New Member With a Set-Up Question

fishlawyer

fishlawyer

Member
Hello All
I am a new member to the forum and a long term fresh-water fish owner. The only problem is, I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED A SALT WATER TANK!!!
So, i decided to add a nice Salt Water tank to my Law Office to kind of "Class up the Joint." (Plus, I spend a LOT of time at the office and I love to watch fish...)
My problem is this, I want to have a Dwarf Lionfish to start, but I am wondering if I am going about this whole process correctly.
Here is what I have:
* Very slick looking 35 Gallon Curved Front Tank with Stand
* Heavy Duty 3 Stage Filtration System with an Upgraded Pump System and a Multitude of Filtration Mediums to Add
* Lighting System with UV Filters
* Filled with Proper Filtered Water Today
* Artificial Sand at the Bottom
* PH Testing Kit with PH Solutions (Both Up, Down and Stabilization)
* 200W Heater
* Digital Thermometer
* Loads of Decorative Rock/Plants to Add for Hiding Places
Apart from the salt and the extra testing equipment, what else will I need?
Also, I am pretty sure I am not going to mess with live rock, so I want to do a Fish Only tank. If I were to get the needed extras and work through the weekend, could I be ready for a fish on Monday?
PS: No need to warn me about the Lionfish, already been stung feeding a friends while he was on vacation...
 
fishlawyer

fishlawyer

Member
The lack of live rock was recommended to me by the same friend who owns the Lionfish. He did a near completely synthetic environment and has had a lot of success. (As evidenced by the 11 inch Lionfish.) Not to mention an amazing looking tank.
I know filtration will be more of a problem, but I am willing to add a second filtration system, etc. if necessary. Just something I had in mind. Although I may add some live rock later on, depending on how I feel. However right now, it will be synthetic or non-live rock all the way.
 
mboswell1982

mboswell1982

Active Member
no, u will not be ready by monday, you gotta wait for your tank to cycle, an that can take anywhere from 3 days, with all established rock and sand from another tank, to up to a month, or even longer
 
pbnj

pbnj

Member
Monday???
My friend, you need to do some serious research on this site regarding cycling your tank.
Also, without a protein skimmer or refugium, you really should invest in some live rock. Better to invest in some live rock now than after you lose some expensive fish. BTW, adding uncured live rock is a great way to cycle your tank.
 
U

usirchchris

Guest
Refractometer to measure salt level and test kits..ammonia, nitrite, nitrate to watch your cycle. You are going bare bones, but it can work.
EEK! yeah with no live rock or sand you have at least a month minimum IMO before any fish. Read up friend you have alot to learn.
 
crypt keeper

crypt keeper

Active Member
Originally Posted by FishLawyer
http:///forum/post/2904139
The lack of live rock was recommended to me by the same friend who owns the Lionfish. He did a near completely synthetic environment and has had a lot of success. (As evidenced by the 11 inch Lionfish.) Not to mention an amazing looking tank.
I know filtration will be more of a problem, but I am willing to add a second filtration system, etc. if necessary. Just something I had in mind. Although I may add some live rock later on, depending on how I feel. However right now, it will be synthetic or non-live rock all the way.
Just because you can live in a card board box doesnt mean you will. You would live in the house you do, which is built correctly. Get my point?
Dont half a** it cause you like the way it looks. That synthetic environment crap is just that, crap. Put the correct things it will need to be healthy.
11 inch lionfish in a 35 gallon tank? That's a joke right?
 
deejeff442

deejeff442

Active Member
i ran a 150 gallon fo tank with plastic rock for years .
get a wet/dry filter set up .
you can also buy a product to pour into the tank (cant remember what it was called it was 6-8 years ago)i cycled my tank in less than a week.
just know when you only use mechanical filters you cut down the amount of fish you can put in the tank and have to do water changes more often.
especially with big pooping fish like lions.
good luck
 
locoyo386

locoyo386

Member
Hi there,
Originally Posted by FishLawyer
http:///forum/post/2904106
Hello All
I am a new member to the forum and a long term fresh-water fish owner. The only problem is, I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED A SALT WATER TANK!!!
So, i decided to add a nice Salt Water tank to my Law Office to kind of "Class up the Joint." (Plus, I spend a LOT of time at the office and I love to watch fish...)
My problem is this, I want to have a Dwarf Lionfish to start, but I am wondering if I am going about this whole process correctly.
Here is what I have:
* Very slick looking 35 Gallon Curved Front Tank with Stand
* Heavy Duty 3 Stage Filtration System with an Upgraded Pump System and a Multitude of Filtration Mediums to Add
* Lighting System with UV Filters
* Filled with Proper Filtered Water Today
* Artificial Sand at the Bottom
* PH Testing Kit with PH Solutions (Both Up, Down and Stabilization)
* 200W Heater
* Digital Thermometer
* Loads of Decorative Rock/Plants to Add for Hiding Places
Apart from the salt and the extra testing equipment, what else will I need?
Also, I am pretty sure I am not going to mess with live rock, so I want to do a Fish Only tank. If I were to get the needed extras and work through the weekend, could I be ready for a fish on Monday?
PS: No need to warn me about the Lionfish, already been stung feeding a friends while he was on vacation...

Well I do not know a whole lot yet, but I will give you my opinion.
You could do fish only tanks, not sure if a 39 gallon is big enough for a lion fish. As far as filtration, I would look into reading about how to set up fish only tank. This will help you understand how the filtration works in that type of system. I would imagine you have to provide a bio-filtration system to deal with the waste that the fish will produce. Live Rock and live sand is some of the media used for bio-filtration. This type of set up if fish only with live rock (FOWLR). I believe as long as you have the adequate bio-filtration media for a fish only (FO) tank it will be fine. Perhaps your frined can recomend the type of filtration that you may use, since he has one set-up already.
 
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