Does this look alright (liverock) new setup

drpaul84

drpaul84

Member
hows its going , im new to this forum and new to saltwater aquariums ive had a bunch of fresh water in the past, an was setting this 75 gallon tank up as a fresh water tank but then i switched because i wanted to get the nicer fish and colors that saltwater offers, so anyway i bought 50 lbs of liverock had it shipped to my house put it in a container with saltwater etc etc let it clean off an i decided to let it cure with the cycling of my tank, when i took it out of the container i noticed its all white! duno what happened it was all green an colory when i recieved it anyhow i put it in my tank an colors startin to come back , is this part of the die off process? or is my live rock not live anymore?? heres some pictures....

 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
I would remove the lava rock as it can leach chemicals and metals like Iron copper, nitrate nitrogen, phopshorous and more into your tank, causing countless headaches.
I would also remove the bubbler as all it effectivly does in marine water is transport protiens to the surface reducing oxygen exchange in your tank.
 
slomo

slomo

Member
I have a 36g that i cycled my rock in as well and it takes a long time. It took about 10weeks. White will be replaced with new growth. When you had it soaking was it in salt water with a power head?
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
ooh I dont know what the gray rock is in there but honestly if it didnt originate from the ocean I would remove it too. looks like possibly slate. wich can leach trace amount of various things into your marine tank as well.
 
drpaul84

drpaul84

Member
the lava rock is fake its from the petstore just a little cave type deal, an for the live rock yea i had a power head in the water and those small rocks are flagstone , harmless ive done the testin with them in the water an they are safe..... also dont i need the air in the water for oxygen?i have them on valves and have them on the lowest setting so that it doesnt disturb the top of the water line (i dont like splashing)
this is how the tank was before i decided to change to saltwater
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
the air bubbles trap protiens on their surface to deposit them on the surface reducing oxygen exchange.
you want to use powerheads for oxygenation. to turn the top of the water over. the turnover rate of the bubbles is so low in non effective in a marine environment.
 
trigger11

trigger11

Member
Originally Posted by drpaul84
the lava rock is fake its from the petstore just a little cave type deal, an for the live rock yea i had a power head in the water and those small rocks are flagstone , harmless ive done the testin with them in the water an they are safe..... also dont i need the air in the water for oxygen?i have them on valves and have them on the lowest setting so that it doesnt disturb the top of the water line (i dont like splashing)
this is how the tank was before i decided to change to saltwater


I agree you do not want to use the bubbler. Freshwater tanks = yes. Saltwater tanks = no.
I do have a question about the substrate you have used. It appears as if you have used the same substrate for the saltwater setup that you had with the freshwater set up? What substrate do you have? I have never seen a substrate with black color such as you have.
Welcome to the boards and also welcome to the most addictive hobby on the planet.

~Trigger
 
b-baby80

b-baby80

Member
Originally Posted by trigger11
I agree you do not want to use the bubbler. Freshwater tanks = yes. Saltwater tanks = no.
I do have a question about the substrate you have used. It appears as if you have used the same substrate for the saltwater setup that you had with the freshwater set up? What substrate do you have? I have never seen a substrate with black color such as you have.
Welcome to the boards and also welcome to the most addictive hobby on the planet.

~Trigger
Did you use the black sand used for gecko's?Thats what it looks like.Thats the only black sand i've ever saw??
 
drpaul84

drpaul84

Member
ok still confused as to the no air thing , i really dont mind not usin it because thats the loudest part (the air pump) whisper...yea right...anyway lol i have a rio water pump in there right now with the under sand piping an thats whats causin my water movement, is this gonna have oxygen in it??? its just circulating water, or is there somethin else i need to get air in there, help me out! right now i have 2 filters, a eheim 2215 classic cansiter and a marineland 350 deluxe
i know on the water pump theres a small tube that has a "thing" on it that i am not using, is that what i should be using to introduce air into the water pump cycle? if so ughhh lol gonna be fun rigging that up because i have a system that is using pvc an such an none of the original tubing...or i can always just throw another pump in there with that tube attached an put a couple more outlets on that i suppose...let me know what you guys think, i want to do this the right way...ive already invested over 1500 into this setup....
 
mcbdz

mcbdz

Active Member
drpaul84 said:
ok still confused as to the no air thing , i really dont mind not usin it because thats the loudest part (the air pump) whisper...yea right...anyway lol i have a rio water pump in there right now with the under sand piping an thats whats causin my water movement, is this gonna have oxygen in it??? its just circulating water, or is there somethin else i need to get air in there, help me out! right now i have 2 filters, a eheim 2215 classic cansiter and a marineland 350 deluxe
i know on the water pump theres a small tube that has a "thing" on it that i am not using, is that what i should be using to introduce air into the water pump cycle? if so ughhh lol gonna be fun rigging that up because i have a system that is using pvc an such an none of the original tubing...or i can always just throw another pump in there with that tube attached an put a couple more outlets on that i suppose...let me know what you guys think, i want to do this the right way...ive already invested over 1500 into this setup....

First off, Welcome to SWF.
This is totally different from freshwater and a lot more expensive, but worth it to most. First ?, what do you want to keep in your tank?(fish only w/lr, Aggressive fish, or are you going for a reef? This will help everyone beable to let you know what you will need.
I'm not sure about your filtration is, but if you mean you have an under gravel filter then you will want to remove that. It will cause more problems with saltwater then you want to deal with. You will want to add power heads in your tank for water circulation. your gph will depend on what you want to keep. Good luck and you are in the right place.
Click to expand...
 
drpaul84

drpaul84

Member
no no , i dont have under gravel filter, umm hld on ill link you lol... also i want to put a pair of clownfish an some other "pretty " fish i want it to be a calm soothing tank lol, with live rock and nice colors an inverts crawling around , make the place look alive know what i mean? heres the link to the under sand water jets that i have.....
http://www.*****
 
mcbdz

mcbdz

Active Member
Interesting. I see how that could work. Your goal will be to add up how much turn over you have and add to it so you have about 15x gph for FOWLR, or reef you want 20-25x turn over. Your filters sould have there GPH on them Add it all up and see how much flow you have. My concern would be your sand. Generally you would want an argonite sand to help buffer your water. The sand you have won't do that. Read the thread at the top of this forum by Lion-craz for helpful info. There will be lots of info on seting up a marine tank and what the stuff is for. This will help ypu decide if you feel you need it. Make sure you completely finish your cycle before you introduce any livestock. Another wonderful book is by Robert Fenner, "The Conscientious Aquariumist".( May have spell that wrong
)
 
drpaul84

drpaul84

Member
yea i know the sand wont do much its just for looks thats why i got the live rock to help with the natural aspect of it , the water has been cycling now for over a month but i just added the rock to it, i have 0 amonia nitrite and nitrate i had some fish in there for awhile to help the cycle along an they did fine an are now in a small tank i have (they are fresh water) right now my gravity is good and everything was at 0 the other day im gonna check it again soon, i just dont wanna un hook the air an then starve the fish for air! should i wait for the live rock to fully cure before adding fish? yea actually of course cause the die off will cause ammonia an stuff....yeaaa lol im eager to get fish ive had the tank running for almost 2 months now
 
drpaul84

drpaul84

Member
also heres a link to the section of my site with all the pics along the process...
http://drpaul84.com/pics2/fish/
i want a protien skimmer but i cant have one that hangs off the tank because the tanks right against a wall and my tv is right above it, an the cabinet under neath isnt huge so i cant have a big tall one in there...duno what to do, maybe ill drill a couple holes in the floor an have another sump setup in the basement, but then if anything happens to the pump power in the basement it will be a disaster.....
 
drpaul84

drpaul84

Member
anyone else have tips or thoughts on makin this process go over smoothly? what should i watch out for as my live rock comes back to life and is there anything i should be doing now?
 
drpaul84

drpaul84

Member
Originally Posted by fanker
love the black sand had it in my reef and it wakes the coral pop really bright
yup thats why i wanted it i love it
 
drpaul84

drpaul84

Member
wow thats nice man what kind of socks do you use?? lol just messin with you, that looks great! i wonder if i should put another water pump in the tank for more movement, theres a very good current in the water already but dont know if i need more
 
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