My first marine tank

[surgy]

A moderator suggested i start a new thread because my questions are more about general tank information than species compatibility. So any advice on making my proposed setup better would be awesome.

i have been in fresh water for a while now. wanted to go marine so i bought a new tank. All water test were done with jungle brand strips. (i know i know i need better) specific gravity was tested using an instant ocean hydrometer. Salt is instant ocean sea salt. the tank is 3 days old. so im not ready for animals yet. at least from my experience in fresh water. but i do want to run my plan by you guys and see what you say. I need to know any specifics i need to do to make the water perfect for the animals i wish to keep. List of animals is included at the bottom.

the tank:
36 gallon aqueon bow front
size 40 aqueon powerfilter (came with tank)
100 watt aqueon submersible heater
floating glass thermometer
single T-5 full spectrum lamp made into canopy
petco brand king 160 powerhead

whats in it now:
2-3 inch bed of light brown caribsea aragonite sand
11 lb live rock (getting more soon)
8 lb base rock (used hold fast to make two small formations)
lots of amphipods and a few bristle worms

water:
35 gallons of distilled water from grocery store
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 0 ppm
KH (alkalinity) 300 ppm
PH 7.8
Specific Gravity 1.022 (31 PPT)

Animals i want to add in the order i want to add them:
(advice here please. how long to wait between and would it be better in a different order?)

1 Common Ocellaris Clown
1 Banded Coral Shrimp << these eat fish? liveaquaria lists them as peaceful
1 Citrinis Clown Goby
Undecided snail
undecided hermit crab << kills snails for there shells...... whos a better cleaner? snail or crab?

 

[Slystone]

You definitely need more rock and hurry so you only cycle once. You can have snails and crabs, but need empty shells for them to move to. Good luck and enjoy.

 

[surgy]

more rock so i only cycle once? i thought that if the bioload was ramped up slowly it would not cause a new cycle. thats why i added base rock..... so the live rock could cycle the tank and then grow onto the base rock which would slowly increase the bioload to the point i could add fish? was i completely off?

 

[Slystone]

Yes, but if you later add more live rock and there is die off it will cycle again and possibly kill things.

 

[crn005]

I wouldn't say that you "need" more rock. With such a small bio load 20lbs of live rock should be plenty enough to keep ammonia and nitrite in check. It just comes down to cosmetics at that point. Plenty of people run as small as .5 lbs per gallon and have no problem, as long as your plan your filtration correctly. However, I would agree that it might throw off your water parameters a bit if you add more later on in the cycle or after its finished.

I'm actually gluing up an external and internal overflow box on a 36 gallon bowfront right now so our tanks should have close birthdays!

 

[Cymonous]

Since your first 3 results are showing 0, you need to add something to start your cycle. Add in a piece of cocktail shrimp to get your cycle started. I would also get your additional rock now. This way, you know your biological filtration is set when you want to add in anymore fish than what you currently have planned.

Edit: Are you planning to QT your fish first?

 

[coralsnaked]

2 * 3 inches of sand is no man's land. Stay under 2" or over 4" for deep sandbed, but they are lots of work. Stick w/ the 2" rule and save yourself some greif down the road.

Merry Skerry

 

[surgy]

yes

yes

Of course I plan to at have a ten g tank waiting

 

[OrQidz]

If you are planning more rock, get it now, as mentioned above. With what you've got I'm sure you'd be ok with 2 fish, but you may well want more fish down the road and wish you had more rock to help support a higher bioload.

Have you thought through some of the basics? like having extra RO/DI water around for topping off, how and where you will mix new salt water for water changes, etc. Get a feel for the logistics now while you cycle the tank.

as for CUC, I'm not sure if you meant one snail and one hermit crab, but you can definitely have several of each. The hermits may kill snails for their shells, but have lots of extra shells about and hopefully they won't.

 

[surgy]

ok another question

ok another question

Thanks everyone for all the advice. But I have another question. I got a new stand and I think I'm going to drain down to a few gallons and restart. Better now than latter. I was thinking about putting the aquarium on the stand leveling it filling it and the attaching it tno two studs using steel L brackets. Just to make sure the kids can't knock it over. Is this ga good idea?

 

[surgy]

first pics

first pics

sorry for double post and image size not sure how to make them smaller coming off my phone

 

[surgy]

first pics

first pics

maybe some of you have been following my other threads about my diy lighting and mounting my tank to the wall so the kids dont pull it off. lol and me getting a new stand....... anyways heres how its turned out so far. going tomorrow to get more rock.

The Tank with one of the leds getting another on opisit side tomorrow. for night light to watch future nocturnals:
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[surgy]

 

[surgy]

If you are planning more rock, get it now, as mentioned above. With what you've got I'm sure you'd be ok with 2 fish, but you may well want more fish down the road and wish you had more rock to help support a higher bioload.

Have you thought through some of the basics? like having extra RO/DI water around for topping off, how and where you will mix new salt water for water changes, etc. Get a feel for the logistics now while you cycle the tank.

as for CUC, I'm not sure if you meant one snail and one hermit crab, but you can definitely have several of each. The hermits may kill snails for their shells, but have lots of extra shells about and hopefully they won't.

yeah im going to get another 10 lb of live rock. and i have 6 five gallon buckets and a ten gallon qt tank ready. i also have 10 gallons of DI water in sealed 5 gallon jugs so they will be room temp and ready to mix salt at a moments notice. i also have a 160 gph submersible pump and a preset submersible heater and a glass thermometer all waiting in the closet in case i need to make water fast. and i would like to have a few good looking fish bright colors with lots of personality and then the rest of the tank to be inverts.

 

[Cymonous]

There is nothing wrong with a little extra "security" by attaching brackets to the stand and the wall if you are worried about your kids. I would recommend to remove the night LED eventually. It will build-up algae and may not be very appealing. You could buy a cheap led strip with blues to attach to your hood instead.

 

[surgy]

The waves on the top of the tank cast shadows more so with the led facing up. It's beautiful

 

[surgy]

First tank log entry:

Specific Gravity: 1.025 34 PPT
Nitrate: 5 ppm
Nitrite: .5 ppm
Ammonia: .25 ppm
phosphate: {N/A} << dont have the test yet
Hardness: {N/A} << /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Ph: 7.8
Temperature: 78F << stable for 5 days now 24 hours a day

notes:
Added 9 lb of live rock thats teaming with amphipods and bristleworms and specks. cant tell what the specs are yet, probably more pods. got coral life power center and set up in sand night light. 6:00 am - 9:30 pm monday through sunday. auto switches between night and day. Have my first inhabitants picked out, nassarius snail and blue leg hermit. to me my cycle looks like its going good. what do you guys think? also im worried about my ph it was in the low 8s and now its high 7s this is a product of cycling right? how do i get it back up? water change time? thanks in advance for any sugestions or comments

 

[jamesbaur13]

if you're testing ammonia and nothing has died you are still cycling.

What you want to see is that ammonia zero out and become nitrite. You then want to see nitrite zero out and become nitrate. As soon as that is done then it's time for a big WC.

While the tank is still maturing (just finished cycling) it's a good idea to continue to test for ammonia and nitrite periodically... especially if something seems "funky".

After the tank matures this won't be as important. You'll mostly be concerned with nitrate and phosphate export.

BTW I like a mix of cleaners... I think it's best to be mindful of how much rock, sand and glass you have to clean. Couple that with the types of algae's you are trying to eliminate. There is no 1 nor 2 types that will eat everything. It's a balancing act using a mix of different cleaners. I have a fair share of nuisance algaes... some of them being macro algaes. I feel my best cleaners are my urchin, turbo snails and emerald crabs for nuisance macro's. For the more common algaes the best are hermits, tangs and astreas. For detritus, nassarius snails, micro brittle stars, and bristleworms. That's all in my opinion though.

 

[surgy]

Tank log 3-19-13

Tank log 3-19-13

My second tank log entry. im listing these so that maybe you guys can help me out and maybe lend soem encouragement? or advice?

Specific Gravity - 1.025 - 34PPT
Nitrite - .5 ppm
Nitrate - 10ppm
Ammonia - .25 ppm
phosphate - still dont have test kit
hardness - /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
PH - 7.8
Temp -79 F

Notes:

First water change scheduled for thursday 3-21-13
5 gallons 78F 1.025 SG
in bucket now circulating with pump and heater.

questions:

why is my ph so low? i need it to be around 8.1 right? my showpiece is going to be an ocillaris clown

My temp rose 1 degree in the last 4 days. it is getting warmer outside, should i be concerned?

When i do my water change, should i use a gravel vac and try to clean up the sand bed?

Nitrates are on the rise, within the next day or so my ammonia and nitrites should dissapear. should i wait a few days after that to make sure its completely cycled? or just call it good when nitrites and ammonia are gone?

 

[julie180]

I run ph in the high 7 to low 8 and don't see it as a problem. Small temp swings are fine.
Cycle takes weeks, not days. Slow down, nothing good happens fast in this hobby.