Setting up my first reef tank.

[dfleming32]

Oh yeah, and the place in Delaware that sells the live rock, fish, inverts, corals etc. is in Bear. It's called Pet Kare. There's two locations. The one in Bear has some cool things. Eels, corals, zoas, alligator snapping turtles! lolz. All types of cool stuff. The other location had a dwarf octo the last time I called. http://www.mypetkare.com/

Thanks for the info. I'll check them out

 

[husslr187]

My room spans the entire width of the house. The tank is up against the wall that connects this house to our neighbors house. I have no idea which way the floor joists are running. How do I find out?

you can use a stud finder to the ceiling below your room or you can pull up your carpet (assuming you have carpet) and find the rows of nails in the sub-floor. best way is the last one if its possible. after reading your post here the corner by the neighboring wall and outside wall will be the strongest since that wall is almost always load bearing. if i had to GUESS from the info here i would say the joist are running parallel with the outside wall.

sorry for the long response time im using a playstation 3 with on screen keyboard and i lost this response 2 times. so expect long time intervals between my post i'll do the best i can

 

[husslr187]

if you want i can pm you my phone#, i live in perryville md which is about 15min from DE. im right before the HATEM bridge if you know where that is

 

[lamontcarter]

I have no idea where that is. My phone isn't on right now, I'm going to be getting a new one soon, anyway. I just moved up here from North Carolina. I used to live here before, but I've spent most of my adult life down there. The tank is in the corner by the neighboring wall and outside wall.
I'm relatively sure that the roof won't collapse, especially anytime soon, if I fill it up fully, I just don't want to take the risk, especially considering what's under it. I would venture as far enough as to say that I am positive if it is filled halfway, or slightly over, that it definitely won't collapse.
If I wanted to be sure, where would I look? Does the register of deeds have the blueprints for homes?

 

[lamontcarter]

So... They say the only stupid question is the un-asked one... so here we go! I want to begin filling my tank, soon. I don't want to fill up a bucket with RO water, then add salt, then add it to my tank. That seems extremely inefficient. I was going to attach the RO machine to the wall by my tank, and just let the RO water drip directly into my tank, then add the salt. My question is... if I add the salt to the water, with sand already in the bottom of the tank, will the salt content of the water above the sand, be different than the water that's inside the sand? For example, if I add the salt, get the right specific gravity, then add my fish, could a sand sifting animal cause the (possibly) different water beneath the sand to mix with the water above it... causing a flux in the salinity?

 

[Humuhumunuku]

If you haven't already added the sand, mix your water in the tank first, then add the sand. If you already have the sand in, take it out if you can, then add water and salt. Your sand will make a mess if you're mixing salt water in your tank. In all likely hood, unrinsed sand will make a mess anyway. I wouldn't worry about the salt with the water in the sand, it will all diffuse in time. Live sand doesn't really make a difference, so don't worry about that, and adding freshwater before you add salt would likely get rid of any benefits it had... all sand becomes live eventually!

PS, there are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots jk jk

 

[lamontcarter]

Half of the sand that I put in there was live sand, and the other half wasn't. Hence my dilemma lol! I guess I'll just take all of the sand back out, rinse it out, then add it after I add the salt water mix. I don't want to risk the non-live sand dirtying up the water. That seems like the safe way to go. Thanks a ton! I'm on my way (hopefully). I just realized I've been asking questions on reefcentral.com for 4 years and I'm just now starting my tank. I'm excited!

 

[kingevil]

you're going to need a mixing barrel eventually for water changes. why not just go buy a brute now?

 

[lamontcarter]

a brute? i'm searching for one right now.

 

[kingevil]

brute plastic garbage can (grey), you can find them at the home depot. we use them to mix salt water. i know you didn't want to do it this way, but it really sounds like it would be the easiest - mix the salt water outside of the tank and then dump into the tank.

 

[lamontcarter]

The only reason I didn't want to do it that way, was because I have to climb across my bed to get to my tank, it's in the closet lol. I guess I could just move my fish tank to my other closet, next to my door... you know what... that's what I'm going to do. Probably tomorrow. That way I can have easier access to it, and my bed won't get wet. It's a really good thing this site exists. There's no manual that contains the wisdom gained from thousands of people all owning different tanks, in different states, etc. Awesome.

 

[kingevil]

you could always pump the water over the bed.

 

[Humuhumunuku]

Good call on moving the tank, ease of access can not be under rated! I would never do a water change if I had to lift water over my bed!

+1 on getting a brute, I can't remember what size mine is, but I usually keep it filled with about 30gallons of freshwater, then whatever I don't use for top off is mixed with salt for fortnightly water changes! I'm also bringing back the fortnight cause biweekly is confusing

 

[lamontcarter]

That sounds like an awesome idea. I don't want to have that much water on hand, though. That's going to add a lot of weight up here on the second floor. I'll just get a smaller one, and do more frequent water changes to be safe... if that's a good idea. I've got a 50' hose, and a 25' gravel vac, with all the bells and whistles for all types of attachments, though. I could just keep it ouside, on the back deck, underneath the window, and when I want to do water changes, I could just pump the water from outside up into a container into my room, and vice versa.

 

[Humuhumunuku]

Nothing wrong with more frequent water changes. Some of the most experienced reefers on here use pumps and controllers to do tiny water changes all day long.

 

[lamontcarter]

You don't say? Do tell. I don't think that would be feasible for me, though. I saw that they were advertising these reef tank dialysis machines a while ago. I haven't heard much about them recently, though. I think I'll just bite the bullet, be safe, and maybe just do one gallon at a time, at whatever interval that is. I'm sure it'll be nothing to carry a gallon of water up the stairs, warm it up, and then top off the tank with it, when need be. Does that seem feasible?

 

[Humuhumunuku]

For that small of a change, don't even bother warming it, you should be fine with room temp.

I would direct you towards the bottom of this article, though the entire thing is a good read.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/index.php

 

[lamontcarter]

That is a really long article! lolz. I've read some of it, but I'm still trying to fight my way through between school and chores lolz. Really quick question, though. Is it absolutely imperative that I rinse the sand? Is there something in it that will harm my fish if I don't? Or is it just to get really fine particles out? I'm going to have my tank sitting for a long time before I add anything... so could I just add water, without rinsing the sand?

Figures.............

As with all things, they're never the way they're supposed to be. The RO device I've got has a leak, I have no way to fix it, and the clean water tube is leaking orange colored liquid. There's no way I'm buying another one. I'm more than likely just going to can this idea, and stick with freshwater fish. If anybody wants a broken Coralife Pure-Flo RO device (24gpd), a Fluval M50 submersible heater (50watts), a Coralife Deep Six specific gravity meter, 25 gallon capacity Instant Ocean Sea Salt, and 10 Gallon instant ocean sea salt... then let me know.

 

[lamontcarter]

As I was. I made it through the initial frustration fit. I know what I'm going to do, now. I'm going to make my 55 gallon a freshwater aquarium, and just use the materials that I already have to make a smaller 30 gallon reef tank. Phew. I feel better, now. I will provide updates of both as soon as I can. With that being said. What should I do about the RO machine? Should I just go buy another one? Use tap water? What models are best?

 

[Humuhumunuku]

Don't give up, just take it slow!

Take a look at these
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/75-gpd-ro-di-5-stage-standard-system.html