I crossed over 1st sw 29g from day 1.-

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apelaston

much more than a hobby to me.
Mar 21, 2008
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bradford, ohio
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I have been taking care of freshwater tanks since i was about 10 years old and currently have a 90 gal planted tank and a 55 gal aggressive tank. As of today I 'borrowed' my two year old sons tank to start my first saltwater adventure. I am scared to death, but I have been researching for months and months, and the last month have been reading for hours a day on the subject, care, setup etc. I couldn't wait any longer.

So i went to buy a heater for my tank today and came home with 10lb live sand and 6 lb live rock and 5 crabs that the girl threw in for me. I have no idea what they are-YET.
I have everything in the tank(been working since early this morning) and now I am waiting for the water to clear from when I added my sand.

Right now I am using a 20w (36") 18,000k power-glo light which I will upgrade as soon as I get some more sand and live rock...filter is a Aquatech HOB filter which I am going to upgrade when I get more live rock as well. Also in my tank in a powerjet 550 to add flow. It is really moving the water quick in my tank right now...I have it aimed more towards the top of the water to help the sand settle....

I will post pictures as I update..I am waiting for the water to settle and then will get my test readings for everyone.
Any suggestions so far? I am sooo nervous about starting this and failing(which I will not allow to happen so I don't know why I worry lol) but still. I do not know any one with a SW tank so I am alone in this conquest without you guys.

HELP is going to be needed here and greatly appreciated. I have done my homework as I stated, but reading is soooo much different than doing! EEK
 
Reefscape

Reefscape

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apelaston said:
I have been taking care of freshwater tanks since i was about 10 years old and currently have a 90 gal planted tank and a 55 gal aggressive tank. As of today I 'borrowed' my two year old sons tank to start my first saltwater adventure. I am scared to death, but I have been researching for months and months, and the last month have been reading for hours a day on the subject, care, setup etc. I couldn't wait any longer.

So i went to buy a heater for my tank today and came home with 10lb live sand and 6 lb live rock and 5 crabs that the girl threw in for me. I have no idea what they are-YET.
<<Crabs are hardy individuals, but there is a big chance they may not survive as the tank is not cycled yet>>
I have everything in the tank(been working since early this morning) and now I am waiting for the water to clear from when I added my sand.

Right now I am using a 20w (36") 18,000k power-glo light which I will upgrade as soon as I get some more sand and live rock...filter is a Aquatech HOB filter which I am going to upgrade when I get more live rock as well.
<<If you have not already done so, replace the media with brand new media as there is a difference between the bacteria present in a FW system, than in a SW system>>
Also in my tank in a powerjet 550 to add flow. It is really moving the water quick in my tank right now...I have it aimed more towards the top of the water to help the sand settle....

<<How many gallons is the tank? you may or may not need more flow in there>>

I will post pictures as I update..I am waiting for the water to settle and then will get my test readings for everyone.

<<Untill the cycle has started, they will all pretty much read zero. Do please take some time to read this sticky on cycling methods. Cycling Methods & Procedures >>

Any suggestions so far? I am sooo nervous about starting this and failing(which I will not allow to happen so I don't know why I worry lol) but still. I do not know any one with a SW tank so I am alone in this conquest without you guys.

<<He he he he...i think most everyone is nervous on starting their first SW system...Patience and understanding is the key to success>>

HELP is going to be needed here and greatly appreciated. I have done my homework as I stated, but reading is soooo much different than doing! EEK
Click to expand...

Sounds good so far, some info above to read and some info required from you...

Good luck with this, were all here to help you through each step of the way..
 
A

apelaston

much more than a hobby to me.
Mar 21, 2008
274
0
0
bradford, ohio
www.myspace.com
I read that cycling sticky probably 10 times as well as followed and read entire threads start to finish of other tanks from set up to year 52(ok a little exaggeration lol) The tank is 29 gal and I don't think with the 10lb of LS and 6lb LR that my cycle will be that large right now lol. I hope to get more on Tuesday. I am going to go about this very slow, and the girl just threw in a few Hermits for me to amuse me while I have nothing more than LR to look at. I don't believe that with the rock that I have I will be getting growths like a lot of other people seem to, but my fingers are still crossed & I am still staring at it for ungodly amounts of time each time I walk by (it is sitting on a bar area that seperates my living room and kitchen---i see it constantly-teeheehee)

I have already removed the FW filtration and right now have nothing in there.

?I have some ceramics from a canister filter that I used to have-would I benefit any from using those? They are just sitting here in a plastic bag....

Also during the cycle should I have the temp stable at 78-80?

I checked my SG and it was a little high- i mixed the 25gal package fully into the water thinking i would be fine and need it all for the 29, but I was wrong. Also I pH I know is over 7.5 (high as my current kit goes that I borrowed from my freshwater tank)

Going to get my AP SaltWater Test Kit Tuesday as well.
 
A

apelaston

much more than a hobby to me.
Mar 21, 2008
274
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0
bradford, ohio
www.myspace.com
i am going to be ordering my live rock today and should be recieving it by thursday...
 
D

Danyal

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May 20, 2007
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you'll love the live rock, the biodiversity on such a seemingly lifeless piece of rock is amazing. even some of the crappy looking rock can suprise you and the best looking rock can dissapoint. i remember hand picking from a big bin of fresh imported rock at a large LFS and looking for the most interesting shapes, but mainly looking for colour and life. all the pieces i had to get turned out to be mostly lifeless and the coraline bleached while the one piece i don't even remember getting turned out to have some really intersting critters on it. wait for a few months to throw in fish and use it to fine tune all your equipment and setup, its a lot easier that way.
 
A

apelaston

much more than a hobby to me.
Mar 21, 2008
274
0
0
bradford, ohio
www.myspace.com
i know my lfs gets shipments in on wednesdays so i am going to go wednesday and sort through the rock --thanks to my pals there--before it gets put out for display. Then I hope to get some really nice pieces. I picked out one piece that is COVERED thickly in coraline and another piece of tonga right now.
A local reefer gave me some 'cheeto' maybe? to put in to my filter and a handful of his sand to seed mine. He also gave me just a small piece of his fiji to help the seeding process. I am not going to be adding fish for atleast 2 months from the date of setup whether the tank is ready or not because of vacation reasons. I am embarrassed tho at how interested i am watching the 7 crabs i have wander about the tank--(red and blue leg hermits-freebies)

I will keep you posted.
 
A

apelaston

much more than a hobby to me.
Mar 21, 2008
274
0
0
bradford, ohio
www.myspace.com
Ok i have found life besides the crabs the LFS girl threw in my bag...a small starfish--about as wide across as a pencil eraser- leg to leg. It is black and white striped with very very thin legs and it 'prickly' looking. Is this a brittle star? It is too small for my camera to pick up for a picture. Tomorrow i am going for another 10 lb of sand and a few more live rocks. woohoo. Also picking up my testing kit tomorrow for my pH, trites, trates, and ammonia so I can start following the cycle process.
 
A

apelaston

much more than a hobby to me.
Mar 21, 2008
274
0
0
bradford, ohio
www.myspace.com
added another 10lbs of live rock and 5lbs of live sand. Also got 2 blue damsels today for my tank. I have checked all the perimeters and everything gone back down to acceptable levels for fish. Wish the new live rock which has a ton of sponges on it(but dead due to exposure) i am going to have to watch my trates,trites, and ammonia closely this week and keep up with my water changes. The fish are settling in nicely into the cloudy water from the sand, but have already set up homes in two spots of the tank-one pushed sand out from under a rock and the other took up residency in a tunnel in the rock. Yippeee.
 
D

Danyal

AC Members
May 20, 2007
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bad move, it's likely that both will suffer and live through the cycle and then start beating the hell out of each other as they grow older. a 29g is rarely big enough for damsels like blue damsels to get along, a pair of yellow tail blue damsels or even a trio could work or a group of chromis damsels but a pair of blues is asking for trouble.
 
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