Newbie With Tank

[nut4clife]

Hi All,
Need your advice and commentary on setting up a tropical community tank.  I went to Pet Smart this morning and after talking with an aqua associate I left with supplies to get a 25 gallon tank up and running.  The associate recommended a 40 gallon Power Filter, Stress Coat to make tap water safe, heater, and 35 pounds of gravel.   I've attached a pic of the tank and what I have setup thus far. 
 
Then I came here in search of information on fish variety and found a treasure trove of information.  I wasn't quite sure I had all that was needed (i.e. air pump etc.) and after reading the thread on "cycling" I feel I should or need to be doing much more before I introduce my community to their new home. 
 
Please advise on the same and as well please share what my community should consist of.  I prefer a non-aggressive community, colorful and fancy such as what you might find on a coral reef.  I would like to have at minimum 3/4 species, an algae eater or two of different species, and any other suggestion to complete the community.   Can you suggest an appropriate theme (i.e. coral, cave rocks, plants artificial or live etc.).  I look forward to sharing the beauty you will help me to create. 
Thanks for all your advice, suggestions, and feedback.
 
nut4clife
(nutforsealife)

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Hi there, congrats on your new tank

 
I'm glad you decided to do some research before getting your fish! I'm hoping you plan to fishless cycle with ammonia? If so, this will take you 6-8 weeks which gives you lots of time to research fish and decor. After you've got some fish in mind that you like the look of, go into your LFS and have a look at them in person that will help you narrow down your choices. 
 
You need to bear in mind your tank size and water conditions (pH and hardness) when choosing fish. When you are fishless cycling you'll need a water test kit and that will tell you what your water parameters are. 
 
When it comes to the look of your tank, everyone has different taste so just have a look in the various journal sections on the site for inspiration. 
 
Keep us up to date on your progress! Everyone likes to see a new tank come together. The research phase is actually really fun, you'll change your mind 100 times on what fish you want before you make a final decision lol

 

[HHH]

Welcome to the hobby! As the poster above me said it is recomended that you start with a fishless cycling. Do you have a water testing kit? If not i would recomend the API master kit the kit is fairly accurate and tests for PH Ammonia Nirites and Nirates. I belive theyre around 20 USD on amazon . For you stock it really depends on what you like. Before buying fish i would reasearch some fish and find those that are sutible for your setup. Seeing that you want an algae eater i would avoid the common plecos and chinese algae eaters even if the petstores say otherwise. The plecs get wayy bigger then they tell you and the chince algae eater will soon give up its deit of alagae and start going for your fish's stress coat. For the theme it really depends on what you like. Beauty is in the eye of ther person. I would go check out some other tanks like the post above me also suggested and pick a type you like. Oveallr welcome and goodluck
Edit: forgot the "all" in "overall"

 

[nut4clife]

hey FF/AA,
Thanks a lot for the responses!  Cycling it is!  I'll go out today and get a kit for testing and begin my cycling while still researching and learning.  I'd rather learn with no loss of life to my community and fishless cycling by far is best.  I'll keep you posted or if I have further questions I'll seek your counsel!  Once again thanks so much!

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Best of luck!

 

[Ninjouzata]

I'm sure you know this after reading but you will need a source of ammonia to cycle the tank, I see you're in the US, one place I know of to find the right kind of ammonia is Ace Hardware Snails are great for algae if that would count for you, they might sound boring but some are available in lovely colors and they are really fun to watch.

 

[nut4clife]

Ok Tank Mates,
Aquarium Test Results:
PH 7.8ppm, Ammonia 1.0 ppm, Nitrite 0 ppm, Nitrate 0 ppm.  So where am I and what do I need to do?

 

[nut4clife]

Thanks FC going out now to Lowes and see if they have ammonia

Just completed the Volume Calcualtor and it calls for 1.53 ml of ammonia to be added.  Only difference is I'm not using live rocks.  Should I seek a measure of water from a bacterial source other than tap?

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Hmmm that's interesting! Looks like you have ammonia in your tap water. I'll be honest that's going to make life slightly tougher for you lol. I recommend getting a dechlorinator that detoxifys ammonia, like Seachem Prime - it will help you in the long run. Also, you may be looking at cycling for marine tanks instead of freshwater as you only use live rock in marine 

 
Have you added any fish or chemicals to the tank yet? If not, you have ammonia in your tap water which is an important thing to be aware of when you have fish and when you are cycling your tank because you'll need to subtract 1ppm of ammonia from how much ammonia you are adding to the tank, because it's already there - does that make sense? 
 
It will only matter when you add ammonia for the first time because you won't add new water until you are finished cycling. After your ammonia has gone to 0 the first time (it'll be a while!) then you only need to re-dose at maybe 2-3ppm each time you add more. The 4ppm dose to start with is just to really get you going 

 
Weeks from now, when you have fish, it'll be important to remember that you are adding ammonia to the tank with your fresh water - it's not a massive deal a lot of people have this problem but you do need to have a dechlorinator like Seachem Prime which will make the ammonia safe for your fish until the filter can process it.