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new guy/tank


sivart33

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well just started my first salt water tank. 30g need to get better lighting for it, the hood only has a 4k light on it.

been going for a week now.

not much else to say, got a few small, i mean tiny craps floating around. 1 snail, and some stuff i have never seen. like this hard purple stuff that is coming off the rocks like coral would. and some clear fan worm looking fans ( arms or what ever).

 

32 lbs of live rock, and 10 lbs of sand ( LFS ran out of live sand when i was there) so going to get more in a week or so when i get my water checked other then with sticks. cost 1 buck to get it check, so why not.

but even after a week parameters are looking great, everything is low even when jump starting it with some food.

 

made a ton of caves, the rocks have a ton of caves in them. the camera is not doing justice to the color of the rock though.

 

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hitchhiker snail + the purple thing on the right of the picture

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any advice would help since i am starting out. no sump so running 2 hobs at the moment, 15g and a 30g. heater and one water circulation pump. no protein skimmer yet, need to save some money before i buy a "good" one not cheaping out.

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welcome and it looks like you have a good start with the live rock you've got. i agree, don't go cheap on equipment. if you can afford it get equipment rated for a bigger tank because most likely you'll be upgrading to a larger one and you won't have to buy another protein skimmer.

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Seabeck is in Washington, the peninsula. ya if the purple thing is a sponge it is dead for sure, it has been exposed to air, if a coral it may not live much longer on 4k lighting. Has not grown any, but there is another one up on another rock. so ill have to see, the lighting is on about 12-14 hours a day though so try and have any corals on the rocks live if possible till i find adequate lighting.

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Welcome,

 

Yes, The purple thing is a sponge. I have one very similar to it that has been there for several months. Seems to do well in any light so it may be just fine. The other fan like things are a type of worm commonly known as a feather duster. No problem with them as long as they don't get out of hand and start covering corals up. You may need to keep an eye out and remove them if they do.

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If I remember right, those are just standard aquarium bulbs, I'm not even sure you can get them in the correct kelvin range for reef tanks.

 

For you tank, I'd look serious at a 150w fixture, there's one, yes, it's an Ebay fixture, but, I plan on buying it myself, its 150w halide with 2 T5 actinics for 90 bucks, you can't beat that deal with a stick LOL.

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You need at least a K rating of 10k, I think you might be able to get by with 6500, but, if it's a really blue color, it is in all likelihood a 50/50 bulb, I used to have one on my 20 long, it's decent, but you won't get hardly any growth and really only be able to keep zoas and mushrooms, I lost 3 acans in mine under that lighting LOL.

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ya i am just starting out so no hard corals yet, so might as well start out with the easier corals and less intense light till i get more money/ bigger tank maybe

 

DSC00223.jpg

 

and i got another 10 lbs of live sand. still a little murky, also i cleaned out the filters and what not.

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That looks like an actinic bulb, not even a 50/50, honestly, if thats the case, you won't be able to keep hardly any corals.

 

I'm pretty sure Nick at RoseCity has some 175w lights in stock, I paid 75 for mine from him, you can't hardly beat that price.

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well ill return the light, cause pointless to keep if not going to have corals, i don't know much about lighting ill have to read up more about it.

 

not the biggest deal, only thing is i might have to buy something online since the LFS has a small amount of other stuff, other then fish and verts.

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If you're going to buy online, I'd seriously suggest checking out E-Bay, yeah, they're chinese lights, they're odyssea knock-offs, but, people on here have em with no complaints, and I'm gonna be getting one myself, 90 bucks for a brand new halide, with bulbs and mounting legs is hard to pass up.

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Ahhhhhh but that's the nice thing about that fixture, I've got a 40b, its 36" long, just find a way to hang it, if you check out USCG CWO's build thread on his frag tank, you'll see how he's hung his light, it looks great and it isn't that hard to do LOL.

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ill have to look around though, i like the hood i got since it blocks off the evap more then a open top. maybe 1/2 a day if that. i know there are some 50/50 bulbs for it. i don't like open tops for some reason.

 

but ill have to look around. see what options i got

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