new tank

[californiagirl]

i'm obviously new to this site. i've had aquariums all my life but tried saltwater this last year. my tank is a 55 gal and was doing great, i had a blue velvet, domino, lionfish, yellow tang, coral beauty, tomato clown. then i painted my bathroom which is right next to the tank, they were all dead within 24 hours. i cried horribly, then decided not to do saltwater, i cleaned out the tank replacing everything, and we are going to raise some jack dempsys. i've had the tank running with no fish for like a week, and there is already some nitrite levels, is this normal? also, i have some rather large red rock with holes and cave type things in them, i'm wondering if this type of rock is ok for aquarium use. i just found your site while looking for info and was wondering if any of you had any advise to give. oh, and another question, a friend of mine has an aquarium and it has tiny white fast running bugs on the inner side of the glass, what are those? i know they cant be good.

[N8DOGG]

" i've had the tank running with no fish for like a week, and there is already some nitrite levels, is this normal?"

Yes,read up on cycleing......your going to do a fishless cycle since you don't have any fish in there now.

if you want to raise dempseys I would say 2 MAX. at most. with a lot of filtration and weekly 50% water changes.

"i have some rather large red rock with holes and cave type things in them"
I'm going to guess that this is lava rock. I think its going to be ok.

[ThirdEyE]

What kind of filter are you running?
and how many do you plan on keeping?

[Fishsmurf]

and another question, a friend of mine has an aquarium and it has tiny white fast running bugs on the inner side of the glass, what are those? i know they cant be good.

I'm not too sure myself from the description :D, but if you get the chance check here, it's a great reference site for all types of aquarium info from the basics to the weird and wonderful :

Skeptical Aquarist (http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/) :bowing:

Look under the section for Invertabrates and most the little critters you find in tanks are given there. You might have to read through a bit but it well worth it.
BTW they are not all bad, so your friend may be ok (apart from the aesthetic impact).
HTH a bit :D