New to the hobby here...

B

baneq

New member
Hello everyone,
Im new to the island and new the aquarium world. I just got my tank setup and need some pointers on how to keep it runnin smooth. Heres my setup right now,
55gal tank w/ bio wheel, (yea the one from the bx)
prizm protein skimmer
1 air stone and a bubble strip thingamajig
5 pieces of what i was told is live rock
4inch substrate of sand, gravel and a bit of crushed coral
i then put 2 damsels in it and sadly they died.

could someone tell me what im doin right/wrong, im trying to read everthing I can get my hands on so I know I need to monitor the ph, salinity, nitrates, nitrite and ammonia, but I cant find a test kit and the store I went to (Pet Box), has everthing in japanese (go figure).

also, I didnt purify the water before I put it in, I was toying with the idea of getting a RO filter but I used that safe tap water stuff instead, is the water here ok to use?

any help or guidance you guys could lend would be well appreciated. Hopefully if this goes well I can harass you guys for information more often :D

thanks
 
you on base or off? get rid of the bubble strip thing.. where is your air stone at? if you have it in the tank, take it out. Im not familiar with the prizm protein skimmer... is it a hang on? you dont need the bio wheel either.. And dont put any more animals or coral in untill we can get you strait..

You can order any test kits you want from marinedepot.com I also use bluezooaquatics.com

what you useing for lighting? how big is your stand, if you have one? Any pics? might give us a better idea of what your working with.. :) Your more than welcome to swing by my place and check out my set up and we can discuss what you need and dont need..

And welcome to Okinawa!!
 
Cool, thanks for the quick reply, ok I took the air stone out, and Ill take the air strip out too, I thought they were supposed to help the skimmer though?? The skimmer is a hang on kind and I just have 2 flourescent bulbs for light right now. And if I get rid of the wheel, whats my filter??

I live on base (camp shield) Im using a desk for a stand and Im not concerned with saving space or anything. Ill work on getting a pic too.

Id love to check out a proper setup as well. Thanks for the offer
 
where did you have the airstone?? if it was in your skimmer, thats fine. If you had it in the tank.. thats not. lol

The live rock and skimmer are your filters. where did you get the live rock from? how many pounds do you have? your definatly going to have to get new lights if you want to have coral. Metal halides are the best, but T5's are just as good.. you just dont get a nice shimmer from the T5's.

what days are good for you? Im off every thur, fri and sat..
 
i got the live rock from Pet Box, and i I prolly have about 10-15 lbs


only day im off this week is Sat, hopefully
 
yea, your going to need way more live rock.. you should have at least one pound of live rock per gallon of water. We'll get you hooked up with some rock..

saturday should be no problem if you want to meet up and discuss what you need..
 
sounds great, ill email you all my info today and we can hash out all the details.

oh yea and what about the water quality here? or should I even worry bout it right now?
 
Sounds like you started your first tank exactly how I started mine. -the advice from petbox and all....although I started with a pair of clown fish. Almost 25,000yen down the drain. Wow that was an expensive night...and if you wanna throw in the dinner we had that night also....whew. Don't wanna think about it.
LoL.

Brett (FDokinawa) will point you in the right direction. We can all offer you advice if you would like. Most of us are somewhat local so we can all offer our assistance if you need it also. Im in the process of setting up my tank at the moment, once its set-up, I will probably have a little shin-dig at my place again.

My advice:

You might want to consider changing out your sand bed. I used a rock substrate in my first tank and found it to be a trap for food which in turn turned into a big mess over time.

A question that FD didnt ask, what kind of power head are you using? As FD mentioned, your rock, sand bed and your water flow are your filters. You need to set your tank up and just let it do its thing for about 2 weeks or so. There is soo much to the hobby, but its all worth while in the end. trust me. Keep at it!

I have some LR that your more than welcome to. I can also show you the sand that I grabbed from the makeman (DIY Store) for around 100y a bag. Worked perfectly, had some real fine sand in it, super crushed coral, everything. Jeff also uses a real good sand bed, hopefully he will chime in on where he gets his from. My first "live" sand bed came straight from the beach. With it came a bunch of things I didn't want. I would only use a small amount (handfull) to 'seed' your sand.

As for water, I get my water from PPM. Some people just go down to the ocean, some make their own, some buy it. I buy mine, never had a problem with it, my corals love it...so I use it.

There alot to the hobby, setting up your first tank can be a real pain in the @$$ not to mention confusing and frustrating but keep at it. It will all be very well worth it in the end.

-frank
 
yea im not gonna get into how much my bill is adding up too right now, lol, the wife is lovin it :)

Id really rather not change out the sand bed if possible, I paid way too much for it and not to mention my wife and I spent all day washing it, but if you think I should, then...

and the seeding thing, I read about that, is it ok to use sand from any beach around here? I was worried about little nasties and stuff I dont want in my tank.

Id love to take any LR (live rock right?) off your hands, Brett mentioned I need alot more.

oh and my powerhead is an "I dont have one" brand. I thought the bubbles were supposed to move the water around, so Ill go get one stat... any recommendations?

Thanks for all the tips, keep em comin, hopefully after Brett spins me up I wont be so lost.
 
yea, there is so much stuff that you need that I really didnt want to get into it on here.. much better to just meet up and go over what your going to need to do and get.

go ahead and let your wife know its only going to get more expensive. But bring her along saturday, I think once she sees how a tank can look when done right and that its better to spend more now then go the cheap route, she will be more likely to let you spend more.

BUBBLES!!!
 
The crushed coral was what I was talking about getting rid of, unless its under the sand bed. You dont want your food and substrate getting stuck under it.

As for LR:
I have alot of LR sitting in a bucket curing outside right now. refer to the "the LR bucket" thread.

as far as the beach sand, as mentioned, a small handfull or 2 will be just fine. just make sure you dont have any small crabs and whatnot in there. sift through it real good. There are lots of micro algaes and worms in the sand which make it "live" and thats what you want.

another way around that get some real good live rock say, from the shop in naha or wherever and let it sit. It will also seed your sand bed.

As for a power head, I had a Seio which I got from the pet box. on a 55g, your probably going to need a few of those. at PB, they will run you around 4000-4500y if I remeber correctly. The solution to that, order some maxi-jets from an online US retailer such as premium aquatics, marine-depot or bluezooaquatics. I have also ordered from liveaquaria.com and always had a good business relationship with them, but some others haven't so I stay away from them. Premium aquatics have been treating me good so I stick with them.

-frank
 
I have one seio 1100 on my tank, which is also the 55 px special, and it does good for water flow. I also have a canister that I run carbon and a sponge in, which adds to my flow. I may get another smaller Seio for the other corner to up my flow a little more.

My advise is take it slow. Read A LOT of newbie threads on here. Then slow it down some more. Read a little more. The bug bit me in december. I did not start my tank til like april, I don't even have a fish yet, and I'm probably going to fast :)
 
just a quick question, I put the airstone in the skimmer, does it matter where it should be placed? and im getting ALOT of micro bubbles in the tank, is that good/bad or just ugly?
 
its just ugly right now.. it wont hurt anything.. the whole point in a skimmer is to make as many small bubbles as you can. crap in the water atteches to the bubbles and end up in the collection cup. an airstone in the skimmer just helps the skimmer.. its not a requirement..
 
I use an airstone in my skimmer, but you need a pump with adjustable airflow. Also it takes for ever to get it to that perfect spot of adjustment. I'm with FD. I'd just take it out for now, see how it goes without it.
 
Sounds to me like I need to get involved to mod your skimmer and oh, we need to talk about adding a sump to your setup. The guys here won't steer you wrong and when your tank is ready, frag party at your house.
 
Baneq, give vest a holler and get some of the LR from the cooking bucket. We can always add more later to replace what you take.
 
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