New 54g Corner Fish Only Tank

[nate_m]

Greetings,
I'm brand new to the saltwater scene and need some assistance in getting my tank up and running. I have a 54g corner tank with a Magnum 350 canister (carbon media) and 60 pounds of Live Sand. I know I need to add a couple power heads to get the water moving but do I need any other type of filtration?
After reading several threads on the boards I have several questions:
1. Is it OK to use tap water to mix up the tank water? I noticed alot of people using R/O water.
2. How do I start cycling my tank? I have the live sand and water in the tank now and have measured no ammonia or nitrites. Should I add a couple of damsels to get things moving?
3. My PH is at 8.6 which seems very high to me. Do I need to use a commercial product to lower this or will it naturally drop as the tank cycles?
Thanks for the help!
- Nate

 

[hot883]

Hi Nate

Welcome to the boards. I first want to congratulate you on the decision to start and also for ASKING questions before buying.

You will need 1-2 lbs. of Live Rock (LR) to add to your live sand (LS). If you buy it on line and ship to you, that alone will start the cycle. The LR will act as a very good filtration device once it gets going. Cycling the tank with damsels is an outdated and CRUEL method as the ammonia levels will permantely damage the gills if not kill the fish. A cycle typically needs 4-6 weeks to occur. This is not an instant gratification hobby by any means. There are several good threads on here about cycling and those can be found by doing a search on the subject.
Always try to search for your answers before posting a new thread because you are not the first to have these questions and they have all been answered many times.
We are here to help you along. Take all the advice in, and make your decisions from there.
Get the book by Robert Fenner "Conscientious marine Aquarist" and read, read and then read some more. There are a couple outdated items in the book but overall great knowledge to have. During the cycle is a great time to get your questions answered and to figure out what kind of fish will do good, you want etc.

 

[nate_m]

Thanks for the quick reply. I exercised some patience and waited for the searches to complete (extemely slow yesterday) and found all the answers to my questions.
Looks like I need to invest in some LR and power heads to complete my setup and get the cycle started. Kinda bummed about the long wait associated with the cycle.
Not going to worry about the PH until the cycle completes.
And it looks like the verdict is still out on the tap water / RO-DI water choice.
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
- Nate