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phippsp

Registered Member
Apr 1, 2013
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I have come for your brains! Not as a zombie but as a new forum member looking to adventure into the saltwater aquarium world! This has been in the back of my head for awhile now and for the past month or so I have done a lot of reading online about what to do. I think I have come to a conclusion of what path I would like to take. But before I start hitting the (buy) button and mixing RO/DI and saltmix I decided to sign up to this community forum for your thoughts. So here it is...

I am going to start basic with just the cycling of Live Rock...and that is it. No fish are even in the thought process at the moment. The bulk of my purchase will most likely be dry rock and probably going to my LFS and getting some live rock from them to start the cycling process of the tank. I am in no rush but I believe starting out like this and just working on turning the dry rock into live rock will give me a nice grace period to learn how to correctly take readings for the anemia, nitrite, nitrate and ph levels and also measure thesalinity correctly. I know this will be a slow process turning the dry rock into live rock but I am in no rush and will be able to continue researching while this process is taking place.

So I think this will be my first few steps..

I have a 20 gallon long tank and stand I purchased for it.
I will probably purchase play sand or pool filter sand.
Dry rock with some live rock.
2-3 Powerheads
Salt Mix & RO/DI water.
Heater

So what do you think? With the thought of not keeping any fish I am not in fear of killing anything so I feel pretty safe with this set up to test things out and play around with it. Also someday down the line I want a 50-75 gallon tank to keep fish in and having this set up early on and established would be a big benefit to that tank.

Thanks!
 

greech

AC Moderators
May 13, 2009
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Tallahassee, FL
Real Name
Graham
The dry rock will turn live sooner than you think but its very good that you are willing to be patient and continue to research.

Don't use play or pool filter sand. Good chance it will be loaded with silica and that's not good for anything but feeding diatom blooms. Do yourself a favor an buy dry aragonite sand (preferably something with a mixture of grain sizes). It's the difference of spending $20 versus $5 and you will save yourself a ton of headaches.

You will need at least one fish to sustain the bacteria. That or you will need to feed the bacteria.

Your start list is fine but you need something to mix SW with (small pump/PH), some buckets to mix SW in, and a hydrometer or refractometer to measure specific gravity. Refractometers are best. If you go with a hydrometer, just know that they tend to be off. If you have a good LFS they should have a refractometer to compare the hydrometer to.

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/refractometer-for-reading-salinity-with-calibration-fluid.html

Welcome to the forum and to the hobby!
 

phippsp

Registered Member
Apr 1, 2013
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37
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005ES6MOQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2KU5BPCTRSW5I

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0036S70ZG/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003SNU1I2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1PVJENL0IJHJ4

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001EUE808/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000256EUS/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Hello Again!

This is the list of things I plan on purchasing off of Amazon. Most of the stuff I can get with free shipping and compared to my LFS I will save $20-$30 bucks. I have one major problem though none of the stores sell RO/DI water. I work right next to a placed called The Fish Place and sent them an email today asking if they sold it and the answer was no but a good idea we will look into it.

I am also stuck not being able to purchase a RO system. I live in a apartment and do not think my landlord would approve of it. My only other option I guess is to just go to Wal-Mart or a local Water Station that are set up at some places and see if they have RO water.

Since I can't purchase a RO system for my own place at the moment and if looking at other local places for RO water supply do I have any other option? Can I use my tap water and add some sort of chemical to remove chlorine/chloramine. Like I said in the original post I do not expect to have any fish added to my setup anytime soon. I really want to get the basics down and learn to hold salinity/ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels before I even think of adding livestock to the aquarium.

Thanks!
 
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