I will be opening a saltwater store in May, how long do yea waite to add life

[sarat]

I have just rented a building to open a salt water store, it is in demand in my area. if i start up my tanks at the end of march, should i be able to add fish by may 1st and if so, how many do you add? i plan on ordering from this site. please anyone let me know, i want this business to work, but dont want to lose a lot of money.

 

[loopy]

IMHO, if you are going to open a sw fish store, you should already know the answer to this. Just my opinion and I do wish you luck.

 

[bill f]

I didn't want to be first, but, here I go.
I don't know your backround, but are you new to salt water tanks?
I only ask this because you also just posted a question regarding "2 unexplained fish death's, any ideas" and you only have a couple of posts.
Loopy is right, you should know these things if you want to be a professional.
If your just starting you may be way over your head.
I've been doing this for about a year now and I'll admit I don't know squat.
Best of luck, but your money sounds like it will go where you fish are headed, down the drain.

 

[crazyguy]

sarat ur not experienced yet because u made a thread about all ur fish dying when u never even cycled ur tank. You dont even know how to manage to take vare of 1 tank what makes u think u could take care of 20 tanks

 

[sarat]

I have another tank a fifty five gallon, that i have had for about three years. the tank was already established when i bought it from the man who was moving to florida and could not transport it. i have added fish to this one and maintained it and have put a lot of money into it, i started adding coral about a year and half ago after bumping up my lighting system. my new tank however is definately different for i have never started up and cycled a new tank even though i have maintained the fifty five gallon for three yrs or more. i know it may sound strange that someone after three yrs experience would have problems starting up a tank but i never immagined starting one would be this difficult after mainting the other for this long. i also dont take critisism badly, so even if your opinions sound harsh i know you guys are only speaking the truth and are trying to help, i guess i should have went into more detail about my experience. I also decided to start up this new one because my fifty five gallon is an aggressive tank and i wanted one that was peaceful and could be reef inhabitable. i have done a lot of research before deciding to open this saltwater store. i figured it would be a sinch since i have done so well with my other tank.

 

[sarat]

I know how to cycle a tank it just seems my tank isnt going through all these steps that are mentioned. i also have only lost two fish not all of them. i cycled like the saltwater store told me to and they even checked my water sample and said that the conditions were fine which also surprised them that everything was bottomed out after just two weeks. i however did start with four fish total and they all did fine until i added these few new ones. i am wondering if maybe i picked up out of a possible bad batch of fish. I have kept the new tank to under ten inches of fish. i would not have added the new additions but the store said water levels looked ok so it should be fine.

 

[ophiura]

There are just so many questions to answer it is overwhelming...have you really thought this through? Have you worked at an LFS? Do you know the ACTUAL time involved? Because it is a home tank X 1000. I worked my butt off at the LFS and there were about 6 of us. And the owner was there probably 7 days a week, good 10+ hours a day, too! Lots of algae, lots of water changes, lots of water testing, lots of things to feed...all the time.
How are you setting up tanks...individual systems or main systems? Will you Q your fish or put them in...what will you run specific gravity at...will you treat the tanks with copper or hypo as a general treatment with so many fish moving through...will you have coral systems...what else will you stock...do you intend to order from SWF and then resell (I'm not even sure they would really be up for that - you putting these fish into an LFS system may not be what they intended with their warranty...but maybe you plan on working out some deal)? If you don't order wholesale, it won't be economically reasonable to do it anyway, IMO.
There are so many questions, actually, I can't come up with a coherent way of putting them all together.