Newbie needs help before it is too late!!

[milwaukeem]

Again let me just thank everyone so uch from there help... I notice a lot of peole from the midwest here (hats off) I am from the midwest born and raised currently living in the south... Anyway I have put together and excel spread sheet to keep track of my own tests, although not keeply comfortabke doing them myself, it is a MUST so I know what is going on... Anyway here is my current readings: Salt 1.021, PH 8.2, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, and according to my chart Nitrate is at 20??? Any ideas or thoughts?
Question about the live rock.... See I am cool with adding it except the fact that it costs so much 7.99 a pound!!! and considering how much everyone is reccomending me to get I am not sure I can afford to do that right now.... Also the complication in it recycling my tank and killing my star......
Right now I am trying to figure out if this nitrate reading is correct and if so what do I do about??

 

[saltwater8]

Your starfish needs a lot of LR.....
:happyfish

 

[dfox]

I am not an expert, but here is my experience. The cost of live rock is a struggle for most people in the beginning. There are two ways you can buy live rock. You can buy it mail order, from places like this site. It will be much cheaper than from your LFS. However, you will have a lot of die-off (= a lot of ammonia) resulting from this. You can go this route, but it will be best for you to "cure" the live rock in a separate container for a while (days) before adding it to your main tank.
The other way to get live rock is to buy a small amount (maybe 15-20 pounds, or as much as you can afford) of "cured" live rock from the LFS. Cured means it has the good bacteria already growing in it. Take it straight home from the LFS. The less time out of water, the less die-off you'll have. The first time I bought 20 lbs from the LFS, I brought it straight home, less than 20 minutes out of water. I had minimal die-off. I have virtually no ammonia spike.
Then, in the future, as you have money, you can add 10-20 more pounds of cured live rock at a time. The bacteria in the existing LR will be able to eat most or all of the die-off from the new LR.
You definintely need some LR. Most starfish want to hide under it. Also, you need something to filter the ammonia and nitrite which are a natrual part of the process. The nitrate level you mention is normal. The way you keep nitrate down is to do periodic water changes (10% of the total water volume each week).
Good luck.

 

[aufishman]

Originally Posted by MilwaukeeM
Again let me just thank everyone so uch from there help... I notice a lot of peole from the midwest here (hats off) I am from the midwest born and raised currently living in the south... Anyway I have put together and excel spread sheet to keep track of my own tests, although not keeply comfortabke doing them myself, it is a MUST so I know what is going on... Anyway here is my current readings: Salt 1.021, PH 8.2, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, and according to my chart Nitrate is at 20??? Any ideas or thoughts?
Question about the live rock.... See I am cool with adding it except the fact that it costs so much 7.99 a pound!!! and considering how much everyone is reccomending me to get I am not sure I can afford to do that right now.... Also the complication in it recycling my tank and killing my star......
Right now I am trying to figure out if this nitrate reading is correct and if so what do I do about??

You can make your own liverock, don't pay $8/pound that's a rip off. If you are mainly interested in keeping fish, you don't need any LR at all. If you want LR, you can make your own a hell of a lot cheaper than $8 a pound. Your water quality looks fine. 20 ppm nitrate isn't a big deal as long as you are conducting routine water exchanges. Your spef gravity is probably a little low. Also, get rid of that damn starfish.

 

[milwaukeem]

I am interested in having a fish only tank, at this time I am not interested in keeping corals, etc... I have not done a water change yet because the tank has only been running for two weeks, do you think I need to do one anyway to get the nitrate level down or is there something else I can do to lower it?

 

[j-bird]

Do you have a sump or a fuge with this tank? Can add things to fuge to bring down trAtes, but 20 is fine. TrAtes are not as important to worry about with a fish only tank, 20ppm is absolutely fine, you can do a 10% water change so they will not continue to rise. If trAtes get up to around 60-80, you can then start to worry and work to bring them down. Are you using CC or LS?
The expense of LR is a problem to everyone, as stated you can make your own. You already have started this with your base rock. Just start out slowly, add a little bit of cured LR from the LFS to your tank on top of your base rock, LR will "spread" to your base rock, you can help this along by adding 'purple up' to tank, helps corraline algae grow, which is good.

 

[milwaukeem]

No I do not have a sump, not sure what a fuge is?? I have 40lbs of LS. Well I can afford to add a little LR, if I don't plan on having a reef tank, just fish only and I have 30lbs of base rock how much LR do you think I can get by with?
Since my tank is two weeks old I was told doing a water change even a 10% one would hurt me more than not doing one right now, because I have not had enough build up in the tank yet to need a change????

 

[j-bird]

Yes, I would not worry about doing a water change right now if I were you, I would just let it be. If your trAtes get up to like 40, then maybe do a 10% change. Still go with the 1-1.5lbs/g rule with the LR, but count your base rock in with that because soon enough it will turn to LR. Add whatever you can afford, every little bit helps, even if just 5-10lbs per month, it will build up. After you start to add it, I think you will really start to like the look of it, and you will continually want to add more, especialy after you start to see the life in them.
To keep it simple, a fuge is basically like a sump, another tank connected to your tank, pumping water into your tank. Increases water volume and you can place things in the fuge that you might not want to put directly into your tank. While a sump will hold equipment and filter media, a fuge is more for beneficial algea and plants that you might not want to see in your tank, but greatly helps to stabilize and keep your tank balanced. Don't worry about this for now.
really, all and all, you are doing fine, don't worry so much. From my experience a lot of people try to make this hobby more difficult than it really is, although I would not say it is simple, it is not as hard as some people make it out to be. You are doing fine and your tank sounds fine. All I can see you did was get a little impatient and added fish too soon, a mistake a lot of people make. The hardest part of this hobby I would say is just patience. And you are doing the right thing by coming on here and asking questions.
Add a little LR in there, sit back and enjoy for a few weeks ***) , check your water levels, and then add some fish in about 3 weeks to be safe :happyfish .

 

[aufishman]

https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/data/smilies/thumbsup.gif[/img]
I agree. This isn't rocket science. People will tell you you need all sorts of gadgets that you don't need, Esp if you are interested in fish only. For fish all you need is a tank, cover, inexpensive lighting, hang on back filter, heater, salt, hydrometer, and test kits. You can get into the hobby really cheap and be very successful. Patience is the key, and I agree the most difficult part in the begining is walking into the LFS without buying fish. Just do your research before you jump into anything.

 

[milwaukeem]

Hello everyone! I just wanted to give everyone an update as to what is going on... Looks like my tank is going to make it after all!!! I re-acclimated my foxface on Friday after a week plus of QT.... She is definitly back to her old self being very active and eating regularly.... Contrary to the bad LFS out there which I started thinking that the one I go to was one of them.... They turned out ok!! They are willing to replace the two fish I lost, of coarse not now, but after the Foxface has been in there for about three weeks... They have also been a big help in this process.... Just wanted to let everyone know that all seems to be turning out well... Thanks again for all your advice!!