a bit of info please

Oakley

Oakley

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Dec 31, 2003
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Hi guys, my first post in the Marine forums.
I have just brought a 100g tank and also brought a Fluval 404, 2x tronic 200w heaters, 2x 4ft powerglow 40w , 1 x 3ft aqua glow 30w, 1x 3ft blue moon 30w, 50kg washed sand, digital temp gauge. I kind of didnt know weather i was gonna go with fresh water or salt, thats why i got what i did. Anyway onto my question, apart from marine salt and a skimmer, is there anything else that i need to get to have myself the startings of a marine set up?

I have read the long thread about setting up a new tank and all about cycling it, i see the use of powerheads is recomended also,
so would i need to get one of those also to go with the 404? or would the water move about enough with just the 404? also is it right that i would remove all of the media from the 404 and just use carbon when needed? or would it be wise to leave in the mechanical media?
one more question, and this may be the most dumb of them all.
I have a FW cycled tank, would there be any way that using some of the media from the FW tank would speed up the cycle in the SW tank? or are the types of bacteria in each set up different?

Thanks in advance guys

Oakley
 
You may need to upgrade the lighting if you want a reef--you'll have enough to do FO or FOWLR, but most corals will need higher output lighting than that, especially in a deep tank.

Otherwise, looks good. I wouldn't run media in the filter, simply because the media can accumulate solid wastes, increasing nitrates, and increasing the amount of maintenance you have to do each week.

It's not a dumb question--just one that's hard to answer. The initial opinion of many is that they are different bacteria, and the FW strain won't survive the SW. Cycled live rock will import much of the bacteria you want, as would a scoop of sand from an established tank. As with FW cycling, it will happen even without any seeding, though it may take a bit longer.

I'm midway through cycling a SW 10. I used a chunk of shrimp, had ammonia spikes off the scale for 2 weeks, then it went to 0. The nitrites are still way up there--around 12 as of Friday. I added a scoop of sand from one of the other tanks, and the nitrites dropped to about 8 by Sunday. Still way high, but on it's way.
 
Thanks OG, as always you are very helpful and make us with less knowlage feel at ease asking questions :)
I think i will go with the shrimp way that you talk about and that is in the help thread, it doesnt matter if i have to wait a little longer to cycle a tank.
I am not going to try for corals at the moment, i am more interested with the fish side of things plus i read that it is more of an advanced pastime looking after inverts.

I am hoping to get 1 or 2 spectacular fish such as a lion fish and puffers or box fish, of course i would check here with you guys of compatability first.

Also would i need to buy an RO unit? i am assuming that you have to use RO water everytime you change the water?
Thanks :)
 
Using an RO is advised, but it really depends on what your water is like. I have a series of filters that my water goes through--not RO, but it removes the metals, chlorine, and many other chemicals. If you have high phosphates or nitrates in your water, then RO would definitely help out.

Glad to help out! A volitan and a porcupine puffer would be good together. Won't be able to eat each other, and shouldn't be too hard to feed together. A spiny box puffer, or a scribbled puffer, would be a good choice as well.
 
Thanks OG, although my nitrates are low from my tap water, my po4 is high, i have sourced an ro unit that gives 35g perday and costs £100. which is i think about $160 U.S. I think in the long run it will be a better and maybe a cheaper option, rather than treating my water with conditioner for chlorine etc..

You have made me a very happy man, i get to have my favourate fish, together in one tank :) i am so glad that i have decided to go down the SW road :)

Sorry one more question, the sand that i have is washed sand, 2 different grades, one is very light in colour and small in grain size, the other is slightly darker and a little more course, i mixed them up to wash them (i was going to use it as a sub for FW) they both came from a LFS, i was wondering if they would be ok to use in the SW setup? i was alos thinking of adding a couple of bags of live sand on the top, would this mixture work ok?
Thanks

Oakley
 
from what people have told me, it is best to not rinse the sand. something about the smaller particles being helpfull for bacteria. if you havent opened the bags of sand though, you might wanna try going to a hardware store or cement shop and looking for a type of agronite sand, like southdown. usually about 5 bucks for 50 pounds, if not you can try tropical play sand. basically the same thing you would find at lfs but 10x cheaper. some one comment if im wrong though, just what i was told when i started mine about 2 months ago

hope this helps

caz
 
Thanks caz, trouble is i took the sand out of the bags and mixed the two together as i was thinking about setting up a FW with the kit that i brought, so taking it back is a no go, also as i am in England i am not too sure what type of sand would be available.
 
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