what am I doing???!?!?!?

[Valentin]

whats up everyone!!!! first post on this site.
just wanted to introduce myself and ask a couple of questions and hopefully get some positive feedback.

first of all, im 26 and from staten island and Queens

now to the questions.

i am a very very impulsive person and i have always been interested in saltwater fish tanks.

so basically, one day after work i walk into my local fish store to do some browsing. i end up finding this tank that i really like and decide i have to buy it. this was october 20th. i bought 2 50lb bags of salt and 6 bags of sand. 2 days later, the owners came over and installed everything.

a week after that i made my first purchase of 30lbs of live fiji rock.
i bought 5 damsel fish to start cycling.
at this point (and still) all that is running is my wet dry filter.
last week i bought another 54 lbs of rock, and yesterday i bought another 8lbs. i also bought a hydor koralia #6 powerhead to get the water moving.
also bought 4 clown fish.

basically, all this stuff is sitting in my tank right now circulating.

i have 92lbs of rock in my tank and i need at least another 100 to fill it up to the look that i want.
once i have all the rock in, thats when i want to start adding corals and all that other stuff.

basically, i have a couple of questions;

is too much rock bad?

when do i start running my protein skimmer?

i plan on testing the water once all my rock is in, should i start now?

there are some small ugly "feather dusting" things growing on some of my rocks, i want these gone.....what should i do?

i will take pics tonight and share.

some specs.....
125 gallon
big wet dry filter (will take pics today0
2 small heaters
i protein skimmer with a secondary "cath" tube?????? no clue.


i need to do a ton of research, but either way i wanted to say hello

 

[THEDLO]

woah way too soon to add fish.

 

[Valentin]

edit: that stuff growing on my rock is aiptasia
will just read up on this.
thanks

 

[THEDLO]

oh and welcome

 

[NYreefNoob]

welcome to MR first. what fish store ? lets start there. u shouldnt cycle any tank with live animals, let alone if you are still adding live rock, wet\dry sumps are of the past, a pic of the skimmer might help. 2 small heaters ? what power, pic of the stuff growing on the rock ? alot of the stuff is good and 1 powerhead isnt going to be enough, my suggestion is before you BUY ANYTHING ELSE is to do some reading, i always suggest for people to look at the tank threads and see what most people are doing, you dont need alot of live rock pending rest of filtration system

 

[rkaragozler]

yeah another one from SI welcome to MR. their is a ton of info on the site, do your research and don't stop. people here are always willing to help out, 1st thing is if you are running a wet dry with bio balls and you are thinking of doing corals, you have to get rid of them. they are known to be nitrate factories. I am not a big believer in starting a cycle with live fish, but since you already did that, you really should be running your skimmer already. as far as rock goes every rock has different weights to them, i personally have a 175 bow front with 300 lbs of rock, but i'll leave it to some other members to chime in on that.

 

[Valentin]

welcome to MR first. what fish store ? lets start there. u shouldnt cycle any tank with live animals, let alone if you are still adding live rock, wet\dry sumps are of the past, a pic of the skimmer might help. 2 small heaters ? what power, pic of the stuff growing on the rock ? alot of the stuff is good and 1 powerhead isnt going to be enough, my suggestion is before you BUY ANYTHING ELSE is to do some reading, i always suggest for people to look at the tank threads and see what most people are doing, you dont need alot of live rock pending rest of filtration system

like i stated in my first post, i will be posting pictures tonight once I get home from work.
i came to this site because i am looking for the knowledge i do not currently have when it comes to fish tanks.
im going to take your advise and browse some tank threads

 

[THEDLO]

lol MR=manhattan reefs.

 

[NYreefNoob]

lol MR = manhattan reefs - get it , welcome to MR first,

 

[NYreefNoob]

why i post anymore

 

[THEDLO]

why i post anymore

lol u need to share all that knowledge rick

 

[Valentin]

so i should remove the bio balls in the future or now?
do i leave the filter at the top and the filter at the pump and just completely eliminate the balls? once i have all of my rock in and the tanks parameters are good, i want to start adding coral.

 

[Valentin]

^ yea i realised after i posted.
i thought you were being a wise ass.
my apologies. lol

 

[NL146]

Welcome to MR. Along with the other comments, one more thing to consider is that the more live rock you get the smaller the water volume you actually will have in the system.

 

[rkaragozler]

pics of the sump would help, you can't take out all the balls out at once, they have to be removed slowly, or you will get a cycle again.and don't rush into anything take your time. one thing i learned in this hobby is patience.

 

[THEDLO]

rkaragozler = sump genius lol

 

[NL146]

...i thought you were being a wise ass.
my apologies. lol

Don't apologise yet, there's more to come :splitspin and that's when you know you're in the family!! lol!

 

[rkaragozler]

thanks dlo

 

[noobzy]

Welcome!

 

[Josh]

Welcome to MR.

Get the skimmer up and running immediately.

Gradually remove the bioballs. You do not want to use them. Use the space in the sump for additional media filters (like the TLF Phosban reactor filled with activated carbon).

Do not add any additional livestock or rock until you figure out where you are in terms of cycling.

Does the tank smell bad? Like rotten eggs?

Do you have Ammonia/Nitrate/Nitrite test kits?

What is your specific gravity or salinity?

What is the temperature of the water in the tank.

How are the clownfish behaving? Are they swimming around freely?