Hello.. I’m Brand new to the hobby and completely lost and starting to become over whelmed with everything

[newhere]

Hello I started my tank about two weeks ago I went and got a 13.5 gallon and all in one fluval evo salt water kit I bought some live sand and live rock I put them in she thing up and waited about a week and went to the fish store to ask some questions and when I did he told me he didn’t like the water I was using so maybe do a water change. I’m brand new so will almost listen to anything that seems reasonable. So I buy hit water and then come back in the next day to test it and see if anything has gotten worse or better so I wanted a couple days and then went back and asked him on what my next step should be and he said you can throw a fish or two in there if you want so I purchased two storm clowns not knowing that might tank is pry not cycled and take them and a torch reef home.. the first couple days I would hardly do any light (room is decently lit up durning the day and night) I dont know how to tell what the right flow is or what’s not even gettting flow and my torch coral looks like its going to die… I have read on the internet no light during this and I the guy at the store told me to do 8 hours…. I just dont know what to do one person tell you something in such confidence and the other just says nope you killed them. I’m feeding them mon wed and Friday about 5 beads of sea marines staple food.
The ph level is 7.8 ammonia 0 nitrate and nitrite 0

I put in a new light the fluval 25k light and the tank has been up and running with the fish for about a weeek now should I leave this light on its 24 hour cycle yet? Water is 81 degrees

 

[GatorGreg]

First off.

Slow down. Chill out.

Your tank is way too new to have torches and stuff in it. If you truly bought LIVE rock that was wet in water when you bought it. Your tank should be ok and be cycled.

Let’s slow down and start with the basics. Please make sure your salinity stays on point. 1.025 is a good spot. You should only be topping of with FRESH water when your pump chamber starts dropping the water level. If you top it off with more salt water you’re raising the salinity. Make sure your temperature stays stable too. Let’s focus on those two things for right now.

 

[KrisReef]

Get a new LFS(guy) to help you and feed your fishes very lightly, just a few flakes/day for the next week or two so that the fishes don’t pollute the water and the bacteria have time to grow in the system enough to keep the water quality good for the start.

 

[GatorGreg]

Next you should feed your fish every day. Don’t skip days feeding your fish. There’s no reason to not feed them every day. Don’t add anymore coral until you get the hang of things. You seem ULTRA new to this. Focus on keeping those fish alive.

Your light period of 8 hours is fine. Keep in mind you’ll probably be facing some algae or “ugly phase” sooner than later you should be preparing yourself to deal with this.

If you haven’t already. You should buy a refractometer and salifert testing kits for Phosphate and Nitrate. Don’t overwhelm yourself. Focus in on temperature stability, salinity stability and then focus on keeping your nitrates and phosphates balanced as well. Don’t let them get too high and don’t let them get too low. Once you’re getting good at that and into the rhythm of taking care of those things and you have a maintenance routine down pat. You can start monitoring and keeping up with your Alk and Calc. Then start adding easy to care for corals and keep building on your success

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I've attached a great introductory article below, it goes over a lot of info. Do the reading, it will help you.

A few things I see right away here, you need good test kits, not API. We test very often in this hobby, I test almost daily. When you post a question here, the first question is always "what are the parameters?", you need to be able to test yourself without needing to go to the store.

You should have a rodi unit for water.

You are going very fast, one week old tank with 2 fish and corals is considered light speed in this hobby. I don't add fish to my tank until 3-4 weeks after I've built it up. The tank is not big enough for any more fish so don't add any more fish.

Be careful with feeding, the biggest newb mistake is stocking too quickly (which you've done) and overfeeding. Be very careful with water quality now for your fishes sake.

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium This article was sponsored by @MarineDepot at www.marinedepot.com. Introduction The marine environment is one of the most complex systems on the planet. The aquarium you are about to set up is only a tiny sliver of the vast ocean...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[newhere]

First off.

Slow down. Chill out.

Your tank is way too new to have torches and stuff in it. If you truly bought LIVE rock that was wet in water when you bought it. Your tank should be ok and be cycled.

Let’s slow down and start with the basics. Please make sure your salinity stays on point. 1.025 is a good spot. You should only be topping of with FRESH water when your pump chamber starts dropping the water level. If you top it off with more salt water you’re raising the salinity. Make sure your temperature stays stable too. Let’s focus on those two things for right now.

102.2 is my salinity and 79.6 is the temp. And I did top off the pump with rodi water the temp is stable at 82 I can put a fan on but I don’t want to mess with anything

 

[newhere]

I've attached a great introductory article below, it goes over a lot of info. Do the reading, it will help you.

A few things I see right away here, you need good test kits, not API. We test very often in this hobby, I test almost daily. When you post a question here, the first question is always "what are the parameters?", you need to be able to test yourself without needing to go to the store.

You should have a rodi unit for water.

You are going very fast, one week old tank with 2 fish and corals is considered light speed in this hobby. I don't add fish to my tank until 3-4 weeks after I've built it up. The tank is not big enough for any more fish so don't add any more fish.

Be careful with feeding, the biggest newb mistake is stocking too quickly (which you've done) and overfeeding. Be very careful with water quality now for your fishes sake.

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium This article was sponsored by @MarineDepot at www.marinedepot.com. Introduction The marine environment is one of the most complex systems on the planet. The aquarium you are about to set up is only a tiny sliver of the vast ocean...

www.reef2reef.com

Yeah I’m hearing that I’m moving way too fast… I wouldn’t have if I would have known. It’s stressing me out. I do have a test kit and am testing all the time but it was my first test ever so I just was double checking with them. So you think feeding Mon wed and Friday is okay?

 

[kevgib67]

BRS has a great video on YouTube called 52 weeks of reefing which walks you through setting up and maintaining a new tank. I highly recommend watching it.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Yeah I’m hearing that I’m moving way too fast… I wouldn’t have if I would have known. It’s stressing me out. I do have a test kit and am testing all the time but it was my first test ever so I just was double checking with them. So you think feeding Mon wed and Friday is okay?

I feed my fish 2-3-4 times a day. What I mean is that each fish can only eat 3-4 pieces of food, so be careful about how much food you add. What doesn’t get eaten will rot and foul the water. New hobbyists often dump way too much food which causes other problems.

 

[adamg77]

I’d highly recommend watching these videos.

Take a deep breath.

There is a lot to learn and you are making the effort which is great!

I would highly recommend that series and that whole channel. It sounds like you have a test kit and a way to check salinity. Stability is key to this hobby and MOST changes if they need to be made should be done slowly.

I keep my water around 78 degrees. Just like with most species the warmer it is the faster bacteria reproduce. Just my .02

In regards to the clownfish and coral I’m not sure of the light if it is strong enough I’d look at similar tanks with that lights and see what corals they have. If it is dying I’d take it back. I would also highly recommend purchasing live phytoplankton and copepods I used @Reef By Steele. The copepods are likely on the live rock but ensuring you have these little guys and their food (phytoplankton) will set you up for success. These guys are ravenous eaters of algae’s.

I would also recommend taking it slow as others have hinted at. Try and get a good list of fish and corals you would like. YouTube and Instagram have great resources for beginner friendly corals, or just look at tanks and see what you like and if you could grow it.

Lastly this is a fantastic hobby it is gorgeous and very fun; that being said these little creatures are more often than not taken from the ocean and deserve as much respect and care as you would a dog or other house pet. It sounds like you are on the right page - one of the reasons I enjoy this hobby is the anticipation of the next fish or coral!

Good luck!

 

[newhere]

First off.

Slow down. Chill out.

Your tank is way too new to have torches and stuff in it. If you truly bought LIVE rock that was wet in water when you bought it. Your tank should be ok and be cycled.

Let’s slow down and start with the basics. Please make sure your salinity stays on point. 1.025 is a good spot. You should only be topping of with FRESH water when your pump chamber starts dropping the water level. If you top it off with more salt water you’re raising the salinity. Make sure your temperature stays stable too. Let’s focus on those two things for right now.

I’d highly recommend watching these videos.

Take a deep breath.

There is a lot to learn and you are making the effort which is great!

I would highly recommend that series and that whole channel. It sounds like you have a test kit and a way to check salinity. Stability is key to this hobby and MOST changes if they need to be made should be done slowly.

I keep my water around 78 degrees. Just like with most species the warmer it is the faster bacteria reproduce. Just my .02

In regards to the clownfish and coral I’m not sure of the light if it is strong enough I’d look at similar tanks with that lights and see what corals they have. If it is dying I’d take it back. I would also highly recommend purchasing live phytoplankton and copepods I used @Reef By Steele. The copepods are likely on the live rock but ensuring you have these little guys and their food (phytoplankton) will set you up for success. These guys are ravenous eaters of algae’s.

I would also recommend taking it slow as others have hinted at. Try and get a good list of fish and corals you would like. YouTube and Instagram have great resources for beginner friendly corals, or just look at tanks and see what you like and if you could grow it.

Lastly this is a fantastic hobby it is gorgeous and very fun; that being said these little creatures are more often than not taken from the ocean and deserve as much respect and care as you would a dog or other house pet. It sounds like you are on the right page - one of the reasons I enjoy this hobby is the anticipation of the next fish or coral!

Good luck!

Okay thank you! Im doing Daily test now and the ph is 7.8 ammonia is 0 nitrate is 0. Should I be feeding Dailey? I’m def not trying to over feed im dropping in a spec and watching them eat it. Also I heard of prime and stability should I be putting that in with the cycle??? I know I messed up. So im just trying my best to salvage the situation.. nothing has gotten out of hand at all. In fact, the tank looks great but people are just telling me horror stories. I kinda do feel like the guy at the fish store should have let me know because I told him I knew absolutely nothing

 

[GatorGreg]

Don’t overwhelm yourself.

Like I said…..focus right now on maintaining a stable TEMP, SALINITY and monitoring your nutrients. Eventually you’ll find a good input (feeding) and good output (water changes, filter floss, filter media) balance.

While you’re mastering those things. Be consuming all the information the other posters listed above. If you really read, watch and understand all those videos and write ups. You’ll be very prepared to move on to the next step of maintaining and manipulating your Alk and Calc levels and then starting to pack in some corals.

Okay thank you! Im doing Daily test now and the ph is 7.8 ammonia is 0 nitrate is 0. Should I be feeding Dailey? I’m def not trying to over feed im dropping in a spec and watching them eat it. Also I heard of prime and stability should I be putting that in with the cycle??? I know I messed up. So im just trying my best to salvage the situation.. nothing has gotten out of hand at all. In fact, the tank looks great but people are just telling me horror stories. I kinda do feel like the guy at the fish store should have let me know because I told him I knew absolutely nothing

was your rock wet when you bought it or dry? You may not have messed up as bad as you’re thinking.

If you bought wet, true live rock from that local fish store. It’s not as big of a deal that you added your fish already. It would’ve been ideal to wait a little longer. But it’s not the end of the world.

If the rock you bought was dry. That’s a lot less ideal. Then you need to be watching that ammonia level closely and do water changes to keep it in safe ranges.

I’d recommend making purchasing quality test kits (not API) and a refractometer a priority. After that if the funds are there an RODI system.

 

[GatorGreg]

If your nitrate is 0. You’re not overfeeding.

Also watch your phosphates.


In fact in a brand new tank. Having 0 nutrients is not a good thing. It opens the door for extreme nuisance algae’s like Dino’s. I know some people have disagreed with me on that. But I’ve had 3 tanks all bottom out nutrients because I didn’t know better. I was terrified of algae and I sparingly fed and was doing like 30 percent weekly water changes from day one. All tanks showed Dino’s within 2 months of setup because of this mistake. It took 3 back to back failures of setups and a lot of wasted money for me to realize what I was doing wrong. The last two new setups I’ve done. I watched the nutrients like a hawk and kept them at elevated levels (I chose a target range of 10 to 15 nitrate and .05 to .10 phosphate). I haven’t had a Dino problem in either of my past two tanks.

Yes I have a little bit of algae here and there. But I stay on top of it and I keep my Clean up Crew beefed up. Sometime if a little patch gets too big for my liking. I intervene and take care of it myself. I’ll take sporadic patches of algae’s that I can manage over a Dino infestation all day long.

 

[newhere]

Don’t overwhelm yourself.

Like I said…..focus right now on maintaining a stable TEMP, SALINITY and monitoring your nutrients. Eventually you’ll find a good input (feeding) and good output (water changes, filter floss, filter media) balance.

While you’re mastering those things. Be consuming all the information the other posters listed above. If you really read, watch and understand all those videos and write ups. You’ll be very prepared to move on to the next step of maintaining and manipulating your Alk and Calc levels and then starting to pack in some corals.

was your rock wet when you bought it or dry? You may not have messed up as bad as you’re thinking.

If you bought wet, true live rock from that local fish store. It’s not as big of a deal that you added your fish already. It would’ve been ideal to wait a little longer. But it’s not the end of the world.

If the rock you bought was dry. That’s a lot less ideal. Then you need to be watching that ammonia level closely and do water changes to keep it in safe ranges.

I’d recommend making purchasing quality test kits (not API) and a refractometer a priority. After that if the funds are there an RODI system.

Unfortunately, it was dry. & it was the Carib sea rock. I have a Hanna salinity tester and the salt water master test kit idk if that’s any good tho

 

[GatorGreg]

Unfortunately, it was dry. & it was the Carib sea rock. I have a Hanna salinity tester and the salt water master test kit idk if that’s any good tho

In that case your rock was not actually LIVE rock like you mentioned in your initial post. But it will be with patience. Don’t add anything else to the tank for a good little while.

Essentially what youre doing is a cycle with fish. In it can be hard on them once the ammonia levels do start showing. The ammonia can hurt their gills. I recommend watching the ammonia close and even purchasing a cheap seachem ammonia alert badge so you can have a quick read of when it spikes beyond safe levels. Have saltwater on hand to do water changes. May wanna have some prime on hand.

If it were my tank I’d probably dump a bottle of bottle bacteria in there as well. Proper amount for your sized tank. Follow the instructions on the bottle. There’s all kinds of brands. I usually use Microbacter7. People may disagree with me because that’s just how it goes lol. But if this were my tank that’s what I’d do

 

[newhere]

So feed daily?

 

[GatorGreg]

So feed daily?

Just enough for what your fish will eat. Put a bit, watch them eat it. Put a tiny bit watch them eat it. After 2 times it’ll probably be enough. You don’t want to starve your fish

 

[rpkneumann]

You’re doing just fine.
Beginners anxiety.
I suffered the same with my first BioCube tank. It’s sounds your fish are doing ok. They eating?
Don’t worry about the torch. This might have been an overzealous sale from your LFS.
Focus on the survival of your clowns. They will love your for it.
Watch ammonia and do check Nitrite. If it’s zero you do not need to continue to check it. Then your your tank is cycled.
Please continue to check the rest of the parameters. There is no need for daily checks unless something is out of check. One back here and ask if values are out of whack.
Most of us will ask for the basic parameters.
The BRS videos helped me ton.
One piece of advice. PATIENCE. Nothing happens over night.
seachem prime is good. Doesn’t hurt.

Not keep adding other chemicals until your tank is way more mature and you have good handle on the basic parameters.
Salinity
PH
Nitrate
Calcium
Magnesium
Phosphate
I would stick a small ammonium sticker from seachem in my tank. It gives you a visual alert if things go wrong. Works for me for years.
You’re running your tank a bit hot in y opinion
Try to stay around 79 F. That’s more what the clowns are used to.

As far as test kits goes you can see the 1001 opinions in this forum. Nobody’s is wrong, and we all have options based on what worked for us.
I have been using a set of Hanna checkers for all of the parameters.
If your budget allows it, I would have a look at them.
They take the guess work out of reading color compares.
These little machines a pretty accurate and tell you the numbers. No color guessing.
I started with the Hanna salinity probe, ph and the nitrate checker and whenever i had money left over(lol) I added another checker.
Keep in mind that all testers need reagent refills $$
Your lights are on definitely to long.
Try to stay below between 8 - 10 hours a day. Keep a low blue nightlight on if you want.

Good luck

 

[littlefoxx]

So feed daily?

Yes

 

[littlefoxx]

Also try to bring pH up to 8.0 ish area.