Adventure into Saltwater

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Ebacherville

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May 7, 2004
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I figured I would satrt a thread for my adventure into saltwater from fresh water.. In the hope that my adventure will also help others in the same adventure.

I will also pe posting to my website.

Please forgive my spelling and grammar or lack there of.

Background:
I have had fresh water tanksranging from small destop setups to larger fully planted setups with all types of live stock including crawfish, cichlids, you name it... I learned quite a bit durring the process.

We built a new home and the tanks needed to be dismanltes and were given away, minus one 20 gallon tank.

Well now that were into our new house I talked about settng up a tank again and my wife said only if it a salt water tank... Started researching it and that brings us right to the current date.

Our plan is this 55 gallon tank, Deep Sand Bed, and live rock, no coral... Fish only and some hardy inverts.

Let the games begin!

May 8th, my wife (Buy-in from the wife is good) bought a 55 gallon tank setup from the local wallmart. (cheapest and just about only sourc e for equipment around here) Were in a rural rea and the there is one LFS and there saltwater deparment is sad... 4 tanks and less than 10 fish, no inverts and 4 chunks of live rock... so almost everything will be mail order. And not to mention there prices are insane.. like 400% over mailorder places...Yeah a penguin 330 biowheel power filter for $197.00.. Im not kidding!

Any way so we have this tank kit, 55 gallon tank, heater, net power filter (no biowheel) 2 hood/lights ... pretty much a basic setup...

I went to Menards (like a home depot) and found the silica sand... 2 bucks got me 50 ponds, of nice white silica.

4 days ago I ordered 100 gallons worth of instant ocean and 2 power heads so i can start my fishless cycle..It was at my door step when i got home with the tank.. wow good timing !

I was going to build a stand for the new tank, after lookingat what the store was offering for a stand for the 55gallon for $77 I was confident I could build a nicer one... So I get home after taking notes from the stand in the store, It was MDF painted black and had two doors on the fron that were simply a flat biece of MDF.. So I started drawing up a design that would include a hood system and a way to hide the unsightly stuff in back... Well then my wife says hey, that old oak dresser in out closet might work for a stand.. so I go look at and mesure it...Wow its perfect... now will it hold the weight? Well ater climbing on it and doing some "stress tests" It will hold the weight... So we unloaded all our crap from the dresser and re-painted it with emanel semi gloss black to match the tanks finish (it was gray), has tons of storage and it is exactly the right size... unreal... So thats in the kitchen drying right now.. should be ready for use tomarrow.

Next steps are to put setup the tank on its "stand" and add the Deep Sand Bed.. add water and start the shrimp cycle.

Things I still need to aquire before beginning my cycle... A saltwater test kit, and a hydrometer.. then my cycle is starting.

Future needs...
Setting up a nice canopy light system, based on 2 shop light fixtures and built into the canopy system.. One advantage of the 55 gallon tankis it perfect for these shop lights.

A protien skimmer, Live rock, fish and a clean up crew.

Any comments or recomendations are very welcome.
 
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The Tank Stand:
I'm not the best person to give advice since I am new to saltwater myself. But, I would be very careful about the dresser. A 55 gallon tank with live rock will be over 800 pounds. Just be careful is all I'm saying.

The Sand:
That's great you could get white sand. I couldn't find any. But, you'll need more like 80-100lbs for a 4" dsb.

The Cycle:
If the smell from the shrimp gets too bad check out this thread.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28797

The Lights:
Make sure you have lights with the right spectrum.

As for the other equipment, I'll leave that to others with a little more experience. :) Good luck and enjoy the slow process.
 
I agree. Don't use the dresser. I set my 55 on a solid cherry dresser and the **** thing bowed right in the middle. Thank God I didn't have alot in the tank when I noticed it.
You will find aquascaping your 55 will be hard because the width is so narrow. It took me from last July till now to get my rocks where I am satisfied with their placement.
Instead of a hydrometer why don't you get a refractometer instead. They are much more accurate than a hydrometer.
Above all else, have fun. The stress of getting it right is a killer. Just keep on asking questions.
 
As for the dresser... It will hold it, its made from oak and is heavy as hell, its old and built well...Right now its holding my tank filled with water and Sand, The dress er itsself is about 100 pounds.. It definatly will be better than the one that I could have purchaced.

So my progress today is I filled the tank with about 80 pounds of sand and water, no salt yet... letting the water warm and clear up..and to make sure eveything is ready, before i add salt. Actually this sand was very very clean, and stays put on the bottom , no floating around, the water is nice and clear only 15 minutes after filling the tank...

Im running both my maxi jet power heads with a bit of air flow, from the rear corners twards the center of the tank, and also running my power filter that came with the tank kit for added circulation (no filter medium).. Calculating this out its turning my tank about 15 times a hour but the water seems very still for this being the case, I was expecting more I guess..

Once it runs a few days, i will add my salt and start my cycle... as for the refractometer... I used to have one for work... I know thats the way to go but there almost $90 if I recall correctly.. Unless there is a better place to get them.

And yes the aquascaping will be a bit harder due to the tank depth, but thats ok If it wasn't a challange it wouldn't be worth doing... Famous last words.

Any one ever use X10 stuff to control there canopy lights on and off... Computer controled aquarium... im a geek I guess..

I'm taking pitcures along the way, they will be posted on a web site as progress continues.
 
Thanks, We have a 20 micron whole house filter on our well and the water is pretty good quality, Its a little high in iron content but that virtually gets eliminated after the filter setup...

I dug up one of my old 20 gallon tanks for a hospital tank, I am cleaning it up and setting it up this week... Its pretty nasty, sat in a garage for 6 months, but it should clean up nice..

I ordered a master test kit and hydrometer yesterday and will be waiting to add salt and start the cycle till then.

Afer my cycle I will order and add my base and live rock, and lett it cycle again... then come the cleanup crew and then finaly fish.
 
If you're using dry base rock, such as lace or lava rock, I would add it during the cycle--that way, you'll have more space for the bacteria to colonize.
 
Lighting:

My plan is to use 4 48" 40 watt floresent tubes for lighting... And was looking at my options for bulbs/tubes... But then I read somewhere that you should have certain color temp bulbs... what is the color temp I should be looking for... I found ones that claimed to be "sunlight" there light temp was "6500" another set I found was "6250" what range am I looking for...

Im not doing coral... just fish, live rock and a a invert or two.

One other question, for saltwater how long should I be running my lights, 10- 12 hours a day?? More?? Less??

I also plan on doing "Moonlight leds" and controlling all these lights with a computer via X10 controls... so with the x10 control I can do variable activation so I can activate one set of 48" tubes at say 8 am then a hour later the other set... to simulate nature better than just on off.... This room is also lit fairly well by sunlight... dut not direct sunlight on the tank.
 
I was going to order the base rock its dead coral I beilive... Hmm, Maybe I will add it in before the cycle...

When you say "lava rock" you aren't refering to the stuff you put in your gas grill are you??
 
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