My first saltwater tank.

[Kasey]

Most of the equipment I bought used, so my total investment so far (including various test kits and such) is around $600:

38 gallon tank (36.25"L x 12.5"W x 19.75"H). I only have about 30.5 gallons filled though.
Seaclone Protein Skimmer
Rena XP2 (2 30ppi foams, 2 20ppi foams, 1 micro pad and carbon)
Turbo-Twist 3x 9 watt UV Sterilizer
AquaClear Powerhead 50 with micro pad attachment
200 Watt heater
1 tree branch piece of fake coral
25 pounds of live sand mixed with 14 pounds of regular sand.
About 4 pounds of base rock (that sat in the LFS's Figi rock tank)
About 9 pounds of Florida live rock
About 11.5 pounds of Figi live rock
Coral Life 96 watt 50/50 fixture
2 blue damsels
2 blue with yellow tail damsels

I also have a 10 gallon tank with a Rena Cal 200 watt heater and a AquaClear Powerhead 20 for future use.

 

[Kasey]

I made an excel spreadsheet to easily keep track of my numbers:

Salinity 1.0225
Temp 81
pH 8.1
Ammonia .5
Nitrate 8
Nitrite .5

I'm running no hood and 6 hours of light time. The protein skimmer started to collect some bubbly stuff today too. I also removed 1/4 gallon of water and added in around 14 pounds of rock.

Anything jump out to anyone as good/bad?

 

[FinalPhaze987]

cure any new live rock you purchase in a separate tank...you dont want the die off from the new live rock to affect the chemistry of your display tank...all you need is a bucket, cheap powerhead and a heater...no light...keep it in there and test the water periodically...whene everything levels out it is safe to add to your tank..

 

[Kasey]

The bucket setup is what I'll do for future rock.

The display tank is a new setup, so I don't have any established chemistry to affect....

 

[Kasey]

Just an update....

Tank parameters -

SG 1.024
pH 8.2
Temp 78
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

 

[Kasey]

Just an update.

I really need to use the manual settings on my junky camera as the rear wall does not look this horrible in person!