Newbie

[Elmo1287]

Hey how's it going I just moved into this house and their was 8 fish tanks in the basement I wanna move two of the bigger ones upstairs and start a saltwater aquarium in my dinning room the guy that lived here before me grew and sold annemome I can't spell right now and other fish he said I could have everything he left as in a long tank I believe it's 55 gallons and a few skimmer sump things I've been wanting to do this forever I use to work at a flea market I junction city Kansas and my boss bought a 200g tank with live rock and fish came with everything for 100 dollars I can't find anything that cheap lol.... In not sure what all I have but I filled the two tanks I want to start out with with water and let them sit over night to be sure they held it which they did I know the fan thing works and air bubbler system works great but I'm not sure how this regent aqua tech 200 is supposed to work I've looked online and YouTube cause it just spits water out.. But If this is a real person I would like help and advice to get my tanks started thanks for your time sorry I wrote a book have a great day

 

[Anyadvicewilldo357]

Newb also

I jus wanted To see how u learned and how long did it take unto become confidentmw this reef thing ...cause I already had a full on massacre overbite all my fish died instantly and i checked the water and my nitrites spiked due to overfeeding and now,my new cycle is okmnitritesn still a lil high. And I put 4 peppermint shrimp to clean or help aptasia I now have so I jus have alot,of stuff to worry about before it all goes down anynhelp will do ... Thank fellow newb

 

[Anyadvicewilldo357]

Yea one friggin fish cost me 90$ n he didn't last a day do not buy from local stores buy from Internet trust me

 

[Elmo1287]

I jus wanted To see how u learned and how long did it take unto become confidentmw this reef thing ...cause I already had a full on massacre overbite all my fish died instantly and i checked the water and my nitrites spiked due to overfeeding and now,my new cycle is okmnitritesn still a lil high. And I put 4 peppermint shrimp to clean or help aptasia I now have so I jus have alot,of stuff to worry about before it all goes down anynhelp will do ... Thank fellow newb

Well honestly the tank we got for the flea market already had water and everything in it we just sphered it out into about 25 five gallon buckets and put the rock and coral and fish In them and moved it into his flea market and filled it back up and neither one of us knew anything about what we where doing we just both that instant ocean salt and filled it up in one of the five gallon buckets and mixed it like that put the coral and fish back in surprising enough everything is still alive and well he just changes the water and buys those cleaner shrimp but I think its all because of his bio-balls and sump system I just did a nitrate test just too see how to do it my first time and it read blue for 0ppm I guess so I'm assuming tap water from my sink is okay idk I'm just startin out and I wanna do everything the right way cause I don't have the bio ball filtration system

 

[Elmo1287]

Yea one friggin fish cost me 90$ n he didn't last a day do not buy from local stores buy from Internet trust me

Petco is good about returning or trading your dead fish they usually just give you credit for a new one just too keep you coming back

 

[Ingy]

Welcome aboard. Yes, we're real people
I'm not sure what setup you are starting. You mentioned 2 large tanks. Do they both have sumps?
You will have to specify what type of tank you want. Either reef or fish only (with rocks).
What lighting, filtration, sumps and skimmers do you have?

Nitrate might be at 0 because it doesn't sound like you've cycled your tank yet. Do that before you add any fish.

Enjoy the journey.

 

[TheTodd]

Ask questions about anything you are not sure about. Lots of good advice on this forum. Read, read and read some more.

 

[Keithhjs]

Well honestly the tank we got for the flea market already had water and everything in it we just sphered it out into about 25 five gallon buckets and put the rock and coral and fish In them and moved it into his flea market and filled it back up and neither one of us knew anything about what we where doing we just both that instant ocean salt and filled it up in one of the five gallon buckets and mixed it like that put the coral and fish back in surprising enough everything is still alive and well he just changes the water and buys those cleaner shrimp but I think its all because of his bio-balls and sump system I just did a nitrate test just too see how to do it my first time and it read blue for 0ppm I guess so I'm assuming tap water from my sink is okay idk I'm just startin out and I wanna do everything the right way cause I don't have the bio ball filtration system

Tap water is not recommended. If possible use ro/di water instead.

 

[Jake337]

Well honestly the tank we got for the flea market already had water and everything in it we just sphered it out into about 25 five gallon buckets and put the rock and coral and fish In them and moved it into his flea market and filled it back up and neither one of us knew anything about what we where doing we just both that instant ocean salt and filled it up in one of the five gallon buckets and mixed it like that put the coral and fish back in surprising enough everything is still alive and well he just changes the water and buys those cleaner shrimp but I think its all because of his bio-balls and sump system I just did a nitrate test just too see how to do it my first time and it read blue for 0ppm I guess so I'm assuming tap water from my sink is okay idk I'm just startin out and I wanna do everything the right way cause I don't have the bio ball filtration system

You need to buy a hydrometer or a refractometer to measure the amount of salt dissolved in the water. Too much or too little of salt in the water will kill your fish/corals.

 

[Elmo1287]

You need to buy a hydrometer or a refractometer to measure the amount of salt dissolved in the water. Too much or too little of salt in the water will kill your fish/corals.

I have one of those but not sure what else I need to get started