bobby1212

If you could have only 2 books on this hobby what would they be?

I am looking for suggestions on your 2 or 3 favorite books on fish compatability and habitat needs, coral habitat and compatability and just general all around great reef keeping books.

I have The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert M Fenner and I just feel it is not as thorough as I was hoping. Maybe I am looking for something that is not even available but would like to hear from some of the experts.

Thanks

Here is a picture of my tank.

jgf86123

I am using a hydrometer right now and I am pretty sure it is not functioning properly because I had my LFS test salinity and then I retested and it was not the same, so I have a refractometer on the way.

matty0206

That's what I was hoping but I thought you had to have nitrites before you could have nitrates. Die off would produce ammonia first I thought.

I am using RO water from my LFS half was straight RO the other half was premixed salt. The test kits i am using are API and I have felt that they are not quite right for some reason.

Beckie I have 40lbs of live rock already but thanks for the offer.

CCR

Thanks for the links.

I had a freshwater tank for a short while but it has been many many years since.

My water ph is 8.2, maybe 0.25 ppm ammonia not sure because color doesn’t match any on card, 0 ppm nitrite, and between 5-10 ppm nitrates. Since day1it has been 5-10 nitrate but not sure how that can be when there has never been any nitrite and ammonia just started showing today if it even is.

So how does nitrates get into water when there has never been any nitrites? I think my water is where is should be for the amount of time it has been. Or am I wrong on that?

Hi my name is Bob and my wife and I just set up a saltwater aquarium for the first time and it is exactly 14 days old. I just joined the forum a few days ago and see all the knowledge on here is going to be a huge help. I hope one day to be able to add to it rather then just take from it.

What we have is a 40 gallon acrylic tank with a top that is built onto it. There are two large holes in the middle and a small one in one back corner and a long narrow one in the back middle. I bought it used on Craigslist and think it is not going to be the best choice. I have a heater and a canister filter rated at 350gph. The canister filters output is a spray bar that seems to aerate pretty well and moves the water also. I bought a used light fixture that is 48” and has 2 dual 65w 420nm&460nm actinics and 2 dual daylight 65w 6700k&10k with 2 moon lights. Also 40 lbs of live rock from a reputable LFS and a thin bed of fine coral sand.

We started with 3 Damsel fish and 5 tiny hermits to get things going. After 3 days one damsel died and 4 days later a second died. We still have one and it seems to be fine. The live rock had what I think was pink coralline algae and some green stuff that looked similar but it is all white now. I was running all my lights for about 12 hours a day but started getting a lot of brown algae after only 5 days so I started just running the actinics mainly just for the fish.

As of today my water ph is 8.2, maybe 0.25 ppm ammonia not sure because color doesn’t match any on card, 0 ppm nitrite, and between 5-10 ppm nitrates. Since day 1 it has been 5-10 nitrate but not sure how that can be when there has never been any nitrite and ammonia just started showing today if it even is.

Sorry for the book but am hoping for thoughts on the water parameters and what is the most important next piece of equipment I need to purchase? My water always seems to have fine particles in it even though my filter has plenty if floss.