Salt Water Tank

Well I broke down and got a salt water tank. Its not much right now. Actually its not even filled with water. I just moved the 20L where I want it to be and I'm about to start setting it up. I have a Millennium 3000 filter, live sand, 4lbs of live rock and thats it. The guy at the LFS said I wouldn't need a light till I start putting corals and inverts into the tank. I'll have pictures to come tomorrow once I can find my camera.

whatcha gonna put in it? :D

Mostly corals and inverts. I already have one invert that was quite unexpected. I have a little starfish thingy in the tank. It washed off the live rock when I was filling the tank. Cute little bugger. Teeny tiny though.

You are going to want about 20lbs of live rock. I would recommend getting an aquaclear filter and converting it into a refugium. You can pm me if you have any questions, I have been keeping "smaller" reefs for a number of years now.

I will be adding the live rock over time. The LFS sells it for 10.99/lb. I have the two pieces of rock sitting side by side and the water is all in there. I actually have an extra 5 gallons. I still need to put the live sand in and I'm about to do that now. And then I'll get the filter going.

So what should be my next step. I plan on taking in water every week for testing. How do I go about cycling this tank?

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

So what should be my next step. I plan on taking in water every week for testing. How do I go about cycling this tank?

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invest in a 'master test kit' .. API makes a good one. liquid drop test. make sure it's for salt water. it beats having to take your water in to heara 'looks good' from the pet store..

cycling a saltwater?

check out reefcentral.com and nano-reef.com

never done saltwater... I'd love to see it when it's done

Ooooooh!! I'd love to have a saltwater tank setup someday.

I'd love to see pics too!! Good luck with it!!

I would invest in a master test kit but I think it would be cheaper for now to use them to do my testing. They are not a petstore but a Salt Water Fish Store and specialize in salt water. The ONLY things they sell are for salt water fish tanks and after talking with them a bit, I trust them. The guy who owns the store sets up tanks for businesses around the area and the tanks always look healthy and beautiful. They charge like 50c a test. As soon as i can find my camera I'll take some pictures. Its not much. Just some sand and two rocks. :rolleyes:

Congrats, I just set one up a month and half ago myself. One way to speed up the cycling process a bit would be to add one or two uncooked cocktail shrimp to the tank and just let them decay.

When it comes to lighting, the difference between PC (Power Compact) and Metal Haliade is to be debated. As long as you have the right wattage per gallon of water for what you plan to put in there you'll be fine. Good luck, it's exiciting and frustrating, but there is so much information out there, you can find almost anything.

Petsmart.com has really good prices on their master test kits. I have the freshwater one and it's been very nice to have.

Plus, if you have a PMart in your town, you can print off the webpage, and they will price-match at the store.

Pictures!

Live Rock - 4lbs
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...terTank001.jpg

Filter
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...terTank004.jpg

From Above
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...terTank002.jpg

Full Tank View
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...terTank005.jpg

Full Above View
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...terTank007.jpg

Live Rock Closeup
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...terTank006.jpg

Are you planning on adding more liverock? You may have to re-cycle the tank if you add any uncured liverock in the future.

I hate to say, but the piece on the left looks like a very dense piece of what I'd call "base rock"...and while it may have been cured along with actual liverock to have the bacterial load, its definitely not worth the same as a premium fiji, tonga, or marshall island rock.

Try to find the most porous rocks you can find, it will greatly increase your biological filtration.

Otherwise its good to see you're off to a start.:gj:

Oh I know the piece on the left is base rock. He sold it to me for less. I got two more pieces of live rock today so I have a total of 8lbs or rock in the tank now. I also got some inverts to help start the cycle. I got a few hermits and some snails. The will produce a little ammonia to help start the cycle, or at least that is what I was told. I do not presume to know everything about this hobby as I just started my salt journey yesterday.

This may sound like a stupid question, but is it on the floor?

Yes it is on the floor. Since my cats have a habit of knocking things over I didn't want to risk anything even if the tank is heavy. Not to mention its easier for me to sit on the floor and do stuff.

you said you going to put some coral in there? and they said you dont need a light?? well that is wrong...also you will need more live rock...and before you add anything let it fully cycle espically with the price of saltwater fish and coral you dont want to lose any fish...and personally i would get the snails out..once you get them in they are hard to get rid of, and can become a pest

Snails can be your best friend for cleaning up algae though. Everyone I haved ever talked to always recommends a few snails, some other cleaning shrimp... just little bits to keep everything that much cleaner. (as long as they dont eat the corals themselves) Plus, snails mix your substrate keeping it from settling and keeping it anaerobic (sp?).

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

Snails can be your best friend for cleaning up algae though. Everyone I haved ever talked to always recommends a few snails, some other cleaning shrimp... just little bits to keep everything that much cleaner. (as long as they dont eat the corals themselves) Plus, snails mix your substrate keeping it from settling and keeping it anaerobic (sp?).

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Snails can be good for cleaning algae...they aren't going to make the glass and rocks spotless however, so invest in a good algae scrub pad or magfloat. Also, each different types of snails eat different types of algaes, and some don't eat algae at all, they are detrivores.

I'd get a good mix of Turbo snails, margarita snails, cerith snails, nassarius snails, and perhaps astrea snails.

Turbos will eat green and brown algaes, margaritas have been known to eat green brown and sometimes even cyanobacteria, cerith snails and nassarius are going to be detrivores that will help turn over the sand bed to keep it from going anaerobic.

Cleaner shrimp are scavengers mainly, eating dead scales and external parasites off of the surface of fish, and they will also scavenge on leftover fish foods in the tank.

needs about 30 more lbs of liverock and a metal halid bulb and your set! good luck with it. my tank looks like crap. need snails!!!

you also need a water jet for more current. with no current you will fail. and id loose the fresh water filter. with enough live rock and current you dont need any filtering thats what the live rock is for.

go to saltwaterfish.com and they have a gr8 forum on there.

I have 11lbs of live rock in there now. I'm monitoring the cycle, don't worry. Its nearing the end of its cycle. Nitrites were at .25 and nitrates were at 20. I will have a total of 20-25lbs of live rock by the time I'm done adding rock. I'm going to stick with the filter I have for now and eventually construct a 10g sump.

They said I wouldn't need a light at first since there was nothing in the tank that really required it. I now have a Nova Extreme 36" T5 High Output 78w light. Now I've got algae blooming everywhere. I'll have pics up sometime tonight hopefully. The tank is now 2 weeks and 3 days old.

Flow is definitely a good thing for a tank, eliminate dead spots and you'll likely eliminate any possible algae, powerheads can do this, H.O.B filters, protein skimmers, basically anything that moves water through it.

You won't fail with "no current"...you very well may just be fine with a HOB filter, but likely have a few algae issues if water quality isn't kept top notch. However, if you notice algae popping up, add a few powerheads.

Live rock is in fact a biological filter, but by NO means would I go without mechanical and chemical filtration! That is just asking for trouble, and generally it is good to add any sort of volume of water to a system with a HOB filter will do. You can run chemical media in the filter aswell, regular ol' activated carbon, phosphate removers, etc.

With the Nova Extreme HOT5 light that you have you should be well set to keep most all soft corals (mushrooms, zoanthids, leathers, etc.) and most LPS (Large Polyp Stony) corals, you likely may have problems if you try to keep SPS (Small Polyped Stony) corals as they generally require more intense lighting (via metal halides or a higher number of HOT5 bulbs).

I would definitely recommend running a sump in the future if you can, fill it with chaetomorpha and different caulerpa algaes (great denitrafier). You can simply use a clamp lamp from HD or Lowes with a spiral compact fluro bulb.

Hope this helps!

Jason

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Originally Posted by jknudson

With the Nova Extreme HOT5 light that you have you should be well set to keep most all soft corals (mushrooms, zoanthids, leathers, etc.) and most LPS (Large Polyp Stony) corals, you likely may have problems if you try to keep SPS (Small Polyped Stony) corals as they generally require more intense lighting (via metal halides or a higher number of HOT5 bulbs).

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I disagree. I think he will be able to keep anything he wants under these lights. Mind you this is a shallow tank, so the HO T5 will penetrate well. Water quality is the deciding factor.

I have always had a 15x-20x turnover rate on my tanks. And i would suggest that you go out and get some powerheads. Check out Hydor they have some great products. And get 20lbs of rock in there asap! They longer you wait on rock, they longer it will be before you can stock it.

Check out www.nano-reef.com its a great forum with a ton of info.

HTH

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Originally Posted by sk8dood

I disagree. I think he will be able to keep anything he wants under these lights. Mind you this is a shallow tank, so the HO T5 will penetrate well. Water quality is the deciding factor.

I have always had a 15x-20x turnover rate on my tanks. And i would suggest that you go out and get some powerheads. Check out Hydor they have some great products. And get 20lbs of rock in there asap! They longer you wait on rock, they longer it will be before you can stock it.

Check out www.nano-reef.com its a great forum with a ton of info.

HTH

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I wouldn't recommend SPS to a beginning salt keeper in the first place, and honestly...I've never seen the growth and color of SPS be as nice as in a halide lit tank with a quality bulb and ballast. HOT5 work well with SPS as supplemental actinic lighting.

You do what you do, I'll do what I do.:gj:

Good Online References
www.reefcentral.com
www.reefsanctuary.com
www.reefs.org
www.nano-reef.com
www.thereeftank.com
www.reefkeeping.com
www.advancedaquarist.com
www.wetwebmedia.com
www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.com/
www.cnidarianreef.com/

Hope this helps.;)

I hate to break it to you, but you aren't going to be able to do water changes on a tank thats placed on the floor. Unless you are using something to give you a constant siphon, its just not going to happen. You want about 20Lbs of LR (at least 1 lb/gallon) also ditch the carbon pads in the filter and just fill it up with live rock rubble. Other than that you seem to be ok, a diatom bloom is a normal part of cycling a tank, just keep at it and keep checking your water.

good luck keeping those nirate/nits proper.

Oh and when you do your weekly water changes be sure to use R/O D/I water. most saltwater stores sell it cheap.

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Originally Posted by jknudson

I wouldn't recommend SPS to a beginning salt keeper in the first place, and honestly...I've never seen the growth and color of SPS be as nice as in a halide lit tank with a quality bulb and ballast.

You do what you do, I'll do what I do.:gj:

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I couldn't agree more. The 20L Im building is going to have a 14k Hamilton 150w over it:bow:

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Originally Posted by sk8dood

I couldn't agree more. The 20L Im building is going to have a 14k Hamilton 150w over it:bow:

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I like your choice of bulb! You'll really like it aswell I'm sure, should give you a real nice crisp blue without supplementing actinics.:gj:

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Originally Posted by jknudson

I like your choice of bulb! You'll really like it aswell I'm sure, should give you a real nice crisp blue without supplementing actinics.:gj:

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Oh yeah it is really nice! It makes the colors pop like crazy!:banana:

Sorry for the thread jack!

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Originally Posted by SleepyPenguin

I hate to break it to you, but you aren't going to be able to do water changes on a tank thats placed on the floor.

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A python will solve that problem, id use it only to drain though in a SW set up.

It is right that the only thing people sell are for fish tanks of salt water and after talking with them a little, trust them. The man who owns the store provides storage by businesses around the area and the tanks always look healthy and beautiful.