Another newbie :-)

[rafecci]

Hi everyone,

Yes, an other Newbie. Thank you for all the "welcome's" I have gotten. Very excited about my new aquarium. I have a 27 gallon glass aquarium, set up three days ago. My daughters and I started this project in curiosity about live rock. We started with a few live rocks and many cheaper "wet rocks". Each day we are watching to see what comes out. So far we have many things growing from everywhere. Even on the rocks that we were told there was nothing in them. So far we have lots of "plants" growing, a few worm looking things, a small white starfish, and "Something" that keeps reaching a 3 inch tenicle out of a big rock, picking stuff up or dropping things out of the rocks. Might be a worm, all we have ever seen was the tenicle looking thing.

Anyway - our tank is

12x30x17 glass
sugar sand
rocks
waterfall filter with used biowheel
air bubbler
underwater current jet
20W florencent light
saltwater (premixed from Pruess Pets)

Any suggestions to improve this longevity of our experiment are welcomed!

Thanks

 

[MCluett]

Welcome to AA, what are your plans for the tank? fish only with live rock? or coral?

 

[rafecci]

Not sure yet. Can you do both or all? There seems to be soo many options to choose from. We have no idea were to go from here other than we are excited to see so many living things in what we thought was going to be an empty tank with rocks in it...LOL

 

[MCluett]

yes you can do both fish and corals, you just have to make sure the fish and the corals are compatible and that just requires some research. as for how exciting the tank is i couldnt agree more, mine has been set up for a month and a half now i am constantly starring at it and i dont have any fish yet either. before you put any fish or livestock in the tank you have to go through a process called cycling there are several articles on this forum that tell you how to go about this. and while your tank is cycling this gives you time to do research on what type of lighting sysem you will need and what type of livestock you may want for your tank. you may want to look at nanofish where you have a 27gal tank you will not be able to get fish that are too large. and most of all read alot, you dont want to rush into this and spend money that you didnt need to spend, this is by no means a cheap hobby..

 

[rafecci]

Yes - I found this site while we were researching. Seems pretty nice so far - Lots of interesting/entertaining readings. An HUGE hobbie of which has started from a few odds and end scraps around the house and curiousity of a "live rock". O'boy - what have I started..LOL

Should we be worried about feeding any of these little critters already in the tank? I know cycling can vary and water testing has to be done weekly in the process but what care should I offer whats already in there?

 

[MCluett]

everything thats already in there is probably more then happy with all of the algeas and other build ups on the rock and in the sand, there is no need to feed what i am assume are copepods or anything else in there precycling. all you need to do to cycle the tank is turn off your light and allow for the live rock to begin to die off causing a spike in ammonia which will then trigger the production of bacteria that feeds on the ammonia, after the ammonia spike you will have a spike in nitrites, which will then turn into nitrates. this whole process should take roughly 4-6 weeks and once complete you should have ammonia and nitrites reading at 0 and a pH level around 8.4. and after that you are ready to put in the fish you have determined will work in your tank. i to am only new at this so if someone with more experience has anything to add please jump in

 

[roka64]

Welcome to the site! I would ditch the air bubbler, you don't really need it in SW applications.
I would highly suggest you get the liquid test kits so you can monitor your cycle.
I would also suggest posting in the SW getting started section with your questions. You will definitely get valuable info there.

 

[melosu58]

Welcome aboard.

 

[neilanh]

Welcome to AA!

 

[cmor1701d]

I agree with Scott's post. Did you get cured LR?
What is 'wet' rock?
Did all of the rock come from the local fish store (lfs)?

You need to get some test kits now and start testing the water for a buildup of ammonia. If it gets too high it will kill most of what is now living. But. amazingly enough, most of that life will come back in a few months as will many other new things. Lights on or off won't matter much to the LR. If it was uncured LR the die off will occur from having been out of water for a period of time. If it was fully cured LR then you won't get a spike in ammonia witihout a source (pinch of food, raw shrimp, etc.)

 

[rafecci]

Yes the LR came from Local pet store. They called it "Elite Live Rock" and "wet rock"? Cost MUCH different between the two. Both were stored in water at the shop and were advised to bring the elite home in water. We brought them all home in water. To my understanding both were cured and but the elite had never been out of water, where as the "wet rock" was shipped dry. The containers they were stored adjacent to each other and the water overflowed frequently between the two containers. I couldn't tell any difference between them????? ALL have things growing on them now and there are several "critters" in the tank. Even today a mushroom bloomed, a star fish arrived on the glass and some hairy long legged starfish appearing thing went from one rock to an other. (still trying to researce what that was..lol) All together there is about 8 lbs of rock in the tank. (3 is considered elit)

As for amonia, nitrate or nitrite levels I was told to bring a sample of water back to the store in 2 weeks and they would advise me of anything more I needed to do. Was told everything will die off and regrow in about two weeks, now with my readings - I am not so sure.

 

[Felicity]

I see you're location is listed as "Lansing Area"--is that Lansing, Michigan? I'm originally from there.

 

[rafecci]

I see you're location is listed as "Lansing Area"--is that Lansing, Michigan? I'm originally from there.

Yupp - a Michigander. I'm so glad I found AA, what a wonderfull "helpfull" site.

 

[roka64]

Welcome to the site!

 

[Felicity]

Yupp - a Michigander. I'm so glad I found AA, what a wonderfull "helpfull" site.

Well, welcome from a fellow newbie! I live in north country now--west shore line but still go back inland occasionally.

 

[rafecci]

Welcome to U 2! Isnt this a great site SO much information and enjoyable to read.

 

[rafecci]

Up date on my new SW tank - just got a kit to test ammonia levels - current level on day4 is between 0.05 - 1. Guess we will watch it grow over the next few days