Very new, here is what I have, opinions wanted

[serenahec]

Hi everyone. We are just setting up our new tank. We purchased a 75 gallon tank and we are going with salt water. We have thus far a magnum 350 deluxe canister filter, two 402 power heads, crushed coral at the bottom, undergravel filter and a heater thus far. We have everything in the tank and it has been cycling for a day now. The water is really clear and we added the salt in today. Now the canister filter has the blue foam in it right now. We have some charcoal as well which is not inside the canister. When do we add this is one question also what are the next steps etc.... Any advise is appreciated. We have test kits etc..... as well. The saltwater level is around 1.020 and we have not tested anything else thus far. We are moving this weekend but we wanted to get an early start on the tank so it is in our new place right now. Thanks alot for all the opinions!

[saltcreep1025]

i also started w/ a undergravel filter and cc, but after reading much about it decided to switch to a deep sand bed for two reasons. The cc can be a big pain to clean and can produce lots of Nitrate later on. Two, the dsb houses beneficial bacteria which acts as a biological filter. So I suggest that you change from the cc to a DSB.

Do you have and Live Rock? It is also a very good source of biological filtration and almost necessary to a SW tank. It houses lots of bacteria and little critters and also gives the fishes place to swim around and hide in.

What kind of a tank do you plan to have? fish only or one with corals?

To get your tank to start cycling you should go to the grocery and get 1 RAW shrimp and throw it in your tank. That will get the ammonia going which is the start of the cycle.

I just started my first tank about 6 weeks ago and had all of those questions and many many more hehe. I suggest that you just read lots and lots of posts on this site to learn as much as you can. The people here are very very good at this and are great at answering questions!

If ya wanna PM me any questions about startin your tank up feel free to as i just went through it and have learned a lot =)

Good luck!

Ross

[reefrunner69]

Before we can offer any advice (other than lose the UGF), we need to know what it is you plan for this aquarium? Reef? FO? FOWLR?

[mulron]

Questions for ya:

What do you want to put in your tank? Just fish?
Reef tank?

I'm assuming Just fish.

Aside from that, I would raise the salt levels to around 1.022.
As far as the undergravel filter, I would not use it. A bio-wheel filter works well.(I will leave sizing and brand up to others)

CC is ok as long as its cleaned, via a syphon(python makes a good product).

As far as your can filter, I would just run it w/o anything while your tank is cycling. Once you are cycled then you can add filter media in. But make sure you can some other form of filteration. Magnum's are good for flow and polishing the water(making it clear) but IMHO they do not make good bio-filters.

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Next step is to make sure you know what kind of tank you want(the answer to the question I asked above)

Then based on that we can proceed with the filter and the dead shrimp to start your cycle.

Have fun!

[mulron]

Bah beat me to it RR

[serenahec]

We want to have around six fish in our aquarium, fish only of coarse for the start. I will have my husband take all the test today and get back to you on all the levels. I know nothing about putting shrimp in the water, lol, but I will learn, promise. I want this to be a successful tank!

[mulron]

First step IHMO is to get the UGF out of the tank and get a bio-wheel filter.
Next I would get the salt levels up to par.
After that, drop 1 uncooked shrimp in to start your cycle going.

have fun!