Beginner help for Saltwater aquarium

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ComMizz

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jun 29, 2010
Messages
40
Hi guys I am new here and new to the whole aquarium thing. I bought a 30 gallon tank kit. I have a filter, heater, thermometer, 2 pieces of 3 to 4 pound live rock and the proper lighting and i have one bag plain sand and the other is a bag of live sand. I also obviously put the right amount of salt in it also. I checked the water with a hydrometer and that came out good. I set everything up and let it rum like this for about 8 days. The I added a snail, peppermint shrimp and a Goby. A week later i just added in two damsels, i am not sure what kind if anybody can help me identify them that would be great. I am pretty sure I did something wrong as i have read that you are supposed to let the tank cycle? I am not really sure what that means. My understanding is that you just let the tank run for about a month to let the aquarium get used to everything or whatever. I called a petshop and they told me that an aquarium has not began to "cycle" until there are some fish in it which is why i just bought the two damsels. Somewhere alone the lline i think i have messed up. What is cycling and am i doing everything ok. One last thing, how do i keep my tank and fish healthy. I have no intentions of doing any reefs and just want to make sure im maintaining a safe and clean place for my fish. Thank you so much:confused:
 
Those are good articles. Read the one esp. on cycling. If ammonia gets too high you`ll need to do some PWC`s but it will slow your cycle down some. This will need to be done to keep your tankmates alive.
 
Thanks guys i appreciate the help. The one rock i bought i think needs to be cured. I bought it and waited four days to put it in because nobody told me that it had to go right in my tank. This time when i bought my live rock i bought it and put it right in and it was already cured they said. I will have to read them articles i appreciate you taking your time to help me. Besides what you stated am i doing everything right and have all the right things. BTW My diamond goby is kind of aggresive towards my damsels not sure what kind they are. He has calmed down a little since i put them in but is this common
 
Fish can be aggressive at first yes, just make sure you keep an eye on them. Also, your damsels (no matter what kind) will eventually become very territorial and aggressive. It just comes with them growing up. You should have at least one pound of "live" rock per gallon for a proper filtration system. The little hang on back filters aren't nearly as important in saltwater as they are in freshwater.

Make sure you read those articles very carefully, welcome to AA, feel free to post any other questions you might have. The first rule of saltwater is nothing happens fast, so dont rush into anything or it can be devastating.
 
when you say the hang on back filter in not nearly aas imprortant does that mean eventually when i get enough live rock i wont even need it. Thanks for the help and any advice for a begginer is appreciated. Your saying i should have 30 pounds of love rock
 
Once you have a pound of rock per gallon it provides enough surface area for the bacteria that helps maintain your tank and you won't need the hang on back filter. Hang on back filters main function is usually to provide that surface area with the little ceramic rings or bio balls or something of that nature. You can still keep it around because it can be helpful later on if you want to run phosphate media or activated carbon.
 
Ok thank you very much. I wish i had some more live rock it so empty with only 2 pieces lol. If i did not cycle my aquarium properly when do i know when its safe to consider it cycled successfully and safe to start adding more fish
 
so regardless if i cycled my tank correct or not and no matter what i did right or wrong as long as my tests for ammonia and nitrites come in at zero it is cycled and i am in good shape? One other thing how come some stores turn off their lights in there tanks. Should i turn mine off every once in a while or what
 
fish sleep. night time is when they will do so.
you might not see ammonia and nitrites on store bought test kits with 8 pounds of live rock in a 30 gallon tank. you might see it later when the food you add causes a spike.
 
fish sleep. night time is when they will do so.
you might not see ammonia and nitrites on store bought test kits with 8 pounds of live rock in a 30 gallon tank. you might see it later when the food you add causes a spike.


Ok I am kind of confused on what you are saying now. When should i take the tests and when do i know if it has been cycled then.
 
What mr. X is saying is that your tank will cycle to the extent of your LR. That only means it will handle ammonia to the level of lthe two pieces of LR. When your bioload gets greater then that is when you will start to see ammonia and the real cycle would begin.
 
What mr. X is saying is that your tank will cycle to the extent of your LR. That only means it will handle ammonia to the level of lthe two pieces of LR. When your bioload gets greater then that is when you will start to see ammonia and the real cycle would begin.

Ok thanks. What is bioload though and im still really confused.
Do you mind just helping me out, what do i do from here can i add more fish or what does this mean
 
Do not add anything more until you get more LR and get yourself a liquid test kit(API is good) so that you can measure ammonia, nitrite and nitrates. You will also need a way to measure salinity. The best way is with a refractometer.
 
Do not add anything more until you get more LR and get yourself a liquid test kit(API is good) so that you can measure ammonia, nitrite and nitrates. You will also need a way to measure salinity. The best way is with a refractometer.


I have a Hydrometer instead of a refractometer. So what your saying is my tank is cycled but when i want to add more fish i need to get live rock also. Sorry I am just REALLYP confused lol
 
Your LR is your filter in a saltwater setup. You do not have enough LR to filter out the ammonia waste in your aquarium for anymore fish. Your ammonia will spike and can't be converted fast enough with the amount of LR you have at the moment. The Fish (bio-load) will produce more waste then your LR (filter) can handle and your fish will die.
 
Your LR is your filter in a saltwater setup. You do not have enough LR to filter out the ammonia waste in your aquarium for anymore fish. Your ammonia will spike and can't be converted fast enough with the amount of LR you have at the moment. The Fish (bio-load) will produce more waste then your LR (filter) can handle and your fish will die.


Wow thank you SO much for that. That really cleared things up for me a lot. I have a hang on back filter also does that help any or what. Is there like a formula of how much bioload to live rock i can have how do i know if i have to much bioload but not enough live rock. Thank you so much for putting it in dummy terms for me :D:D:D:D
 
Okay, you will need ~1-2lbs of LR for each gallon of water. ie if you have a 30 gallon tank you will need about 30 to 60 lbs of LR. Now LR is expensive so I would buy 10 lbs of LR and 30-40lbs of "Base Rock" (Dried or dead LR or DIY rock).
The best way to know what's going on in your tank is to test your water parameters, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate along with SG (salinity) and temp.
 
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