new to the hobby

[jabnew2dhob]

Hello,
recently a friend of mine had to move and gave me his salt water aquarium. Since im new to this with no experience, i will like to know some basics on how to maintain a healthy habitat for all of the living organism that inhabit the fish tank. what i currently have in this salt water fish tank is the following:
*
20 gal tank
2 filters: one marineland penguin biowheel200 & one aqueon quietflow1
1 heater allgrass 100w
1 50/50 t8 15 watt 18" lamp
1 T5HO 48w SolarmaxH.O. high output double t5 lighting system (this one he gave it to me in the box like brand new, said he wasn't using it because it is to strong)
**
As of the live stock i dont even know where to begin as i do not know the name of the species from both coral and fish... it took me a while to do the research of all of the species as i did not know any of the categories or names but for what i have found out here it is:
-- approximately 10 to 15 pounds of live rock
-->>>6 fishis
2 ocellaris clownfish
1 blue tang
1 purple firefish
1 purple stripe dottyback
1 watchmen goby
-->>>5 inverts
1 cleaner shrimp
1 porcelain crab
2 feather dusters
1 brittle sea star
-->>>Many Corals
4 candy canes or trumpets (cant tell the diff.)
3 purple mushrooms
1 red mushroom
2 green mushroom
8 bullseye rhodactis mushroom
1 little rock war coral
1 little rock war coral but green (couldn't find the name)
1 hammer
1 green and red colony polyp
1 jasmine polyp rock
1 glove polyp
4 ricordea mushroom
1 other type of polyp which cant find info online..
***
As of the food and supplements he left me a bunch of stuff.. but since im starting to run out of some of it i would like to know whats best for what i have so i can start and make this tank my own and my new hobby.
so this is what i got:
2 types of phytoplankton; 8-20micron PhytoGold-m brightwell aquatics and Dr. G's marine aquaculture live phytoplankton
2 types of micro bacteria; microbacter7 brightwell aquatics and nutrafin cycle biological aquarium supplement
1 C-Balance; A and B
1 SeaElements julians sprungs reef formula/twolittlefishiesthenaturalsolution
1 kent marine ZooMax

So thats what i got, it seems like a lot and for what i've been reading i can assume the tank is over populated. Regarding the food and supplements i think is a lot too, but given all of the life that the tank has i dont know what to think... i got some test kits and try them over and all of the levels seem fine except for the nitrate which is always a little high.
Sorry for writing so much and pardon my ignorance in this whole matter but as i said im new to the hobby and will like to learn to take care of this beautiful set up that got FOR FREE (that's the best part, as i did research i noticed that this hobby is not cheap and all of the things that he got in there must have cost him a lot of $$$)
thanks for reading this and would really appreciate opinions and advices on what to do to make it better or improve it in somehow or anyway i can possible.
thanks again

[nlgill13]

First things first, what kind of test kit are you using and what are you testing for (ie ammonia, nitrite, etc.)?

Also a blue tang is way to big for that tank....I would suggest selling it to an LFS or someone who has a 120g or bigger

[Reefmedic79]

First off,
To Reef Central

Personally your only a little over populated, I if you get rid of the blue tang your fish level would be fine, also the tank is or will be way too small for him.

If you don't have any snails in the tank, you're going to need some a mix of different species, i.e. cerith, nassarius, nerites, and astreas. These along with the other inverts you listed make up a healthy clean up crew, or CUC. Hermit crabs can also be included in this group, the opinions differ on whether they are needed or not.

The supplements are mostly food stuff, which you want to use sparingly, and randomize what you feed on different days.
The micor-bacter isn't needed, as it is only used for new tanks, and personally I don't think it's worth the money it costs.
The C-Balance are supplements to maintain the tanks calcium and alkalinity levels, and needed to be added according to what the tanks consumption rate are so you will need to figure that out with test kits.

If you want to have a tank like you see on some of the pictures on this site, I suggest installing the light that is in the box and getting rid of the T-8. You will want to acclimate the tank to the new light though. If you have the means either put the light 2 feet above the tank to start and lower it 3-4 inches a week until your 8-12 inches above the tank. Or, shorted the light cycle to 4-5 hour a day and increase an hour every week or so until you reach anywhere from 10-12 hours a day.

Good Luck on your new adventure, feel free to ask any questions you may have and if there is anything you absolutely need to know about this hobby it's "Nothing good happens fast".

[djsmallz]

Welcome to the hobby, I must say that's a very nice sounding tank. Now the particulars, I would say first join your nearest reef club if possible and/or become friends with a good live fish store. You have to do your best to maintain proper and stable parameters. Given that you have corals you are going to have to dose supplements to maintain said parameters. Water changes will be required but given the size of the tank it would only be about 4 gallons a month. If you feel like you might need time to gain skills and knowledge you may try an aquarium maintain company for the first few months you can learn from them while seeing how they care for a tank first hand. Im sure others will add a lot more as I only provide a little starting knowledge myself.