ecoman
Member
:help: Ok, I got rid of my 3 and a half foot alligator and am now setting his 75 gallon tank up as SALTWATER! woohoo! I have the decor in place and the water circulating through a Magnum 350 with ammocarb. See it here! Anyways, assuming you have clicked on that and seen the setup, you see I have the filter output coming a little more then halfway down and pointed towards the bell. It seems to be getting a decent current. Coming in the mail soon is a SeaClone 100 protein skimmer, as I soon hope to have invertabrates n such. Also coming is a saltwater biozyme to help assist in the cycling process. Also ordered was seachem prime and I already have a test kit for pH, NO2, NO3, NH3, NH4, and ALK. Will I need a calcium test? Any other tests?? What I plan on having in the tank: Maybe a few small pieces of LR, probably 2 clownfish (for my daughter), one or 2 invertabrates, maybe a small lobstertype looking creature, and one or 2 other medium sized fish. I originally wanted to get a Lionfish, but this will probably kill poor Nemo, wont he? So I admit. I am bored of looking at a decorated tank with water flowing! The water is not crystal clear but you can see thru both sides and make out objects easily. I couldnt clean 100% of the water stains and fish/animal chunks left over from the alligator and I imagine this will dissolve in time and maybe increase my ammonia level. The filter can handle it! Or so I think. I used my regular tap water to fill the tank, then simply dumped the salt in with the filter running. Most of it mixed itself, very little settled to the bottom and when I stirred it, it immediately dissolved. Its been running for about 2 days since. This morning, I test the salinity/gravity which was just a hair on the high side at 1.0235 or in between 1.023 and 1.024. I understand this is acceptable but I want to start all levels where I want to keep them, so I removed 600oz or almost 5 gallons and replaced just 300oz of water or 2.34 gallons of regular tap. I let that filter for a few hours and did some tests. The ALK is as blue as its gonna get showing 3.6. Is this acceptable? The pH is on target at 8.2 and has been there since I bought the test a few days ago. The NO2 was at 0.05 and is now 0.10, the NO3 was at 0.25ppm and is now 0.125ppm. The only other change that I made was added buffer. What is the desireable ALK reading? Can I put anything other then live rock in the tank now to help it cycle? I dont necessarily want it to cycle faster, just better! Fully establish the bacterias that is. Can you think of any other chemicals, tests, or anything else I WILL DEFINATELY need to make my dreams come true?