Am I on the right track?

[FloatingFish]

I am just getting started with my marine tank....again. Due to a bit of moving around over the past few years I haven't been able to build an established aquarium. I think I've settled now.

Here are my stats:

50 Gallon
40 Pounds of 'Barely' Live Rock
1/4" Crushed Coral on an egg crate and mesh bed
Red Sea Hang On Skimmer
1 Rio 2500 Power Head - Noisy
1 Small Power head for extra tank circulation
1 Full Spectrum Fluoresent Light
1 Actinic Fluoresent Light
1 Heater

2 Blue Damsels
1 Eel Goby (5")
2 Turbo Snails (which do nothing)

I feed my fish frozen shrimp
Yesterday Big Al convinced me to by Kent Marine Calcium Suppliments to promote growth of live rock (A&B components)

How am I doing ? My target is to build a reef aquarium and have as many little creatures swimming and crawling around in my tank as possible - hopefully a complete food chain.

I value the suggestions of the experts that have gone before me.

[Ocean Images]

I can give you some advice on the 2500 Rio, if it is noisy it probably requires cleaning. They come apart fairly easily, just clean each piece with warm water and it should be good for a couple months.
:cheers:

[Michael_Lambert]

Well its a great start..

Now just some basics.. Becouse you do have not soo living live rock, you want to try and do say 5Gallon water changes every week and make sure you use RO/DI water, If not you are going to get phosphate issues and get lots of Alge blooms..

[Mitchell]

Just my 2 cents.


1/4" Crushed Coral on an egg crate and mesh bed

While the tank is fresh, I would eliminate the CC and go with a 4" to 5" sand bed.
The eggcrate is a great idea ( I use it myself)
Eggcrate first, then place the 'Barely' live rock on top of that. Spread the sand around. Your rock will act as base rock that you can build upon. Find, buy, borrow, steal :D a couple scoops of well established live sand to seed the tank.

When you get extra cash then buy some CURED live rock and build your scape.


1 Rio 2500 Power Head - Noisy

Replace this with a Hagen or Maxijet.




1 Full Spectrum Fluoresent Light


1 Actinic Fluoresent Light

Not bad for shrooms but at the very minimum you should look into overdriving them or picking up a cheap halide or VHO.

Now is the time to do alot of reading because now is the time when you can make changes to your setup with minimal damage.
Expect the usuall algae blooms and growing pains, but you are off to the right start.

Dont hesitate to ask more ?? there are no stupid ones.
PM me or email me if need be.

Good luck

[Mitchell]

Oh and P.S.

I have never used the Kent products. Bionic 2 part is a well respected and used calcium, alk suppliment.

AJ has it here
http://aquariumpros.ca/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=A&Category_Code=WTA

[Dman]

I agree with Coralmorphian on the CC, and the smaller the grain of sand the better. AFSS here occasionally has Southdown sand, perfect for a deep sand bed. Other wise AJ should be able to help you out.
Keep a real close eye on your RIO pump. anything rated higher than a 2100 should be UL or CSA listed, as they have a small percentage failure/nuked tank rate.
ESV's Bionic is a great product, another well respected name is Seachem, both on the additive and test kit side.
Test regularily and keep a log, sounds like a PIA and it is, but it will help you notice trends and head off potential problems at the pass.
Search, read and ask questions and take your time.
Dman
:spin:

[ajx22]

Check out or Download section for ReefCon - a great piece of software for keeping a log:
http://www.aquariumpros.ca/download.php?op=viewdownload&cid=1

Also check out eFishtank.com -
http://www.aquaserve.com/wetnet/default.asp

---an online site to keep your log and have the site send you e-mail reminders for water/filter changes, etc.

ESV B-Ionic is a great product for Calcium/Alk - and we have just added the C-Balance and CombiSan lines from Two Little Fishes as well.

We will also have the full line of SeaChem online soon as well - as we are waiting for our Seachem Select Dealer certification to come through so we can offer better prices to you.

Best regards to all...

[afss]

As Dman said i occasionaly can get SouthDown sand. Please do some research into southdown before decideing to go this route. I have had no negative effects in almost 2 years now and I like the product, but some have had negative things to say about it or its properties.

Just want people to be informed so they don't come back unhappy down the road.

Scott