coupla questions for the experts......

Owens187

Owens187

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Oct 22, 2005
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California
wazzup yall........new here to these forums and setting up my first marine aquarium attempt.....although i have kept malawi cichlids for years. just a coupla questions...

1. my lfs sells live rock that is in aquariums with light timers and established eco-systems ...just without fish ...would this lr be considered "cured"?? if needed to know...us $5.99/ lb

2. what temp should a fowlr setup be kept at?

3. how long should the lights be on per day?

4. do i absolutely need a skimmer in a 30 gallon tank?

5. i live in nor cal and frequently visit Monterey Bay...would it be beneficial to use real seawater and/or sand from monterey bay??

and...what does nano stand for?<<probably a dumb question...

thanx yall this forum absolutely rocks!!!:D
 
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Welcome to the forum!! :)
1. It should be, unless the store just got it.
2. I'm pretty sure 72-78 degrees (F) should be fine for most fish
3. I turn on the lights when I wake up, and turn them off when I go to bed (unless its really hot out)
4. You don't need one, but its a good investment to have
5. kinda depends. it might be safer not to, but could be beneficial.
6. nano means "tiny". nano-reefs are small SW reefs (usually under 20 gallons)

Yes, this forum does rock. hope this helps.
 
Ok first off, I am no expert but I can probably answer a few of these.

1. I would ask your LFS if the rock is cured. If its not you probably wouldn't want to try and cure it yourself as you are just starting out. Also I have heard it is sometimes a smelly process.

2. I have my temp at around 78F. Though sometimes it gets slightly higher. (aim for 78F)

3. I think it would depend on your lights and on the organisms you keep. You say its FOWLR so there obviously won't be any corals that have light requirements. I am using PC lights on timers. My blue comes on first at about 8am, then the white comes on at 8:30am. I have the white turn off for about 1.5 hours mid day, then turn back on again. At night the white turns off at 6pm, followed by my blue light turning off at 7pm. This is the best simulation of dawn/dusk I could come up with. I also have a moonlight with I keep on all the time. (you can only see it when both blue/white are off) Lighting might also need to be changed if you have an algae bloom or something like that.

4. I have a skimmer on my 30 gallon reef tank. I didn't have one to start with but I ended up getting one. The tank wasn't dirty looking or anything but I planned on getting a larger tank eventually and I bought one anyway. If you plan on getting corals (which you WILL after you get started ;) ) you might want to get one. Mine takes out some pretty foul smelling stuff that is dark, dark brown. You might not NEED a skimmer, but it would make your water cleaner.

5. I wouldn't personally use any "wild" sand or water. You never know what kind of toxins or pollutants are in it. I am sure there are people on here that could give you a little more information on the subject but I have always skipped it. You might be able to take some sand from the beach and match it to some in your LFS to get that local look. Just a thought

I don't personally have a nano tank but I think the "nano" just suggests that the tank has been miniaturized. A nano tank might contain all the types of corals of a large display tank but it would use "frags", or fragments of different corals. I wouldn't recomend starting a nano first off. A good rule of thumb is: buy the largest tanks you can afford. A large tank will allow more "room for error". I started with a 30 gallon and I didn't have any problems. You should also plan on having corals too. I didn't plan on having them but this is an addicting hobby!! If you have some extra money buy some lights that can accomodate corals. That way it won't cost you any more to add corals if you decide to.

Ok, hope this helps. And if I didn't get anything right someone please feel free to correct me! Welcome too the salty side! Lata
~d
 
thanks for your replys!!! about the toxins n pollutents in the "wild" sand n water....monterey bay is a "marine sanctuary" which is very controlled and strict on everything, even what kinds of boats can be in it...it is all controlled and taken care of by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Society, so i dont think there would be any toxins or definately not pollutents, as this is known as one of the most pristine peices of shoreline in the world.....what do you think?? by the way...... www.mbayaq.org (this is by far the most awesome aquarium i have ever been to, and i am a full meber of the society. I was even lucky enough to see a great white shark they had there for a couple months up close!! awsome!!) :D
 
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I am very familiar with monerey bay aquarium. They are doing some great research with many marine critters including great whites! I believe that was the ONLY great white to survive in captivity for that long!! Goes to show they know a few things about aquariums!!

Although the water is probably fine you should keep in mind that your tank is a much smaller version of the bay. The bay no doubt has tons of plankton and dinoflagulates which are crucial to the natural balance of the bay but may not be something desirable in your aquarium. Although if you collected water away from any land run-off, I don't really know why you couldnt' use it. It would contain all the micronutrients which aquarium organisms need.
I am really not sure about it. You should probably start with the ocean water and stick with it, rather than getting a tank up and running and THEN adding natural ocean water.

Anyone go "au natural"??
There is probably a wealth of knowledge on the internet about this exact topic. Good luck!!
~d
 
Sea Water

Just a thought, the fish may have been breed in tank water not sea water so may well not be used to the real thing.

Good luck with your tank, let us know how you get along......

Mike
 
I have heard that if you get sand straight from the ocean it should be a few miles out because the tide washes toxins to the shore from the ocean. It's not the bad stuff along the shore. It's the stuff washed in from way out. The tide is the ocean's way of cleaning itself.
 
no, they pump all their water in from the bay(and actually have a really interesting system for doing it), all the fish, and all the biological "stuff" comes in as microscopic spores through this system...hence everything is actually straight from the bay. check out their site, the place is friggin' awesome!!
 
Owens187 said:
wazzup yall........new here to these forums and setting up my first marine aquarium attempt.....although i have kept malawi cichlids for years. just a coupla questions...

1. my lfs sells live rock that is in aquariums with light timers and established eco-systems ...just without fish ...would this lr be considered "cured"?? if needed to know...us $5.99/ lb

2. what temp should a fowlr setup be kept at?

3. how long should the lights be on per day?

4. do i absolutely need a skimmer in a 30 gallon tank?

5. i live in nor cal and frequently visit Monterey Bay...would it be beneficial to use real seawater and/or sand from monterey bay??

and...what does nano stand for?<<probably a dumb question...

thanx yall this forum absolutely rocks!!!:D
Click to expand...

Hiya, welcome! I'm no expert, but I'll do my best ;)

1. Sounds at least partially cured - it will go through a cycle in your tank no matter what, but the longer it's been curing the shorter that will likely be.

2. FOWLR tank should be fine around 78F or so, I'd say anywhere from 76F - 82F is probably fine for any SW tank.

3. I run my lights 12h total - 10h with everything, and 1h am and pm with just the actinics and T5s, no 'daylight' bulb.

4. I'd invest in a good skimmer - I'm using an AquaC Remora and I'm happy with it. After seeing the gunk it pulls out, I wouldn't want to run my 30g without a skimmer.

5. There are people who do use NSW and sand from the ocean, some collect livestock from tidepools etc. If you have access to clean water and sand, I don't see why not - just beware that you may bring parasites or unwanted critters in with sand/rock (predatory critters, bacteria, parasites, etc.)

'Nano' has no hard and fast definition when it comes to SW tanks. Most folks over at www.nano-reef.com seem to consider 5.5g - 30g tanks 'nanos', anything below 5.5 (some say 3g) is usually referred to as a 'pico'.
 
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