New Guy Kinda Lost On Set-up

[new2saltyfish]

thanks for the article. from what i read it seems like it said to keep the salt level a little higher. it's at about 2.5 right now so i guess its decent. ill have to add a little more though i guess.

 

[SkiFletch]

salt level?

Do you mean alkalinity level? If so and you're at 2.5 meq then yeah you're too low and thats prolly the main reason for your low pH

 

[new2saltyfish]

yea alkalinity. it's actually 1.025 i also just put in a coral blue light bulb in my current hood. its an 18 watt coral life bulb. for some reason it's been blinking on and off like crazy for about 30 minutes. is this normal? it says on the label might take 5 minutes to start up but doesnt say will flash uncontrolably for 30 minutes.

 

[new2saltyfish]

well as you can see above ^^^ the light i got was messed up so i just got another one. It makes the orange pop cause it looks like a black light and ill have to get some pics. But today i was thinking of what i eventually wanted to asdd for fish to the tank so give me your opinion of if this is to much or not... (blue hippo tang, yellow tang, percula clownfish, pink square anthias, and a purple lobster) im just not sure on how many fish i can fit because with everything in there theres probably only about 27 gallons of water.

 

[new2saltyfish]

well to keep an update. in the past week ive added a small clown fish which is doing great. a few of the crabs changed shells, and i go the new lighting working great. now that im about ready to continue stocking...(somethin new in another week) i was wondering what you guys thought about a Mushroom Polyp - Green Ricordea. they have them pretty cheap on saltwaterfish.com and was wondering if any trouble or restrictions come from buying one of them?

 

[SkiFletch]

Pics?

If you're in the US, I'll be happy to sall you my green striped mushrooms . Got a rock with probably 10-20 polyps on it for $10 plus whatever shipping is. They're the guys top left in this pic:

Mushrooms are fantastic first polyps, these were my first and grow really easily. If you want to order from saltwaterfish.com, they're a reputable dealer.

 

[maidenfan]

bah wish i was usa i'd have them in a flash ski and the other ones at the bottom left

my ricordea getting back on topic are brill the ones i have get to about 4inches across under lights and i spot feed them once a week with frozen mysis and they close up and eat it great newbe coral

 

[new2saltyfish]

yea im in the US so thatd be great. let me think about it but sounds like a plan. i wanted some hard corals at the begining but heard they weren't for beginers and couldn't be kept close to each other. Ill try to get some pics but i dont have a digital camera, only a stupid camera phone.

 

[new2saltyfish]

also the light i just got is a coral actinic 420 which says 18 watts and describes on the box its good for corals and reef tanks. So should i believe the label or will the light not be sufficient.

 

[new2saltyfish]

heres pics finally. sorry for the bad quality...camera phone i can't figure out how to make it bigger.

 

[SkiFletch]

You'll struggle to keep corals with a single 18 watt tube, gonna need more lighting than that

For pics, try getting a photobucket.com account (totally free), uploading the pictures there, and then copying the IMG tags underneath the thumbnails of the pictures in your online photo album and pasting them here when you post. Thats how most of us get our big pics (myself included)