Setting up my first saltwater tank!

S

Sogas

Updated with personal thoughts or actions that have taken place.

Greetings!

Well, I am taking the plunge and setting up my first saltwater tank. I am using my old 37 gallon (36 x 15 x 16) Sea Clear acrylic tank to start with.

Being that I am new to the hobby and have met with frustration in the past when trying to setup a planted freshwater tank I am going to go slow and make sure that I have everything established before moving on to the next phase.

My goal is an eventually end up with a reef tank. I plan on doing this in phases to ensure success, at least I hope.

Updating my goal, Build a mixed reef tank.

I am going to be cleaning up the old tank today with hopes of getting the sandbed established. For that I am using the Paverstone Pulverized Limestone. I will then adding some LR from either members or a LFS. To start the cycling process.

Tank looks great, It hasn't been this clean in sometime. I am also pleased with the color of the Pulverized Limestone. The cloudiness has settled and all is well.

I have several questions?

First, how deep should I make the sand bed if I will be getting a sump/refugium in the near future (next month or so)? I plan of running a hob biowheel filter in the mean time with a power head to add water flow and reduce dead space.

Went with two plus inches, will be looking to add a refugium in the near future. which will contain my heater, skimmer, etc... Need to additional research to make sure that I don't end up with all the water on the floor.

Second, is the Paverstone Pulverized Limestone good to use for a started tank? Should I include a little live sand or will the LR be enough? What about something with a little larger texture to the PPL? Maybe a 75/25 ratio?

Based on my reading of multiple articles here it seems that the limestone would be a good choice.

Third, I plan on starting easy on the LR maybe 10lbs unless I can get it from a member and a price cheaper than the LFS. Is this enough to cycle the tank?

Will be getting 20lbs. of Tonga branch from an established tank. Will look to add additional cured LR as I am in no position to try to cure it myself. I read an article on what is needed to cure the wild stuff and it scares me.

Ended up getting 25lbs of Tonga branch. Additionally, I picked up another 40lbs. from a member. Need to aquascape the tank now but things are looking good.

Fourth, do I have any initial lighting concerns? I currently could produce about 100w (2.7 w/g) with new bulbs needed of course but is it necessary?

Now have 36" 192w PC which serve me well for my goal, atleast I think so.

Fifth, should I introduce a few inverbrates right off the bat or wait atleast two weeks?

I will be waiting until the tank has stabilized after adding the shrimp as was suggested and the LR. I will then allow everything to bake for a while and hope that I start to see some growth on the LR before introducing anything else.

Sixth, and maybe most important. Should I pay the .99 a gallon for premixed saltwater from my LFS or go buy 30 to 40 waters RO/DI water from Wal-Mart or local grocery store and mix my own?

Purchased the saltwater from the LFS got my 4 - 5 gallon jugs and 30 gallons of water which was enough. Spent a little more than I had hoped but I now have 4 - 5 gallon jugs ;)

Finally, does anyone have any equipment suggestions? The cabinet only measures 34 x 24 x 35 underneath so I am limited to how big the sump/refugium can be.

Donations would be graciously accepted ;)

If anyone has any thoughts, suggestions, warnings, concerns please let me know.


Andy
 
Sand beds usually run between 2-3". I'd recommend getting live sand from members. People are usually more than willing to donate a cup of sand to seed your tank.

Not sure about the amount of liverock... It'll cycle and do fine but you might start another when you add more rock.

Watts/gallon aren't a good indication of lighting. If you want a reef you need to have either PC,T5,MH,T5HO, or any others I'm forgetting about. Ask around and see what others with close to the same tank size are running and what corals they're supporting. For my 50g I went all out and got metal halide (yay for xmas moneys!). It's a really personal decision but you shouldn't start out cheap (costs more in long run).

Wait a while for the inverts. Wait for a group buy and you can get a lot really cheap so if they do die.. Well.. At least you didn't pay $2/crab!

I'd recommend either buying water from the LFS or investing in a RO/DI system. Marc sells some for a good price. This way you know where your water came from and what's going in it. RO/DI will save you more money than going to the LFS and getting water from them.

No equipment suggestions.. Except get the best you can possibly get now so you're not wasting money later. Take it slow! Even though it sucks to see an empty tank with rocks and a couple crabs.. It'll pay off in 3 months time when you get your first fish and corals. Good luck! Don't be afraid to ask questions, some of us don't bite too hard :wink:
 
Got the tank all cleaned up and based on some other posts I put approximately 2" layer of Pavestone Pulverized Limestone into the tank. Thinking that I really couldn't afford to do 5"+ since the tank is only 16" high... About to head off the the LFS to get some water and a little rock unless some one can come through on some LR for sale.
 
I've just got into the business as well. I'm loving it but like everyone told me, and Ive done.. Take your time. Time with everything works. Read up on everything and ask questions.

I posted on the forums to buy my live rock (thanks Yuki) and got a great deal.

Good luck with the tank, make sure you take your time!
 
Got the tank filled with saltwater from the LFS. The heater is running and the hob filter is running with a couple poly type filters (no carbon) in them to help trap some of the particles. I am hoping the cloudiness will settle rather quickly.
 
@Sogas wrote:
Got the tank filled with saltwater from the LFS. The heater is running and the hob filter is running with a couple poly type filters (no carbon) in them to help trap some of the particles. I am hoping the cloudiness will settle rather quickly. said:
Patience!!! :p Lol. Seriously though, patience is a very good thing to practice with tanks. Nothing can be rushed. (Unless you're like me and never acclimate any cleaning crews. No losses so far *knock on wood*)
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Hi,

Welcome to the boards. As mentioned this hobby takes a lot of patience, do your due diligence and research the hobby before running out and spending more money. Here's a couple of basic article's for you to check out as well. http://www.melevsreef.com/tanks.html http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?articleid=419

The first and most important thing you need to think about is what you plan to keep in your reef tank. Will it be fish only, mixed reef or an sps dominate tank. You mentioned slowly progressing to a reef tank but you need to decide what you eventually want to wind up with so that you can buy the proper equipment that will sustain your final product.
You should really learn as much as you possibly can about filtration and its purpose in the reef aquarium, your current setup is not gonna do it in a proper reef environment. Once you have the basic's down and understand how everything ties together, you will be in a better position to be able to start planning your new aquarium. This hobby is so vast that you will never stop learning, hopefully you will have years and years of enjoyment to come.

Cheers,
 
At this point, i would drop a raw dead shrimp in the tank and let it rot. This will start the cycling process. For your own good, you should measure all your parameters daily and you will better understand the cycling process. I created a spreadsheet with all my parameters, I try to check them once a week.
 
Guppy,

You are suggesting that I drop a raw dead shrimp (aka grocery store bought shrimp) into the tank correct? I read somewhere else of someone suggesting this. I'll have to see if we have some at home, if not I guess shrimp will be on the menu tonight :)

Thanks for the advice....
 
@Sogas wrote:
Guppy said:
Yes, this is how I got my bacteria to kickoff. I am very knew to this myself, but I would say no crabs for 2 weeks (at absolute earliest) and no fish for 4 weeks (absolutely earliest) and these numbers are even probably pushing it. I bought a Damsel ($3.50) for my first fish, just to make sure everything was good before spending money on livestock. Let the Damsel swim around for a couple weeks by his self, he too helps in the cycling process. You should have a good test kit. I have a "Saltwater Liquid Master Test Kit" made by API, you can get this for under $20.

Here is some interesting reading

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-01/eb/index.php

Post some pictures.
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@Ashlar wrote:
Personally said:
Ashlar,

I just want to confirm that when you say anything your referring to livestock, inverts, or coral, correct? I can throw in LR or a raw shrimp to get the cycle process started, right?
Click to expand...
 
Either Shrimp or Live Rock should be OK to get your tank started.

Whenever you move LR, you'll have some die off. So, depending on how much rock and die off you have, you will have a different level of cycle.

The risk of using LR, IMO, is that you may lose more critters in your live rock. At least giving the tank a "pre" cycle with the shrimp, maybe your ammonia spike would not be as bad when you throw in the live rock.

So, I recommend you using the shrimp for the cycle. Then the live rock.
 
As mentioned above, waiting 4-5 weeks before adding anything is ok, but as Ashlar mentioned, the prudent way to go about this is by the actual "stats" of the tank, not in a weekly or daily time frame.
I know this is harder, but it will help you avoid any hasty decisions.
I remember when I first started, and set a time limit, it was aggravating to have to wait longer than I had planned, and that was with a fairly short cycle, lol. :lol:

Even if you wait longer than you have to, it gives your tank a chance to start producing other organisms that will eventually populate the tank (you may even be able to help your pod population in your fuge later, by adding some of the rock from your display).

Also, I would avoid adding the damsel as well. Just use the shrimp or just the live rock and wait for the tank to level out. Use this time, to read more material, and start putting together a tentative stock list (inverts, fish, coral, etc.).
Best of luck!
 
I got home this evening and the wife had already cooked all the shrimp.... I guess I'll have to go buy some more....
 
I just received the Tonga branch that I purchased online. I purchased 20 lbs and received almost 25lbs. I thought that I'd post a picture of the tank at this point, not much to look at but gives something to compare to as I make progress.

Just took a few water measurements since my test kits and other items arrived today as well...

Temp 78
Ph 8.2
Ammonia ~.25
Nitrite ~.25
Specific Gravity 1.020
Saltinity 27

Now begins the fun. The rock doesn't look very alive to me so I might have to run the the LFS and buy some more. I'll monitor the water and see if the ammonia levels begin to rise.
 
You will definitely want to buy some base rock and not use all tonga branch. If you do buy base rock you'll want it touching the glass bottom. So move the sand around. If you have a good foundation your rocks won't tumble.

I purchased about 90lb tonga base, 25lb tonga branch, and 40lb shelf rock

My tank at 6 months

You can't tell much, but there is a huge hole inside all the rock thats like a big cave for the anemone and fish to swim around and back through the tank.
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What is the difference between base rock and shelf? The branch is obvious... Is base just a low priced rock that is used as the support? You then use the shelve and other type of rock for aquasculpting?
 
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