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Hey everybody, today's my birthday and I got a 60 gallon aquarium and lotsa money to buy my equipment with! I'm supa excited to get all the equipment, right now I have it full to about 50-something gallons and I have the filter running. At first I added too much salt and had a way too high salinity, but I brought it down to about 1.028 SG by adding water(the water temp is like 65, will that affect the SG much?). The only thing in it so far is the crushed coral, the saltwater, and the filter(AquaClear 70). Yes, I did forget to buy the heaters. I also discovered a saltwater pet shop 30 minutes from here with LR at 4 or 5 dollars/pound, 4 for without coralline and 5 for with. What is coralline exactly, and do I need it for a FOWLR tank? So far my stocking setup is:
2 Percula Clowns
1 Lawnmower Blenny
1 Flame Angelfish
Lotsa shrimp, hermit crabsc and snails too. My lighting will be 130 watts, the AquaClear 70 will be filter, and I'm planning for 2 100W heaters. Also, a SeaClone 100 Protein Skimmer. What am I forgetting equipment-wise that's incredibly obvious? Thanks for the help and wish me luck!

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I like Led Zeppelin.

I think the lower temperature also lowers the specific gravity.

I would lower that a little more once you get the heaters in there and the water warms up, then you can be accurate. With a FO with inverts, you probably want to keep your SG up at 1.025.

The corraline algae just makes the rock look nicer. Purple as opposed to brown. Eventually, if you have the right parameters(use RO water, good levels of calcium and ALK), the LR without much corraline will become covered in it too.

As for the seaclone, I'd trade that for a coralife super skimmer or an aquaC remora. Neither would be much more expensive, but will work better for you.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I'll look into some skimmers then. I do need one that I can HOB though, I don't have room for it anywhere else. As for the coralline, I don't think I'll pay extra for it, I just want the cheapest LR I can find right now. Also, I can't afford an RO unit so regular water is what I'll be using. So far seems to be doing OK, still kinda cloudy because I added the live sand. The SG is at about 1.025 right now, and I'm going to get the lights and the LR pretty soon (I think).

EDIT: Is that all I can stock with? I really want more but I don't want to risk my fish's health.

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I like Led Zeppelin.

Both skimmers I mentioned are HOB skimmers.

You can usually buy RO water at the LFS or the grocery store by the gallon. It's cheap initially(30 cents per gallon), but will end up costing more than buying your own unit. You will end up with some nasty algae initially whatever you do, but the quality of the source water will affect the severity of the algal blooms, and whether or not they eventually go away.

As far as the stocking is concerned, it really depends on your husbandry habits, and if your setup will be able to provide a suitable home for more fish. Adding a sufficient amount of live rock and circulation, a good skimmer, keeping the feeding under control, water changes, etc. etc., all have a direct corralation with how many fish you can have. Adding a sump and fuge will increase the amount of fish you can have as well.

I would say that if you take good care of your tank and provide a sufficient setup, you could maybe add another small fish or two.

That could be a ways down the road though. Just go one at a time. Research each before you buy and all that good stuff.

IMO you can get the lights after the live rock cures, unless there are good photosynthetic hitchikers you want to try to keep alive. Otherwise, you will just end up with more algae to deal with.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I don't have anything in the tank yet except for saltwater, sand, a big piece of dead brain coral, and a filter and heater running. I was actually planning to use the die-off from the LR as a cycling method, I'll just put it in my tank and monitor the ammonia and nitrite. As for the tank's critters, I plan on adding 6 snails and 6 hermit crabs after the LR but before fish. Also I'm going to do dark cycling so I don't get algae growth too much.

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I like Led Zeppelin.

im amazed u didnt point this out matty (atleast i dont think you did)

bodangit,
Filter:
For saltwater tanks you should always get a filter that is at least for a tank two sizes bigger then yours. So i'd suggest getting a Aquaclear 110 for you tank if you still want a HOB filter. I have a Aquaclear 110 in my 55 gal. and it keeps the water rather clean. But yeah id sugget getting a filter thats for tanks double the size of yours.

Heaters:

I'd suggest getting 2 200 watt heaters for your tank. Though it myight sound like a lot but it'll keep your tank temp very stable and if one of the heaters dies on you you still have one that will heat the tank fine. (though not super stable) But 2 100 watt heater will work fine too but 2 200 watt heaters is what i suggest.

skimmer:

i have a protein skimmer on the back of my 55 gal. It works great and it came with everything you need and it doesnt use any air pumps. It cost me about 100 $ U.S. which isnt too bad really. The name of the skimmer is : Sea clone 100 protein skimmer It works really well and it isnt too bulky. The only prob is it may be tough to clean but it only need to be cleaned well when its dirty so once a month maybe so thats not to tough.

log book:

I;m not shure if you have one or not but a log book is really handy. You just right down something when you do something to the tank or something interesting happens. I always record the names of my coral down because i have trouble remembering the names of them. Its just a suggestion which can really pay off if you get into a bind and you need to look back at something you did to the tank a week ago.

Good luck with the tank!


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pnh

I think 2 100 watt heaters would be fine, unless you want to keep the tank at 83 degrees in a 60 degree house. To raise the water temp 10 degrees F from the room temp, 200W is plenty for a 60G tank. If one fails, the other will be able to keep the water warm enough until you get another heater. The AC 70 is just a secondary filter to the live rock it sounds like to me. I don't even run an HOB filter all the time. Only when I'm stirring things up during a water change or something. The most important thing is the live rock, and getting plenty of water circulation around it via powerheads or a closed loop.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I did get the AC70 and then I saw the post about needing double size... Oh well. I got the heater deal set up and my SG is about 1.0245. I'm going to be getting the LR and the lighting fixture soon as well. I bet I can get a powerhead for a good price too, I'll look into that.

EDIT: Is 130W enough for a bulb anemone? I want to look into keeping some corals or maybe an anemone, but I don't know anything about it. BTW, I got 2 responses on skimmers, one of you said the seaclone and the other said the coralife. I think I'm going to have to go for the cheaper one, even though you both seem to think they work very well.

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I like Led Zeppelin.

Well if you were to get coral ud need to get lights that have half normal flourecent lights and half incudecent (the purple lights) that will provide enoug light for most corals but im not shure what a good amount of wattage ud need for you tank. So ud have to ask someone else about that.

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pnh

I'm thinking one of the really white ones like a full spectrum and one actinic, would that be OK or what?

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I like Led Zeppelin.