FINALLY!

Today...day 37 since the set up of my tank....my nitrates have fallen below 5ppm!

A note to all who go cuckoo and want to put more than 1 or 2 fish in their tank at the outset....DON'T!
This has been a nerve wracking experience for me, as I'm insane about any animal I have. For me to lose even one due to my negligence is heart breaking and difficult for me to deal with...but lose some I did. I put 4 fish in my 55g (2 damsels and 2 cardinalfish)...they were small, so I didn't think it would hurt. Then I added 2 peppermint shrimp to help with the detritus and such.
It made a huge difference, and in the end I lost 2...one of my shrimp and 1 cardinalfish.
I've had a major problem getting my nitrates under control in my tank because I over stocked it before it had even gone thru it's first cycle.

Lesson #1= NO more than 2 hardy fish OR 1 or 2 hardy inverts at the startup of your tank!

I lost my second cardinalfish a few days ago due to a "rock slide" when performing a waterchange. That one about killed me because he was completely healthy! UGH! And yes, I cried over the loss of "Chicken."

Lesson #2= SECURE your rocks with something....aquarium safe putty, glue, or whatever it takes. And be super careful so that none of your LR shifts or tumbles when refilling your tank....Especially if you have a fish like Chicken who hid under them during water changes. I thought I had them pretty securely stacked. I was wrong.

Patience, dilligence, and attention to every detail will pay off in the end for you with an amazing, healthy tank with healthy, happy inhabitants!!

Sorry bout your lose of fish. :(

But good to hear that your tank is on its way, what are you planing on stocking it with?

When you learn, we all learn, Meredith. Thanks for posting your experience here. I'm sure it will help someone else!
Glad to hear the nitrates are low. Finally!

Thanks guys.

I'm an absolute noob to this entire saltwater adventure, so every second is a learning experience for me. I hope that by sharing some of my ups and downs might be of some use to others...especially those who, like me, are just starting on their saltwater journey.

Chuy, I'm going to work on building my reef first, and I will be adding more soft corals, colony polyps, mushrooms, and LPS. So far I have a small frag of button polyps that cwhip sent to me, and a frag/small colony of Jasmine polyps. I will be adding a few more inverts as well, but I don't exactly know what I want yet.
When I do add more fish I'm looking to get a Goby, a couple more Spotted Cardinalfish, a Clown (or 2), and maybe a Mandarin Dragonet (or Dragonfish as I call 'em).

I'd love to have a Tang or even a Foxface Lo, but I don't have a large enough tank for them...YET! Muahahaha!

Glad to here its working out now. Unless you can run the filter in an established tank for a week or two first - and use old tank water to fill half your tank -to then you must have patience through the cycle.

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

Yeah, and I ended up not being able to get already cycled water like I had originally counted on, so I ended up starting from scratch.

Have no fear, I'll continue to post my experiences....and the endless stream of questions as I strive to learn.

About the Mandarin . Please don't get one until your tank is WELL established !! They need an endless supply of " scuds " for food , and you will not get them unless your tank is well established . And lots of LR .
Just sayin'
Ray

Thanks Ray! I didn't know that! If/when I do add one, I will make sure it's one of the last....probably won't be adding any more fish until next year now anyway. I want to work on getting my rockwork and stationary reef inhabitants established first I think.

I really appreciate the info on the Mandarin.... I would have been devastated if I'd gotten one and it died because I didn't have the correct environment for it.

I'd avoid mandarins entirely. Maybe if you can find the ORA blues, but otherwise I'd just avoid them. Too much work. It can take one of these 3 months to starve to death.

Oh, no kidding? Man, I really like them though...they're so unique! Well, drat!
What's an ORA blue, Pope?

It's a mandarin that's been captive bread by ORA. The benefit is they're usually trained on frozen food. All dragonets are considered difficult species to keep because of their specific dietary requirements. I heard someone claim a good rule of thumb to keep one fish in this species is 75-80 pounds of live rock. Now a ton of people will tell you that they've trained their mandarin or scooter or whatever to eat frozen or pellets. This is possible sure, but it's a difficult process. Most of the time these people have moderate success initially and the fact that it takes the fish 3-6 months to starve to death is written off as bad luck or whatever.

If you do decide you just gotta have one (cuz hey, they're awesome) at least wait 6 to 9 months before you get one. You'll know you're ready to try it when you can look in the tank with the lights on and see pods crawling around everywhere. Feeding phytoplankton and decent (not even pristine) water quality will help with pod population. Still you need to keep in mind an adult mandarin can completely wipe out your pod population in a matter of days. So if you don't have a nice little place for them to grow without fear of predation (refugium), then it may just be a matter of time anyway.

If you're lucky you can find someone selling a mandarin they've had for a few years eating frozen or pellets on a local board. Local hobbyists selling livestock (especially fish) from an established system, or obtaining from breeders like ORA is always the way to go.

For you and other newbies to salt.. ORA website link here.

http://www.orafarm.com/

Awesome info! Thank you Pope!!

Oh... apply the "difficulty in keeping mandarins" rant to harlequin shrimp as well which you shouldn't own unless you're comfortable buying food (live star fish) for it to eat.

Hmmmm...well then! Note to self: Forget the harlequin shrimp!!!

saltwater I always been intimedated by it lol, Good luck with your new adventure post pics when you can

Thanks Chuy! :) I was always kind of intimidated by them too, but have dreamed of having one since I was a little kid. Finally at a place in life now that my kids are up and grown that I could get back into my fish and decided I was gonna do my long dreamed of saltwater tank!
It's not too bad once you dive in.

welcome to , and enjoy your "salty " experience ! Do not be discouraged be set backs or loses , its all part of the "learning " experience ! You do have a GREAT support group here to help you avoid some of the "newbie" mistakes though !!!

Thank you LifeIsGood....and I'm so appreciative of everyone's support and help as I've muddled through this. I have always wanted a SW tank...and I want to make sure it's a healthy, thriving environment for all the inhabitants.