mylady
Member
Theater, it sounds like you may have put the cart before the horse here with your tank. I know the excitement of wanting to get the tank just up and running and get the fish in. But never fear, everyone here is great for help and I would follow the advice given. Though your tap water MAY be okay, with this being such an expensive hobby, is that a chance you want to take? What kind of bottled water are you using? A lot of bottled water is nothing more than tap water. Adding water conditioner isn't a horrible thing, but the fewer chemicals you can add to your tank the better.
This hobby is truly my husbands passion and I am learning along the way. One of the most important things I have learned is you HAVE to do research. Your aunt may be helping you, but you really need to start reading and researching as much as you can for yourself as well. Again, people here will also help you along the way. I would recommend you look into a few books as well as talking with people here and reading online. You will also find here that the consensus is most LFS are trying to make a sale and don't usually give the best advice. Heck, I went to one to buy a bubble coral and they swore if it ever touched air it would immediately die. That thing has touched air quite a few times! LOL.
I know a thimblefull about what it takes to have a successful salt water tank. I know how overwhelming it can seem with all the info out there, some of which contradicts itself, but the research needs to be in place first before anymore fish. I would definitely start getting R/O water if you can from Walmart. We have a plastic storage tote we use to mix water in. Hubby lets it run for a few days before he ever uses it. I think it's a 15 gallon tote, they aren't that expensive. Make sure when you are doing water top offs you are not using salt water because when water evaporates, the salt does not and adding salt water will increase your salinity. When you find fish you are interested in, google them. A lot of sites will have qucik access info which will tell you the basics like the minimum gallon tank it needs, if it's reef safe, how easy it is to keep, if it's peasceful or aggressive, etc. I always check a few of those sites because they don't awlays agree. I also check the water temp they need. I tend to fall in love with fish I can't have, like the catalina goby. It needs water cooler than what we have in our tank.
Welcome to the forum and I wish you a lot of success with your tank.
This hobby is truly my husbands passion and I am learning along the way. One of the most important things I have learned is you HAVE to do research. Your aunt may be helping you, but you really need to start reading and researching as much as you can for yourself as well. Again, people here will also help you along the way. I would recommend you look into a few books as well as talking with people here and reading online. You will also find here that the consensus is most LFS are trying to make a sale and don't usually give the best advice. Heck, I went to one to buy a bubble coral and they swore if it ever touched air it would immediately die. That thing has touched air quite a few times! LOL.
I know a thimblefull about what it takes to have a successful salt water tank. I know how overwhelming it can seem with all the info out there, some of which contradicts itself, but the research needs to be in place first before anymore fish. I would definitely start getting R/O water if you can from Walmart. We have a plastic storage tote we use to mix water in. Hubby lets it run for a few days before he ever uses it. I think it's a 15 gallon tote, they aren't that expensive. Make sure when you are doing water top offs you are not using salt water because when water evaporates, the salt does not and adding salt water will increase your salinity. When you find fish you are interested in, google them. A lot of sites will have qucik access info which will tell you the basics like the minimum gallon tank it needs, if it's reef safe, how easy it is to keep, if it's peasceful or aggressive, etc. I always check a few of those sites because they don't awlays agree. I also check the water temp they need. I tend to fall in love with fish I can't have, like the catalina goby. It needs water cooler than what we have in our tank.
Welcome to the forum and I wish you a lot of success with your tank.