# My new tank??Help



## Picoso (Mar 7, 2011)

Hey everyone,
Looking for some advice,critique, suggestions..pls I recently got into this hobby about 2wks ago. That is when i initially setup my saltwater tank. Currently my salinity is sitting at around 1.025-1.026 I purchased a domino damsel yesterday he seems happy. My concerns is what is yet to come. All this is very unknown for me at the moment. I look forward into making this tank a beautiful reef tank. With a couple of fish and some inverts. Just curious about the items i purchased from petco if they will work or should i get something different also if I am missing anything in my set up. Im currently feeding my damsel x3 times a day tropical marine fish flakes is that sufficient or to much? I will be buying some more live rock next week to build up the right side of tank. I was looking of getting at least 30lbs total of the rock. Also what do you guys suggest in getting one of those siphon hoses to clean the sand and rock with? Wont the sand get sucked up into the hose....??and out of the tank?? 

Items i purchased
Glass Aquarium size 29 30Lx13Wx18H
Marineland Power Filter Penguin 350
ZooMed Aquasun T5 HO 30" Hood
-Coral Sun 24W
-Ultra Sun 24W
30lbs of Natures Ocean Bio-Active Live Aragunite Reef Sand
10lbs of Live Rock and 2 not live
ZooMed 214 Power Sweeper.
1 box of instant ocean salt
Aqueon 100W Submersible Heater

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## badxgillen (Aug 20, 2010)

*nice*

definatly get a gravel vac..you will need it in the future..and remember that the domino will get larger.aside fromthat a decent start.more live rock would be nice but you stated you will be getting more.so thats good..and i would switch up the food a bit frozen freeze dried and some pellet if you can..if you can only do one more of these go with a real good quality pellet.aside from that your tank looks prestine..to untouched.some live sand if you havent alreay got some.


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## Picoso (Mar 7, 2011)

Thanks for the reply. I currently have live sand on the bottom of tank. Should I put some crushed coral on top of that? I will go look for some pellets for "UNO" the name my wife gave the fish.. I came home with it telling her not to name the fish because our 3 yo daughter would become attached lol...I told her to call it test #1.hints the name UNO... anyways should I remove the fish while placing new sand or crushed coral?? and wait until it settles again. Or is it fine to leave fish in tank.?? I will also go pick up a gravel cleaner next week and some more live rock.


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## badxgillen (Aug 20, 2010)

*well*

you shouldnt need to change your substrate unless you want to.just a light touch to the surface of the substrate to remove some debree as needed with the gravel vac.if too much sand starts to get into the siphon tube pull it up enough to let the sand fall out.if you do decide to put some differnt substrate in just wash it well and put it into a tuperware container that you can scoop crushed coral in and place it as close to the bottom of the tank as possible.


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## Picoso (Mar 7, 2011)

_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Picoso (Mar 7, 2011)

Hey I just bought some more live rock. It's got some stuff on it pretty cool looking one part has a clear looking worm like thing that comes out everynow and then. Anyone know what the exact name of this is
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Picoso (Mar 7, 2011)

Progress.....

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## badxgillen (Aug 20, 2010)

*cool beans*

thats some nice looking rock.....real porous..you got a pic of that worm??


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## qbmac (Aug 13, 2011)

*how are the lights?*

Guys, I am about to set up my first aquarium, a 29 gallon. Im going for a similar setup to this one. Just curious, my friend has 4 bulbs in his light fixrture and swears by it. Are the 2 sun life and coral life bulbs giving you enough light? I just want to make sure they provide enough for growth of my corals... any opinions?


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## Reefing Madness (Jun 26, 2011)

qbmac said:


> Guys, I am about to set up my first aquarium, a 29 gallon. Im going for a similar setup to this one. Just curious, my friend has 4 bulbs in his light fixrture and swears by it. Are the 2 sun life and coral life bulbs giving you enough light? I just want to make sure they provide enough for growth of my corals... any opinions?


 4 T-5 HO lamps will do the trick for your 29 gallon, no problem.


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## onefish2fish (Jul 22, 2008)

i just want to point out that if that filter has bio-wheels on it, get rid of them. infact your best bet would be to run it empty ( just for its flow ) or with a pouch of carbon. regular filter floss gets to much debris built up and allows them time to break down into excess nutrients. 
although they are active fish 3x daily feedings for a damsel is to much, which will lead to future algae problems. i also would like to inform you that damsels are reef safe but not fish safe IMO and future fish additions are more then likely to get picked on.


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## Reefing Madness (Jun 26, 2011)

Alittle more input would be, that you need a minimum of 30lbs of LR in there for water filtration purposes. This is what keeps your water clean, not using any kind of filter, which do their jobs, but also make for big headaches in the Nitrate department. But on a good note, looks GREAT so far!!:thumbsup:


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