Newbie

[Penguin]

Hey guys as you can see by the title I'm a newbie to the saltwater side of the hobby. Anyways I have a 29 gallon tank that is cycling as we speak and something freaky happened. So last night I used my Fluval Sea hydrometer and I got a reading of 1.022 salinity and then this morning some of the water dissolved and I did what I had read on many Websites and I replaced the evaporated water with freshwater and the salinity dropped from a 1.022 to 1.016. I currently have 30 lbs of Caribsea aragonite sand and about 5 lbs of live rock (adding more later). I'm running a Marineland model 150 HOB filter and a Koralia Evolution 750 and soon I'll be getting a protein skimmer, LED lights, and another power head. Anyways what is the best way to raise my salinity back to a 1.022 from 1.016?

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

Hey guys as you can see by the title I'm a newbie to the saltwater side of the hobby. Anyways I have a 29 gallon tank that is cycling as we speak and something freaky happened. So last night I used my Fluval Sea hydrometer and I got a reading of 1.022 salinity and then this morning some of the water dissolved and I did what I had read on many Websites and I replaced the evaporated water with freshwater and the salinity dropped from a 1.022 to 1.016. I currently have 30 lbs of Caribsea aragonite sand and about 5 lbs of live rock (adding more later). I'm running a Marineland model 150 HOB filter and a Koralia Evolution 750 and soon I'll be getting a protein skimmer, LED lights, and another power head. Anyways what is the best way to raise my salinity back to a 1.022 from 1.016?

Hydrometers can be extremely in accurate, I'd want to check it with a refractometer before you do anything. But in general the easiest way to raise salinity is to top off with sw instead of ro/di


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[Penguin]

Hydrometers can be extremely in accurate, I'd want to check it with a refractometer before you do anything. But in general the easiest way to raise salinity is to top off with sw instead of ro/di


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Thank you for the quick reply, and i forgot to ask in my question how long does it take for the tank to clear up and how long will it be before the sand settles on the bottom because it seems like whenever i try to work in the bottom of the tank the sand kicks up easily.

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

Thank you for the quick reply, and i forgot to ask in my question how long does it take for the tank to clear up and how long will it be before the sand settles on the bottom because it seems like whenever i try to work in the bottom of the tank the sand kicks up easily.

If it's sand blowing around, then just turn the pumps off for a little bit and it'll settle, also some filter floss in the filter will help catch any loose particles in the water column. The sand will also develop a bio-film that will keep it from kicking up every time your working in the tank, usually takes a few weeks


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[Penguin]

If it's sand blowing around, then just turn the pumps off for a little bit and it'll settle, also some filter floss in the filter will help catch any loose particles in the water column. The sand will also develop a bio-film that will keep it from kicking up every time your working in the tank, usually takes a few weeks


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does this sound like a good stocking for a 29:
2 ocellaris clowns
1 scooter blenny
1 watchman goby
1 2 spot goby
5 hermits
5 snails
1 skunk cleaner shrimp

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

I'd skip the scooter, dragonettes aren't like other fish and need to eat pretty much constantly and their main food source is pods. They will quickly wipe out a 29, and sadly most will starve in short order. IMHO they need a tank with hundreds of pounds of rock and a sump with lots of rock and a big refugium for the pods to have a safe place to reproduce is a must for them. A cool fish with similar behavior would be a starry blenny, or any blenny. Scooter "blennys" aren't really a blenny, they are dragonettes.


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[Penguin]

I'd skip the scooter, dragonettes aren't like other fish and need to eat pretty much constantly and their main food source is pods. They will quickly wipe out a 29, and sadly most will starve in short order. IMHO they need a tank with hundreds of pounds of rock and a sump with lots of rock and a big refugium for the pods to have a safe place to reproduce is a must for them. A cool fish with similar behavior would be a starry blenny, or any blenny. Scooter "blennys" aren't really a blenny, they are dragonettes.


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Thank you so much for the help!

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

Happy to help, hope to see a build thread so we can follow along on your progress


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[Penguin]

Happy to help, hope to see a build thread so we can follow along on your progress


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I will post some when my tank clears up for sure

 

[Sniperhank]

And to jump in, patience is the key. The sand will also get 'sticky' as the tank matures and it won't blow around as much.
Also with the clowns, hold out until you find a pair that you love. I was just at Petco today and they had platinum clowns in. Just several years ago when I started my tank you couldn't get anything besides 'plain jane' clowns...the more designer ones are becoming much cheaper and much easier to get.

 

[Penguin]

And to jump in, patience is the key. The sand will also get 'sticky' as the tank matures and it won't blow around as much.
Also with the clowns, hold out until you find a pair that you love. I was just at Petco today and they had platinum clowns in. Just several years ago when I started my tank you couldn't get anything besides 'plain jane' clowns...the more designer ones are becoming much cheaper and much easier to get.

I was planning to let my tank cycle for a month or so but now I"m going to let it cycle and let the sand get sticky and just do the rock work until im happy so im not digging around the tank stressing out the fish