New tank!

[shannonking21]

Hey guys! So I’m starting prep for my 60 gallon saltwater. I had a 30 gallon previously and failed to do the proper amount of research and screwed so much up. So this time around I am using RO/DI water (which I’m making myself), I have live sand in there as well as a few big hunks of live rock. I was given ‘Seed’ bacteria and plan to dose it as instructed for the week while the tank settles. For down the road, will I need to add any other chemicals? I want to do FOWLR so no fancy reef products. But I heard about some kind of PH supplement? I don’t know it’s all a bit confusing. I don’t want to the water to be TOO clean, If that makes sense.

 

[lmforbis]

No pH supplements. You will need test kits for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Both salifert and Redsea are good brands. These are to monitor the cycle which will take around 6 weeks, maybe more. I’d suggest setting up a quarantine tank now while your tank cycles. That way it will be ready to start quarantining fish when your main tank is ready.

 

[beaslbob]

supplements (dosing) are mainly for calcium, alk, and magnesium and usually only critical for hard corals and corraline algae. research the improved diy two part system.

It is best tho to keep alk from 8 to 10 KDH using simple baking soda.

FWIW I recommend starting aquariums with macro algaes then doing the rest. Usually in a refugium but that can be just a simple egg crate partition to keep the fish and algae separate. In that way the system will be balanced and stabilized right from the start and much easier to maintain.

but that's just me and my .02