New To Salt Questions

[FISHFAN93]

Hey there:
I have a 135 gallon aquarium situated in my basement , I am in the process of converting to salt/marine .
I would like all the goodies fish coral enenemies , shrimp etc.
I know its going to take @ 6 -12 months .
#1- Should I discard all my fresh water and start new , I'm thinking not , as I already have it at a good level of low ph and low metals etc.
#2- Filtration - I currently have a Aqua Clear 500 and a Skilter 400 wich I was only going to use as a skimmer, plus a powerhead 300 for current . - any input?
#3- How much salt per gallon would I need and is instant ocean good enough ?
#4 - Regular sand plus ocean plus crushed coral good for a base?
#5- Adding 5 cocktail shrimp for how long?
#6- Get a test kit? maybe #3
#7- whAT DO I do next?
Thanks '
Darren

 

[jessie]

for #1 im not sure.
for #2 youll need to be circulating 10 times the amount of water that is in your tank. 1350 gallons an hour. i dont know what the ratings are on the equiptment you have.
for #3 instant ocean says it takes about 7.5 punds to make 25 gallons of salt water, i keep my tank at 1.025 and i think it takes a little more than that. if yoou bought 40 lbs or so it should be enough to take care of what you need.
for #4 ill let someone else take that because it always starts as help but ends u0 in a debate over pros and cons of DSB vs other stuff.
for #5 & #6 you need the test kit to determine when your tank is actually fully cycled. stuff raises and then lowers back down.
#7 read, start planning on exactly what you want, read, make sure its all compatible,read,dont buy anything that you are not familar wiht, read, dont stock too early, read, and most important, read as much as you can and get as much information before you start the tank. if you dont, your setting yourself up for problems, trust me i found out the hard way. alot of people say the next thing you should do is start a clean up crew. then slowly add the things you want when your tank has matured enough to handle them. sorry if this sounds boring, hope it helps.

 

[Gealcath]

SW is diffrent the FW, the PH will need to be around 7.8-8. so you can empty out all the water and fill it with SW (the water does nothing for the bacterial population).

If your going to use sand dont use the crushed coral, and get the smallest sand size possible.

1/2 a cup of instant ocean for every gallon will get your salinity around 1.23.

You keep the cocktail shrimp in the aquarium until Ammonia and Nitrites are 0 (they will dissolve long before this usually)

 

[Andy16]

enenemies

RESEACH!!!! This is the best advice I can give you. Pick up some books, google search your interests, ask for advice hear. If you anemones, then you better realize their requirements. First of all, anemones are terrible to keep in an aquarium. Most of them die in a short period of time in a home aquarium. The only people attempting this should be people with a lot of knowledge under their belt. The freshwater cannot be converted into saltwater. pH for a saltwater tank needs to be at 8.2-8.4 or at least in that general area. At least a normal skimmer should be put on there. It really all depends on what you want to keep. Coral? You are going to need lights and depending on what species, intense lights, or not very intense. You also need the right amount of current.

Your AC 500 isn’t really much good for mechanical filtration anymore. My emperor gets clogged up so fast on my 20-gallon tank that I cant keep up with it. The only reason that I have it is because I am waiting to get a skimmer before I take it off. I use my AC mini to hold phosphate remover, but having it gives me the option of using carbon also. So you can use the AC 500 for current and to hold media like that.

Liverock is also a good thing to invest in. I wouldn’t start a SW tank with out it. I think it is the basis to any reef aquarium and I bet many here will agree. It supports bacteria colonies and serves as a natural filter. It also looks pretty.



I feel lucky that my parents wouldn’t let me start up a SW tank for a long time. Gave me the time to research a lot before I even touched a bag of salt.

 

[FISHFAN93]

Thanks to all .
In regards to the filtration , If Ii have the AC 500 with carbon bio max and foam and the powerhead running with carbon filter and use the SKILTER 400 just for skimming , is that good enough?
We are looking at @1300 GPH of filtration and skimming .
As well how do I save all this great info ?
And yes I have been researching these facts for @ 1 year now I have books , but again I want to collect opinions and ideas from more then one source , so yes hats off to you all for the great info and THANKS

 

[vegasadam]

I had a skilter 250 on a 55 gallon and it did nothing. From what others have told me is skilters are a gimmick that just doesnt work well. Sorry but as others will tell you a skimmer is very important so I would ask some of the more senior members here for a suggestion. Goodluck you will love salt.
Adam

 

[Andy16]

I agree with vegas. It also depends on what your livestock selection is. But I would just get a normal skimmer. You will actually save money becuase you wont run into problems in the future about problems with filtration and have to buy other stuff. I am a nano-reefer so I dont know a whole lot about large tanks and equipment, but get a skimmer. To give you an example of a good setup, here is my brothers. I think it is an 80 gallon oceanic bow front. He has a tidepool sump that has phosphate remover, carbon, and a foam pad. After that he has a nice smimmer. I think it is made by red sea. He is thinking about getting a refugium also. He has PC lights from custom sea life, but they are out of business so that isnt an option unless you get some at your lfs that has some left or a used fixture. As for the filter intake, im not a big fan of it but im still used to FW a little. It only takes water off the surface and then it uses gravity to go into the sump. The part I dont like is how it is only a surface skimmer, but it does prevent any overflows.

I know it is not quite the same size or anything, but it is a pretty nice setup and he is keeping two anemones and has a maroon clown hosting in one. The other is a carpet. They have survived for maybe 4 months and they are in an OK health. His tank is nearly algaeless, with the exception of normal algae scraping once in a while. He doesnt do water changes, I dont really agree with that, but it is working for him right now.

Well I HTH. I am just trying to give an example of a tank setup about the size of yours.

 

[mogurnda]

With all that good advice, there's not a whole lot I can add.

As far as #1, I see no benefit to keeping the old water, and several drawbacks. You salt mix has all the buffers and minerals you need, so the old water won't help. Plus, you're adding the pollutants and debris from the previous occupants, which is likely to feed a spectacular algae bloom.

I don't normally include the skimmer in my calculations of water flow, and consider 10X per hour about minimum. It might be good to add another powerhead. I'm not sure that I've ever heard anything good about the skilter.

To repeat what has been said above, a hydrometer and a good set of test kits will be absolutely necessary to get started. Several companies produce combination kits, which have tests for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. You'll know your cycle is complete when your ammonia and nitrite go up and then go to zero. In my experience, nitrite takes about 6 weeks to go away.

I didn't see anything about live rock in your plan. It really helps keep the tank biologically stable.

There are some good books and some really lousy ones out there. Be careful of what you read, because some outdated info can be worse than ignorance. My approach is to always read more than one, read through posts on message boards, and try to extract the basic trend.