am i on the right track ?

[thelitone]

im new to this .saltwater. had a successful freshwater tank for about a year. first , here is what i have running the 50g saltwater tank :

20g sump
cpr protien skimmer
rio 600 powerhead
7 w uv sterilizer
light: 2x 65w 12k white 2x 65w blue
60 lbs dead sand crushed coral
30 lbs live rock (curring) in tank. all i had $ for


the thing with the live rock is......got it online and when it got here 6 days later it looked like decorative coral. i could tell it had stuff growing on it. been curring for about a week and a half now. after cleaning with tooth brush and tweezers. ammonia is through the roof.(4ppm) i use the blues about 2-4hr a day. the "decorative coaral" has little pink and purple spots emerging. i did a 50 percent water change at 1 week. been adding freshwater to top off. checking salinity hours after and ajusting. skimmer is also going crazy. AM I ON THE RIGHT TRACK ?

 

[krisfal]

It sounds like you are on the right track.

Live rock is usually composed of dead coral. That is what makes it porous enough to house all of the good stuff.

The ammonia is just the first part of the initial "cycle", you should soon see nitrites pick up and ammonia go down and then as time goes by the nitrites go down and nitrates go up, finally when the nitrates go back down you will know you are through the initial cycle. At this point you really do not need to do water changes, the ammonia and nitrites are what feed the bacteria you are trying to establish with the cycle. So the water change actually takes away the food for the desired bacteria. In fact some people actually put shrimp in the tank to rot just to get the ammonia to spike and jump start the cycle process. Although myself I think just letting it happen is the better way.

You probably will want more rock as you can afford it, you can later add base rock (dead and clean) or some well cured rock. After the initial cycle you really do not want to add uncured rock as it will put you back through the cycling process again.

 

[returnofsid]

Sounds like you're doing great. Keep testing. You'll want more live rock as soon as you're able to. I'd also add more flow. So far so good....STAY PATIENT.

 

[g0rFz]

i let my tank cycle for about 2 months and added some food for the bacteria to get going. it may be a good idea to get just a small piece of real nice rock for like 10-20$ and let it seed all the other rock, unless you already purchased actual live rock and not dead rock. just give it a little time to cycle while you figure out what kind of stuff you want to have...corals and fish

with that lighting, you should be able to keep a preety good amount of cool corals but nothing that needs super light (sps stony stuff)

you will probably get an algae bloom in a few weeks and thats when you should introduce little inverts like hermits and snails to clean up your tank...this also makes sure it can support fish and corals before you go spend some real $

 

[mcvicker]

It sounds like you are on the right track. Are you using RO/DI for the top off? I would recommend only using purified water to avoid problems.

 

[thelitone]

its nice to hear that im starting out well. ive been reading up on saltwater tanks for about 3-4 mo. before i got set up. been set up for about 3 weeks, 2 of which have had the live rock curring. there are so many ways of doing things i get confused sometimes, and dont know if what im doing is right. thanks you guys for all your info.

 

[thelitone]

i have an extra 29 gallon tank that i am currently not using. my question is, would it be beneficial for me to keep it for reasons pertaining to my saltwater tank or should i go ahead and get rid of it? basically, i am wondering if its a good idea to have an extra tank on hand? i also aquired a fluval 203 canister filter. would it be helpful in the running of a saltwater tank?

 

[JasonD]

Yes definitely keep the extra 29 gallon. You are going to want that to quarantine your fish in. You do not want to contaminated the main system.

 

[Sascha D]

Sounds like you're on a pretty good track.

You could use the extra tank for a sump to increase your water volume.