Just starting

wrongmove

wrongmove

Member
I am just starting a tank I really have little to no expeirence with saltwater tanks I do however have some with freshwater tanks that being said I do understand the importance of the cycle period my question is how should I start. For now my biggest questions are...
1. What brand of salt should I use to make my salt water ( I will be using spring water to make it )?
2. I need to get some live rock but is the stuff sold on the internet safe for use and how may pounds of rock is standard for my size tank?
3. I am also wondering if I get live rock is live sand a good idea also?
I understand that once I get all the rock and sand in place it will most likely take upwards of a month before fish can be added but once that month is up would it be better to add inverts. and wait for them to acclimate or can I also add a fish.
I am also wondering if 4-5 fish is too many for a tank this size. I am wanting mostly small fish and am going to be upgrading the size of the tank in the next year to 18 months, so a small fish that will get larger wont be a problem as long as it will fit into a tank roughly 100gallons in size.
Any answers or suggestions will be greatly apprecitated.
Thanks..
 
fraggle_a

fraggle_a

Member
Salt is salt, it comes down to whats avalible and your personal preferance.
I use Instant Ocean simply beacuse it desolves fast and is readily avalible from my Local Fish Store.
You dont seem to have said what size your current tank is. Ill guess 40Gallons (cause thats my size). 10 - 20Lbs of live rock is an awsome start, but pricy. What you can do is get 10Lbs of live rock and get 10Lbs of 'base rock'. I dropped 30Lbs of live sand into my tank. Gives me a nice fairly usable floor.
Live rock and Live sand will help the tank cycle quicker. P ersonaly think Live sand looks better than the crushed corral anyway.
The number of fish depends on the type of fish. Most 'start' at 1 or 2 inches. But they do grow. One group of people say fish grow to their environment and then stop. The others say fish grow, and can outgrow their environment if its too small.
There are various ways of "Cycling" your tank. Read over this forum and youll see a few methods. I have a day by day discription of my tank prgress from the day I purchased it... Its getting burried though. LOL
What ever you do, good luck and be patient!. :)
 
wrongmove

wrongmove

Member
I am sorry I missed the size of my tank it is small only 29 gallons. Thanks about the salt info that and the live rock question were the most important for now since I want to make sure i start out right. I am wondering if starting out with a base rock and some live rock if that extends the time for the cycling period instead of all live rock or if that is just another one of those things that just depends on the set up. I am in no real hurry to get fish in the tank I just want to make sure I get the tank set up as correct as possible before i start introducing other inhabitants ( that actually isnt ture I really want fish now but I really want them to live so I will just have to wait
). That only leaves me with the question: is the saltwater media sold on the internet reliable.
Thank you very much for your help so far the salt question was a worry for me.
 
ktsdad

ktsdad

Member
Wrongmove - you are on the right track! BTW welcome to the boards!
The 50/50 of live rock and base rock will work well and save you a few bucks.
The general rule of thumb is 1lb of rock per gallon.
The amount of sand is up to your liking. I prefer about a 2-3 inch sandbed, some folks like 4-6 inch sand bed. You really don't want to start with live sand, in fact I wouldn't (and didn't). The cycle process may kill any "live" stuff in the sand which defeats the purpose. Just use a good argonite sand to start with. After the cycle, ask your LFS if you can buy a cup of their sand and throw that into your tank. Your dead sand will become live sand pretty quick!
As far as the steps for the process go, here is what I did:
1. Fill tank with water, RO/DI water preferred (not tap), add salt and let it mix for a few hours. Check salinity with reliable meter, like a refractometer. Make sure all your filters and heaters are working well.
2. Take the rock you get from the shipment and lay it out on the floor to see what you have and try to visualize how you want to put it into the tank. Take about 3-4 gallons of water out of the tank and into 5 gallon bucket. Remove any loose stuff from the rock then swish it real well in the bucket of water. Place rock in the tank. Turn off pumps when doing this.
3. Rinse your sand until you don't see milk coming off it (you will see what I mean). If you use dead sand you can use freshwater for this.
4. Put sand in the tank.
5. Refill your tank with new saltwater to proper levels and start pumps/filtration.
6. Get a raw shrimp from the local supermarket and throw it into the tank.
7. Wait.
8. Wait.
9. Check ammonia levels after a few days. Eventually it will spike off the chart of your test kit.
9. Once the ammonia starts to drop, your nitrItes should start to rise. They also will spike off the chart (usually).
10. Once both ammonia and nitrIte is ZERO, your nitrAtes should start to rise.
11. Do 20% water changes to get the nitrAtes down.
12 Add first fish and enjoy.
This process can take anywhere from 4-8 weeks, lots of time to research what you want for a first fish!
You may hear someone try to sell you something to add to speed this process, don't fall for the snake oil! Just let nature take care of it!
Good Luck! Keep us posted!
 
wrongmove

wrongmove

Member
I cant tell you how thankful for the help I am! and apoligize for the spelling
. I think I will get started on the steps you took as soon asap thanks ktsdad! I am sorry I am full of questions but I am going to be leaving on a trip in about 4 or 5 days for about 10 days. I am wondering if it would be ok to start this process before I leave. I know that is kind of short notice for a thread so if I dont get a reply by then I will just wait but as I said before THANKS for the help!
 
ktsdad

ktsdad

Member
Originally Posted by WrongMove
I am sorry I am full of questions but I am going to be leaving on a trip in about 4 or 5 days for about 10 days. I am wondering if it would be ok to start this process before I leave. I know that is kind of short notice for a thread so if I dont get a reply by then I will just wait but as I said before THANKS for the help!
Will there be anyone home to keep an eye on the tank while you are gone?
My only concern would be a leak. New equipment, new seals you never really know what is going to happen. Since you say you have 4-5 days, fill with freshwater and turn on all your filtration and let it run for a day or so just to make sure there aren't any drips anywhere!
On the other hand, that is really a good idea. You won't be there constantly looking at it and wanting it to hurry up! By the time you get back you should be into a really good ammonia spike!
One thing I forgot to mention, you don't want to run your lights during the cycle. An hour or so a day just so you can admire your handy work won't hurt anything. But you don't want them running much longer than that, could start unwanted algea bloom that you will have to deal with.
Another thing I thought of as far as first critters. You will want to get a good "clean up" crew after the cycle is finished. They are really essential in keeping a clean tank, either FOWLR or reef. Just some hermit crabs and a few snails will do the trick. Check out the "reef packages" section on SWF.Com, they have some cool packages.
Keep the questions coming! Most folks on this board love to help!
Good Luck!
 
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