new saltwater aquarium owner...

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as you can see from my first post - i bought a Jebo tank that came with the filter and lights built in. not sure what the quality of the tank is, but my LFS had it on sale with the stand for $250.

it is now closing in on 1 week since i started cycling my tank. i wasn't able to pick up my live rock today, but hopefully tomorrow. i am on a budget - but how much do those Cured Live rocks go for?

i am planning to have a FOWLR aquarium. i REALLY want a coral, but i don't think i have the knowledge and equipment to maintain one, so i'm going to hold off for awhile.

anyone know if those white spots in the tank are normal? and do i have to cycle the tank all over again once i get my live rock?

thanks!
 
Well since your going to your lfs it can be pretty high since they dont have enough volume a month. You could pay anywhere $3 to $7 a pound on the very high end. If its more than seven you neeed to look elsewhere. Also it depends on what kind of lr they have. Premium Aquatics has a i believe 4 different kinds. You want to buy online from PremiumAquatics or Liverocks they both have decent price and will not cheat you. You can save some money if you purchase some base rock for the bottom of the tank and the regular lr for the rest of the lbs you need.

Once you have the rock it will cycle itself within a month. You just need the rock and then give it two weeks and then test the water and see what you have.

And the white spots not sure what your talking about? do you mean on the bottom of the tank you can see white spots? This could be salt that did not disolve? but this is only a guess i have no idea of the white spot we will need more info and a picture would be great.
 
I agree with Flame. We used base rock on to build the foundation of our rock structure and then bought about 60#'s from LiveRocks.com. The live rock was absolutely amazing with a lot of cool hitchhickers. After about 4 months you couldn't tell the deifference between the two types of rock, as the base rock colored up nicely.

Not sure about the white spots either. All I know is a lot of funky stuff happens during the cycling period and you find yourself thinking "What did I get myself into 8O ". At some point, you're sand will probably get covered by some ugly looking brown stuff and you really start to wonder what's going on. It's all part of the process. Just gotta let it happen. As I said, though, I don't know what the spots are. Odds are you won't have to re-cycle as a result of them.
 
thanks, i will check out those websites for the liverocks.

what do you guys think of Mag Float? i was thinking of getting it to clean the wite spots and algae in the future.
 
Yeah that should be ok, i assume your tank is glass ? if its acrylic then you'll need something different. Good luck with the tank and its all worth so many more colors than freshwater and fascinating.
 
I disagree with adding 1 fish a month. I added both my clowns, my firefish, my 6 line wrasse and my goby all within 1 month and I have had 0ammonia 0 nitrates, 0 nitrites, 1.024 salinity, and 8.2 PH since the 2nd day I setup my tank. It has been running around 3 months.
 
DragonForce said:
I disagree with adding 1 fish a month. I added both my clowns, my firefish, my 6 line wrasse and my goby all within 1 month and I have had 0ammonia 0 nitrates, 0 nitrites, 1.024 salinity, and 8.2 PH since the 2nd day I setup my tank. It has been running around 3 months.
Click to expand...

You're saying you've had 0 levels on all readings since you set up the tank? Meaning you've never gone through a cycle? If thats the case you are the exception to the rule and I'd be very curious what your setup is (but thats for a different thread). Any addition to a tank will require the bacteria colonies to adjust for the additional load. The bigger the addition the longer it will take the colonies to adjust. This is why if things get way out of balance you can end up with a second cycle from adding too much at once or, most often, from adding uncured LR to an established tank.

Patience is the name of the game. The faster you go in SW, the more likely you're going to run into problems.
 
While Dragon Force may have had good luck (and I stress the word luck) with putting 4 fish into a new tank I certainly wouldn't advise anyone else run out and try it. The bio-capability of the rock you use will be a major factor in whether or not you can handle the superman bioload or if you're going to need to take it slowly. As nothing good happens fast in this hobby (but believe me the bad stuff does) your best off not taking the chance and just taking things slowly as has already been recommended.

Good luck with your new tank!
 
dianeww, by a "partial reef" I mean a tank with a few mushrooms and zoos maybe some polyps. Minimal and simple corals. :)
 
proverbs, IMO 1 fish/month is ultra conservative and 4 is a bit foolhardy. I think 1 fish, wait a week and test - hopefully two weeks and test, then you can add another.

As for corals, I think your lights can support some mushrooms or zoos. They're very colorfull and come in several varieties. Please, please don't use the fake stuff. Just the thought kills me. Of course - who am I :wink: :!:
 
Proverbs,

Good luck. I have the same JEBO system and I have been happy. I used the stock filter and all water params were good. (tank is 8 weeks old now...and doing well :D

One thing I experieneced when I initally used tap water to fill my tank was an outbreak of cyano. Its a form of algae that break outs if you have too many nutrients in your water. If you used tap from So cali (same area I am in) then you may want to check your phosphates. Your LFS should have a tesk kit.

I also learned that the more live rock, the better. When I addded my first fish he didn't swim around. He hung out near my 2 pieces of rock, and the tank looked empty. I started with 15#'s and i am now up to 45#'s. it really makes a difference. if you have the cash, i think your best bet would be to bulk order online. I wish I had when I started, now I need to add rock slowly and it is a bit more expensive.

Good Luck.
 
Well i will throw my two sense in here too. I wait two weeks after putting in a small fish goby size of a inch or so these guys dont bioload the tank that much. But when were talking a tang or a fish of that size its good to wait a month. "Proverds" imo i would base the amount of time you wait for each fish on Size of the fish and Bioload or amount waste that the fish creates. Also depends on how often you plan to feed these fish.
good luck and its sounds like your on a good track with your tank
 
yea. i was planning on getting a really small fish first and then get ones that are a little bigger. i heard that if you put the bigger ones in first they get very territorial and attack the smaller fish. not sure if its true though.
john - i'm glad to hear that your tank is doing well. hopefully i have the same luck as you.

and i got my live rocks today! :D i picked out a one of those branches and a small rock (about 15lbs. combined) and thought maybe it would come out to $20 - $25. man was i wrong. those things are expensive! nonetheless, i am happy with the ones i picked (but i won't be able to add any more for awhile). i'm probably gonna buy a few decorations, like a little house or bridge or somethin the fish could play in.

i'm planning to get one fish this weekend. maybe a small clown fish.
 
btw, when did you guys get your hermit crabs, snails, and shrimps? i heard that these help maintain the cleanliness of the aquariurm which i thought was freakin COOL.
 
proverbs said:
btw, when did you guys get your hermit crabs, snails, and shrimps? i heard that these help maintain the cleanliness of the aquariurm which i thought was freakin COOL.
Click to expand...

I waited about two months. I wouldn't rush it as they can more sensitive to water quality then fish. The small 1" hermits & snails you could add rather quickly but I'd wait for shrimp till your tank has been running for a couple of months.

Make sure you acclimate them well for a couple of hours.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=18
 
great. i will probably get the crabs and snails a few days after the fish.
 
Personally I’d get more hermits than snails to start with. Most snails do better with a more established tank with lots of LR to graze on. They usually won’t get enough to eat from just the algae on the bottom and glass. The hermits do a much better job keeping down algae also imo.
 
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