very new. Help please

llmoe

New Member
Now I am getting confuse. Cured or not live rock. Live or not not sand. lol
I think my fist step is to get the filters right. Because once I have the sand and water in
I should start running the filters right?
 

saltfish

New Member
Live rock is great for your tank. if you do not cure you rock first it will throw your levels off and it does not matter right now cause your dont have fish in the tank But I always cure it out side of the main tank! First step is to get your filters as soon as you get sand and water in there start running the filters. Ok after that get your salt levels right your good to go you need to start with starter fish to get to tank to cycle there are some things you can add to speed it up but I have never used it. Just be careful when you go to the fishstore the want a sale so they will try to sell you many products that you do not need. And when you get fish MAKE SURE TO READ up on them before you buy them!!! Anything else?? Good luck Its alot of fun just take it slow!
 

ricks280

Member
the steps mentioned above a correct, just dont forget to bring your water to the correct temp. before you test s.g. (1023-1025) cold water will give you a dif. sg.
if you have the room below or behind the tank make sure you fit a sump all your equipment(heaters, pumps, skimmer etc will be in the sump) provide a support for your metal h. (lights) incl. fans to keep your temp. at the correct setting. ask about getting your tank drilled & overflow box . those would be the things i would investigate first then
look into water , sand, and live rock. ( just my little input) (rick)
ps dont forget to get some good books!
 

lennon

Member
Books, Books, Books. And they highly suggest a small quarantine tank for new fish. If you follow the acclimation and quarantine for new fish...you have better luck of avoiding future problems and spread of disease.
good luck!
 

tim_12

Member
As Lennon mentioned it is not only highly recommended that you get a quarantine tank, it is vital to the health of your fish and tank inhabitants alike. The size of your quarantine tank depends on the fish you plan to add to your display tank. It needs to be big enough to keep each fish in there comfortably for at least a month. I use a 10 gallon tank, but the fish I'm adding aren't that big. You may want to go bigger. The purpose of a quarantine tank is to isolate each fish after you buy them for at least a month. In this time you watch for disease and health of the fish. Should a problem arise you can treat it without worrying about harming anything else in the tank (inverts, live rock, live sand, ext.). I cannot stress enough that you must quarantine every single fish before you put them in your display tank. It will save you lots of time and money. I'm actually very surprised it hasnt already been covered. From what ive seen, about half of all saltwater fish keepers end up having to treat their fish for ich ( a parasite that lives off the flesh of your fish). Dont think it wont happen to you. I lost 75% of my fish a week ago to it because I didnt quarantine my fish.
As for the quarantine tank itself, before adding water, paint the bottom of the tank black (not on the inside!!). It's pointless to add sand to this tank so you need to stop light from reflecting off the bottom of the tank, it will just confuse and stress your fish. Live rock and sand are not recommended and they will only die when you treat your fish. Add some PVC pipe so your fish has something to hide in and feel safe. A small heater and hang on back filter will suffice, you dont need a skimmer for this tank.
If I were you, setting up and cycling the quarantine tank would be my first priority. Its simply more time efficient to do it first. If you get your display tank cycled, do all your plumming, set up your sump and skimmer, ext youre sitll going to have to set up your quarantine tank and wait for it to cycle, then add a fish or two to the quarantine and leave then there for a month. Meanwhile you'll have nothing else to do except wait. If you set up your quarantine and cycle it at the same time, you'll be able to get your fish in sooner. FYI: If you throw a cocktail shrimp in each of these tanks it will help cycle the tank. A cocktail shrimp alone will do a great job cycling the tank.
Many people, including your local fish store will tell you that a few Damsel fish will do just fine cycling your tank. I wouldnt use fish to cycle the tank, especially Damsels unless you have already chosen the rest of the fish for your tank. Damsels are very aggressive and may not get along with other fish you want to add.
You will need a refractometer. Dont waste your money going cheaper and getting a hydrometer. They are very inacurate. You will also need a test kit to test for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and PH. These are the bare minimum, you should also test for other things to ensure perfect water conditions.
Incase you dont already know what happens during a cycle, fish waste and decaying organic matter (cocktail shrimp) releases ammonia into your water. This is very poisonous to your fish and should be at 0ppm (parts per million) at all times after the cycle. Beneficial bacteria in your live sand and live rock breaks the ammonia down in to nitrite, which is also poisonous and should remain at 0ppm after the cycle. More beneficial bacteria breaks the nitrite down into nitrate which is still harmful to your fish and should not exceed 20ppm after the cycle, 5ppm if you have corals. Nitrate is removed by a large water change 25 - 30% after your tank cycles and weekly water chages of 10 - 20% depending on how much nitrate is generated (how big your bioload is).
Well I hope that helps. Dont forget the quarantine tank! Good luck.
 

1journeyman

Active Member

Originally Posted by Saltfish
Hey I have been reading everthing PLEASE DO NOT
Cure your Live rock in your main Tank!!! I learned the hard way many years ago!!! Just Dont do it!!!!

This makes no sense to me..
I cured 140lbs of Kaelini and 60lbs of Fiji in my tank. Was a great experience. Just follow the great post somewhere on this board about curing live rock, run your skimmer while you are curing, and imho do SMALL water changes to keep the ammonia from going through the roof (the last part is definitely a minority opinion here on the boards.. I say do small water changes to keep as much of the life on your live rock alive as possible).
Curing live rock in your tank does 2 things for you:1. saves you the money of having to set up a seperate tank to cure rock in. 2: Allows for greater bio-diversity in your tank. (just watch out for hitchhikers).
What would be a disadvantage of curing in your new tank? Smell? If you thoroughly scrub the rock and rinse it well when it first arrives the smell is not an issue.
 

prelag

New Member
Originally Posted by llmoe
Now I am getting confuse. Cured or not live rock. Live or not not sand. lol
I think my fist step is to get the filters right. Because once I have the sand and water in
I should start running the filters right?
You want live rock in your tank to start the cycle. Most pople "Cure" there rock if they already have a established tank because dropping new live rock into an exsisting tank can cause a mini cycle. In your case, you want your tank to cycle.
If you are buying live rock then you dont need live sand. The live rock will seed the non-live sand and create the benificial bacteria you get when you purchase live sand.
 

lennon

Member
Originally Posted by prelag
You want live rock in your tank to start the cycle. Most pople "Cure" there rock if they already have a established tank because dropping new live rock into an exsisting tank can cause a mini cycle. In your case, you want your tank to cycle.
If you are buying live rock then you dont need live sand. The live rock will seed the non-live sand and create the benificial bacteria you get when you purchase live sand.

So if I am starting a brand new tank then I could just purchase uncured rock and start the whole cycling process with the rock in there?
Wow, I always heard not...but it makes sense. I also heard uncured rock needs cleaning and such and will smell. Is this true..maybe I should stick to cured.
 

prelag

New Member
By uncured to you mean live?
If so, I recommend everyone cycle their tank that way. It sure beats the hell out of using damsels.
As for the smell, Ive never noticed live rock to have a punget oder and I am crazy when it comes to things stinking.
 

prelag

New Member
Originally Posted by Lennon
I also heard uncured rock needs cleaning and such and will smell. Is this true..maybe I should stick to cured.
Not true. The reason it needs cleaning is because those pieces fall off and die. Hence, these pieces that die will cycle your tank. Many people scrub these rocks to get all those pieces off because they are putting these rocks in pre-exsisting tanks.
Personally, I would never buy cured rock. It is way to expensive. If you reallly must have cure rock, cure it yourself.
 

lennon

Member
Originally Posted by prelag
By uncured to you mean live?
If so, I recommend everyone cycle their tank that way. It sure beats the hell out of using damsels.
As for the smell, Ive never noticed live rock to have a punget oder and I am crazy when it comes to things stinking.

So when I receive the uncured LR..I do not need to scrub and boil like some places suggest?
Good enough to just cycle in my DT since it is new?
Thanks for the info!
 

prelag

New Member
Originally Posted by Lennon
So when I receive the uncured LR..I do not need to scrub and boil like some places suggest?
Good enough to just cycle in my DT since it is new?
Thanks for the info!
If you bought some live rock then YES just stick it in your tank and wait 6 weeks!! =)
You need only cure Live Rock if you have a pre-established tank. In your case you need to start the cycle so just throw it in there.
 

1journeyman

Active Member
Well, definitely scrubbed un-cured rock off first. There will be a LOT of die off during shipping, so scrubbing off the loose stuff is neccessary.
There will still be enough die off to cycle your tank.
For the love of all that is good do not boil it!!
 

kablamo

Member
step one, BUY THIS BOOK
If you want to know what I would do,
First, order at least 200 lbs of live rock and at least 150 lbs of live sand off of the internet.
Second, buy an RO/DI unit, 100 GPD should do it for you.
Get a good refractometer, and a bunch of salt, I use oceanic's new salt, but any of the major brands will suit you just fine.
Once you have all of these, fill the tank with SW and let it stabilize and aerate over night with pumps, etc, on.
When sand and rock arrive, add sand, wait for sandstorm to clear, then add liverock, the cool thing about live rock is that no matter how you arrange it, it looks awesome and perfect no matter what, and The fact that you had it shipped should have killed enough of it to start your cycle.
From now, you should have 3 weeks to 6 weeks of waiting time to read and plan your tank carefully, what fish do you like, what corals do you enjoy?
From here its all different, so you will want to ask.
Also, learn to use your own test kits, at midnight, the LFS isn't open to test your water for you when a fish is dying!
Good luck and welcome!
 

lennon

Member
Kablamo wrote:
HI K,
I am getting that book too. Right now it is on order at the Library.
My question is..I heard that you need to add the Rock first before the sand. I think it was something about having total support and preventing any toppling of rocks later on.
But you put the opposite. Is this ok. I actually wanted to put the rock after the salt too because I did not want the salt getting all over the rock.
Let me know because I read the opposite too..but if you get success that way..I prefer that.
Thanks much!! You are really a great help on this site..and so nice..
Bella
 

nizmike

Member
You can put down the sand first. Just make sure that you push the rock into the sand a bit so that they touch the glass on the bottom of the tank. What you want to avoid is the rock sitting completely on top of the sand, because the sand can get shifted around by the fish and cause rocks to move and potentially fall.
Mike
 
Top