First Time Of Setting Up of 2x2FT Tank

[tamama]

Dear all

I am a very new newbie and planting to document the tank setup process (probably to learn from the mistakes or to be guided by the pros). In any case, I hope this would make it meaningful for the other potential reef hobbyists to pick up this hobby.

Here it goes. To cut short the story. I have ordered a customed tank and bought some of the hardware and software.

What have arrived (as shown in photo):

1. Cabinet
   
2. Arctica chiller 1/4hp
   
3. ZE RO EX 5.1
   
4. Tunze 6045
   
5. Dymax clip on light for refugium
   
6. A bag of live sand
   
7. C-Balance A and B
   
8. SeaElements
   
9. BSI gel
   
10. Epoputty
    
11. H2O salt mix
    
12. 60L drum
    
13. Test kits
    

What have not arrived(pending delivery):

1. Tank (2ftx2ftx45cm)
   
2. Sump
   
3. Pump
   
4. AquaMaster LED Light
   
5. Protein skimmer
   
6. Fluid reactors
   
7. Refractometer
   
8. Biopellet
   
9. Rowa phos
   

I will keep it updated along the way and think I will only receive the rest of the items by end of June before I can even go and choose the rocks.

I already bought some SPS frags, but I think I need to wait long long before I can collect them.

[hotsoup]

a very gd start. thought i seem u're slinging on to SPS. my cents, let yr tank's mature enough, abt 3 to 6 mths before u put in your first frag

[tamama]

a very gd start. thought i seem u're slinging on to SPS. my cents, let yr tank's mature enough, abt 3 to 6 mths before u put in your first frag

Thanks for the advise.

I intend to keep mostly SPS and minor LPS. May I know what I should put first if I am not putting SPS?

[hotsoup]

That depends on the lighting requirement u intend to have. I have no experience with LED so can't really comment on that

[vtecintegra]

I put LPS in right as soon as the tank cycled under LED. Mine is growing great. It comes down to having the water parameters right and stable.

[Raymond Tan]

Hi bro

Care to share where did you get your cabInet?

I am searching for a cabinet for my 2ft tank.

[tamama]

Great to hear this. May I know what are your water parameters? Thanks.

I put LPS in right as soon as the tank cycled under LED. Mine is growing great. It comes down to having the water parameters right and stable.

[vtecintegra]

Salinity 1.025

Nitrate 0

Phosphate .01

Calcium 500

Alk 10.2

Mg 1440

Reef Crystals Salt with no dosing. Using algae scrubber with no skimmer.

[netviper]

Salinity 1.025

Nitrate 0

Phosphate .01

Calcium 500

Alk 10.2

Mg 1440

Reef Crystals Salt with no dosing. Using algae scrubber with no skimmer.

Wow! Ya calcium n kh in the high side bro. Could it be the salt that u use?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

[tamama]

Finally set up my tank with live rocks and cycling it.

I tried to keep salinity as 1.023 but the calcium was tested as 360 even if I tested it on the water after salt mix.

Now I am trying to increase the salinity to 1.025 and see how it goes.

Any recommended salt mix for SPS?

I have bought two 3 fishes - 2 yellow wrasse and 1 powder blue tang. Now the powder blue tang got white spots on its body already maybe due to stress. What can I do with it?

How long can I put SPS coral in? As long as the water parameters are stable?

[tunicate]

Shouldn't have fish while cycling.

[tamama]

Just tested with DD test kits, the calcium is still at 350 level after the salinity has been increased to 1.025. Does it mean that I need to increase my dosing rate for calcium?

[tropic]

Get it right when you start or you may face problem after problem. A little patience in cycling will sure help the tank start right.

[MadScientist]

Nice tank

[tamama]

The tank is 2 weeks old with bio pellets and bacterial king in the sump. I change water 10% once in two days.

Sure. I think I will wait another two weeks before putting coral. But I am still wondering why the calcium level is so low despite the salinity level is at 1.025 and I have been dosing balance C 15ml A everyday.

[tamama]

My two yellow wrasse are gone. Could they swim into my inlet piping? Definitely they didnt jump out.

[FuEl]

Stop doing anything. Buy a book & read. It will save you more in the long run. You have just introduced parasites into your tank even before cycling has finished. Any fishes added in the next few weeks will just be a waste of $. You don't need to worry about Ca levels now at the cycling stage. 15ml won't cause a big rise of Ca levels in such a large volume of water.

Not being harsh or anything. Even my relative who has asked me to help him set up a tank I made him buy & read the book before I help him do anything. For people whom I don't know, I would recommend the same.

[spkentchai]

Other than getting a book..,you can also get tons of information from the forum like ours or reef central...the only challenge is that you get conflicting opinion at times...read more and interact more with reefers....you will get there...Jia you

[tamama]

Wah... this sounds scary. May I know where to get those good books?

[tamama]

I read this and it seems it would be best if I take the fish out for the good of the tank.

http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/resources.asp?show=378

[iskay]

Read, understand what you had read, and use them. Equip yourself with sufficient knowledge. Ask when in doubt. Get 2nd and third opinions. Give more weight to advice from old timers - they've been there, done that, failed, and succeeded often without the more advance equipment that we have today.

Here's an article about starting a marine tank -

I can see that you have a planted tank. You can probably relate back to how your knowledge and skills progress over time. In Marine, patience is key.

[tamama]

Thanks for the advice. I will take it slow from now. =)

[tamama]

Finally caught the blue tang.. now should be giving it away. I dun have a spare tank to treat it.

[MadScientist]

Luckily you were catching a tang, not damsel

[tamama]

I read about damsel... very hard to get rid of. Maybe I will start with coral first before I get some fishes later.

Maybe I will get

1 yellow tank

1 six line

Any other recommended fish that is useful for SPS? Where can I get to buy a large varieties of fishes? I went to iwarna, not many fishes there...