My very first saltwater tank :-) , help needed
- Thread starter Ramiro.OK
- Start date
JTL
New member
I cured mine with saltwater, some bacteria in a bottle in a tub in the garage. I also used an old powerhead. I did not have my new tank yet so I had no choice and wanted to jump start the cycling process. I would have preferred to cycle it in the actual tank after setting up my preliminary aquascape. Add some ammonia to get it going or put in a dead shrimp. You will like the fact that it leeches no phosphates, but I think it may be leeching Ca since my Ca stays stubbornly high without additives and I have to buffer my Alk.
Clowning_Around
New member
I'm not sure if your pump was running In the photos but your sumps water level in the return chamber looks high. It could just be my understanding of your setup but do you have capacity for power failure so that you don't have a flood in the sump from your overflow while the pump is off?
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EzReefs
New member
Ramiro,
Give the rock a good, good rinse. After that, you can go ahead and throw them in the tank. The rocks will cycle in the tank just fine. There would not be any benefit to cycling them outside of the tank because you do not have any inhabitants currently. However, it would be a good idea to go to your local fish store and purchase a few pounds of live rock there. Maybe about 5lbs or so. Make sure the live rock has a good amount of coralline algae. This way you will be able to add beneficial bacteria and coralline algae to the dry rocks.
For equipment, I have a few recommendations.
You mentioned your pump is loud. I use a "KEDSUM 550GPH Submersible Water Pump". It is very quiet and cost effective. If you are interested in replacing your current return pump, check it out on eBay.
Link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/KEDSUM-550G...348721&hash=item33caa58e19:g:5VkAAOSwjy1ZllLE
Kedsum also makes a 770GPH model for about $26 on eBay.
You will also need a protein skimmer. I have a SCA 303 skimmer on my 75 gallon and it works well. A SCA 303 (rated for 150g) or SCA 302 (rated for 180g) would work well for your tank. Those skimmers are both $174 each on scaquariums.com link: http://www.scaquariums.com/category-s/103.htm
For lights, if you want leds, you can get two Radion XR30w g4's if you aren't worried about the price. If you want to remain cost efficient, you can get two Mars Aqua led fixtures online for around $90 each fixture. These lights are supposed to be hung from your ceiling. You could also buy some electrical conduit from lowes and put a 90 degree bend in the conduit, secure it to the back of your stand, then hang the lights on it. That is how I hang my lights.
Radions: http://www.ebay.com/itm/EcoTech-Mar...051887?hash=item3f715fedef:g:s3IAAOSw44BYUKlH
Mars Aqua: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mars-165W-L...164937&hash=item33cc817fb4:g:KpcAAOSwCWFY8HxU
T5 is also a good option for lighting.
Sorry if that is a lot of information. That should help get you started though.
Edit:
I forgot to mention you will need to have water flow in your aquarium as well. If you plan on keeping hard corals or sps corals, you will need a lot of flow. Less flow for soft corals and lps corals. You can get these for a good amount of flow:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-1300-GPH...704829&hash=item5422fbc141:g:l6wAAOSwPcVVzXvO
However, I would highly recommend these Jebao PP8's:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-PUMP-SET-...685341?hash=item1ea0cb1f9d:g:O~kAAOSwjVVVka3A
Give the rock a good, good rinse. After that, you can go ahead and throw them in the tank. The rocks will cycle in the tank just fine. There would not be any benefit to cycling them outside of the tank because you do not have any inhabitants currently. However, it would be a good idea to go to your local fish store and purchase a few pounds of live rock there. Maybe about 5lbs or so. Make sure the live rock has a good amount of coralline algae. This way you will be able to add beneficial bacteria and coralline algae to the dry rocks.
For equipment, I have a few recommendations.
You mentioned your pump is loud. I use a "KEDSUM 550GPH Submersible Water Pump". It is very quiet and cost effective. If you are interested in replacing your current return pump, check it out on eBay.
Link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/KEDSUM-550G...348721&hash=item33caa58e19:g:5VkAAOSwjy1ZllLE
Kedsum also makes a 770GPH model for about $26 on eBay.
You will also need a protein skimmer. I have a SCA 303 skimmer on my 75 gallon and it works well. A SCA 303 (rated for 150g) or SCA 302 (rated for 180g) would work well for your tank. Those skimmers are both $174 each on scaquariums.com link: http://www.scaquariums.com/category-s/103.htm
For lights, if you want leds, you can get two Radion XR30w g4's if you aren't worried about the price. If you want to remain cost efficient, you can get two Mars Aqua led fixtures online for around $90 each fixture. These lights are supposed to be hung from your ceiling. You could also buy some electrical conduit from lowes and put a 90 degree bend in the conduit, secure it to the back of your stand, then hang the lights on it. That is how I hang my lights.
Radions: http://www.ebay.com/itm/EcoTech-Mar...051887?hash=item3f715fedef:g:s3IAAOSw44BYUKlH
Mars Aqua: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mars-165W-L...164937&hash=item33cc817fb4:g:KpcAAOSwCWFY8HxU
T5 is also a good option for lighting.
Sorry if that is a lot of information. That should help get you started though.
Edit:
I forgot to mention you will need to have water flow in your aquarium as well. If you plan on keeping hard corals or sps corals, you will need a lot of flow. Less flow for soft corals and lps corals. You can get these for a good amount of flow:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-1300-GPH...704829&hash=item5422fbc141:g:l6wAAOSwPcVVzXvO
However, I would highly recommend these Jebao PP8's:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-PUMP-SET-...685341?hash=item1ea0cb1f9d:g:O~kAAOSwjVVVka3A
Last edited:
Sump is pretty full, but when power is cut, it does overflow the sump tank. Thanks for looking out though 
Thank you so much for the information. I will be getting the dry rock in Wednesday and will add it directly to the tank.
Thank you so much for all the information, I am reviewing it now
Thanks for everyone's help thus far!!
Thank you so much for all the information, I am reviewing it now
Thanks for everyone's help thus far!!
Some sad news , two of my gate valves cracked out of the blue while we went out to eat today causing a good size leak. The connectors were not fully seated so they should not have been over tightened. See pictures below. Did they really fail cause they were over tightened?
Another gate valve had a bad seal.
Im going to be switching over to slip gate valves instead of thread. They worked without leaking for at least 2 months now. I checked them for leaks every other day and had leak detectors installed inside the stand and outside.
Picture of the dry rock that I just put in/aqua scaped
Another gate valve had a bad seal.
Im going to be switching over to slip gate valves instead of thread. They worked without leaking for at least 2 months now. I checked them for leaks every other day and had leak detectors installed inside the stand and outside.
Picture of the dry rock that I just put in/aqua scaped
Attachments
I finally got the pips repaired and the tank back up and running!
Got a link of my project from start up till now:
http://s27.photobucket.com/user/AlPacino_05/slideshow/Fish Tank
Got a link of my project from start up till now:
http://s27.photobucket.com/user/AlPacino_05/slideshow/Fish Tank
Attachments
Yea, it was a bad ordeal, but i replaced the gate valves with slip gate valves and they are glued in now.
I just did my first water test and here are the results:
Ammonia: 1.2
Nitrite: 0.2
Nitrate: 2
pH: 8.2
Salinity: 32
dKH: 9
The shrimp have been in the tank for 2 days now and I am going to be taking them out tomorrow morning.
I need help in seeing what my test results should be doing in the following tests to ensure the tank is cycling correctly.
Tomorrow I will also be doing my first water change. Should a 15% water change be the amount I should do on a 85 gallon set up?
Thank you in advance!
Pictures below:
Ammonia: 1.2
Nitrite: 0.2
Nitrate: 2
pH: 8.2
Salinity: 32
dKH: 9
The shrimp have been in the tank for 2 days now and I am going to be taking them out tomorrow morning.
I need help in seeing what my test results should be doing in the following tests to ensure the tank is cycling correctly.
Tomorrow I will also be doing my first water change. Should a 15% water change be the amount I should do on a 85 gallon set up?
Thank you in advance!
Pictures below:
Attachments
sorry posted wrong picture above and dont know how to delete my post
Attachments
devildog999
That Guy
Running your skimmer is just wasting power to be honest. It cleans fish poop and whatnot and since you don't yet have fish, its not really doing much other than using up power.
