New 3ft tank setup

[Ashley73]

Hi All. My First marine tank. Open to all suggestions. I am on day two of my 3ft tank setup. It used to be a 3ft freshwater tank. SO FAR i fully cleaned the tank by emptying the water using the gravel cleaner and of course this gave the gravel a really good clean. Then fully cleaned the filter ( Aquis 1200 series 2 ) and added new Matrix media and fully rinsed the existing pads. Then added new tap water with a double dose of Prime. I then today added 4 kg of red sea salt as directed by the guy at the LFS. I also bought a Serenity LED Refractometer. When added salt it brought out 7 or 8 freshwater worms from the gravel which quickly died. The local LFS said this will be perfect for kicking off things ( he mentioned the Dead prawn scenario which i gave read about before). So what next?

 

[mr_X]

You have power heads for flow? Do you have rock in the tank for surface area for bacteria, and for the fish to graze on/hide in?
You basically need to sit and wait.
What are your intentions with this tank? What livestock do you intend to keep?

 

[Ashley73]

You have power heads for flow? Do you have rock in the tank for surface area for bacteria, and for the fish to graze on/hide in?
You basically need to sit and wait.
What are your intentions with this tank? What livestock do you intend to keep?

I have 1 Eheim powerhead. No rock just the black gravel base, wanted to buy a different base but i need to do this on the cheap. Was thinking FOWLR , a Dwarf lion fish and maybe a white eyed moray but not too keen on a chiller as they are so expensive. Guy at LFS said i dont need a skimmer if im ok to do weekly 15% water changes.

 

[Ashley73]

Guy at LFS said they dont use RO water just tap with prime in their marine tanks so i guess the water is good here.

 

[54seaweed]

Guy at LFS said they dont use RO water just tap with prime in their marine tanks so i guess the water is good here.

If he told you that you need to find a better educated fish store to deal with
and welcome to AA

 

[Poon]

Welcome to AA. Most people here would say that using tap water is a no-no. Long term using RO water is the best because tap water has impurities that build up over time and could cause a crash after a certain period of time (this timeframe is not exact given different water parameters in different areaS). I myself filled my 29 gal tank with tap and have done every water change since with bought RO water until I get the energy up to by an RO filter. My tank will be one year old in the next couple of months and my clowns have done really well. FYI - nothing is cheap in saltwater...good luck and keep reading...

 

[Ashley73]

Welcome to AA. Most people here would say that using tap water is a no-no. Long term using RO water is the best because tap water has impurities that build up over time and could cause a crash after a certain period of time (this timeframe is not exact given different water parameters in different areaS). I myself filled my 29 gal tank with tap and have done every water change since with bought RO water until I get the energy up to by an RO filter. My tank will be one year old in the next couple of months and my clowns have done really well. FYI - nothing is cheap in saltwater...good luck and keep reading...

I will use RO water from now on. I have read mixed reviews about it but better to be safe than sorry.

 

[mr_X]

Yes, it depends on the water source. As for the tank without the skimmer, large predators are going to foul up the water pretty quickly. Anything you can do to combat that is a plus. You might try searching your local craigslist for people getting out of the hobby or upgrading. Used components are generally found at about half price.
Don't be mislead by the word "dwarf". They do get to about 5". That, combined with your 2' long eel may present a pretty decent bio load.

 

[Ingy]

I have 1 Eheim powerhead. No rock just the black gravel base, wanted to buy a different base but i need to do this on the cheap. Was thinking FOWLR , a Dwarf lion fish and maybe a white eyed moray but not too keen on a chiller as they are so expensive. Guy at LFS said i dont need a skimmer if im ok to do weekly 15% water changes.

Most freshwater aquarium gravel is painted rocks. That is completely unsuitable for a saltwater tank. If you want to do this on the cheap, I would suggest you remove the gravel and replace it with Pool Filter Sand. Most hardware stores carry PFS for about $5 for a large bag that should be more than enough.

 

[Bectan01]

Gravel is a bad idea for saltwater anyway (especially because its been used already in a fresh tank) It will trap all kind of detritus an make nitrate control a pain. I know freshwater use a gravel vac and I don't know about your livestock bit my fish would freak out if I had to do that weekly...

 

[Bectan01]

Oh and the word cheap and saltwater do not go hand in hand, if you want to do this right be prepared to spend money. A lot of times people skimp out on good equipment on set up and end up wasting money when they need to upgrade or worse still lose livestock due to poor conditions.

 

[Ashley73]

Oh and the word cheap and saltwater do not go hand in hand, if you want to do this right be prepared to spend money. A lot of times people skimp out on good equipment on set up and end up wasting money when they need to upgrade or worse still lose livestock due to poor conditions.

Well i just want to spend as little as possible or ill be in even more trouble with the Boss ( the wife). However i do see where ur coming from. I do weekly spot cleans on my African tank which equates to about 36 litres a week. And then monthly with the filtre. I was told i dont need a protein skimmer if i am prepared to do 10-15% water changes weekly which im ok with. Any thoughts?

 

[Bectan01]

In some ways that's true, keep up with water changes but also it would be a good idea to keep your stock list light and make sure you don't stock with messy eaters! How many gals is it?

 

[Ashley73]

Most freshwater aquarium gravel is painted rocks. That is completely unsuitable for a saltwater tank. If you want to do this on the cheap, I would suggest you remove the gravel and replace it with Pool Filter Sand. Most hardware stores carry PFS for about $5 for a large bag that should be more than enough.

Are you sure PFS is ok to use? What prep is required to use it?

 

[Ashley73]

In some ways that's true, keep up with water changes but also it would be a good idea to keep your stock list light and make sure you don't stock with messy eaters! How many gals is it?

50.5 gallons

 

[Ingy]

Are you sure PFS is ok to use? What prep is required to use it?

PFS is one of the go to sands for those who want a sand type substrate vice crushed coral. Just rinse it very well outside to remove any dirt and dust. It is very heavy and can take lots of flow without blowing around, which can be nice in smaller tanks.

 

[Ashley73]

PFS is one of the go to sands for those who want a sand type substrate vice crushed coral. Just rinse it very well outside to remove any dirt and dust. It is very heavy and can take lots of flow without blowing around, which can be nice in smaller tanks.

Is it easy to keep clean hen in your tank.

 

[baron1282]

http://www.amazon.com/CoralVue-Tech...ie=UTF8&qid=1369860085&sr=8-5&keywords=BH-100

Consider a Skimmer an investment for all future tanks! You can use a skimmer for freshwater and saltwater. If you want a Dwarf Lion you will need a Skimmer, no ways around it. The one I linked is a good skimmer, and it's worth getting.

When I started my tank, I had nothing! I spent well over a thousand dollars for a 29 gallon tank. When I upgraded to a 55 gallon tank, I spent only 300 at the most, because I had everything already. All I had to do was get some more sand and rock and the tank.

Live rock is an investment as well, as you can almost always sell it for the price you bought it, and you can use it forever in newer tanks you upgrade too. So if you look at the skimmer and live rock as investments, than it really is cheaper than it sounds.

I wouldn't skip out on the Skimmer, OR the Live rock! Having at least 50 pounds of rock is going to help you tremeindoudsly in filtration, and that's around $200 well spent!!
The cheaper way of course is to just get base rock, and overtime the rock well become live. That is cheaper, just buy some base rock, and a few pounds of live to seed the base rock. For 50 gallons, 50 pounds of rock is good to have!! I had 55 pounds for my 29 gallon!

This is Dry Rock!

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/bulk-dry-live-rock-live-sand.html

Get your bulk of rock dry! Than seed it with a few pounds of life rock.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=393

your LFS should have live rock, so you don't need to order it online, your LFS should also have base (dry) rock!

 

[Ashley73]

Ok so today went and bought 10kg of Serenity Natural Arrogate and i removed the old gravel base. I waited for the tank to settle and syphoned out the remaining gravel and a few leftover freshwater warm carcasses. Added well cleaned Arrogate. Any suggestions regarding if i still should add a dead cooked prawn to the tank??

 

[Ashley73]

And i found a place for RO water ( like a vending machine, at local shopping centre i have been going to for years, never even noticed it ) . Need a bottle for water, if i buy a few 10lt mt franklin waters can i use that water in tank then use that bottle for RO water in future?