setting up anew

[sin]

as alot of peole know i wasent very smart when it came to this kinda stuff but this time im doing it right tell me if this sounds good im setting up a 10g nano (i woulda posted it here but no one ever posts back)

so far its gonna have
a hanging metal halide or however its spelt.
not sure what brand/type heater
hanging refugium
it hink ive got about 8lbs of live rock (i know im getting more)
dont have skimmer yet
and ive got one of those plastic thermometers that are supposed to be awesome and never break...

what else do i need?also any ideas for what fish/corals to get?

ive got a few in mind and ive talked to some popele about fragging me some.i defanantly want to get an anenome and some type of clown fish (percula maybe)any ideas as to what other live stuff would look nice in it?withought costing me thousands

[erikharrison]

with a small tank I would go with the Viper metal halides. It is the same one on this thread : http://www.maast.org/index.php?name=...ic&t=27271

Alot of people do not use skimmers on nano tanks. I highly recommend making sure to be diligent with your water changes on a nano, especially one that is skimmerless.

A hang on fuge would be great in a small tank!!!! I think there is one for sale in the forum. There is! It is here: http://www.maast.org/index.php?name=...ic&t=27072

Make sure to get a cup or two of sand from another members tank. It will help seed your sand with all kinds of beneficial microfauna. I would not add any starfish, or anything else that may eat the majority of your microfauna, especially in a small tank!

HTH!

[AMulwani]

I'd go to the meeting this Sunday...you will learn alot. Good luck!

[sin]

yea i would like to go but the whole ride thing mught be and issue my aunt needs the car becuase she works sundays.but anyways i just got back from the store i decieded 10g wasent enough so i bought a 20g and im keeping my cichlid in the 10g (i know not the best idea)

so i got a 20g tank
about 15 lbs of arrogonite brand gravel (woulda done sand but ive heard its much harder and this is my first saltwater aquarium)
stock filter the waterfall kind
a 55g bag of instant ocean brand salt
and 2lbs of live rock

im going to be buying more that just all i got in this trip.

well anyways i set up the tank with the gravel and i filled it up with water...well this white stuff came off the gravel and now the entire tanks water is white.is that gonna go away?i have the filter on and it doesent seem to be doing much.i dont want to put in the salt or live rock untill the white goes away in case its going to hurt it but i dont want to leave the live rock in the bag for a really logn time you know?

also if anyone has any live rock they need to get rid of i need to buy some more ive looked in the for sale section and all the live rock seemed to be taken...

[MattK]

You should have added some salt to that water before adding it to the tank. Now you run into the problem/work of mixing the salt with the H2O in the tank with the sand or draining the water, mixing it with salt, and adding it back to the system. The live rock does need to be in saltwater to prevent die-off.

As for the dust, it's normal and it will settle in a day or two.

Where are you getting the water from? (Tap, R/O, Bottled)

[sin]

yea i figured id run into that so i went and threw 8 cups (the suggested starting amount for 20g) in a kool-aid pitcher put some scalding hot water into it and the salt dissolved into it really quick so i just poured it into my tank since all ive got it live rock and temp shopuldent effect that.ive got about 1.023 salinity reading now

and glad to hear that about the dust its looking really ugly

and the water is tap but ive got some aqueon conditioner i use