Starting a SW tank, some good advice

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clariza

Registered Member
Oct 5, 2004
3
0
0
48
manila, philippines
hi!
i have a 15 gal. salt water tank. i'm planning to get a bigger tank soon.
what's the ideal size for a saltwater tank? i'm planning to transfer my 1 anemone, 3 clowns, and 3 other damsel fish and 1 flaming scallop.

:)

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logicalsl

Registered Member
Oct 10, 2004
2
0
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56
South Florida
2 ways I cycled my tanks and added fish in 1 week.

I ‘m new to salt water tank’s and are learning a lot here in the groups, I live in South Florida and I’m finding that we set up tanks here differently than what I’m reading in the groups. I have 2 tanks the first was set up on September 11 and I started the tank in day one with 4 live Damsels to cycle the tank and now have a puffer a yellow tank and a Dottyback in the tank. This is the two setups that I find used in south Florida and they both work greater for me
Tank one 35Gallon Hex shaped tank

First I filled the tank 60% fresh ocean salt water $0.50 a gallon its cheep enough we don’t mix salt here or I can drive 10 miles to the beach and get it free.

Added 20 LB live sand (no bed rock or crushed rock) I was told not necessary.

added 20 Lb live rock and toped off the tank with water had to add 3 gallons of bottle water to get the salinity down to 1.023.

Ran the filter for 12 hours before I added 4 Damsels to start my tank cycling, by the way the water was mostly clear in 4 hours and very clear in 24 hours. Tested water before Damsel was added. Test results PH 8.0 Nitrites 0 Nitrates 0 Ammonia

The tank cycled for 3 weeks and is doing well. On week 3 I asked my LFS when I was buying the puffer and Yellow Tang how can I speed up the cycle process to my 50 Gal tank? He told me to add Bacter Vital (www.marcweissco.com) in my tank to add bacteria and cycle tank in days instead of weeks and to add Kent Marine Superbuffer-dkh (www.kentmarine.com) to bring my PH up to 8.3 and Ionic coal added in my wet dry to absorb any ammonia.

This is what he uses and he can add fish in a stable tank in 3 to 4 days and add live coral in just over a week.

On Monday 10/4/04 I set up my 50 Gal tank.
Equipment: Wet/Dry with a Mag drive 750 pump and a Berlin Red Sea Skimmer that I’m still missing a pump for.

First I added 60% water to the tank, than added 40 Lb Live Sand and 50 Lb Live Rock and toped off water in tank but this time I didn’t add fresh water to bring down the salinity I kept it at 1.024.

Run pump for 12 Hours and added the same Damsels from the other tank and tested water.
Test results PH 8.0 Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0.25, and Nitrate 0 I’m not sure why the Nitrite was up. I added one teaspoon Kent Marine Superbuffer and one teaspoon Bacter Vita and re tested the water the next day PH 8.4 Amm 0 Nitrate 0 Nitrite 0. By the way I have to add one teaspoon of Bacter Vital in the tank for the next 30 days. Today when I took a sample to the LFS he told me that the tank is ready for fish so now I have added to the tank one Tomato Clown $11.00 and one Striped Grouper $20.00 to the tank, so far they are doing great but the Damsels have been hiding from the grouper.

I hope this is of any help to everyone.
 

Reefer Ron

AC Members
Nov 7, 2004
70
0
0
Dothan, AL.
Very Informative

I sure am glad I have found this site and joined! Very informative! I'm very new to the Marine thing. So far I love the chalenge of it all. I have had my 125g set up for 7 weeks now! I belive i've read to many different books, sometimes it is all just confussing. Anyway my parramaters are all good but I have a hard time keeping clowns alive. I have various corals 22, two firemouths or fireheads?, two black sailfin blennies, one lawnmower blennie, 2 fire red shrimp, 4 scarlet Skunk cleaner shrimp, 2 Tiger-stripped sea stars, an algae attack pack, (which cleared up my massive hair algae problem in less than 24 hours), 3-4 inches of live sand, and 200lbs of live rock, Oh and also 3 bulb anemones. Every thing seems to be not only doing fine but is growing! But I can't seem to keep fish alive for very long? I need some experiencied insight.
Thanks, Newb real new at this
 

Reefer Ron

AC Members
Nov 7, 2004
70
0
0
Dothan, AL.
New Addition

I have just ordered a 250g tank with over flows in both back corners. I have a 135g that I want to use as a refugium/trickle. Is this a good or bad idea. And how should I go about doing this?
 

zar

AC Members
Nov 22, 2004
46
0
0
Quick question. This may be obvious to some, but I have to ask...

The "shrimp" method of cycling -- should I use a raw shrimp (i.e., the black ones that aren't shelled) or a cooked shrimp (pink, with no shell)? I went Ralph's seafood counter and they asked me and I was like "um, I have no idea... Just give me two of each." The lady looked at me funny.

So, pink or black??

thanks,
bruce
 

OrionGirl

No freelancing!
Aug 14, 2001
14,053
342
143
Poconos
Real Name
Sheila
Raw works better--they break down quicker. Cooking is a preservative, so the cooked shrimp will still produce ammonia, just not as quickly.
 

zar

AC Members
Nov 22, 2004
46
0
0
OrionGirl said:
Raw works better--they break down quicker. Cooking is a preservative, so the cooked shrimp will still produce ammonia, just not as quickly.
I tossed the raw shrimp in at about 7pm last night. Remember, raw shrimp are that grey/black color?

At 8am this morning, they were plump and pink. Temp = 25C. I didn't think you could slow cook shrimp in a SW tank, but hey... :)

thanks,
bruce
 
Jan 12, 2005
2
0
0
oklahoma
use the carbon, , lighting depends on what u plan to keep. you can buy a electronic ballast for 4 no t-8 bulbs about 20 bucks, and wiring supplies ect about 10 bucks. even 2 watts a gallon fine for some things like most mushrooms and a few zoes. on lighting, whatever you do,, id do 75% 10,000 kelvin and 25% actinic blue. bulbs under 6,500 kelvin are a bad idea, to much red spectrum,,also get bulbs with highest cri=color rendering index, and lux also called lumens,,which is the actual light output, or brightness. good luck
 
Jan 12, 2005
2
0
0
oklahoma
well not to hurt yer feelings, but 95% of flame scallops dont last 6 months,,,its a feeding problem. sometimes blended dts phyto target feed keeps em alive a year or so,,,other than that a 55 gallon would be a great step up size for you...good luck
 

Oliver

Oliver
Jan 17, 2005
424
0
0
Perth, Western Australia
Hi Jason. For a salt water tank, containing live rock you should not have a canister filter. This will defeat the purpose of having live rock/sand in the first place. LIve rock gives out a huge ammount of good bacteria and a canister filter will just prevent this from happening. You should be looking at having enough powerheads/internal filters to turn the water over 20 times in 1 hour. As for the light, i have constructed my light and i must say it was easy, but if you are going with light sticks, about 3 tubes the lenght of your tank would be appropriate, depending on the size of your tank.
 
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