its a salt water tank

More coral and a background.


CUTE KID!!!

thanks he kinda jumped in the pick yeah im thinking about live rocks thats just how i got the thing

planning on going reef? if at all possible I would remove as much of the crushed coral substrate as you can and replace it with live sand this will help with your biological filtration and won't hold detritus like crushed coral will.
then I would add 1.5-2 pounds per gallon of live rock if you are on a budget you can use dry base rock its cheaper and will be seeded then will become live, the live rock is also a great biological filter I see from the pic that there's not a lot in the tank so now would be a good time to make the improvements if that's what you are looking to do, some people use egg crate and set the rock on it when scaping there tank or you can just set the rock directly on the glass that what I do because I have found that using the egg crate can trap debris and release phosphates into the water. avoid setting the rock on a deep sand bed because in the future you may want a fish that burrows in the sand and they can easily undermine your rock work and cause a collapse. you can also use epoxy to glue the rock in place, home depot sells JB water weld "for potable water" thats reef safe and less expensive than other epoxy, once they use the words aquarium, reef etc the price for the epoxy tripples. you may want a temporary place to house your fish until the scape is done, you can put them in a rubber maid container with a power head and they will be fine.
take a look at some of the pictures here and that will help give you an idea of how you might want your scape done.
good luck and keep us posted!!!!

avoid buying from live rock ranch.
you can get great deals on craigslist but make sure you ask if the tank the rock was in was ever treated with copper even the slightest trace of copper will kill a reef also when looking for LR you should be aware of rock with nuisence algaes you will be able to tell by looking at it, good live rock will have lots of purple coralline growing on it not green hair looking algaes.
reefcleaners.org sells good base rock for a great price, another member here was very happy with it.

The one thing I noticed in your other thread is you say you have an underground filter. Personally I would also remove it. They trap too much dirt to be of any real help. I would look into some dry base rock. I just purchased 50lbs online. Then you can buy one or two pieces of live at a LFS to add to it and some chaeto algae to help seed your dry rock. Then you will have lots more live rock.

Edit - Posting at the same time as Cindy did :)

I am the other member who got the rock from reefcleaners.org. Very satisfied. It's been in for what now...about 1-1/2 or 2 months and is turning purple & red already with no added chemicals. I prefer to let nature happen on it's own if possible. And yes, but buying the dry rock you eliminate the nuisance algaes and pest anemone isssues.

cool thanks for all the awesome help. question will it be fine with just the tetra flilter or will i need to add another one and what is the point of a protein skimmer?

so do i need a protein skimmer for REEF TANK?

the light bulb says rapid start all glass aquarium does that help?

so you are running T8 fluorescent? those are primarily used on freshwater planted tanks and are fine for a FOWLR or fish only tank, saltwater is more dense and you would not get the par you need to support corals. things in this hobby go from good, better,best for instance you can use a power compact fixture that will allow you to keep easy corals. then you have T5 Fixtures which are better and depending on the setup will keep almost anything. then you have what I feel is best which is a T5, metal halide combo with supplemental LED's there is nothing I can not keep.
if infact you are using a T8 then you will want to upgrade before investing in coral.
this may all sound like rocket science but its really not all that hard once you realize what is needed to keep coral, remember corals are animals not plants and they all have different needs to keep them alive and healthy, some use light to grow while others need to be target fed then you have some that require feeding and light.