I have never owned a fish before

[germy]

I agreed to purchase a full basic setup, payment due three mos. after startup. Here's the deal. 75 G. twin-flow,stand, canopy,blue actinic in cheap strip,9300k in another. Sump, skimmer, heater, established substrate and rock(125lbs). Also 50 G of water that he promised was ready to go. Ive seen his setups, they are breathtaking. He dropped this off, never to be seen again. It has been 2 weeks, cell is off and house is empty. I have never owned fish before. As it turns out, this was for the best. My fiancee and I spend more time in front of my crappily lit, awefully arranged aquarium than we do on anything else. We have 3 pepermint shrimp, 2 coral banded, 2 arrow, 4 turbo,and a hermit, and party pants, or decorator. We have literally dove in head first. We got a tester for sp grvty =1.024-1.025, not an accurate one! we have done no other testing. Everyone is healthy and only one has lost an arm.BATTLE ROYALE. The two questions finally are of water clarity and lighting for my spec. needs. there are little specs polluting the water. There is as much flow as the pre-drill will allow and I also changed the filter. Secondly lighting. We would love to have an enviroment suitable for vivid corals etc. with very few fish and many little critters. Sorry if my ignorance is insulting.

[Twitterbait]

WELCOME. we will try to take good care of you. first i must reccommend looking around the site. you will find a lot of info about running the tank. you should look into getting a good test kit for PH, Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate. if you want coral it is also a good idea to get a calcium test kit. that is a good start.

[germy]

Thanks, will get it in morning. Can you use tds pens like for hydroponics or should I just buy a basic cheap kit?

[Twitterbait]

if you go to your lfs (local fish store) they should be able to point out a good test kit for you. looking at your list of critters i can already tell you will probably have a few conflicts.

[germy]

it's 3 am and I am watching the conflicts unfold. arrow lost tip of arm to other arrow. Coral banded lost whole arm to its arch nemesis "pepe".Peppermints are all hanging out just watching nervously. hans solo my hermit just keeps eating

[tims]

WOW what a story!

Welcome to TRT,
Take a look around here adn search and read everything you can,
your coral banded will grow back his arm when he molts, but since there are too many in the tank this will keep happening until there are only one left.
Befroe you add anything, pick up a good test kit that has many tests init, Ca, ph, nittrates, nitrites, etc..
also before changing the lights out figure out what you want to keep in it and reearch the lights that type of coral woudl need first. Look at some of the sponsors here , you can get some darn good prices.
can you get a few more pictures of the sump and plumbing?

[germy]

Heres my plumbing job. I need the aga acc. kit for the overflow, bio-balls are there to keep the water level high enough for now. This site is awesome. I have been reading about coral etc. I definately need to figure my direction before thinking lighting. SPS and LPS seem to be what everyone talks about, so once i figure out what that means, I should be one step closer. I am all about taking my time with this

[VWD]

looks like You are going to have a nice set up. I think You have already gotten some good advice . Just keep reading and asking ?.

[germy]

will do,thanks. I think that i am going to simplify my rocks for a cleaner possibly easier start. think it may need to be more convincing

[germy]

TEST RESULTS: PH 8.2, Ammonia-,nitrite-, nitrate 5 ppm. nitrate seems to be my only concern

[skeety]

Originally Posted by germy

TEST RESULTS: PH 8.2, Ammonia-,nitrite-, nitrate 5 ppm. nitrate seems to be my only concern

5 ppm is nothing to worry about. actually, unless you have sensitive corals (acro's, other sps in general), any reading on Nitrates <20 is pretty good.

To keep Nitrates down, you just need to be VERY good about doing bi-weekly water changes of 10-20% (depending on your nitrate level and bio-load).

If you need help/tips/info on doing water changes let us know.

But other than that...sounds like your levels are all good. Just make sure you check them frequently. If you're new to the hobby...maybe every couple days for a while...until you learn how to tell when something's wrong in the tank.

If you ever see anything in your tank that looks unusual (fish swimming wierd or not at all, corals retracting polyps for extended periods, limp/saggin/waxy corals...etc), test immediately.

After a while, you'll be able to tell what your levels are by how everyone's reacting in the tank. But until then...it's a good practice to test your levels at least once a week. (more frequently, if your doing something abnormal ... ie curing rock, treating fish, adding new critters, etc)

Keep the questions coming, and we'll be glad to help.

[germy]

thanks, I was planning on a 10% change maybe today.

[Clownfishman]

When you do a water change, make sure you use RO/DI water or buy distilled water from the store, don't use treated tap. Make sure that the temp and salinity of your water is the same as the tank water.

What kind of lighting do you have, there are different types you can get Power Compact, Metal Halide, Normal output etc... I have 130W of PC lighting on my 29G tank, most people say 5-6W per gallon of water, you will need more than that I think if you plan on keeping SPS..

[tims]

take your Bio balls out, that is what is helping keep your readings up.

LPS large ployp stoney
SPS small " "


if you look in the FAQ area there shoudl be a area that has all the short acroymns.

Dont forget about softes to as a tank coral.
but you have made great steps so far.
remember the only bad question is the one you did not ask

[germy]

my lighting now is two nasty single strips; one is 9300k, one is blue actinic(all markings came off with the buildup that I removed). The lights are priority. Remove bio-balls from sump or overflow?