New to SW

[kbkathri]

Total newbie to saltwater tanks, but I have had freshwater in the past. We just bought a 75 gal. tank, fluval 400 canister filter, sand, live sand, heater, hydrometer, thermometer, test strips, and water de-clorinator. I think that is about it. Filled the tank with water and salt last night. Have not added the live sand yet.

Still need to buy a skimmer, live rock.

I have tons of questions, but will do more research before flooding you here. Thanks for all the great information I have read so far. I hope people don't rip into me for my mistakes as they have other posts I have seen.

Thanks.

 

[melosu58]

Welcome aboard.

 

[Jimbo7]

Total newbie to saltwater tanks, but I have had freshwater in the past. We just bought a 75 gal. tank, fluval 400 canister filter, sand, live sand, heater, hydrometer, thermometer, test strips, and water de-clorinator. I think that is about it. Filled the tank with water and salt last night. Have not added the live sand yet.

Still need to buy a skimmer, live rock.

I have tons of questions, but will do more research before flooding you here. Thanks for all the great information I have read so far. I hope people don't rip into me for my mistakes as they have other posts I have seen.

Thanks.

Welcome to AA!
No one here will rip you apart for a mistake, its just when people refuse to correct mistakes and put the well being of their animals at stake that people get upset.
Do some research into a RO/DI unit and a refractometer, both are a necessity IMO for a successful SW tank.

 

[austinsdad]

Welcome to AA!!

 

[Tank2379]

Welcome to the Place of Love!!!!.... Wait a Minute I mean Aquarium Advice....

 

[thincat]

Welcome to AA! I see you bought "Test Strips"! Test strips are fine for FW but not accurate enough for SW. You will need to get a liquid test kit. API is a good starter kit. Be sure that it has a test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, PH. Their Master Test kit is a good starter.

 

[kbkathri]

Wow! Thanks to all so far for the warm reception. I was reading a thread about someone that had already bought some damsels and a small amount of live rock (3 lbs. or 55 gal tank. The advice was to return the damsels, buy ammonia and to buy base rock and not waste anymore money on live rock.

I have a 75 gallon tank. I have about a 15 pound bag of live sand that I plan on adding to my tank tonight now that my salt and temperature are correct. I already have 65 lbs. of "dry" sand in there now. We are going to need to order some rock. Do I follow the same advice given to the other person and buy only "base rock" or should I buy a small amount of live rock and the rest base rock? I hope to be able to afford near 100 lbs.

There is a lot of information on this site and it is hard to get through it all and translate it to my particular situation. Thanks again for your patience and knowledge.

P.S. Any recommendations on where to order live rock/base rock? The town I live in has a petco and that is about it. Nearest "Aquarium" store is 100 miles.

 

[pat8you]

I would start with just about all dry rock for your cycle. Once it is cycled you can add one or two small pieces of small live rock that will add some diversity of life and maybe some coraline algae in there. you can look at marcorocks.com for dry rock. If you havn't aready go to the articles section of the forum and read the article on cycling a saltwater tank.

Be careful getting any kind of live stock from petco. They usually hire employees that are not very knowledgeable about salt water and the live stock is often times in bad shape.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

If you're going Fish Only (FO) or Fish Only with Live Rock (FOWLR) then API kits should be fine, if you want to go to a reef system, then I would go to Salifert kits for Alkalinity, Calcium, Magnesium, etc. But it sounds like you're going with a FOWLR for now. Definitely +1 on the Refractometer, those dip-style hydrometers are a pain and I'll never go back unless I have to.

+1 on RO/DI also, it will head off any algae issues right away.

 

[mgamer20o0]

Welcome to AA.