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acid_burn

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Feb 9, 2004
Messages
190
Location
MI.
Hey whats up everybody... I wish I would have found this forum sooner.
I just invested in a 60 gal. aquarium that I am using for saltwater. I'm probably moving too fast with it but here's my situation.

I filled this tank a week ago using tap water :oops: , added almost a whole bag of salt(15lb) my specific gravity is 1.023, 40lbs. of Aragonite, water temp is 78F. This past weekend I added 30lbs. of live rock, 11lbs. of base rock (the live rock did have a foul odor), I added 3 Damsels per a LFS advice. I also purchased a fasTesT master kit and so far I have tested Nitrate 10, Nitrite .2, PH 8.1, Amonia .6 (i'm not sure on the Nitrite it had two different #'s for the same color).

Let me know how I am doing :? Like I said I'm probably moving too fast with it, help the newbie, please :)

Thanks, Rich
 
Sounds like your doing OK, you should remove the fish though, they will be very stressed and probably die from the toxic soup created in the cycling/curing process. Since you added LR, there really is no need for another source of nitrogenous waste, but if there was a raw cocktail shrimp from the grocers seafood counter would be a better option. Since your curing LR, I would start doing some water changes, depending on how quickly the ammonia rises, I usually recommend 50% every other day during the curing process. You can just let it sit and do no water changes and it will eventually cure, however you will have lost alot of things you wouldn't have if you'd done the waterchanges. Many say my method is a little hard on the wallet, and they are right, so you need to come up with a schedule you can afford and gives the best chance for survival of the critters on your rock ;)
 
Sounds like your on the right track and already have gotten some good advise from Kevin.

Welcome to the board!
 
Thanks for the info Kevin, I wish I could afford 50% water changes every other day. The LFS over here charges $6 for 3gal. of water 8O .

What else would you recomend for water changes? And also do you add salt before you do the change or after the water is already in the tank?

My ammonia level is already on the decline :D . What is the white fuzzy stuff that seems to be growing on some of the LR?

Thanks,
Rich
 
ALways premix your water. Your LFS is ripping you a new one with that kind of price for premixed water. Your better off getting a bucket of salt and mixing it yourself.

All it takes to mix your own water is a large tub, heater, powerhead(s) and saltmix.
 
What is the white fuzzy stuff that seems to be growing on some of the LR?

It is fouling (decay) from the die off on the LR, most likely from sponges. You can blow it off with a baster and siphon it out.
 
I read in another post that bio balls are bad? I have a wet/dry filter with bio balls, do I need to remove them? Why are they so bad?
What do I replace them with? or dont I?

Rich
 
In a reef of FOWLR set-up, bioballs are considered bad because they are nitrate sinks, in a FO tank, you may have no choice. So tell us about your tank ;)
 
It will be a FOWLR set up. Right now its just LR with aragonite substrate. I plan on having some inverts but have not made up my mind on aggressive or non aggressive fish.

The filter is a Pro clear Aquatic Systems wet/dry 75gal. w/pre filter and a Rio 2500 powerhead.

Thanks,
Rich
 
If you have 1-2 lbs per gallon of LR and base rock, you can remove the bioballs, if the tank is established I would remove about 1/3 per week over three weeks.
 
Ok tank has cycled. Ammonia at 0, Nitrate 10, Nitirte 0, and PH 8.1. Two of my Damsels died during the process and the left over one is chipper than ever. I added two Percula clowns today, I want to know if the other fish in my wish list will work. Eventually I want to add
1 Kaudern Cardinal
1 Volitan Lionfish
1 Picasso Trigger
Anemonie (dont know what kind yet)
I want some crabs and shrimp too but will the Trigger eat them?
Also what # of fish will I be limited to in a 60 gal. tank?

Thanks
Rich
 
I have also been reading alot of posts regarding skimmers and sumps.
Would these items be beneficial to my setup and what are the details in getting these items started?

Thanks again,
Rich
 
Ok went to my LFS today to purchase a PH to circulate my tank with my RO water. I actually had to go back cause the PH was faulty. I wanted to purchase some more LR, I only have 30lbs. in a 60gal. tank and from what i've been reading on AA I could benefit from some more. So I was asking some kid that worked there :x , about putting more LR in and he says "why do you want more LR?" I said from what I was reading that my tank would benefit from more LR. He asked if it was fish only, I said for now it just finished cycling, he then asked how long did it take to cycle I said about 2 weeks everything spiked and went back down. Thats when he started talking to me like I was stupid "OH NO... IT WILL SPIKE AGAIN AND PROBABLY A 3RD TIME". Is he right? He also said if its fish only you dont need LR at all... I told him I wanted to possibly add an Anemonie and some more inverts later...OH NO!! IF YOUR FISH EVER GET SICK YOU'LL NEED TO PUT COPPER IN THE TANK AND IT WILL KILL EVERYTHING ELSE. I then asked if thier LR was cured or not he said "cured but some is uncured" :?: It was all in the same tank Is that right?? Somewhere in the conversation I asked if I put more LR in the tank will it begin to cycle again he said "no....well... maybe...it depends" THe whole time he never was looking me in the eyes he was looking all around the store, that to me makes me think he was not truthful or didnt know what he was talking about.

Sorry about the rant (prolly not the forum for that) but he just made me feel a little :oops: , then very :evil: :x :evil: :x after I left.
I hope he's wrong in the stuff that he told but regardless I'm not going back there just for the way he talked to me, and I already gave them $1000 of my $$. :x

Thanks,
Rich
 
well as for the tank. if you are going for a more reef then fowlr you might want to double the amount of rock in there. check out liverocks.com there price is a lot cheaper then what you will pay at the lfs and will look a lot better.

but he is right that if you add copper to the tank that live rock will not be live. so you might want to set up a q tank. and on this web site we have a good articles section that tell you a lot of stuff that you may benefits from reading. click on the article link at the top of the page. hope this helps some.
 
I'm a little confused on the bio-balls thing. If I was doing a FO tank, would the bio-balls be good or bad? If you remove the bio-balls from the filter, what's left for the filter to do? The water would only be moving around from the tank to the filter and back to the tank. Would the water be passing through any kind of medium? Anyone got an aspirin? :?
 
I'm a little confused on the bio-balls thing. If I was doing a FO tank, would the bio-balls be good or bad? If you remove the bio-balls from the filter, what's left for the filter to do? The water would only be moving around from the tank to the filter and back to the tank. Would the water be passing through any kind of medium? Anyone got an aspirin? :?
 
If you have a FO then yes keep the bio balls. You have to have some filteration. If you are going with fowlr then if you have enough lr then it will do your fitlering for you. HTH
 
Thanks! It does help. Give me the parts to a computer and I'll build it blind-folded. Give me an aquarium and I'll sink like a rock.. :lol:
 
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