new to saltwater setting up tank sun/mon

psychadelicdrea

psychadelicdrea

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Oct 6, 2004
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im setting up a new tank soon its a 46 bow going to have 400 emp on it with coralife superskimmer and a powerhead not sure how many of those i need in a 46?....im going to be adding l/r to it depends on cash flow and i have chunks of rock leftover and dosent really fit in my freshwater tanks so i'm gonna throw it in for base rock any suggestions on this? im a newbie to this saltwater game so id like not to learn stuff the hard way yah know? as far as livestock im not real sure prolly not going to go real crazy special need fish just like a nice comunity tank if that even exist with s/w prolly stuff like clowns and some shrimp some inverts what do u all think?
 
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You should probably go with a Deep sand bed, but you have to maintain it well, otherwise it can be a recipe for disaster.

What sort of rock is the base rock you plan to put in? not all are suitable and some may leech.

Easy fish to start with are clowns, shrimp gobies, reef safe wrasse.

You should buy a book or borrow one from the library, that will give you a better idea.
 
im gettin the sand from the lfs....i guess its like calisum carb or whatever crushed coral........sand or whatever
 
You need to decide if you want sand or crushed coral. There is a difference. Most people on these threads that initially use crushed coral are talked out of/go to a real fine sand.

What is your freshwater rock made of that you wish to throw into your saltwater tank? Make sure that it is saltwater safe.

Frank
 
i have no idea what the rock is made of...its just white.....i have a black and white thats like a sandstone but i wasent gonna use that in their.......and i went with carib sea aagonite 30lbs and a 20 lb bag of arag-live reef sand....live sand i bought instant ocean sea salt .......so do i mix the salt in the water before i put it in the tank
 
psychadelicdrea said:
i bought instant ocean sea salt .......so do i mix the salt in the water before i put it in the tank
Click to expand...

Acording to garf that's the best salt brand. Yes you mix the water in buckets before putting it in the tank.
 
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I got it all set up....its all cloudy now....i rinsed the argonite out but i guess its still gonna be all cloudy for awhile ....i got like 15 gallons of extra s/w i mixed the salt in the water in a 30 gallon rubbermaid and i ended up with alot left over i guess....dunno how the salt was for 50 gallons and the tank is 46.
i set the heater at like 80 i hope the live sand helps the cycle ...i put two powerheads in it to help mix it around....hope it clears up soon i wanna get the cycle going

i got 20 lbs of live sand and 30 argonite is that enough? and is two powerheads enough its a 46 bow ...its like a rio pump/ph and a older pequin or somthing
 
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Has the water cleared yet? If not, maybe turning the ph's off might help it clear a little faster. How are you planning to cycle it? A lot of people use damsels, but, if possible, don't. Use a piece of shrimp or something like frozen food to start your cycle. If you have live rock, that can start your cycle. Right now, I think the two powerheads will do ok until you get things started, then you may want to go with more/better.

Frank
 
yeah the water has cleared up its all in the filter pads...and for cycling i guess im gonna put some live rock in their and base cause live is soo xpensive....yah prolly gonna have to get 2 more powerheads ....ill put them on one powerstrip so that when i feed i can just cut the switch on the power strip .....cant wait to get it all cycled .....so i can add fish....i read that i could add some snails or whatever at firsh before the fish i dunno....i dunno what kinda clean up crew im gonna put in it...
 
I also have a 46 gallon bowfront tank as yours and set it up on the 11th of June. I have been trying to get the tank setup they way I like for 2 weeks now, so here is what I have done and have so far:
46 gallon bowfront tank
Emperor 400 Filter without the bio-wheels installed
55lbs of fiji live rock
15 lbs of Caribsea Aragonite Sand
15 lbs of Caribsea Fiji Pink Reef Sand
Original CPR Bak-Pak Protein Skimmer
2 Maxi-Jet 1200 Power Heads (flow 295 gph each)
Lighting is Just a Standard Flurescent Fixture with 1 Fluorescent Bulb and 1 Actinic Bulb
250W Glass Heater, IMO I should of not bought that particular one, aw well.

My rock arrangement is leaning the rock and stacking across the back leaving them away from the front and sides. I have one power jet on the top right shooting at an angle towards the front the other is mounted in the lower front left corner aimed towards the back at a slight angle to get flow across the back of my rock. It took me a while to get my rock arrangement correct and the water flow of the power heads adjusted right, it takes some patients sometimes.
Here is picture of another 46 gallon bow that I kinda got some ideas from:
http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a58/K-Dubbs/?start=all
Good luck and have fun!
 
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