Another newbie to the aquarium world

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hey guys well joined the forum hoping to learn alot more about marine fish tanks. started my tank in december last year only a little juwel tank, think its 100L not to sure.
i have 4X 24w t5's marine white and 2X 15w actinic. timed so that the actinic comes on hour before and goes off hour after main lights. main lights 7am-8pm, that ok?
got a red sea protein skimmer just 2weeks ago, dont really know if ive set it up right but its skimming and theres no bubbles in tank, so i guess its right.
the filter, is the one that came with the tank.
1 pump to have some current.
i do about a 40L water change every two weeks. good? bad?
evaporation is alot due to that i have to fans to extract the heat that the lights generate. replace about 6L every two days with RO water. was looking to get a automatic top up as doing this is very annoying. any suggestion?
i have a algae problem that the moment as i got no fish eats it. suggestion? is my tank to small for tangs? even small ones?
got 2x pink skunk clowns, was hoping they would become friends but the ones kinda aggressive, that wierd?
2x common clowns
2x firefish
banana wrasse.
anemone crab
coral banded, fire, cleaner shrimps
and a bit of corals and anemones.
and suggestions or comments?
sorry about all the questions! once you get me started its hard to stop. :)
 
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Hi freind welcome,your lights to start is to long on if you just setup i will say no longer than 8 hours a day or less,and your protein skimmer which one is it,we need to see pics,so your tank is a nano, i will do 20lts a week to start but you also need to give your tank at least 4-6 weeks to mature,use stabality by seachem excellent stuff,it will help to mature your tank and brake down nitrites,nitrates,ammonia,etc, you need to aim for a ph of 8.2-8.4, calcuim of 400-450, kh of 8-10, nitrites 0,nitrates 0, ammonia 0,check out quintons nano he has a excellent setup maby one of the best i have seen and very stable as well. GOOD LUCK BRA.
 
Tank is looking good mate, try tackle that green hair algae before it becomes even more of a nuisanse. It's often a sign of high phosphates or silica in the tank. Try increasing the frequency of your water changes, so 10% change weekly instead of 20% change every 2 weeks.

Your tank is DEFINITELY too small for tangs! Don't go that route. Do you run a phosphate remover? If not i'd suggest you get one it will definitely help with algae issues.

Also how much are you feeding and how often?

Your lighting cycle seems a little long, try reducing your main tank lighting by a few hours.

Also look at getting an ATO (automatic top off) unit, will be well worth it!
 
Clownfish are also often aggressive with each other and other species, it is because they are part of the damsel family of fish...

In regards to your stocking levels, 7 fish is quite a lot for a small tank like yours (although this is quite a subjective topic). As long as you are skimming well though then you'll be fine. I wouldn't add any more fish though! :D
 
Our Matty is learning by leaps and bounds ;-)

Well Scuffels - a very WARM welcome to MASA. You seem to be off to a good start. Seems that you have read up a bit before you started. I am extremely glad that you found MASA. You will find ALL the help you need, right here.

Most people have gone through the "newbie" stuff of setting up a new aquarium, some folks more than once....

I want to confirm the importance of water changes in such a small system as yours. Please keep up with your regular maintenance (at least 5% water change every week).

Secondly, one of the biggest mistakes many people make when they start out, is to overfeed their fish. The fish only needs to eat once a day (maximum), and preferably get them onto a staple diet of dried foods (pellets and flakes). You can feed frozen food IF you rinse the food in Ro water and strain off the fluid, that you ONLY feed the critters that stays behind. The liquids contain a LOT of phosphates.

There are two BIG enemies in keeping marines: 1) phosphates, and 2) nitrates.
Phosphates and nitrates "feed" nuisance algae, of which the most common types I have seen, are: green hair algae, and bryopsis algae (the former looking like hair, therefore the name, the latter looking like very small fern leaves - like a little green feather)....

Tangs are generally a no-no in any tanks smaller than 300 litres tank volume.

Your tank has a built-in box filter - do you still use the filtration media that comes with the tank? ie. sponges, filter-wool, etc?

If so - please chuck it out. This is going to cause detritus build-up in the sponges, etc. causing high nitrates and phosphates. Once again fuelling nuisance algae growth.

You lighting seems to be fine for this size tank.

I see that you have a nemmie - do you feed it? what do you feed it, and how much?

You should feed it at least once a week....

Good luck and keep us updated with your tank's progres..
 
thank for all the info.
im going to need to know a little more about phosphates, how you get rid of them? think thats the cause of the algae. thanks for the tip about the fozen food. i didnt know that.
was looking into the auto top off. but i need to pum it from a bucket that will be under the tank to the top of the tank, as i dont have a sump. the one i saw could only pump up about 30cm so thats not going to work.
i keep hearing tangs cant be in a small tank. but i keep seeing photos of them in tanks the size of mine, not even a small tang?
at the moment im using the filtration system that came with the tank. any suggestion what to do? something not to expensive!
i feed my fish every 3/4 days with frozen mysis. dont know if that means anything. thats wat the pet shop gave me. that ok? the purple anemone loves it. well i think, sticks to tenticles and he eats it. the bottom one doesnt eat it, well not what i can see. im sure im over feeding them. but i the amount i put in doesnt touch the gravel. that ok?
any other suggestions?
thanks for all the, info the most i learn about marine tank in one day. thanks
 
o the skimmer i have is a red sea prizm skimmer it hangs on the back of tank.
going to load some more pics now now.
 
nice pic's love that skunk clown.

your phos is high right??
get a cuc(clean up crw), snails and dwarf hermit

very nice tank:thumbup:
 
if you want to you can paint the outside of the back panel. then that wires won't be seen:thumbup:
 
nice pic's love that skunk clown.

your phos is high right??
get a cuc(clean up crw), snails and dwarf hermit

very nice tank:thumbup:

Clean up crew don't remove phosphate, you need to run some rowaphos in your filter
 
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