I am setting up my first saltwater tank. I would like to have live corals and fish. Right now I have a 52 gallon tank, live sand, and three damsels. I'm in the fist new cycle of this tank and so far the fish are doing great! What do I need to look for to tell when it will be safe to add more to the tank? Should my next step be to start adding live rock? How long should my tank be established before I look to add my first coral? I know I'll need a protein skimmer before adding any coral? What is a good protein skimmer to get for a 52 gallon tank? Any advice would be great!! Thanks!!
Sounds to me like you are in the stage where you need to make some decisions and do some research. I would suggest you contact some of the members in your area such as Blake or Mike (Christmas Coral Farm) and spend some time visiting as many members homes as possible to get information on equipment and livestock you may be interested in. Our next meeting will be on Feb 16th at John Ledbeter's home. Feel free to call me anytime 501-329-6964 and I will try to answer your questions.
How long has your tank been running and how is your chemistry? What kind of corals you can keep will depend first of all on what lighting you have.
Thanks so much! I'll definitely look in to the coral farm. And my chemistry is good. I'm taking water samples to my local fish store and they are helping me test right now.
Well I know not the right ones to have coral yet. I just have the stock lights that came with the tank. I plan on setting all that up after I get the tank established. Are the lights and a protein skimmer the only extra equipment I'll need to support the coral? What protein skimmer (brand wise) would you suggest?
I am a fan of ASM skimmers. Moderate in price, easy to assemble and set, and do a great job. Several members are using them and I have not heard any bad reviews yet.
I noticed today there are a few brown spots forming on top of he sand. Is his normal or am I doing something wrong?
Totally normal. You'll have a couple algae cycles that you go through when setting up a new tank. Sounds like you are at the diatom phase. Hair algae is most likely next. Sent from John's Tapatalk
Yet another newbie I have a 75 gal, with live rock, and 2 damsels. I have completed week one of cycling and my sand is brown and I have an alien like slick substance with bubbles attached to my largest piece of rock with luscious brown hair flying in the breeze! I'm working with the fish tank in LR and was instructed to take water sample in 2 wks. I'm a bit worried at this point. Should I cut back on the lighting? Currently using T5 0800-2000. Any and all suggestions please -Amy
Nothing to be worried about. Sounds like things are speeding right along for you. Diatom blooms (the brown stuff) are just part of the process. The bubbles are probably nitrogen escaping from the rock or substrate, also normal. Cutting back on the lights will help. A lot of people don't even use their lights during their cycle. It wouldn't hurt to buy a ammonia and nitrate test kit. So you can see where your at in the cycle yourself. Are you using ro/di water? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Definitely cut back the lighting. I made the same mistake. The fish do not need the light but the slime growing on the rocks does. When I started I got so much algae during the cycle that I had to take out a few of the rocks scrub the algae off in salt water (not fresh you probably already know so as not to kill the good bacteria in your rock), rinsed in clear salt water and put the cleaned rocks back in the tank. I don't know if this is something you can do but it helped me avoid an algae explosion. Good luck!
