Help with my very first saltwater tank please

[adam_anzivino]

Hi everyone. My name is Adam. I recently decided to start a saltwater aquarium after having my freshwater for 2 years. (55 gal with a fat happy oscar and some african chiclids)
I went to a pet store in the city and got some good information from the fish expert there. I got my old 10 gal tank, hooked up the penguin 50 power filter to it and mixed in my salt solution. I measured to the salinity and cycled just the water for about 30 hours.
the next day I double checked the salinity, it was good so i poured a sack or argonite into my tank. After the dust settled I turned on my flourescent and sat back.
It's been 6 days and i see absolutely no activity and i'm not sure if I should. I have a heater goin and the tank is at a steady 76 degrees. The filter is still cycling.
Please help me with my next move. This weekend (today being tuesday) I am probably getting a big lump of live rock and a damsel or two. Is this a good move?

(p.s) thanks for your help! :-)

[jojo22]

I would take out all of the filter media and throw it away. That is what your live rock is for it will do most of your major filtration. As far as the damsels it would be safe to add them as long as your live rock is pre-cured. if you get un-cured live rock it will cause the cycle all by it's self. Or instead of damsels you could kick your cycle off with a single uncooked cocktail shrimp. please do a search on "cycle" here. there is a lot of great info that would help you a lot. And since you seem to be fairly inteligent (i.e. not adding fish right off the bat, you know what a cycle is, and you came here) you should beable to catch on quick.


P.S. WELCOME TO CR!!!!!!!

[mutts]

what jojo said about the filter media is true but many of us like to run carbon in out filters as a 'just in case something goes wrong'

here is some info i wrote awhile ago about cycleing:



Cycling is the most important part of setting up a saltwater aquarium. The purpose is simply allowing nature to take its course. You are waiting for "bacterial cultures [to] develop and spread with the system". (Paletta 78 ) This process can take anywhere from one to eight weeks. This is only finished when the ammonia and nitrite levels drop to zero. Once this is over you may start adding a few fish every couple of weeks or so.

If you leave the tank alone you will never start the cycling process. You must help it along. One way is to place in you tank live rock, then wait. Another way is to add a cheap Damsel fish. They have been used for years to cycle aquariums, as they are hardy enough to survive bad water conditions and inexperienced owners. This does stress the fish, it you want to avoid this you may want to try fish-less cycling. Buying an ammonium chloride mix (Wickham 217) to add to the tank water can do this. Or by simply allowing a cocktail shrimp to decay in the tank.

The cocktail shrimp method is the most widely used today and can be added with the live rock to speed the process along. All you have to do is add a raw cocktail shrimp to the aquarium water and wait. Test the water parameters at least every three days. When the ammonia starts to spike you may remove the shrimp. You then start weekly water changes to allow the ammonia levels to drop and for the first algae blooms to start. Once the levels are down to zero the process is finished. (CaptiveReefing)


Hope that helped!

PS WELCOME!

[jojo22]

If you do decide to run carbon you must be very maticulious about your maintnence and change it on a regular basis or it could cause problems. Other than that carbon is fine. I only run it on a regular basis in my FOWLR tank that I just set up.

[mutts]

it just makes me feel safer but to each his own, and like jojo said carbon should be changed regularly, at least once a month, if not once ever two weeks, it all depends on your bio load on that

[Iconz]

WELCOME TO CR, Adam!!! You've definitly come to the right place. I see Joe and Amanda have already got you on your way! Keep us update as the days/hours go by and we'll be here to help ya the whole time! We'll get into equipment and things like that before too long, but for now, you are well on your way! Let us know if you have any more questions!

-JD

[hummer]

you tellem iconz....lol hehe


thay all know alot and all are willing to help this place is great

[graphixx]

Adam, first off welcome to CR.
The one thing that will help you more than anything in this hobby in my expierence (10 years off and on) is PATIENCE!!!! Dont get in a hurry just sit back do some reading and research. especially in the beginning if you take your time and do things right from the start this adventure will go a lot smoother. what everyone said above is a good start. but just do some research and take your time and DONT BE AFRAID TO ASK QUESTIONS. this is why we are all here on this forum is to help one another in this hobby.

[RWalston]

I would avoid getting the Damsels IMO. I would just let the live rock start the cycle. when everything is OK with the water Parameters I would start looking for fish that you really want to keep. Look at nano tanks and build yours from there.

[carpenterwrasse]

welcome adam and when you think you have read enough asked all the questions that you can think of something will pop up and throw you for a loop don't be afraid to ask any question no matter how strange you might think it is someone here will have an answer,idea or comment.

George

[adam_anzivino]

Quote:
Originally Posted by adam_anzivino
So your saying to take the filter screens out when I add my live rock; keep the water flow going tho? The difference between uncured and cured- cured rock is the rock thats already been in a saltwater tank? Because thats what they have for offer at the store is a bunch of lumps of rock by themselves in a 55 gal tank. Another question if you don't mind, How many lbs. should I start off with? Thanks again, -Adam

If you don't mind I would like to copy and past this to your thread or you can if you would like. But to answer you question yes use the filter for water flow, it would even be helpful to add some LR rubbel (small peices of live rock) in the filter so it would work like a small refugium. I would start off with about a pound a gallon and then add untill you like how the tank looks. You should ask if the rock is cured or not as it takes a few weeks to cure the rock after it is placed in an aquarium. "cureing" is the process of letting all the stuff on the rock that died in transport decay and go thru the "cycle". any more questions please let me know.




Thanks again for the help! I'm going to pick up a couple of live rocks and let that cycle for a week this weekend and i'll keep you guys posted on how it goes. (and i do have a digital camera so i'll be posting pics when i get batterys) -Adam

[jojo22]

Sounds like a plan bud!!!!! Can't wait to see the pics!

[Sweetpea]

Welcome to Captive Reefing! Looks like you've gotten a good handle on things... we can't wait to hear more from you and see pictures of your new tank! :)