New 55G

[FishyFrickB]

New 55 Gallon Saltwater Aquarium Need Advice

Hey everybody, I just started my first saltwater aquarium today and need some advice and answers.

I have a lot of knowledge about fish (more freshwater than saltwater), i used to work at a local pet store as the "fish guy", and also used to go to peoples houses or business' to maintain their fresh and saltwater aquariums with tanks up too 1200 gallons.

I currently started a...

55 Gallon Saltwater Aquarium (Glass) with black painted wood stand and two cabinet doors.

Overflow Box: ProFlex Model 220 with sponge filters, siphon tubing, overflow connector tubes and return elbow.

Marineland MaxiJet Submersible Utility Pump 3000 (for submersible or external use. Pumps Max 775 Gallons per hours and at 4', 500 gallons per hour.

Reef Sump Pump: (Eshopps RS-75)
features a 200 micron bag, 3 foot hose with a 1" bulkhead, and square foam. It's dimensions ar 18x10x16.

Cone Skimmer 75g (75 gallons per hour)

Aqueon Pro 150 Aquarium Heater
.
The tank was just completed around 2 pm today 08/09/2013 and got the whole system running and water flowing by 4-5 pm!

I need some advice on a few things...

First things first. Current stats of the tank:
- Salinity 32| Specific Gravity 1.025
- Calcium: # of drops-28 | around 1100 mg/L (ppm)
- KH (Carbonate Hardness): # of drops-19 | 340.1ppm KH
- Phosphate: 1.0
- Nitrate: 10

so now that you have all the information. I have a few questions to whoever can help.

#1. Which of these are at a dangerous level. What do I need/How do I fix them?

Is my tank ruined or is this natural?

#3. Will these levels balance themselves out as the tank begins to cycle over time, or do I need to take action?

#4.The water is murky like i can see little molecules of maybe air or salt moving around in the current... Will this go away with time? Is this because of the unsafe levels in the tank (if any) or is this natural because the tank is only a few hours young? If needed, what do i need/how do i fix this?

#5. The Coraline Cone Skimmer 75g bubbles in the collector keep going up and then way down... Why is that? How fast should the collector be filling up?

Well there you have it... That is my tank set up and all its components, my current stats as of 11:00pm tonight, as well as my questions that i need answers and advice on. Thanks for listening and hope to hear your feedback soon.

 

[obscurereef]

Well if you just got it running today I'd imagine you haven't cycled it yet. Kind of strange how there is nitrate if it's not cycled. What are you going to cycle with?

Ammonia & nitrite will spike then go down during the cycle. At the end you'll be left with some nitrates (ex.20-40 ppm). That's when you do a large water change to take the nitrates out. Nitrates are removed from water changes & a skimmer.
What water are you using?

It would be murky if you added water with sand (could take 1-3 days to clear).

Waste particles attach to the microbubbles and rise to the top. That's why the bubbles are rising into the collection cup, to be collected and taken out. You might have to adjust the bubbles though.

 

[ivan_dalmatia]

Hey everybody, I just started my first saltwater aquarium today and need some advice and answers.

I have a lot of knowledge about fish (more freshwater than saltwater), i used to work at a local pet store as the "fish guy", and also used to go to peoples houses or business' to maintain their fresh and saltwater aquariums with tanks up too 1200 gallons.

I currently started a...

55 Gallon Saltwater Aquarium (Glass) with black painted wood stand and two cabinet doors.

Overflow Box: ProFlex Model 220 with sponge filters, siphon tubing, overflow connector tubes and return elbow.

Marineland MaxiJet Submersible Utility Pump 3000 (for submersible or external use. Pumps Max 775 Gallons per hours and at 4', 500 gallons per hour.

Reef Sump Pump: (Eshopps RS-75)
features a 200 micron bag, 3 foot hose with a 1" bulkhead, and square foam. It's dimensions ar 18x10x16.

Cone Skimmer 75g (75 gallons per hour)

Aqueon Pro 150 Aquarium Heater
.
The tank was just completed around 2 pm today 08/09/2013 and got the whole system running and water flowing by 4-5 pm!

I need some advice on a few things...

First things first. Current stats of the tank:
- Salinity 32| Specific Gravity 1.025
- Calcium: # of drops-28 | around 1100 mg/L (ppm)
- KH (Carbonate Hardness): # of drops-19 | 340.1ppm KH
- Phosphate: 1.0
- Nitrate: 10

so now that you have all the information. I have a few questions to whoever can help.

#1. Which of these are at a dangerous level. What do I need/How do I fix them?

Is my tank ruined or is this natural?

#3. Will these levels balance themselves out as the tank begins to cycle over time, or do I need to take action?

#4.The water is murky like i can see little molecules of maybe air or salt moving around in the current... Will this go away with time? Is this because of the unsafe levels in the tank (if any) or is this natural because the tank is only a few hours young? If needed, what do i need/how do i fix this?

#5. The Coraline Cone Skimmer 75g bubbles in the collector keep going up and then way down... Why is that? How fast should the collector be filling up?

Well there you have it... That is my tank set up and all its components, my current stats as of 11:00pm tonight, as well as my questions that i need answers and advice on. Thanks for listening and hope to hear your feedback soon.

Calcium and your alkalinity (KH) is wayyyyyyy to high!

 

[Sadial]

Some of those readings seem pretty out there. I would give it time to settle then retest. Any chance you got silt/sand into the vials when you pulled the water sample?