mindeeo January 6, 2012 Share January 6, 2012 My husband George (RubberFrog) and I just joined this forum. We are excited to have recently converted our fresh water planted tank to a saltwater! We are glad to have found a place rich with nformation to support our endeavour! Currently, I am really just anxious to house something other than a snail or crab! When do I fianlly get a fish??? (I know patience.... not my VIRTUE!!!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvreef January 6, 2012 Share January 6, 2012 (edited) Need to wait till your tank finishes it cycle, then u can start to add fish slowly....this hobby requires alot of patients (which I do not have) Chromies are the best fish to start off with they are good and hardy and will get along with other tank mates.... so what are your water parameters now in the tank Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphates, salinity, temp, and ph you want to keep the first 4 as close to 0 as possible, I keep my salinity between 1.024 and 1.025, my ph runs between 8.01 and 8.23 with an average of 8.19 roughly, my temp runs 77-78.2 Edited January 6, 2012 by wvreef Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RubberFrog January 6, 2012 Share January 6, 2012 (edited) Our tank has been up since november. Ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are all down to 0. We're dealing with po4 (and algae) at this point, but it's coming down with regular water changes and a growing ball of chaeto. Salinity is at 1.025, and temp is at 78 (drops a degree at night). We're not monitoring PH yet, although we have every intention to. The tank itself is a 95g with a 30g sump, and about 130lbs of live rock, plus a little live sand. We currently have a HOB overflow, but I just got my glassholes kit. That should be a fun install this weekend. Edited January 6, 2012 by RubberFrog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf&turf January 6, 2012 Share January 6, 2012 That sounds great, post some pic's when you get a chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefoholic January 6, 2012 Share January 6, 2012 (edited) Welcome to WAMAS! Let me tell you that you are joining the right crowd when it comes to experience and friendliness! I agree that this hobby demands a great deal of patience, and I can confidently say that most of us don't have it, lol! Since your tank has been cycling for a while, there is nothing wrong with adding some small beginner's fishes at this point. I would steer away from aggressive, territorial fish as first additions. Please please and please don't go down the easy road of putting a bunch of Damsels in your tank now. They are hardy and everything but they have a bad reputation for being extremely territorial and they can get aggressive, chase and hit at other fish put in the tank after them. Some blue chromis will be a great addition IMO to your tank now. They swim around in groups and they would glow a beautiful blue under actinics. They are pretty peaceful too. I see that you are battling with algae and this is normal. As always, patience and if you keep your water parameters in check, algae will eventually go away. Also, down the road, you might wanna get a grazing fish (tangs are great) to eat some of the remaining algae off the rocks. For the algae that might grow on the sandbed, some sand sifiting invertebrates such as a starfish, snails, a horseshoe crab might do wonders to keep the sand pristine abd a shining white. Please post some pictures of your tank. Generally pictures help other fellow reefers to identify things better, and therefore provide better help. I would also encourage you to start a tank thread. You can do that under "dedicated tank thread". Welcome again and good luck! Edited January 6, 2012 by Reefoholic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mindeeo January 8, 2012 Author Share January 8, 2012 (edited) Here is a picture of our emerging tank. We are not so artistic, have no landscaping experience, and do not regularly play with rocks,so doing the aqua-scape was a bit challenging. To maybe make it worse, we really liked the larger pieces of rock. At the end of the day, at least my son appears to like it (and so do we!). I think there are plenty of hiding spots for fish and some spots to "plant" coral. I will consider starting a thread under "dedicated tank thread", as suggested. Reefoholic, as we have 3 young children, we feel obligated to start out a pair of Nemos. All that being said, the blue chromis look great! I like that they will school. We previously had a planted, freshwater tank (now converted, as seen) and always kept a school of fish in there along with many Rainbows. It was awesome, but after our house lost power for a few weeks we lost all our fish and had a great excuse to start over. Keeping our fingers crossed that it works out! As for starfish, are there any that are reef safe? I love them, but heard that they are not so good with reefs and can be destructive with the rocks. We have not glued our rocks in place, but they are pretty stable, or so it seems. Edited January 8, 2012 by mindeeo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf&turf January 8, 2012 Share January 8, 2012 Looks good!! I like it too!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RubberFrog January 8, 2012 Share January 8, 2012 Mister crab came out to play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alieu07 January 8, 2012 Share January 8, 2012 Your tank looking good! Btw Welcome to the club Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 January 8, 2012 Share January 8, 2012 Be careful of chromis - they can be very aggressive towards each other if you don't find the right mix. I've never been able to maintain a school of more than 1... I always start out with a few and then they slowly pick each other off until there's one left. Some have had more success, but I find that most people (I'd say probably 90%) end up with the same story that I have always had. The algae is part of the cycle, you can have fish during this point as it will help to build your bacteria population through introducing more nutrients into your system. Welcome to you and your husband, looking forward to seeing more of your system! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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