Rookie questions

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Hi all

We are absolutely loving this new adventure, although we are discovering new things to learn and buy everday We have ALWAYS wanted a marine tank and when our 12 year old (who wants to be a marine biologist) completed her junior marine biologist course at the Aquarium, we jumped at the opportunity to get one for her birthday. But oh boy! What have we started?!?! Lol

We are in week 2 of our newly acquired tank. A TL550, we took it with its water, rock, substrate and three little corals. It has been circulating for 6 days now. No fish yet. We are doing this slowly as we cannot afford the cost of mistakes and want to do it right. I would like to ask, about testing the water. What would you suggest we purchase with regards to testing and supliments? There are sooo many on the shelf and to be honest, I know what the shop assistant will say...
we want to add 4 little clowns once our water is checked. Also with regards to lights, I'm not sure when to use blue, white and both together?
I have read a lot of your article and you really really would appreciate some guidance on this crazy journey!
Thanks guys

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Welcome to MASA. Read up about cycling your tank before you add anything else. I would rather get your water tested at the lfs than buy kits for now.

Those tl550 lights will be fine for basic corals.

4 clowns will likely kill each other off. Stick to two max, especially in a small tank.
 
Thanks, the lights are not the originals, they were upgraded to better LED lights by the previous owner.

I have read up on cycling the tank, however the water in the tank is mature water, we merely moved it from one location to another and did not purchase the livestock. There are starfish and slugs etc still living in the tank. Just not fish. Surely we need only test that we have not had an ammonia spike for shifting the sand? Please correct me if I'm wrong. I do apologise if I am.
I'm glad you mentioned that it's too many fish because the local marine shop said we could easily have up to 8 small ones, that would have been disastrous!
 
Agreed with above.
Take water to your lfs. Let them test only nitrite, ammonia and pH. Regardless of what they try and sell you based on their interpretations of the test, rather ask here for advice.
Is there a protein skimmer on the tank?
Regarding the lights, there is no wrong or right way. A lighting period of 8-10 hours a day is sufficient.
If the boyou has the ability to switch blue and white on via a timer at different times, just switch the one group on two hours before the other and likewise switch one group off 2 hours before the others.

Difficult to tell from the pic, but it seems like a large thin flat rick lying on the sand towards the front right? If so, try and lift it off the sand, as it will become a nutrient trap in the future.

Important at this stage is to top up with reverse osmosis water to combat any evaporation, and to mix salt salt water to the correct salinity, or collect water from two oceans aquarium or the clear pools which gets regular fresh water washed in.
The pools in front of on the rocks restaurant in blouberg is great.
If you are going to mix your own: Invest in a refractometer, around R500-800.
Furthermore: do regular water changes and invest in a small tub of phosguard and some carbon and a skimmer for the tank.
 
Fantastic thank you!
We do have a skimmer fitted and running. We topped up the last bit of lost water (not transferred in the move ) with RO and salt mix we got at the LPS.

Will do on the refractometer and will definitely move that rock! Thanks for that. We have an RO unit at home so will do top ups with that. No timer on the lights but I'm home all day:)
 
It is currently for drinking water and I know we will need to add a deionisation unit to it. For now we will get from the water shop close by.
 
DI is great to have but not an absolute must have.
Yes, remove the remineralization stage.
If you have prefilter carbon and decent membrane you should be good to go.
 
We would like to change the black substrate to white sand. Any suggestions on when we should do this? Can I do it once the fish are in or is that a bad idea? Any suggestions?
 
I would change everything you want to change now before fish. Rather start the cycle again now and wait an extra few weeks then try and do it while fish are in. The corals will probably not like it though. But rather now before you add more corals.

You can change the rocks and sand now if you want.
 
If you are looking for a buyer for the black sand i might be interest
 
You are welcome to make me an offer;) pm me. We would definitely like to change.
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Thanks to a very kind gentleman, I have made a few adjustments. He gave us some great live rock and easy to handle frags. Definitely going to change the black for white live aragonite and then work on clean up crew first before looking at fish later.

Thank you all for you help. There is definitely so much to learn but we now truly believe this is the best thing we have ever done.
 
If by live aragonite you are referring to the bags you buy.. the bacteria in your lr and fish poo will seed dry sand much faster.
Essentially you are paying for shipping of water.
 
So if I understand you correctly, it's not worth paying the extra for "live" aragonite as the same will happen to dry aragonite in any case?
 
Absolutely yes. Dont get me wrong. It has its place in the hobby, but your tank is already cycled by the sounds of things.
Live sand will help to cycle your system faster, but then again so does a bit of vodka and bacteria supplements.
If they were bagging live sand filled with worms and pods and all manners of higher lifeforms, then yes, it would be worth the extra money for those who choose to have substrates or deep sand beds.
 
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