Question about my 54 gal corner tank buildout

[Sherb]

I purchased a 54 gallon corner aquarium and am getting ready to build my 1st saltwater aquarium. Honestly, I had no idea when getting started that saltwater aquariums were soooo much different and required soooo much more equipment and knowledge than a freshwater tank.

Long story short, my aquarium will be adjacent to a window (which I know is not the best scenario). This window does not get much (if any) direct sunlight since it is next to our back covered patio. With the sides of the aquarium blacked out, hopefully that will minimalize the sun as well. My question is to how far the aquarium should be away from my window drapery. I have read about salt creep and while I really don't want it too far from the corner, I also don't want salt on my burgundy drapery. Do you think 2 -3" away from the drapery is far enough? That puts me about 7 - 8" away from the window/wall. I feel like if I go any further, I am creaping into my room which makes the corner aquarium look funny since it's not really in the corner. Of course, I don't want to take my drapery down either. Does anyone have any experience with salt creep?

Thanks for helping a newbie out!

Sherri

 

[Sherb]

Ok, obviously not a lot of advice on salt creep. My next issue is that a neighbor of mine gave me lots of rocks he used to have in his old salt water aquarium about 15 years ago. I have rinsed the dust off of them and currently have them soaking in my bathtub in fresh water. My question is should I be soaking them in a bleech solution or salt water instead of freshwater? Also, I have purchased 60 lbs of live sand for my 54 gallon tank. Will I need live rock in addition to the live sand or will the rock I was given become live just from the sand. I thought about getting a few small live rocks and putting them into my sump. Any suggestions or advice?

 

[carey]

If the rocks are completely clean then i think it would be fine to add them to the tank. I wouldnt soak them in bleach though, just regular water is fine. If youre talking about live sand from a bag then I wouldnt get your hopes up as there isnt really that much life in the bagged live sand.

The base rock will eventually become live so don't worry about that. The same goes for the sand. I would add some live rock to the mix and go from there.

 

[Sherb]

Shoot... I had my hopes up with the live sand. He has given me quite a bit of rock. Could I get by with just adding 10% live rock? Does it matter if it is in my aquarium or in my sump? Do you think 60 lbs of live sand is enough for a 54 gallon tank?

 

[carey]

60lbs of sand would be the minimum I'd add. You can add 10% live rock and the "liveness" will transfer over to the base rock in a few weeks. After a month or two you won't even know the difference.

I would put the live rock in your tank, some in the sump can't hurt either.

 

[Sherb]

Thanks Carey. You are always so helpful. I went to the LFS armed with photos of the rocks my neighbor gave me. Come to find out many are skeletons of dead corals. That shows you how much I know about this hobby...lol. They look really cool though. Is there any disadvantages to putting them in my tank? Some of the rocks he gave me were pukani rocks or something like that. Has anyone had experience with putting coral skeletons in their tank?

 

[TLTGF]

You should be fine putting them in. Bacteria will grow on their surface just as will coralline algae. No issues.

 

[carey]

Yep, that's the deal Give it a few weeks and that dry rock will have beneficial bacteria on it and after a couple of months you won't even be able to tell the difference.

If the rocks are ugly just put them in the back or under the rock structure.

 

[Sherb]

So I was out of town yesterday and went to a LFS. When I was telling the guy (who has the personality of a rock) about what types of rocks my neighbor gave me, he said some things I hadn't heard on this forum. For the record, I took all of the pukani rock and coral skeletons and have soaked them in my bathtub for 1 week changing the water twice. That seemed to get quite a bit of gunk out of the rocks. The guy said that if I use the old pukani rock (and he didn't specify pukani, he said any porous rock), that in about 8 - 12 weeks the rock with burp out all kinds of old dead stuff that it has stored in it's pores and it will ruin my water. Has anyone heard that before? Wouldn't my skimmer help along with a couple of water changes if that happens? He also said to avoid the coral skeletons because they tend to have sharp edges and your fish can hurt themselves. Is this true?



This is a photo of the skeletons. (I assume they are all skeletons). Thanks for your input.

Sherri

 

[mr_X]

That's absurd about the rock "burping out old, dead stuff", and equally ridiculous is that fish don't know how to navigate around coral skeletons. What I would ask your neighbor is if he ever used a copper based medication on the tank when he had that rock in there. If so, that rock might not be any good. Copper is hard to get out of rock and copper is a no-no if you want to keep invertebrates.

Also, salt creep will not be a problem if you don't have a bubbler in the tank or any splashing water at the surface.

 

[Sherb]

Thanks Doug!

 

[Sherb]

Aquarium is cycling nicely. I am shopping for a sump that will fit under this 54 gallon corner stand. Seems like the smallest sump I can find has a 21" x 8". I dont think I can fit that. I think I need an inch shaved off. Any suggestions for smaller sump?

 

[mr_X]

A custom design, or put it in the room behind the tank and run the pipes through the wall, if you are able.

 

[Sherb]

My aquarium is through cycling (finally). Should I do a water change before I add my first fish?

 

[TLTGF]

Definitely! Once your tank is done cycling, meaning you can drop 2ppm of ammo to 0ppm in 24 hours, you will still have high NITRATES. You will want to do a big 40-60% pwc to knock those down to <10ppm or as close to 0 as possible. Then you can put in a hardy fish like a clown, and continue to test to see how your tank is handling the bio-load. If it does okay, wait 3-4 weeks, and try and add another fish.

 

[Sherb]

The tank is doing great. I have 2 fish in the aquarium. It is day #4 and my Nitrites, Nitrates and Ammonia are still at 0. I am getting ready to go out of town next week for only 2 nights. With my fresh water aquarium, I never worry about the fish going a couple of days without food. Should I worry about my salt water fish not eating for 2 days? I could have the neighbor come and feed them if necessary. Thanks for your help!

 

[TLTGF]

The fish will be fine without food for a couple days.

 

[Sherb]

If I had corals in my tank, which hopefully I will one day, would it be ok to skip a couple of days without feeding?

 

[mdaniel2882]

If I had corals in my tank, which hopefully I will one day, would it be ok to skip a couple of days without feeding?

Yes. The main issue when going out of town is evaporation not food. Just make sure your ATO will handle the time you are going to be gone. I have left my tank for a week before but I have a lot of automation with ATO and 2 part dosing my RKE makes sure everything stay in line. If you are going to be gone for longer that a week I would get someone to feed or set up something with food and a dosing pump.

 

[Sherb]

I have started to get a coating of brown algae like stuff on my rocks. I have kept it cleaned off the back glass. Is this normal? How do you get rid of it? My Nitrates, Nitrites and Ammonia are all still at Zero.