Diary of my first saltwater tank...Awesome.

[Speakerman]

Aight guys thanks. I will keep that in mind next time. Last night I went ahead and added the salt. It should be just right if the directions on the bag were correct. I added 18 cups of salt for about 37 gallons of water...I

Then I put a block of frozen brine shrimp in there...

I'll tell you why I mixed the salt last...I had water in it and then put the sand in....But that sand was soooo dirty that it took me several hours to clean it. simultaneously syphoned water out as I pythoned water in.

I wasn't getting any water flow at all really so I got a big spoon and mixed the water around to get all the salt off the sand.

Today I am going to get my powerheads, install them and then let it churn. I think I also have a guy here in town that I can get some live rock from. I'm also going to get a hydrometer to check the gravity of the water....

Oh yeah and another thing I did was take an extra set of biomedia out of an established freshwater tanks. I figured I'd give it a try. It the bacteria didn't live, then I would get some ammonia...Plus that will give the bacteria some place to grow for now, as well as in the sponge of the skimmer.

Any other suggestions?

Here are some more pics. You can see in the earlier pics that when I started mixing the salt, the water had a certain point of buoyancy....It was really cool looking. A lot of the salt and the brine shrimp mess was just floating in a perfect line about 1/3 the way up the tank.

 

[SeeDemTails]

I would try to seed you sand bed with a scoop of LS from a reef tank at your LFS......that sand that is more expensivce is more expensive for a reason.

Like people have said above, if you want to be successful in SW, you cannot cheap out on anything.....

And before you buy a hydrometer to check you SG....save your money and buy a 40$ refractometer.

 

[roka64]

I agree with tails, this is the refracto I have:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=9957&N=2004+113761

 

[SeeDemTails]

I agree with tails, this is the refracto I have:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=9957&N=2004+113761

Thats the one!


One of the best 40$ I spent on my tank

Also, buy a visi-therm stealth heater.....another great buy......1 degree accuracy...and get a coralife dig thermometer to go with it.

 

[Speakerman]

Aight cool, weel I just got a really cheap hydrometer and the water is perfect right now.

I will have to get one of those refractometers a little bit down the road.

I got a small power head just a little while ago and installed it.

I found a guy in town that is going to hook me up with tons of live rock, corals, and 2x96 w light strip.

I'm going to petsmart right now to get an xP1 and then install that.

I should be getting quite a lot of live rock by friday.

I've got one question though. The water is still pretty murky from the salt...Will that go away with time?

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[roka64]

Will that go away with time?

Yep, it is still a combo of mixing and the sand, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Speakerman]

Aight thanks for the help bro.

Here is a couple more pics with all the hardware installed. The only thing I am lacking now is the LR and the new light strip for it so I can grow corals.

I'm going to make some sort of background for it....Can anybody give me some good ideas or a creative background? All my freshwater tanks are simply blue.

 

[roka64]

creative background?

Lost City of Atlantis!

 

[Speakerman]

Okay here are my favorites. I am going to get a place down the street to blow one up and make it fit the back of my tank.

Which one would you choose for a background?

 

[angelscrx]

NUmber three is my favorite.

 

[Sparkie]

I like the last one the best. I would like 2 and 3 more if there were no fish in the picture.

 

[Speakerman]

Is Prime safe for marine applications?

------------------------

I went ahead and did number 3. I think it turned out pretty good. I like it a lot.
I should be getting some small peices of LR tonight and some larger ones later on in the week, like Friday evening or so. I'm going to get a lot. lol

Here is a little pic. I put an actual saltwater light on that is brighter and makes the sand look white. Plus I got some white live sand from the LFS. I know the specialist there and he hooked me up with some straight out of the tank. The water is also super clear now so it looks beautiful.

I will get some more pics when I get some live rock.

 

[SeeDemTails]

Aight cool, weel I just got a really cheap hydrometer and the water is perfect right now.

20$ says it is wrong!!!!!!.....thats what I am telling you....you need a refracto from the start or else you are label to put your first inhabitants into osmotic shock as you have no idea what your SG really is.....I have seen hydros off as much as 1.019 when that tank was actually 1.027!!!!

BE CAREFUL!!!!!!!

I got a small power head just a little while ago and installed it.

I have a 37 gal reef too that I just set up as well....a small PH wont cut it...I have three rio 200s in my tank plut my hob skimmer.

I found a guy in town that is going to hook me up with tons of live rock, corals, and 2x96 w light strip.

Sweet....hope you get some cool stuff!

I wouldnt use prime......just throw a peice of shrimp in the tank and run a fishless cycle. None of those chemicals really work in my past experience........You cycle will probably take 2-3 weeks as you started with dead sand, dont rush it.......no one should ever loose any fish because of water quality.....it is too easy to prevent.

 

[Speakerman]

Well that little power head I got crapped out on me...lol...I'm so mad...

I've bought so much stuff from Petsmart and never had any problem...but I've bought stuff from petco and pretty much 50% or more of the stuff has broken within just a couple days.

So anyway I am going to take it back and get 2 of them that are a lot more powerful.

I'm going to see if my buddy has one of those refractometers that I can borrow and check the SG...

---------------------------------

EDIT: I just went to take back the broken powerhead, and bought two of the same brand but the bigger model. They are the aquatic gardens 602 model.

THEY ARE LOUD!!!!!!!!If they don't quite down within a day or so I am taking them back for a full refund...and going to buy some aquaclear PH like I have in my 150 gal freshwater...

Has anybody had any experience with this brand of PH...Oh and another thing. When I break the suction to the glass the sound pretty much goes away. I think it was something to do with how well sound travels when it's up against glass...But It's really loud...!!! Like a grinding noise...like sand in wheel bearings...

 

[roka64]

aquatic gardens 602

Are these for use in SW? I can't seem to find that brand.

 

[Speakerman]

Okay so I took all of those little peices of poo back to petco...Printed out a page for petsmart, went over there and bought an Aquaclear 70 or model 802 that pumps 400 gph. I installed it...It's super quite and STRONG. lol...This is the same as the pair I have on my 150 gallon tank.

Here is a little pic.

I hope I can get some live rock soon...But dang I'm running low on money lol...

So far I have spend
175 - tank, stand, lights, heater
30 - powerhead
105 - skimmer, salt and hydrometer
15 - sand
80 - xP1 filter and biomedia
-----
405 - total

I've still got to get LR, fish, and corals when I'm ready...lol

 

[SeeDemTails]

You should deffinatley check out rio power heads....they are like 10$ online......much smaller that the aquaclear!

 

[neilster1]

Just don't rush things... let your tank cycle for 6-8 weeks. You will be getting close when you get your first algae bloom - greenish-brown stuff that begins to grow on your sand. Rushing anything in this hobby just leads to frustration.

 

[roka64]

But dang I'm running low on money lol...

That can be a good thing. You have what you need, to let the tank cycle, you can buy LR a little at a time, as money becomes available. This can give you time to learn and maybe get a wish list going.

 

[Guest]

20$ says it is wrong!!!!!!.....thats what I am telling you....you need a refracto from

You should check here first before you buy equip. Why do you want to use Xp1 with bio-media?

Started my tank 3 weeks ago: Hydro reads 1.021 Refrac rwads 1.024

Prime is safe for marine but most people would say that RO/DI is the way to go.

I wish you luck but you do know you can't stolk it even close to what you did to your freshwater right? [/quote]