[xvCODY]

So, i finally got my first saltwater tank set up yesterday. As of right now there are no corals. Just 1 GSP, 1 Lyretail molly, 5 hermits and 3 turbo snails. Here are some pictures for you guys to tell me what you think! At the moment i'm only running a single Koralia 3 in the tank. It's a 30g tank, btw.

Tank yesterday after setup.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g224/Gotmuhring/TANK001.jpg

Tank today.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g224/Gotmuhring/tankclear001.jpg

Here's the only hitchhiker that i know i have officially.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g224/Gotmuhring/tankclear004.jpg

I'm so excited and happy with it! How long before i can expect to see any potential hitchhikers?

 

[Ocho7712]

Hmm, I will say welcome to the world of fishkeeping. The biggest piece of advise that I can give is to take it slow and do plenty of research BEFORE you do anything. You will find that patience will save you a lot of frustration and money. A few things that I will mention is that when putting a saltwater aquarium together is giving it time to cycle. You should let the tank be bare, with only the sand and rock in the tank until the cycle is complete.

The Next thing I would ask is what are you keeping your salinity at? Green Spotted Puffers are brackish, and start there life more in a freshwater environment, and as they get older can take a higher salinity content. Even as an adult, as far as I know they are only good to around 1.018 sg. If you are looking to have a reef tank, most people have their tanks @ 1.025. Another thought is that in a 30 gallon tank, that should be the only fish. Want more fish? Get a bigger tank. My advise would be to take the fish back to the store, until the tank cycles, and take some time to figure out what kind of tank/fish you would like. 30 gallons limits how much you can have, so be selective.

Things to ponder right off the bat.

 

[lilserb953]

The aquascape looks awesome!:thumbup:

 

[xvCODY]

This tank has been set up for quite a while with just sand/fish at 1.023-1.025 SG. This is my first SW tank, not my first tank in general, just fyi. Guess i should've specified that the setup was FINISHED yesterday, not all set up at once. ;]

Green spotted puffers can tolerate full marine even as juveniles but it isn't required. He's getting to the size where he should be around 1.016-1.018 SG so i figured i'd go ahead and make it marine.

It's been cycled for quite some time like i said, without rock, while i saved up for it all. (Expensive stuff around here)

I realize i don't need to overstock the tank. At most, besides inverts, i'm only going to have MAYBE a lawnmower blenny with the GSP. I'm thinking of getting rid of the molly, actually.

lilserb953: Thanks! It was hard to figure out where to put everything since the water was cloudy at first but i guess my judgment was good. lol. I haven't moved a single piece so far!

 

[xvCODY]

Also, any ideas on the clam/scallop?

 

[lilserb953]

I think the clam looks cool. Just keep it where its at.

 

[Clermas]

Was your live rock already cured before you added it? If you are not sure, be sure and test frequently for any spikes in ammonia levels as the curing process for live rock can cause this.

Also noticed that you said you cycled the tank with just sand? Is that correct, I am not sure of the potential for all the bacteria to grow simply in the substrate. Most bacteria grow on surfaces and nearly none is found in the actual water. Without any filter media for the bacteria to attach itself to and because you said you just added the live rock a day ago, you may be lacking the bacterial bio-mass that is needed.

I would watch your water parameters closing for the next week or two.

 

[Geoff]

Welcome to TRT!!

:wavey:

while you wait for your tank to finish going through its various cycles. BTW-we can tell that the tank has not been setup for more than a couple of weeks max. start reading through this thread.

you are going to have a hard time keeping that clam (i believe it is a mussel) alive in that system and keeping the tank from being overrun by algae. those clams are filter feeders and need a lot of suspended organics in the water column. it is very hard to do this and keep the water/glass clear enough to see through.

TRT has a photo gallery (tab at the top of the screen) that you can host your pics on. could you please use TRT to host your pics instead of PukeBucket? that way the pictures will always be associated with this thread. using another host site leads to pictures disappearing because of deletion from the site, or directory changes.

G~