First Salt Water Tank - Any Tips and Mistakes for a beginner?

[DCAquatics]

Hello,
So bit of background. I have been keeping fish in live planted tanks (fresh water) for coming up to 6 years now, still very much a beginner in my own eyes, as I keep learning new things everyday. I use this hobby to destress for work and to help keep myself mentally stable at times. I have a huge passion for puffer fish with keeping pygmy pufferfish for most of the years that I have been in the hobby. I love keeping my Bette and have been able to bread them and have raised them ready to give to my LFS seen as I got the mum and Dad from there, giving back makes it a complete cycle.

So, I made the plunge into salt water, went to my LFS and got myself a 120 litre tank, with rear sump. Been running stable and I have added two corals a GSP (Green Star Polyp) and Pulsing Xenia, both are doing well and seem to be healthy. I have added first part of my Clean up crew. I did hours of research before buying but most have basic coverage and don't seem to provide much help on the mistakes to ovoid.

1. Tuxedo Urchin x1
2. Rock hermit crabs x3
3. Turbo Snails x3

I test 2-3x a week and track the records in a spreadsheet to ensure I can monitor for any possible problems, I confirmed that the cycle of the tank has completed and is stable to add live creatures, I continue to monitor just a check to ensure everything is ok.

So far I had started to get an outbreak of green hair algae forming on the rocks, after the addition of the CUC seen a huge improvement on the algae front, defiantly better and not many tufts of algae left, so I think we are doing ok. The outbreak of diatoms has been a shock and has continues to get worse, but it is funny to see where the hermits have been leaving a clear path behind them. Anyone got any advice for someone who has started in the salt water hobby?

My main questions and probably basic issues are?

• Should I use a magnetic algae scraper on the tank or will the fact that I have coral based substrate scratch the heck out of it?
• Any advice on how to better manage the diatom phase?
• Feeding a tuxedo urchin, what is the best food for it other then natural algae and food it finds in the tank?
• What are people having there lights on and is it worth investing in a light with a time/App function rather then switching on and off at set times of the day?

I hope this post will answer my questions and help me learn how to ensure I can provide the best tank environment for the fish and creatures I hope / do keep. Also hope that this maybe helps someone else later on down the road. Any advice helps me and any mistakes that people have had that I could try and avoid would be amazing. Thank you.

 

[malik uddin]

i had a saltwater which leaked, but up until then it was really cool. your tank will take a minimum of 6 months to stabilise, diatoms and algae are all part of that. you will need to weekly check nitrate, phosphate, alkalinity, ph ,salinity. Also calcium and magnesium at least once a month (once a week when you get stony corals. don't worry about he light yet just keep it on no more than 7 hours per day the corals you have don't need too much light. don't add anymore clean up crew just yet as your tank is very small. Also as you know you CANNOT use tape water ever. ultimate reef is the best uk forum for reef tanks.

 

[Aqua360]

For your sea urchin, I had great success giving mine the nori seaweed you get in the supermarket, the ones that are like square bits of paper!

A basic tip you may be on top of already is draw a line somewhere near the top, where you want your water level to be. Always top up to this level with RO, especially before water changes so you avoid fluctuations in salinity.

 

[Courtneybst]

I only have 2 years saltwater experience but I'll try and help where I can!

Should I use a magnetic algae scraper on the tank or will the fact that I have coral based substrate scratch the heck out of it?

You can do, just be careful near the substrate line! I used to use an old plastic card (like a bank card) and used a scraper manually without the magnet, for coralline algae.

Any advice on how to better manage the diatom phase?

It's somewhat inevitable but cultured live rock or even real live rock (if you can find any), will be a massive help.

Feeding a tuxedo urchin, what is the best food for it other then natural algae and food it finds in the tank?

I'm unsure of this as I never kept one but know they like to eat macroalgae! So maybe you could grow some of that out to satisfy it?

What are people having there lights on and is it worth investing in a light with a time/App function rather then switching on and off at set times of the day?

It's worth investing if it's convenient to you and will make life easier. The consistency is important I'd say, especially if you're trying to prevent or control nuisance algae.

I used a freshwater light (Chihiros WRGB II Slim) on my setup - I ran that light anywhere from 30-100% and things did grow. The coral was much slower growing than the macroalgae though. So if that's your focus, it might be worth getting a reef-specific light unit.