Advice on first marine tank

my advice would be

-lots of light, minimum would be one 50/50 and one 100% actinic, each being
40 watts for aboput a 60 gallon tank which is what i have.
-lots of circulation, top shoul be churning! Dont use the circulation from
the filter as your primary means of circulation, use a powerhead, 24-7.
-Minimal Fish, i had 3, 2 now, will get a couple more, thats it. one Yellow
Tang, yes a tang, plant eater! love him to death, will think twice about
buying one myself... also have a Blenny. Percula Took a jump to the world of
oxygen... Keep the feedingd down, once a day, if you forget a day, oh well,
feed them the next day, dont make them go hungry too long too often though,
causes stress.
-Regimen, persistence, schedule! keep those lights minimal, about 12hrs a
day, mabye up to 14, too much light will equal too much algae growth
polluting your tank. Light MUST come on same time each day and go off same
time, when increasing light times do in increments. Also Persistance in
your feeding schedules for your corals and animals. i feed kent
phytoplankton everyother day, and iron and iodine and coralvite twice
weekly, and strontium-molybendum twice a week, and add turbo-calcium
everyday in powder form. a feeding schedule is a must so you can learn what
is too much or too little.
-Dont vacuum, get live sand, a little will do, on top of your crushed coral.
set those rocks, and leave the tank alone for a long time!!! months and even
years... the stuff on the bottom will take care of itself if your doing your
job right, you will do more harm than good by vacuuming. DONT USE TOO MUCH
CRUSHED CORAL or bottom medium. i have about 1 inch or 1/1/2 inches on
bottom of 60 gal tank of crused coral with about 1 cup of live sand
sprinkled over the rocks and sand at one time. sand has started colonies of
worms everywhere.
-KEEP temp at 79 degrees at all times, or a couple under for economy. i
keep mine at about 77. use the thermometer not the thermostat read temp of
the tank. put heater and thermometer in place of decent water flow.
-reduce tank noise by adjusting filters, pumps, hoses, and other equip to
reduce stress to animals!!!!!!!!! ANY COMMENTS ON THIS ONE??
-Dont shine bright room lites on tank after the tank lite shuts off, let
animals rest.
-START WITH A BASIC FILTER, GET THE WATER RIGHT, GET THE TEMP RIGHT,
INTORDUCE STARTER BACTERIA, GET THE LIGHTS BRIGHT, GET THE CIRCULATION
GOOD, TEST WATER(NITRITE, CHLORINE, PH), INTORDUCE LIVE SAND AND MAYBE SOME
LIVE ROCK(A FISH OR TWO IF THATS YOUR THING), FEED ROCKS AND SAND VERY
MINIMALLY, WAIT A MONTH OR TWO, TEST WATER, DO WATER CHANGES, WHEN PROPER
NITRIFICATION STARTS TO FUNCTION START INTRODUCING VERY SMALL SPECIMENS OF
MANY DIFFERENT SPECIES. OVER NEXT FEW MONTHS WORK ON THE FILTER NOW. BEEF
IT UP, OR CONVERT TO A REFUGIUM. AFTER ABOUT 6MOS, I BELIEVE ITS SAFE TO
INTRODUCE MORE FRAGILE SPECIES AFTER FULL TESTS HAVE EBEN DONE. TEST
NITRATE, (NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH NITRITE)CALCIUM, PH AND OTHER DESIRED
TESTS. NITRITE SHOULD AT OR BELOW 2.5PPM. IF YOUR TEST SAYS YOUR AT 10PPM
AND 10PPM IS AT TEH BOTTOM OF THE SCALE, YOU ENED A LOW RANGE TEST THAT
TESTS BELOW 10PPM

Watch them reproduce!!!!!!!
I counted 19 starfish, theres hundreds of snails, all microsized(aid in
cleaning the budding coral lsystem)also some anemones here and there, tube
worms casting their long nets, clam or mussel, feather dusters, macro algaes
etc... lots of neat stuff coming out of nowhere. I will convert my 40 gal
freshwater to a 40 gal refugium filter hopefully someday... wolfpak


"Sprattoo" wrote in message
. ..
why be harsh? If you enjoy aquariums, you will absolutely love having a
marine tank!!! After i set up my first one I gave all my fresh water fish
to all my friends to make room for marine!!!

read through the FAQ for the newsgroup, check out http://www.garf.org , do
some research online, know about the cycling process, maybe you have a
good
fish store nearby? ask them, get a second and third opinion. Then give it
an
informed shot.

theres no black and white right or wrong... but you can make the best
coices
about how to proceed after getting lots of info and opinions. eventually
you
will find a few opinions you respect the most.

above all else.. enjoy it!

"Mitch" wrote in message
om...
i have a spare 30x15x18" tank and i am thinking of making it a sal****er
tank.
i would just like some advide/sujestions on marine tanks.
-Mitch

PS: please be harsh!!

Lone6Wolfpack wrote:

Percula Took a jump to the world of oxygen...

Is this a common occurence? I've never heard of it happening to anyone
but us! A few years back, we had a perc and tomato clown (in addition
to 3 damsels) who had co-existed for 2 years. Suddenly the perc decided
he could not stand the tomato. He rammed him a few times until we could
intervene. Poor tomato went blind. After that, I guess the perc
decided he was the dominant and left him alone and we were able to
remove the separator. When feeding the fish, we would push food close
to the tomato so he could smell it out. Well, one day, the perc decided
I was taking too long and went to flick water at me (he always does this
by coming up to the surface and turning away quickly and flicking his
tail). This time he just shot OUT of the tank! This is a 55 gal tank
on a stand, so the top of the tank is about 4 feet off the ground. I
freaked and it took me a couple minutes to put him back (bad bad owner,
I know, but I was freaked). I put him back in and he was fine. Not
even shocky. He's now 14 years old. I've decided he's too mean to die.
Thing is, when he was a baby, you could feed him by hand and actually
cuddle him in the cup of your palm. He is beautiful though.