My first tanks!

Well first to begin this my rl name is matt. I have had african fish for 4 months and i went to the lfs one day and started browsing trough the saltwater stuff. And here is were it all begins. I baught a few books about saltwater tanks, so i figured id buy a 10g tank and see how it goes. Well i baught just the tank itself,baught what i needed (light,stand,filter, exc.). I put in the ls then a few days later i baught a few pounds of lr(roughly 6 pounds). Well i ended up buying a few more pieces the next few days then a week later i put in some coral and a clownfish. Every thing was going well so i went to the lfs saw a 29gallon biocube. Parents baught it and i put the stuff in the 10gallon to the 29gallon. My dad baught way more lr than needed(as of course he goes way over bord when there is a sell). So that said I had to set up my 10g again to put some lr in cause we didnt have anough room for the 29gallon. Well anyways I think we moved and proggresed a little to fast not nowing anough about saltwater tanks so thats why i suscribed here. I now the basics like what your salinity, calcium,exc. should be but Im having a lot of trouble stacking my rock the way i want and i was wondering if there was any secert to it. Also my lighting isnt very strong any one no of a good place to by a good lighting system online reasonable. Also can you guys give me some suggestions on what my magnesium does exc. I need some more info! I also want a thriving stable tank. PlZ help me!

 

when did you start his matt? did you cycle? it sounds like youve been moving kinda fast. theres no "proper" way to stack the . other thqan making sure its stable. the look , is up to you. whatever pleases your eyes. no one gets it right the 1st time.

 

well for the 10gallon i just put it up saturday nothing in it but liverock. the 29gallon has been in there for about a month and there is way more lr than needed pry a good 40pounds with a a thick sandbed in there so i figured it wouldnt really cycle. I want to start the 10gallon back up for my own just because iv got nothing better to do any way lol. back to the 29gallon. Yes, i think i am moving way to fast myself. I have a bubble coral,corch coral, red acan, zoos, green matalic hairy mushrooms, 6 lined wrasse, 2 perc. clowns, 2 emerld crabs, feather duster, green carpet anemone, xenia, and a hammer head.to me thats moving along at a very fast rate...

 

al try to put a pic on if i can figure it out (not good with electronics). srry

 

in my opinion, i think your moving way too fast matt. your tank will cycle, have you been testing your water for nitrites,nitrates and ammonia? those will tell whats going on in regards to your cycle. the sand bed doesnt guarantee against a cycle. also noticed, way too early to have an anenome in there. they need a seasoned tank to have the best chance of survival.

 

Yes i have, They have not been up , well thats nice to no about the sand thing as i read on a lot of places, your tank WILL NOT cycle if your have at least 1pound of lr per gallon and about 1pound of ls per gallon, but i have also had a few ppl tell me that the pound thing is not that good of a judgement so i was looking for someone with some experiance behind them to ask. Also I have also herd the watts per gallon thing isnt that good becasue there are so many types of lighting like 20watts of pc is the same as 20watts of mh. Correct me if im wrong but MH is the strongest so they arnt really the same.

 

a god way to stack your liverock is using reef safe apoxy or putty and sticking them together some people also drill holes into the lr and stick pipes in them to connect them together

 

well, as i said i got the photo on my comp. but cant figure out how to get it to this thread so no photo, srry. But as far as that goes.... any other info u can give me to help "update my tank".

 

theres photo tools on this site you can use.

 

tried lol im just no good at comp. stuff.