I NEED HELP!!!

[Shawnanthony]

Wats up everyone. I'm building a 45g and need help from there. i already hav the filter, powerhead, heater, starter kit. I don't know wat to do after I get the sand. I need help as to setup everything else. Can someone tell me wat i need to do to get my tank set for the introduction of fish?????:confused:

[aquasport24]

You're in the wrong section. You should go to the General Discussion section, but don't worry some one here will move you there. Make sure you have all info. ready, pictures should help. What do you want your tank to be ? fish only or mix reef?

[aquasport24]

Man, that was fast.

[SKNR]

The only thing that you will need is a really thick wallet or a credit card with a good amount of available balance on it. :bigsmile:
One thing that I can tell you that you would need is Live Rock. On average most people say 1 pound per gallon of water some people say 1 1/2 pounds.
You should try phenomenal Aquatics I think they have the best price in town for rock. I know they had all of their rock on sale for 1.99 but that might have ended today, you can either buy it cured or dry.

[RayAllen]

Id advise you to also invest in books. Saltwater can be a mental and money draining hobby and doing as much research Books and internet before you jump in will save you a lot of money and heart ache. I researched a full year before buying my first saltwater tank. You can get a lot of info from us but a quick book to guide you is always a plus.

Welcome to Maast glad to have another potential reefer.

[CoryDude]

Sounds like you may be new to the hobby, so you need to do some planning and research before you jump in the water.Personally, I'd visit one of our sponsor's stores and start asking some questions and looking at their set-ups.

Sounds like you might want to do a fish only tank, which is much cheaper to setup than a reef tank. But, you'll need to invest $$$ into a filtration system first. Good luck.

[ErikH]

be patient.

[crossxfire2]

At this point, I would go down the equipment list and see if I had everything I would ever need. Do you have a skimmer? Once you've done that, then I would simply mix some saltwater in the tank to the correct salinity. Once the salinity and temperature has REALLY settled, after a good few days, then i would toss some live rock in the tank. Then, a few days later, put 1 or 2 damsels in the tank. Then, I would just keep them as my pets for a while... then I would see where life takes the tank and I.

Hope that helps!

[crossxfire2]

If you need some details, please, let us know!

[Kristy]

It might help us to give you more specific suggestions if we knew more about the "filter, powerhead, heater, starter kit." What came in the starter kit?

The next steps are to buy some sand and live rock, put them in the tank with water (mixed to the desired salinity) and then WAIT out the nitrate cycle for a few weeks. You may need to do some reading, ask questions about the nitrate cycle to fully understand this process. Someone above mentioned throwing in a damsel for this phase, but I would not really go that way. They are cheap and hearty but if they should happen to live through your cycle, then you are stuck with this fish in a 45g that could be the terror of the tank.

Use this time to find all the marine fish stores in town (check out our sponsors list). Make a wish list of the fish you like and see what all you can keep in the 45g and start planning what you want. I would browse MAAST's history heavily and make note of your favorite tanks, then find out more about them, what lighting they use and what fish go together, etc.

Good luck and oh yeah, I second (or third or fourth) the comments about PATIENCE!

[ErikH]

Shawn, where in San Antonio are you? You can come by and see my setup if you would like.

[profntbtr]

no damsels!!!!! damsels are the scourge of fish keepers everywhere. they start out small, but soon make it difficult for all other tank occupants(incredibly mean fish) and next to impossible to remove without complete breakdown.

[SoLiD]

As far as Damsels go, most of them grow up to be little JERKS.

The few exceptions I've had experience with are:

Alleni Damsel
http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/yhst-33477391359232_2004_16096716

Green Chromis
http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/yhst-33477391359232_2004_15975249

Blue Chromis
http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/yhst-33477391359232_2004_15564461

all pictures belong to freshmarine.com

[Bill S]

Free green chromis, if someone wants one. Will likely have a "hook hole" in its mouth... Just kidding.

I'd stay away from ALL damsels, except clowns.

[SoLiD]

I kinda like watching them school at the top of the tank. I've trained mine to eat out of my fingers. It's kinda cute. :wub:

[dustint21]

I like to start my new tanks with them, but i hate tryin to catch them when i go to add other fish!

[Shawnanthony]

I live in the south side of San Antonio I live off of pleasanton & military.

[ErikH]

Shawn, you need to turn on your PMs. Also select WYSIWYG Editing. Look at the top of the screen for the link to "user cp" to acess those items.

[ErikH]

it wont let me reply to your messages as your PMs are not on