Caleb getting salty!?! No way..

[ImACoolguy]

Almost any salt will mix thoroughly after a few hours. Some people wait overnight some don not. I use reef crystals and if push comes to shove I can have a batch ready in 20 minutes. I prefer to let it sit a few hours but there have been times when i needed salted water asap, you want to be prepared in case you do need it quick. I have used a few other salts and while i like red sea for it's element content I do not like how it left residue in my mixing garbage can. lol

And yep, a mag float is like a necessity, at least to me. lol

As far as shrimp go by the way, they are all pretty good together except for coral banded shrimp, they can become nasty and kinda large. But yep, i have kept peppermints, cleaners and fire shrimp all together with no issues. A fire shrimp is another great idea, they are sooo red they stand out quite a bit.
I personally have neve4r had any issues with emerald crabs either, I love how they do their little dance on the front glass, it's awesome. But porcelain crabs are cool too. You might find sexy shrimp too tiny really to get much enjoyment out of, unless you don't have much going on in the tank. they are tiny! Nad for the record they do better in odd numbered groups for whatever reason. Go figure. hehe

Thanks for the wealth of information. I've been busy and haven't been able to do a whole lot. Hopefully getting my live and dry rock tommorow. Along with refractometer calibration and the salt mix for initial fill up. Need to go by Walmart for a coctail shrimp as my family is not huge into seafood.


Caleb

Sent via TARDIS

 

[Finntastic]

A cleaner shrimp will be a great addition. Mine cleans my hand and swims around upside down at the water level looking for food.

 

[ImACoolguy]

A cleaner shrimp will be a great addition. Mine cleans my hand and swims around upside down at the water level looking for food.

Stopppppp more temptation to just want it now!


Caleb

Sent via TARDIS

 

[54seaweed]

Temptation isn't it grand

 

[Finntastic]

Here is mine.



Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[ImACoolguy]

Okay guys I'm headed to the LFS from work.

Need to know 2 things:

Ideal temp for the tank. Thinking like 78?
Ideal salinity. Thanking it's 1.024?


Caleb

Sent via TARDIS

 

[PassengerTN]

Don't mind me, just passing through collecting knowledge :creeper:

 

[ImACoolguy]

Don't mind me, just passing through collecting knowledge :creeper:

You should go grab a 10-20g and join me


Caleb

 

[54seaweed]

I keep my tank at 80* with a salinity of 1.025
with shrimp you want to keep nitrates as low as possible
you cant have any kind of sudden swings temp salinity nitrates ammonia ph ect

 

[PassengerTN]

You should go grab a 10-20g and join me


Caleb

My brain wants to badly, but my wallet disagrees

 

[paul87]

I keep my tank at 80* with a salinity of 1.025
with shrimp you want to keep nitrates as low as possible
you cant have any kind of sudden swings temp salinity nitrates ammonia ph ect

I usually keep mine a tad cooler. Around 76-78. Salinity stays consistent at 1.025. Whatever you go with try to stay consistent. That's a major word in this hobby... Consistency.

 

[CCXGT]

Okay guys I'm headed to the LFS from work.

Need to know 2 things:

Ideal temp for the tank. Thinking like 78?
Ideal salinity. Thanking it's 1.024?


Caleb

Sent via TARDIS

That temp and salinity will be fine.

I keep my 10G at 1.024 as well since evap on a small tank can be more drastic than on a larger tank.

If you're going for manual top-off, stick with a lower salinity.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[ImACoolguy]

That temp and salinity will be fine.

I keep my 10G at 1.024 as well since evap on a small tank can be more drastic than on a larger tank.

If you're going for manual top-off, stick with a lower salinity.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

I was about to ask that. How do top offs work.... Sounds dumb but I know stability is key and don't want to screw it up


Caleb

 

[54seaweed]

My brain wants to badly, but my wallet disagrees

won't be long before petco's next $1 a gallon sale believe it starts mothers day week end

a lot of the stuff you need can be gotten on Craig's list for penny's on the dollar if you negotiate right

when I started my first tank it only cost me around $250
just don't ask what it cost to start up my 90g that figure would scare you
but I also did every thing new , I bought every thing over a three month span not to hurt my pocket so much , also was able to find most of my equipment online a lot cheaper than local pet stores

don't get discouraged just accumulate everything over time , that helps lighten the blow on your wallet , weather it takes 3 months or even a year
gives you time to learn everything you need to know to start a tank up correctly and most likely a lot more , just ask lots of questions

 

[PassengerTN]

Petcos $1/gallon sale is going on now I think. Closest one is 90 miles away anyhow. I have several tanks on hand as well. Its the lighting, testing supplies, and ro/di I don't have. I'll have a sw tank in time, just not right now.
Out of space any how. 4 fw tanks (165 gallons total) running in an apartment currently

Caleb, how much have you spent on this set up at this point in time?

 

[54seaweed]

I was about to ask that. How do top offs work.... Sounds dumb but I know stability is key and don't want to screw it up


Caleb

when your tank has evaporation all you need to do is add clean fresh ro/di water no salt as salt don't evaporate ,

the only time you need clean ro/di saltwater is when you do a water change
as your pulling out salt water from the tank ,this is different compared to evaporation
just be sure your salinity and temps are identical before adding clean saltwater to tank

 

[redsea]

Ah yes! Shrimp are the best! In my old 34 Gallon, I had two Cleaners, A Fire Shrimp, and a Peppermint! They are a blast to watch.

 

[Sniperhank]

If the water change process is slow, you don't need to even heat your saltwater once it is well mixed. I do my water changes through my ATO, which is a Tom's aqualifter, and I take out 1-2 gallons at a time and let it run while I go to do something else around the house. Simple repeat process that has made water change day very simple for me.
As for the temp of your tank, keep in mind how your house does in winter/summer. My house, for example, bakes in the sun all day long. This results in it being very hot inside, the tank got into the 90's several times while working everything out. Not healthy at all. Because of that, I have to run the AC all day long just to keep the heat in check.

 

[ImACoolguy]

If the water change process is slow, you don't need to even heat your saltwater once it is well mixed. I do my water changes through my ATO, which is a Tom's aqualifter, and I take out 1-2 gallons at a time and let it run while I go to do something else around the house. Simple repeat process that has made water change day very simple for me.
As for the temp of your tank, keep in mind how your house does in winter/summer. My house, for example, bakes in the sun all day long. This results in it being very hot inside, the tank got into the 90's several times while working everything out. Not healthy at all. Because of that, I have to run the AC all day long just to keep the heat in check.

That's cool Hank. My house is pretty good at keeping a stable temperature. My mother is very "hot natured" so it does not get very hot in my house.

Ah yes! Shrimp are the best! In my old 34 Gallon, I had two Cleaners, A Fire Shrimp, and a Peppermint! They are a blast to watch.

Cool! Thanks for joining in!

when your tank has evaporation all you need to do is add clean fresh ro/di water no salt as salt don't evaporate ,

the only time you need clean ro/di saltwater is when you do a water change
as your pulling out salt water from the tank ,this is different compared to evaporation
just be sure your salinity and temps are identical before adding clean saltwater to tank

Thanks for the input seaweed that clears up a ton of what I wondered

Petcos $1/gallon sale is going on now I think. Closest one is 90 miles away anyhow. I have several tanks on hand as well. Its the lighting, testing supplies, and ro/di I don't have. I'll have a sw tank in time, just not right now.
Out of space any how. 4 fw tanks (165 gallons total) running in an apartment currently

Caleb, how much have you spent on this set up at this point in time?

I've spent probably about $350. Lights and test kits being the big majority of that.

I got 8 pounds of live rock and 6 dry rock. Going to play around with it. The guy gave me a piece with "macro algae" growing on it and some species of sponge and said macro algae was good for the tank.

Should I clean the algae off or leave it?


Caleb

 

[Sniperhank]

Clean off the glass. If you are still cycling, don't turn your lights on and you won't see much of anything grow. Then you can do your water change when you are done to bring the nitrates down.