Doo

There isn't really enough salt water ads for them to have their own buy/sell forum. There is maybe 1 salt ad a week if we are lucky.

This is my exact point - the 1 add gets lost in the bunch...

To be honest, I am a new member so I have not had a chance to spend a ton of time on this site, however I think it would split the buy/ sell very nicely and it would be easy for those who are interested in either or to go where they want...

just my thought...

Hi All

Just a thought - the title explains it all

Thank you!

:welcome: - Fronts Do Rock!!!

:welcome:

SWEET!! - I like the sound of that, I will keep you posted :smokey:

I picked up ten pounds of LR at the Reef Shoppe last weekend. We put a bit of water in the bags. It was out of the tank for about 3 hours until I got it into my empty quarantine tank. I haven't seen any spikes in the nitrogen cycle. There was only about 3 or 4 pounds of cured rock in the 17 gal tank. Having the rock out of the water for less than an hour and keeping it moist shouldn't give you much die off. There will always be some die off, but keeping it to a minimum will lower the length of time you need to get the tank rolling. Hopefully you get some cool hitchers and no bad ones. Getting new LR is almost as good as Christmas you never know what you might get.

Sounds to me like your method should work just fine.

HTH

As it sits right now there are 3 lb of LR in there - I have another 12 to add that I have purchased, but yet to pick up...

the other 12 pounds is sitting in a running tank with fish in it - the reason I did this is because I was not sure if it was cured so I dropped it off to put into an established tank. I figured if I leave it there for a week to 10 days and put it back into my tank - I would have less issues. This LR is only about a 5 min drive from my house so I don't see any die off from the trip.

What do you think??

15 lbs in a 10 gal tank sounds about right. Put it all in at once. Every time you add rock to an established tank you will get a mini cycle or a major one if you put lots of rock in. Your cycle will be different every time you start a tank. If the rock is cured when you get it and you only have it out of the water for a short time there will be less die off and a shorter cycle.

Yes your ammonia more than likely came from some die off in the live sand. I thought you had a bare tank. Sounds to me like you have nothing to worry about. Sit back read lots and let the tank cycle and mature a bit. I rushed my first tank a bit and killed a couple fish. Go slow with your stocking and have fun with it. Don't panic when something goes wrong, it's not a matter of if but when.

Good Luck

HTH

Thank you Bosshog

The ammonia I suspect is due to some live sand that I put in the tank from a gent that gave it to me. I just added LR this eve and this is LR out of a well established tank with fish in it. How much LR should I add in there? and how fast should I do so?

Thank you!

Equipment list sounds good for a start. Do you have ammonia in a bare tank with just water in it? Something isn't right there. What is your water source? What kind of test kits are you using?

You are good to go on the LR even with the ammonia. The die off on the LR is going to give you an ammonia spike anyway so it doesn't make any difference. Make sure it's gone before you add any critters though.

For critters wait for a month or so until you nitrates and nitrites come back down and you have 0 ammonia. Put in your CUC, few snails, maybe some hermits, maybe a shrimp. Then you can add a hardy fish like the clowns or something. For corals start with something that is tough. Someone will probably give you some Kenya Trees or the like.

The most important thing is to go slow. Leave the tank run for about a month with nothing but LR. Then if all parameters are good put in the CUC. Wait for a while, like another month, and then put in one SMALL fish. You will have way less problems if you go SLOOOOWWWWW. Trust me. Most experienced salt people will tell you to wait 3 months with just rock cycling.

Check out canreef lots of good salt stuff there.

HTH

what size of a tank is it? 10g

What kind of fitration? box filter and powerhead

Lighting? 24" T5 (2)

How much LR are you planning to put in? I am thinking about 15lb

Please excuse my newbiness in this - I am open to any feedback you have:)

Sounds great - how often should I change water during the next 2 weeks???

I was thinking coral b4 fish - what are the thoughts on that??

Thank you!

As far as the water changes go, I would say only one, about 10%. The reason for that is that you want all of the ammonia and nitrites in the aquarium so that your bacterial levels can grow to the point where it can sustain a bioload. The more water (and waste product) you remove during the cycle, the slower it will go.

I would put in a couple of fish before any corals. IMO corals tend to be more sensitive to waste levels than most fish that are choosen as the first in an aquarium.

The timetable I would use is LR now, approx 2-4 weeks later first fish (something hardy....ocellaris clowns or damsels of some sort), then approx 2-4 after fish, put in some hardier corals (leathers, mushroom).

I didn't ask before, but what size of a tank is it? What kind of fitration? Lighting? How much LR are you planning to put in?

Sounds great - how often should I change water during the next 2 weeks???

I was thinking coral b4 fish - what are the thoughts on that??

Thank you!

I would say yes, as you are likely to go through another cycle once you put the LR in. The organic material on the LR is going to die off and then will grow back as it cures. As the material dies of and rots, you should get a large amonnia spike. As the rock cures, and regains growth, the aerobic and anaerobic bacteria will make it their home as well and you will end up going through another nitrogen cycle. Give it 2-4 weeks after you've put in the LR and you should be ok to put in some fish.

HTH

HI All

Ok so my SW tank has now been running for a few days, my Ammonia is 0.5-0.7 (in there some place) & my Nitrite is 0. The big question is am I ready for some LR yet???

I am going to do a 30% water change this afternoon and see if that drops the ammonia level a bit, but I thought I would get some advice from the experts

If I was to upgrade my fixture - what do you all recommend? (Type/ Brand)

Where should I go for a good price on a unit that will work for my little 10g - 20" should work...

Any thoughts?

Thanks again!

Hi

Thank you all for your help

I will give the suggestions a try and I am sure it should work

Yeah, you can get 2 small screw-in PC bulbs that have 10,000K and actinic - I think they're around 13W ea. Or, you can get a small T5 actinic fixture, and put in 2 23W flourescent bulbs into the current fixture. If you're a little handy, I've even seen 40@ screw-in bulbs - they're too big to fit under the hood of a typical 10gal tank, but you could build a canopy that'd house them... then you could grow ANYTHING!!!

Hi

Thank you all for your help

I will give the suggestions a try and I am sure it should work

Yeah, you can get 2 small screw-in PC bulbs that have 10,000K and actinic - I think they're around 13W ea. Or, you can get a small T5 actinic fixture, and put in 2 23W flourescent bulbs into the current fixture. If you're a little handy, I've even seen 40@ screw-in bulbs - they're too big to fit under the hood of a typical 10gal tank, but you could build a canopy that'd house them... then you could grow ANYTHING!!!

Thank you for the reply - that is what was recommended and it makes sense, but again - I am soooo new to SW - that I thought I would ask the SW experts

Thank you!

I've never done SW so I don't know what corals need, but with the incandescent hood, you can use compact fluorescent bulbs instead of the incandescent ones, and get a fair amount of light in there. I have a heavily planted FW 10g with two 15W CF bulbs, and it's doing great. I'm pretty sure there are more powerful CF bulbs available as well.

Hi All

I would like to introduce myself, although I have already hopped into a couple of chats here and there. I have been at FW for many years (Africans, mostly Tangan…) and I have now decided to try SW!!!

I have been reading tons of our forum and other sites and you guys are all great – I am very glad I joined and look forward to learning from you all.

I have large tanks that I can go hard on, but I have decided to start with a little 10g just to get the feel and I see many members here are successful with them…

I managed to pick up a 10g kit and was given enough water from an established tank to fill it up. I also picked up from the same person some LR, LS, a container full of noodles (bio media) that are all live & a hand full of stringy plants that he said would be good to get going…

I think the start part is good to go – I bought a ¾” fish that my wife insisted on “FINDING…” (I will not even make you guess) – I am not sure how well the fish will do, but time will tell…

THE LIGHTING DILEMMA!!!

This 10g kit I bought either comes with a florescent fixture tube or a 2 bulb fixture ($10 diff). I bought the one with the 2 bulb setup because I was told I can use 2 incandescent lights, which would give me better lighting than the 1 florescent…

I would like to add some coral once I am confident that all is running well…

Today I went and I talked to another knowledgeable source and he said NO WAY, neither will work and I should just stick with fish for now under the florescent tube until I get a bigger tank and can justify spending the $$ on good lighting.

So – if I buy the florescent kit it’s 10 more (NO big deal!!)

If I buy the regular light canopy and purchase 2 incandescent lights – that will be about $50.00 and I am totally ok with that unless it will not keep coral alive and in which case there is no point, I might as well put that towards real lights…

Can anyone please help me on which way I should go!!!

Thank you!!!!

Looks great - how hard was it to drill???

what tools do you need???

Keep the pics coming - Can't wait to see it after it is all done

Thanks for the kind words of encouragement everyone. I am doing the sump as I type this. Will post some shots when I git er done.

Has anyone tried it yet - does it work???

Gold's just got some in. I can't remember the price though. Right behind the counter.

Glenn

I have not seen it in any Calgary shops yet.

sharuq1

I have always liked Neolamprologus caudopunctatus and you don't see them often. I have seen them bred in a 100 gal colony style. This breeder had the tank with about 4-6 inches of sand and baseball+ size rocks (round bolder type) – no caves or slate or anything like that. They spawn around/ on the rock and take very good care of their fry in a colony setting. The rocks/ pairs were not very far apart (6-8 inches) and the tank must have had close to 200+ fish in it (very tiny to adults). Basically each pair owns a rock that they stick around and protect. They did not seem to mind the smaller guys coming around - the mature pairs kept territories and the fry were everywhere - I mean the tank was full of them. I think I recall him telling me that he saw the larger fry spit out food for the smaller fry, but I just can’t remember. I had a few spawns myself and they seemed to go fast. Just make sure that if you get these guys to keep your tank well sealed!

I think these little guys are super pretty and for some reason they are eye catching and no picture does them justice - I guess I am a fan of these little guys...

Just a thought!

What kind of cyps/paracyps do you have African Fever? I was looking at some of Charles' fish, more specifically the Paracyprichromis Nigripinnis. Anyone know where I could find these without having to ship from another province?

Hi

What happened to the pics - after reading all the replies - I would love to see them please

Very beautiful, I love saltwater fish... but being a beginner with even fresh I am holding off, that is one impressive fish though! :thumbs:

HI Finbert

It is way easier than you think - I am not an electrician, but once you see it - it is easy to do. On your ballast it should show your Positive (+), Negative (-) & Ground. Once you have identified those 3, you match them up with your wire/ plug & you are good to go. I don't live in Edmonton, but I do visit my fam there all the time - the next time I am there I would be happy to show you what I know...

The other thing you can do is take your fixture down to a hardware store and ask for the guy that they got there that understands electricity and 9 times out of 10, they will show you how to do it right

Good luck!

Will it smoke for long enough that you get a chance to notice, before it bursts into flames?

It doesn't really matter if it catches on fire. It will eventually fall into the tank and the water will put it out. :smokey:

haha, that sucks since water can sometimes worsen an electric fire.