Hello 3reef!
I'm new to keeping a marine aquarium, though I've been doing fresh water for a couple years now. I stumbled into saltwater through an impusle buy (bad), but my OCD traits have kicked in and I've learned quite a bit in the past month and continue to learn more every day.
I have a 46 gallon bow tank, which has been up since 1/11. I made the mistake of listening to one of my LFS (not even the reputable one!!), and against my better judgement, and I added fish (listed below) on 1/14. It went something like me asking, "Hey, don't I need to cycle this tank first?" And them saying, "NO NO that is what this live rock is for, buy another few pounds and use that fish credit!" So anyway, everything has gone well so far.
Here are the deets:
Equipment -
Fluval 405
Aqua C Remora w/Maxijet 1200 (bought after doing some reading)
25w 36" fluorescent bulb (the one that came w/the tank)
Substrate and rock -
60 lbs live sand
18.5 live rock
7.5 base rock
Inhabitants -
2 Occelaris Clown
1 Yellow Eye Tang
2 "Red Hairy Hermit", though I believe them to be "White-spotted hermit" (Dardanus megistos)
1 Yellow Brittle Star (added on 1/26)
10 (was 13) Nassarius Snails
1 Coral Banded Shrimp (added on 1/26)
A couple of my lessons learned so far (besides the obvious impulse @ the LFS) -
My tang will (does) need a bigger tank.
The crabs are aggressive, they eat anything, including snails.
And that I shouldn't have done that water change last weekend (thankfully no adverse affects besides more diatom).
My plans are to LEAVE THE TANK ALONE for another month or so and just keep an eye on the water quality. After that, my next purchases will be a light and some more live rock. I'm also open to advice as far as this goes such as; which first, light or rock? And does anyone think I need more (or less) cleaner crew?
Once again, hello. I shall leave you with one of the first pictures I took of the tank.
