My first saltwater tank

Hi all,

After reading and looking anything related to saltwater tanks, now I am hooked and decided to join the darkside. I am going to set up a small saltwater tank, and I am planning to keep some basic and soft corals and few fish.

- Tank: rimless tank with dimension 23.5 x 15 x 15.5 with built-in filtration system (3 chambers)
It is around 23.5 gallons if my calculation is correct, minus the built-in section, I will have around 20.5 - 21 gallons to play around.
- Pump: there is a pump including with the tank, I will check to see what it is
- Lighting: I am planning to get Finnex Ray II Ultra Slim LED DB - 10000k + Actinics 24" because as I said, I am planning to keep some soft corals and few fish at first.
http://www.aquavibrant.com/lighting/...-actinics.html
- Skimmer: I am planning to get the biocube protein skimmer since my tank is only 20 gallons around
http://oceanicsystems.com/products/b...in-skimmer.php
- Sand: I have a 20 lbs of live sands from CaribSea
- Rock: I have around 15 lbs of dead rocks, and my friend will give me some live rocks from his established tank to help the cycle.

Here is my plan: the tank is soaking with light bleach solution now. I will clean it and let it dry today. I am gonna set up the tank and create the rock style for the tank. After that, I just put saltwater in and let the tank run. My friend will give me some live rocks this Sunday, so I will just put them in there. I will check the tank everyday and clean the sponge in the chamber. I think the tank will be good and cycled after around 3-4 weeks, and I am going to do a WC for it, and test again. If everything goes well, I will get some cheap small fish to keep and test the water. After couple weeks or months, I will start adding corals slowly.

I am a discus keeper, so this will be my first saltwater tank. I am not rushing or anything. I love the colors of the corals and the fish, so I would like to give myself a try. If any member has any experience or advises for me, please welcome. I am willing to learn new things.

Thanks

Hello and welcome to the form.. can't wait to see some pictures of your tank and setup..I could be wrong but I thought bleach was bad to clean a tank..unless you rinse it really well..but I'm sure you'll get some better input from some other reefers in here..

I think the same as magik use vinegar mixed with water to clean tank I think its 50/50 mix

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Try and get the tank with water and filtration set up as soon as possible because waiting for that to finish cycling is the worst part. Good to get a jump on that so by the time you know what you want to stock your tank with, your tank will have the right params and will be ready to take on livestock.

Also, if your tank is only going to be around 20 gallons, I wouldn't bother with a protein skimmer. I asked an LFS by my place if it's worth it to get a mini skimmer for my 20 gallon and even they said forget about it. You will have good enough filtration with live rock, some sort of mechanical filtration (polyester filter floss), and water changes.

As long as you rinse out the bleach very well and let the tank dry out completely, then it should be fine.

Trung,
Welcome to the forum, this is a great place to learn and hang out. There are some very experienced people in here and also some clowns. Bring your sense of humor and I hope your tank does well. I would cycle the tank with not only the live rock you are given but something else like a dead shrimp from the market. It will create a larger cycle of bacteria so the tank can process the new ammonia when you do add fish.

Again welcome and we love pictures so when you get something in place snap some pics.

Welcome.