Help!!! I am completely new to saltwater fish

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rollin75

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Aug 3, 2010
Messages
12
Hello

I just bought a 125 gallon fish tank on craigslist saltwater. I just picked it up and I am setting it up in my place. It has fluval filters. I have 4 african cichlid tanks ranging from 180 gallon to 10 gallon. I have a few questions.

How do I go about changing the water when its time to change it?

Can I use tap water when I change the water?

How do I add salt to the tank is that ok?

Can I vacuum the gravel like you would a freshwater tank?

I am really new to this and never had a saltwater tank and I have 6 fish that came with it, that I am in the process of trying to identify.

Thanks
 
Hello,
1-Syphon the water out into a bucket, then pour pre-mixed and ariated salt water back in. NEVER add salt to the DT, always pre-mix 24hours in advance.
2-Dont use tap water. You will wind up with many headaches due to the contaminates in it. Use DI water.
3-See #1
4-There shouldnt be any gravel in this tank, it will wind up trapping decaying organics and thus cause a nitrate problem. You need sand. If its too late, yes you can vacuum but do so gently. Dont get the stuff all stirred up bad.

Youve come to the right place! The people here will have you on the right path shortly. Post some pics of the fish in the ID forum. Also, youll want to read up on the many articles devoted to having a new tank.

Matt
 
Hello

Thanks for answering so fast. However what does DT mean?

Also what does DI mean, when you say to use DI water?

When I go about cleaning and changing the water in my tank I have to always set up garbage cans with water and let them sit 24 hrs with the salt mix in it?

Is there any faster way without leaving the water overnight?

If I called a cleaning service how would they clean my tank if they have to leave the water sit for 24 hrs?

I am sorry about all the questions but I just want to make sure I have this going in the right direction.

Also it is sand, sorry about saying gravel.
 
OK but what is DI water?

Also if I call a service to clean my tank monthly how will they do it. Will they tell me that I have to keep water in buckets overnight?

How do they do it if its to hard for me to do.
 
Hello,
DI- Deionized water. You can buy it from the grocery store, local fish store, or make your own with a reverse osmosis/deionized water filter system. (prefered).
DT-Display tank

Most people here mix the salt water and leave it for 24 hours to make sure the pH and salinity are stable. Also make sure the salinity, pH, and temperature match the tanks current paramters. If not, the tank will have a parameter swing and stress or kill the tank animals.

A cleaning service should have salt water prepared before coming over.

Dont feel bad for asking Qs! We love to answer them!

Matt
 
Are you unable to do it your self? When he said DI he meant RO/DI water.
Reverse osmosis/Deionized water
 
OK but what is DI water?

Also if I call a service to clean my tank monthly how will they do it. Will they tell me that I have to keep water in buckets overnight?

How do they do it if its to hard for me to do.

You ought to clean the tank more often than once a month. Id clean it at least once every two weeks. I do mine once a week (except when I get lazy) but I have a 20g tank and tanks that small need much more attention.

It shouldnt be that hard for you to clean and mix salt water yourself. Many here with large tanks do it just fine. :)

Matt
 
The real problem is that I dont want to have to go out and buy new garbage cans or have 5 gallon pails everywhere in the house just to change the water. I was hoping that I would be able to just change it like that, even if I have to use RO/DI water.

If I use RO/DI water do I still need to wait 24 hours to change the water or can I change it right away?
 
The real problem is that I dont want to have to go out and buy new garbage cans or have 5 gallon pails everywhere in the house just to change the water. I was hoping that I would be able to just change it like that, even if I have to use RO/DI water.

If I use RO/DI water do I still need to wait 24 hours to change the water or can I change it right away?

You wont need 5 gallon pails, youll need a 50 gallon pail for the size tank you have. You need to do a minimum of 10% PWC every two weeks. Thats 12.5 gallons.

Yes, even with RO/DI water you need to wait 24 hours. Youve got to let the water oxygenate right so that the pH stabilizes as well as make sure the salinity is right.

If you mixed the salt water and using your refractomer (yes, you need one of those) you see 1.025 right after mixing, you might find its really 1.029 the next day! YIKES! If your target was 1.025 and you dumped in the 1.029 your fish might freak out. Same goes for pH. 24 hours is the least amount of time to wait.

Its not that bad, just get into a rythm. I mix my salt friday nights and change the water saturday night.

I have been known to add freshly mixed salt water immediately in case of emergency. (Large loss of water or a nuked tank).

Just put the water in the trash can, add the salt, then mix it well. Some people put a strong powerhead into the trash can and let it go for 24hours. Since I just need to do 3 gallons each week, I use a 5g water jug and shake shake shake. :)

You might want to use a small pump to pump the new salt water into the tank. Unless you are one strong beast!

Matt
 
Matt has you on the right track here. It may all seem pretty crazy when you start but establishing a system and a routine is key, and eventually it becomes really easy.
You can get away with doing maybe a slightly larger PWC (partial water change) every 2 weeks if you are running a FO (fish only) or FOWLR (fish only with live rock) tank depending on the stocking.
Bulkreefsupply.com and airwaterice.com are good places to get RO/DI systems.
Good luck! keep asking questions!
 
worth looking in to

hi
im new to this game as well and i dont like having to mix salt water . i dont no to much but ive been looking at a aquaripure nitrate fillter.which they claim you will not need to do water changes and it will controll alge growth . i dont no if they are any good maybe the guys can shed some light for me and you . they are quite expencive, but if it works it will pay for its self.sounds good to me.
 
Airwaterice.com is where I got my RO/DI system. Working great now for over a year...

I dont believe in magic cures for things such as nitrate removal. Nothing beats PWC since that directly removes the nitrates/phosphates.
For example:
20ppm nitrates. A 20% PWC will remove 0.2(20ppm) = 4ppm nitrates. Just like that.
Salt and water is much cheaper than magic pads too. ;-)

Some things, such as GFO, are good at removing phosphates. They are good to use since they have been proven to work. GFO is relatively cheap too.

I dont do anything special and my nitrates are zero. I feed responsibly and do PWC about once a week. (20%).

Also, PWC are REQUIRED as they add elements used up by the aquarium processes. No matter what you add, you still have to do PWC. I wouldnt let a tank go more than 2 weeks no matter what my parameters were.

Like Jimbo said, you got to get into a routine. I started off looking for every which way to get out of PWC and found that nothing beats good hard work and patience.

Trust me, im a doctor. ;-)
Matt
 
At bulkreefsupply.com which unit is good. Is the 5 stage plus a good unit for $200. Please let me know...

Also what does 75 GPD mean?

I am so sorry about all the questions?
 
At bulkreefsupply.com which unit is good. Is the 5 stage plus a good unit for $200. Please let me know...

Also what does 75 GPD mean?

I am so sorry about all the questions?

You can get a decent one for around $100.00 if you look around. They dont change very much with price. More $$$ usually means more bells and whistles that you can do without.

75GPD means 75 gallons per day. Divide by 24 hours in a day and you get gallons per hour, which is a more useful unit of measure.

Dont feel bad about the Qs, you should see how many most of us have asked to get where we are today!

Matt
 
what does that mean, I will only be able to use 75 gallons a day?

I am lost on that.

Does it mean it only filters 75 gallons?
 
hi
im new to this game as well and i dont like having to mix salt water .
i dont no to much but ive been looking at a aquaripure nitrate fillter.which they claim you will not need to do water changes and it will controll alge growth ....

Water changes in saltwater do more than get rid of nitrates. They also put back into the tank what your fish/crabs/snails/corals are taking out. NOTHING eliminates water changes... if you want a healthy tank. There is no magic cure to eliminate water changes and make perfect tanks. If there was, this forum wouldn't exist.

If you don't like mixing salt water, then it sounds like you're going to have to like hauling buckets of premixed saltwater from your local fish store every other week. Mixing and storing your own, in the end, is actually a huge time and money saver.
 
hi they dont claim that they eliminate water changes all together they say that you will need to do them about every 2 to 3 months to put trace elements back into the tank . roller has 3 masif tanks that would save him alot of time and money.they have 100 percent feedback on ebay .
 
It may appear that it would save time, but doing one water change every 2-3 months - in the long run - will cost you a lot of time and money after the tank crashes.
 
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