sand question on 200 gal+

[aw2]

Originally Posted by psusocr1
also what should my initial salinity be?
Ideally, you want to shoot for 1.024 - 1.026. I usually keep my predator tank at 1.019, just to help fight off parasites.
I'm currently fighting a case of ich and I currently have my 200gal. and my 210gal. down to 1.010, for hyposalinity.

 

[offshore80]

Dude I don't know the size of your system or the specs of your filtration. But, if it's larger than a 125 you have just got yourself into something you really need to read about. There are so many things you need to know for a large system to be successful. You really need to set your system up for easy water changes & Maintenance. Because you will be doing a lot of both. Go very slowly and ask a lot of questions before stocking. How about giving some specs of your system and what type fish/reef you are planning.
FYI, I use two 32 gallon BRUT trash cans with a titanium heaters to keep the temp at 78 and 9.5 mags to mix the salt. I get my Ocianic salt from petsmart cause they match there internet prices if you take in the web page. I can get a bag of Ocianic salt for about 11 bucks and it will cover 55 gallons. It's hard to beat that. I use 2 R/O water systems and maintain a 75 gallon holding tank to keep enough R/O on hand. Over the years you tend to learn the things you can't live without. That's just for water changes the filtration is a whole nother issue.
Here is a picture of my mixing station. I keep a small frige to keep the fish food from our home fridge. Squid can stink!

 

[psusocr1]

i researched a saltwater aquarium for about 4 years now , and now i am finally getting one. if you read this whole post you would have found out what equiptment i have and also the size of my tank. i take everyones advice on the forum and learn ALOT very quickly. as far as water changes and salt go, you make it seem like not everyone can do it.. as far as salt and trashcans go all you need is money and time for waterchanges. i just went to home depot yesterday and got 3, 35 gallon trash cans(no big deal) And i also have (2) 200 gallon buckets of salt sitting in front of me(for now). I have a seperate room in my house for storage of all my water(which a gas heater is in so the room is very warm). I have 2 refrigerators in my basemnt that i dont evan use. i dont want this post to sound as if im coming off mean i know your trying to help me (i hope) but i get mad when people underestimate a new hobbyist, i mean we were all there once werent we??

 

[offshore80]

Didn't mean to come off negative.... I Think it's great your on here asking questions and getting good feed back. Congratulations on your new tank... It's a great hobby. But can be very fustrating at times. This is a great place to get good info.

 

[psusocr1]

o.k guys, i succesfully filled up my tank today and it is CLEAR!! :jumping: :cheer: dont get me wrong its a bit cloudy , but nothing that some filter floss wont clear up

So anyway now that the water and sand are in whats my next step? add the live rock,then get the filters and skimmers going?? im going to wait at least 2-3 days for my heaters to bring all that water to the right temp also before adding the rock...
thanks for allt he help guys

 

[aw2]

Are you cycling the tank with "uncured" live rock or spending the extra cash and going with "cured" live rock?
Either way, wait for the water to get to the temp you want and add the rock. Then, get your skimmer and filters going.

 

[pacino]

soory to interrupt****hey aw2 is it helpful to lower the salinity to fight ich?? i have my temp raised to 80-82 cause i was under the impression that helped also???

 

[mitzel]

I would start the filters and skimmer now . and put the LR in . You really dont have to worry about the temp of the tank right now but getting the heaters started wont hurt. Anything on the Lr that would be effected by the water being cold is already going to be dead or dying . when I bought my first big bulk LR shipment it came in a clod nasty box wrapped in news paper and now its doing great It hosts a ton of pods . So I don't think cold water will bother the tank much. do be sure to clean it off really good before you put it in though to help get some of the dead things off/out of the rock. and for the first week or so your skimmer will pull out some nasty stuff. So don't be alarmed .
No matter what you do you will still have to cycle your tank and that will kill off a lot of life in the live rock also but be patient and just keep testing and adjusting and take it slow. :joy:

 

[aw2]

Originally Posted by pacino
soory to interrupt****hey aw2 is it helpful to lower the salinity to fight ich?? i have my temp raised to 80-82 cause i was under the impression that helped also???
Yes...search threads for "hypo" or "hyposalinity"...or, start a thread and you'll get responces...just dont want to hijack psusocr1's thread.

 

[mitzel]

Didn't mean to contradict you there AW2 . I just assumed they would be starting with uncured live rock .

 

[aw2]

Originally Posted by mitzel
Didn't mean to contradict you there AW2 . I just assumed they would be starting with uncured live rock .
No, no...it's ok. Either way, I think he'd have to cycle the tank anyway. Even with "cured" live rock, I think you should still wait as you will have some die off.
Most times, if you spend the extra money and go with cured rock, the cycle wont be as long as if you were to use uncured rock, IMO.

 

[psusocr1]

As far as the live-rock im waiting to order it so i guess iw ill get the cured live rock if it is better. I went down to my LFS today and he wanted $6.50 a pound and i feel thats a bit expensive for what i was seeing. Im in no hurry to get fish i just want live rock in there for extra, natural filtration and for my fish to hide and swim in and out of.
on another note im a terrible judge of pounds per rock so if anyone with a setup like jcrim and i beleive yours AW2 or anyone with an eel, shark, ray and lion etc(aggressive Setup), on a 220 , about how many pounds am i lookign at? i just want live rock in the two opposite corners of each other resembeling cave-like structures.
Thanks again guys!!

 

[aw2]

I'm more of an eel guy, as my 200gal. will soon be home to 8 Hawaiian Dragons. Right now, I have aprox. 300lb of rock in the tank, but the majority of it is large pieces. When I get the new eels, I'll be adding another 100lb or so for maximum coverage, for the eels.
The thing is...if you're planning on keeping sharks and rays, you need as little rock as possible. If you're planning on keeping eels, you need a considerable amount of rock.

 

[psusocr1]

ya thats why i was thinkin just 2 clusters of caves in each corner, and i definanlty think that will give the 1 eel plenty of room to hide and also give the rays and sharks plenty of room to roam around in the open..

 

[aw2]

IMHO, I dont think that 220gal. is enough to keep a shark, let alone a shark and ray. My opinions come from keeping them and from further research, based on size, activity, etc.

 

[psusocr1]

well heres the deal,
I Myself built my 220 from scratch(How-To Post coming soon!!!!), ive built about 6 tanks now , very large in size with my biggest bieng 500 gallon(but that was acrylic,and it was for my 2 crocs when they were young) Anyway i know for a fact that in a year or two or whenever they are ready to outgrow the tank all i have to do is build a larger aquarium. I want to raise all of my fish, no matter what i get from babies. So with this in mind i think i can easily pull this off... :joy: Plus i just love excuses to build larger things! Its very fun

 

[aw2]

If you have the means to provide larger housing (i.e. - building larger tanks), then I say go for it.
I always state "dont buy a fish unless you have the proper housing for an adult" because you hear so many times of people buying fish, with plans to upgrade, and then for whatever reason, they cant accomplish that. Then, you end up with a fish that'll be unhealthy and stressed, due to lack of space and will eventually die.
My other problem is that people will often say, "well, when it's too big, I'll just give it to a local public aquarium or a LFS". 99% of the time, that's not gonna happen. Public aquariums no longer accept donations, as they often dont have enough room and are worried about disease. You have to have some serious hookups, to get your fish donated to a public aquarium. In addition to that, it's extremely difficult to find a LFS that is willing to take a large fish. They either dont have enough room for it or it's just too difficult to find someone willing to buy a large fish, as most people dont have large tanks.
Please...be sure to post the "how to" threads, when you get the chance. I, for one, would be extremely interested.

 

[psusocr1]

ive been writing the how-to on my glass 220 that i just built(for my saltwater fish), it just takes along time as i have about 35 pictures for all of the steps i went through. If anyone is handy i wish they would realize that a 220 gallon tank can be built for only $4-600 bucks at max. depending what your paying for supplies, especially glass or acrylic. I built my 220 for $425.00 Total, that's glass cost, wood, silicone, screw,nails etc. And thats tank, stand, and canopy..and it looks ALOT better than those cheap ones at my LFS. i plan on building a 500 in about a year or so, as i said depending on growth rate, and how crazy i want to get(maybe ill go bigger,its like a disease for me to build large things for animals to live in!)

 

[aw2]

I've searched for acrylic sheets, to build my own tank...in the 300 - 350 gallon range and the cheapest I've been able to find sheets (SHIPPED) was aprox. $300 for an 84 x 30 piece, 3/4" thick. That's just one piece.

 

[psusocr1]

ya acrylic is very expensive, thats why this time i decided to build with glass..AND I LOVE IT. the acrylic around my house is pretty expensive, but not nearly as bad as i have seen before per piece , but I luck out cause i dont need shipping. I got brand new tempered glass and it was actually very cheap. Ive heard of people getting salvage glass thats "almost" new that works great for EXTREMELY cheap. Hopefully my "how-to" post will help ya out