Totally new,55 gal,needs Advice.

[beldarfish]

Hiya guys & gals,
Like it says,I am a greenie,newbie or w/e ever you call us begginers.
My girlfriend wanted a tank & we decided to make a project making a FOWLR tank.
so, Saturday, we picked it up ,also a maple stand & canopy.nice equipment,so I thought(more later).
here is my list & things I have done.
1 BOOK basic marine Aquarium set-up & maintenance.
55 gal tank.stand & canopy.
40 lbs of aragonite.
20 lbs of puka shells.(hawiian if it matters)
1 bak pak 2 w/protien skimmer.(lfs guy talked me out of wet/dry)
1 penguin 360 duel bio wheel filter (carbon)
1 820 gph powerhead
1 case of instant ocean salt water mix(3 bags of 50 gal each)
1 brand new 5 gal bucket.
what I did,the Important stuff I guess.
I washed out my tank after setting it on the stand & rinsed the Aragonite, ALOT.
Then rinsed the puka shells & mixed it all up in the tank.I proceeded to mix my water in
the bucket to the correct specs(2 & 1/2 cups per 5 gals)made sure it was dissolved &
Added it to my tank.
Needlees to say it was pretty cloudy in there at first & I plugged in BOTH my filters.
The next day after work it was pretty clear. I figure,I have a sterile tank,well as sterile as they come, it's brand new set-up.
So,Monday,I excitedly go to my lfs & grab 62 lbs of live fiji rock, here is where I sorta get lost & conflicting Advice, the rock looks pretty pourous ,lots of holes & space, I am quite Amazed,not hard being green & all,but it also has ALOT of dead stuff on it & in the crevaces.. the guy said "it's ok just add it to your tank", it smells pretty clean,like ocean,not, like, rotten...again green, but I think I would know rotten if I smelled it,I THINK.
Thing is there is ALOT of Die off on it & I ask about "curing it & scrubbing it",like
my book says,& again he says,"brand new tank,it's ok just put it in".
So,I bring it home & drop it in my brand new tank.The temp is A-OK & the salt content/grav is reading 1.023.....I am like SWEET,AWSOME!! & start looking for any,what you guys are calling 'hitchhickers'.nothing

& I looked for like an 1/2 hour or more.
The next day (Today ,Tuesday) I ask around at work & one guy , "oh, you got to scrub it,get it out ASAP,& scrub it in a 5 gal with your water & put it back in",so after work I drive 25 miles to a non-LFS,this place was marine ONLY place ,unlike the 1st place,it was a "pet shop" with birds,pups,cats,etc,ect....that guy says ,oh your doing well & no need to scrub the rock , as the die off will get "eaten up" when I get my cycle going.I also notice he has A 55 gal.tank with overflow for $25 more than I paid for my tank.

Needless to say I was releived that I didn't,or don't think I polluted my
pristine tank set-up,so he asked what fish i picked up & I said none yet cause I was a little confused about the rock thing & I was Advised to "drop in " a piece of "raw shrimp" to get the nitro-cycle stared & he was like, "naw just get some fish ,Damseles" to start it up,I was for that!Because I would rather watch those than A decaying piece of meat floating in my new tank, I bought 4 for $13.00,got them acclimated & netted them in,dumping out his water,I was told not to mix the waters.
supposedly the Damsels are hearty (book) & should survive the cycle jump start &
even if they die,so I don't want them anyway ,I read they will harrass any new fish I put in ,like in 3 or 4 months from now.witch I will do once I get used to taking readings &understanding how"stable" my tank is,No need to waste $50 or more dollars on dead fish.
OH! 1 last thing, I used tap water for my intital fill & today when I went to the REAL shop I saw someone buying water & they sell DI water,So I think i will be using that from now on!!! BTW I found these boards Monday & had to wait one day to start posting
So, (whew) the Questions are As follows,I am REALLY trying to do this right the first time
1) did I do right about the Live rock stuff?
2) what about the Aragonite? thats not Crushed coral is it?
3) I know I wanted wet/dry...was it a Mistake to get the bak/pak2 with the penguin 630?
4)why,oh why didn't I find these forums sooner? reading some posts helped,But also scared me ,as I didn't educate myself so good on these matters Before I started this project
If you read this Far thanks!!! & I will update this thread with pics I took during assembly ASAP for bette understanding for you & to keep a log of OUR project.
Total spent $1300
Hours of lost sleep worrying: 15
seeing my 4 damsels swimming around,NOT outright dyingriceless

updates soon & THANKS for ANY advice,
Beldar~

 

[rockies]

Welcome to the hobby.
1) I think you did the right thing about the LR. New tank can withstand the die-off without any livestock in there. It might take a little longer for the cycle to complete and the die-off to not be toxic, but better to be patient and let nature take its course.
The problem is that you added livestock. Even though Damsels are hardy and used for getting a cycle starting, you'll find many people strongly discourage (read: they'll yell at you) the practice of using a live animal for this purpose. Many say it's abusive. You also have to be careful because Damsels can be very difficult to remove once established. You pretty much have to dismantle the entire tank to get them out.
2) Aragonite is not CC. Aragonite is a good choice for sand.
3) Fltration is complicated. Some say you can do it all with LR and a good protein skimmer. Others recommend a wet/dry in addition. You probably haven't made a mistake with your filtration since you want as much as you can afford.
4) Yeah, I wished I had found these boards before I made some costly mistakes. That's part of the learning process, especially for the impatient (of which I am chief). Another good book is "The Conscientous Marine Aquarist". Frankly I would recommend it above all others. Complete, balanced and really drives home the responsibilities we have to be good shepherds of the livestock we keep and the earth as a whole.
I'd love to see pics. They are always a treat.
Good luck!

 

[beldarfish]

tried tp upload some pics,but i can't.2 MB max & my camera is a 7 mega pixal :/,can anyone help with this too ??? :-(

 

[some1fishy]

Sounds like you took the right steps. The biggest thing in this hobby as I am finding out is to be patient and do research, and more research until you cant research anymore and decide to jump in.
Always, especially newer hobbiest's (I look like I am, cause I just found the forums) is to research before you buy. NEVER BUY ON IMPULSE! Its a recipe for disaster.
Good luck and keep reading! You'll find this site addicting as much as the hobby.
MP

 

[zx636r]

As far as uploading the pics goes. The mega pixel of the camera doesn't matter, its just file size that matters. To get the file size down you can open the pictures in paint (assuming you are using a windows OS) and go to image, Stretch/Skew, then in the Horizontal and vertical box, just change the 100 to 50, then click ok. That will drop the picture down to half size, then save it and upload. Have fun.
Oh yeah, I would start using Ro water rather than tap.

 

[wax32]

20 lbs of puka shells.(hawiian if it matters)
What is this, and what did your fish store say it was for?
BTW:

¡Hola! WELCOME TO THE BOARDS!

 

[beldarfish]

These are some pics, If they work, i will try to add more
hope the res is good.
thanks for your input.
Beldar :happyfish

 

[beldarfish]

let me know if you want more.please
Also, the PUKA, I put a pic of it in my 1st post...
I guess it is more for decoration & to keep the grain open
so i don't get "dead spots in my substrate.
It was MY IDEA to mix it in,Again decoration& the LFS guy thought it
was a decent Idea :cheer:
if you look at the picks you can make some out on the floor, it's the bigger pieces.
ALSO, ANY!! Advice would be greatly apprecated & is surly needed,Thanks!

 

[wisconsinc]

I love that maple stand. Very nice.
Good luck and enjoy.

 

[beldarfish]

thanks the stand was the most exspensive part so far.
As you can see in my picks, the LR has alot of die off on it,
thats won't hinder any other growth will it??
how often should i read my tank?, remember i need this cycle to start

 

[beldarfish]

Hi Again...
Back for an Update........
It's been 3 weeks since live Rock went in & i got ALOT of die-off,just
like I exspected, Diatoms coming in nicely...
my specs are reading great.
SG 1.023
AMM 0.0
trites0.0
trates .10 Water change soon!
2 .15 watt trichromatic florecent bulbs(replaced standaerd bulbs)
I never put a drop of tap water in since inital fill(buying ro/di from LFS)
so far every 2 days I top it off.
semi-split between 2 stores, cause one is more like a maintence shop,
guy says he services tanks in addition to the store,"we send 5 trucks out a day to service my tanks"....you know the drill.
BUT 2 of the damsels devoloped Tiny white dots!!(mind you I look at my fish hourly).I removed them, for fear it was ICH, both came from 1 tank when bought.It has been about 2 weeks & the other 2 seem quite fine..again watching hourly.
So I don't think I'll buy livestock from him again.......equipment.
I just picked up my cleaning crew,drip acclimated 'em . been 48 hours,things look pretty good. (see my post here)
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=202290
"Red" even came out for dinner last night,first time since molting 3
days ago,a day after I got him.
Since I have Inverts now,it's time to get a cal tester.....
I already bought a refract from this site.....hummmmm
will post pics & keep updating
As always ANY advice is Much welcomed.
~Beldar