new at this, too many mistakes already

[camurso]

hi guys, as the tillte says, i have done alot of mistakes mostly from rushing. i got a 29 gl tank with no lr/ls, the only filtration i got is the one that came with the tank,and i have a power head in order to have some curent. i have already lost alot of fish (2 clowns, 6 damsels, 1 coral beauty) in the course of 3 months. im left with 2 damsels & 1 pepermint shrimp. now im planing on puting an undergravel filter. this is what i got in mind: take all of the water out of the tank, put the remainig fish in a bucket,put the ugf in, put a layer of gravel, use a gravel tidy(i think thats what it is called) then put a layer of live sand over that. than ill add the water back in after i do a 10% water change and finally put the fish back in afterwards. does this sound right??????? im trying to learn the hobby from this tank, so that in the future when i get a bigger tank ill already know what to do. ill appreciate any nfo

 

[dsa_mom]

if you follow this BB for awhile, you will see that most people will discourage an undergravel filter. Current thinking is that a deep sand bed or crushed coral base (depending on who you talk to) are preferred. Either camp, I think I am confident to say, will discourage an undergravel filter. Perhaps another member can give clear reasons, I just know its not considered current technology. Good Luck.

 

[sgt__york]

keep in mind... doing it small to learn.. to do it bigger later might be right ECONOMICALLY - but it's actually backwards as far as results of mistakes. The smaller your tank the larger the affects of a mistake. Ex: A fish dies in the ocean is far less affect than in a 120 gal tank; which is far less than in a 30 gal tank.
The BEST and most ECONOMIC thing is to find out what your doing "BEFORE" you do it Someone here, has a great saying in their profile:
"There are 2 ways to do things, the slow way and the expensive way" lol
Undergravel filters work, but are not used much in the salt water community because of the required maintaince in cleaning them. I strongly recommend that you talk to others here, but if you are a true beginner that doesn't even know the setup and Nitrate cycle yet - get a book.
Ex: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...754571-9516643
MOST ppl here do NOT use a undergravel method, but a deep sand bed with live rock and a sump. I personally use a wet/dry bio-ball system instead of the live sand with live rock. Either will work.
are you wanting to do primarily a FISH ONLY saltwater tank? Or a REEF tank with corals in it? Or both?
Regarding adding any more fish - I would NOT add any fish besides the 2 damsels you have until you completely cycle your tank (ammonias and nitrites are 0). Once you have achieved that, and have your Nitrates respectable - you can begin to add a few fish. Keep in mind, the smaller the tank the fewer fish. If you want Corals MUCH fewer.
Investigate the wet/dry "OR" deep sand bed before going to an undergravel filtration method tho. Good luck to you.

 

[new]

welcome to the boards. i removed my undergravel filter after most people here as well as many store owners and importers told me that they are out-dated and are a "crash" waiting to happen, dont know how true that is but as my tank is still young i removed it and use a sump now, makes tank maintenance easier as well as adding volumn to the system. i know there are members here that use them without problems including 1 i remember that had 1 for 6 years i think he said without a problem until he removed it then lost almost the whole tank. as you have already been advised i would do alot of reasherch before you do anything more. i know how you feel though, cost me 6 damsels to figure out that this is not FW and that patience is a virtue. good luck and look forward to learning all we can with you

 

[karlas]

remove the ugf using it with ls defeats the purpose and the ugf can suck up your sand underneath it. i would just go with the ls and even skip the cc. cc can become a nitrate factory with the bigger particles it traps detris which causes it to break down to nitrates. with a sb it holds more bacteria to break down and serves as a denitrator also.
heres is some good beginner sites you might want to check out
starting marines
reef keeping 101
sb faqs
lr faq

 

[nm reef]

Karlas pointed you in the right direction....the sites mentioned contain a large source of information that will replace your efforts at trial and error.
The best advice I could give would be to read as much info as possible. Plan what it is you want to develope....then procede with caution.

 

[jlem]

C/c will only become a nitrate problem if it is not syphoned when you do your water changes. What filter came with the tank? I would do weekly, or bi weekly 5 gallon water changes. This will give you the ability to clean your C/C often and replenish nutrients without the use of additives ( excluding calcium if you go reef ). I really like a 1 inch sand bed. It gives you the nice look of a sand bed without the 4-6 inches of sand that a Deep Sand Bed requires. I just stir mine up and syphon out any large particles when I do my water changes. Like everyone said., read lots of stuff. You can do a search on subjects and get all the opinions that you could ever want. Good Luck

 

[camurso]

Thanks alot everyone! I appreciate everyones advice and I will put to good use the links provided.