 3 months. It has a Hamilton lighting system that has two 175 watt metal halides with four power compact fluorescent bulbs at 55 watts each. Which are two actinic and two daylight bulbs. The plumbing is a Mag 5 return pump, coralife 9 watt UV sterilizer, a coralife protein skimmer, and two Koralia 4 powerheads and one Koralia 3 powerhead.

 

Currently the tank has five zoas and a cleanup crew. The tank previously had a Niger trigger, a yellow tang and a clown fish but I removed them (3 weeks ago) because of an ich outbreak. If anyone has any guidance/assistance on how I can make this hobby more enjoyable than heartache it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Hope to get to know everyone that enjoys this hobby as much as I do!

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

[Mopar32985]

To start off welcome to the site alot of great ppl hear to help. Also congrats on the new tank saltwater reef tanks are alot of fun and can be very rewarding. Main suggestions I can give is be very patient with everything. Don't add to many fish or inverts at one time, and try to research corals and fish before buying them. Make sure you have sufficient flow in your tank, and make sure your bulbs are not old. Haha the list goes on and on but these are a few thing that are important. O two more try to keep up on water changes and check your parameters to keep nitrates down and calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity at the proper levels. Any other questions feel free to ask.

 

-Chance-

[dcreefer]

Welcome Amari

 

Sounds like you have started with a pretty good set up there. The ich is a terrible foe, but he can be defeated with a quarantine tank and strong UV setup.

 

My advice (when possible...)

I personally try to buy equipment not for where I am currently but where I would ultimately want to go. (I have a 300 gallon tank but one day, ONE DAY, I may want a 500 gallon tank...so if I need to buy a skimmer, I'll purchase the for the bigger tank.) With this attitude, I have more than what I need for today and exactly what I need for the future!

 

Welcome again & Happy reefing,

 

Ray

[gmubeach]

I would also look into getting a refuguim nothing brings down amonia and phosphates like live cheato:) and the pods are great for feeding your fish....

[Chad]

Hi, I am glad you found us!!

 

Ich is a nasty one that you will find is very controversial in the hobby regarding cures, etc. Not too long ago someone posted a great facts myths thing on ich... I couldn't find it when I looked just now, I will post it when I find it again, though.

 

Sounds like you have a pretty nice setup, take it slow, ask questions, research, avoid impulses and you will be fine

[Chad]

Here is is:

 

http://www.wamas.org/forums/topic/41558-ichy-battle/page__view__findpost__p__350779

[roni]

Welcome!

[Coral Hind]

Welcome to the club Amari!

 

 

 

 

Here is is:

 

http://www.wamas.org...post__p__350779

I agree that is a really good post and I have had to search for it one to many times so I just pinned it for us.

[Amari]

Thanks for all the information. Chad, great acticle on Marine ich.