Starting a SW tank, some good advice

Here's some more pics from this morning...

The shrimp are starting to deteriorate, and the water is still looking clearer little by little...

Front View (notice my wife's little skelly:p)
5-28-morn1.jpg


Side View
5-28-morn2.jpg


Shrimp starting to fall apart
5-28-morn3.jpg


So far now for 2 days, the SG is dead on...haven't started to test anything else yet..

Should I ?? I was going to start a database and every other day take all the measurements and see what's happening.

Jason
 
I'd give it about a week, cuz all yer gonna see is a maxed out ammonia test..

Question......

Is that a live starfish or some kind of decoration? A starfish is NOT suitable for surviving a cycle. You need to remove it right away. If it is fake, then it looks cool =)
 
yea, she saw it at the LFS and had to have it !!!... I myself though it looked pretty cool for being fake...

Anywho, thanks for the info..I'll start doing the test 1 week after it's all been running good..

Just hope the water clears up more...
 
whew, so glad you said it was a fake =) It's official now that yer finally cycling...... Welcome to the salty side! :D
 
just wondering if I should be pumping some o2 into the tank ??

The cloudyness is a first bloom right ???

Cause right now, even though all the powerhead and pumps are on..I have no oxy being pumped into the tank except for some slight surface movment..

I though that the bacteria that I'm trying to grow will need large amounts of oxy to do so during the first week?

Thanks,
Jason
 
Nope, the surface agitation gives all the o2 exchange ya need. Personally, I aim a powerhead output at the surface to help things along.

As for the cloudy water, it takes as long as it takes =) Sometimes it stays a week, sometimes it goes away overnight.. Put it this way, by the time those shrimp turn to jelly, you should have nice clear water...

Did I mention they'll turn to jelly? It's really cool to see.. You can take a feeding prong and poke the shrimp and they'll sorta quiver in place..... DISGUSTING! But still pretty friggin cool at the same time ;) Takes about a week to reach that stage.
 
cool !!! I have til sunday and it'll have been a week since the shrimp went in..

Fun to watch them degrade away !!!

Thanks for the info..I'll leave everything the way it is right now..
 
Making this a sticky--it has some great info about setting up a new tank. I've seen it referenced it 2 or 3 other threads, so this will help out. Also changing the name of the thread (which may goof up some links--my apologies if that happens), so it's readily identifiable.
 
When cycling using the shrimp, after the cycle is complete do you have to remove the shrimp or do they completely desintegrate?
 
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