noob to site and saltwater

[fr3sco]

hey whats up guys my name is edwin i own a 46 gallon reef tank and 125 african cichlid tank with a vampire pleco a chocolate zebra pleco, green phantom and snow ball pleco. i just set up the saltwater about 2 weeks ago im here to learn from u guys about this new world of reef keeping any information would be greatly appreciated. i want to say thank you to weicowireman for hooking me up with nice price on the frags i bought from him he even gave me a free toad witch i taught was kool. looking forward to hearing what u guys suggest and tricks to learn

 

[skene]

you just setup your tank 2 weeks ago and you're already adding livestock?!?!
Did your tank even go through its nitrogen cycle yet?

Best advice I can tell you... is stop... do not purchase anything else for this tank, until you can verify that the tank is properly cycled.
Nothing good has ever come out of a sw tank that was rushed. It's not like freshwater where it gives more leeway on what you can accomplish.

 

[CHEMCHEF]

Start asking questions. There are plenty of answers here.
Welcome to MR
P.S. Please post some pics of your African tank in the FW forum. I wolud love to see your plecos.

 

[fr3sco]

i bought a sw and reef master test kit all my parameter are neutral ive been using reef code a and b. another thing i forgot to mention is that about 40 percent of the water used to fill the tank was from the smaller 20 gallon i was using for my clown. i have also been using purple up to treat the live rock daily and other chemicals for the reef that where suggested by my lfs

 

[rbtwo4]

No bueno using chemicals chico

 

[fr3sco]

so its a bad idea to use the bottles that the lfs told me to purchase

 

[howze01]

I wouldn't really bother with the Purple Up. As far as "other chemicals" maybe if you posted what they are we may be able to help you out to see if they are neceassary.

Unfortunately, not all LFS employees are experts. You would like to think they know what they're talking about but that's not always the case. There are far too many that will sell you things just to make a buck, not because you need them. Not saying that's the case with yours but it never hurts to do some research before you add it to your tank. As a general rule, I don't add anything that I can't and don't test for.

 

[fr3sco]

ok i am using kent tech 1, kent microvert, kent tech m magnesium, kent strontium & molybdenum reef code a and b and purple up all of my paremeters are neutral calcium at 460............... another question what is sts and lps?

 

[rbtwo4]

theres no need to use all those chemicals IMO its a new tank u dont need to dose magnesium strontium and all that other crap. let nature take its course. sts is in fact SPS=Small Polyped Stony LPS=Large Polyped Stony