First Time Salt Water

[soliver]

So i decided im going to start a salt water tank.

I have never done this before but i have been doing a lot of reading.

I have purchases a 45 gallon salt water tank(already running) with an overflow, and 20 gallon sump.

I got this all for $50. I just couldn't resist.

It does not have any live rock but it has some damsels.

Would it be ok to hold off on the live rock for a little while? Or do i need it right now even though i have the sump.

Also in the future i want to make it into a reef tank and im unsure on the lighting i will need to have.

Any input or ideas would help.

[sharuq1]

Nice steal! You might not want to add the LR directly, as there is a possibility of spiking your tank due to die off. Many people buying new LR will cycle it somewhere else until it is ready (a large rubbermaid bin works, with a heater and powerhead). Of course, if you get it from somewhere that has had the rock for a while (say they have like a 2 year old reef and they are getting out of the hobby and you keep the LR submerged and warm for transport), this might not be an issue, but if you get fresh LR from the store it likely will. That being said, does your tank have anything at all that would add to bio-filtration? Did you keep the water when you moved the tank? The sump really won't do much for you as far as filtration is concerned besides add water volume and oxygen to the tank if there isn't anything in it. I would advise running some carbon in the meantime (that would work best if you run it actively through say an aquaclear rather than passively in a bag) and do regular water changes to keep those fish alive. Do you have test kits?

What are you planning for this tank? If it's a coral reef, there are many lighting options to choose from, depending on what you'd like to put in it.

[soliver]

Thanks for the reply,

So there are three damsels in the tank right now.

There is also i whole bunch of live sand.

Im concerned about not getting live rock right away because i do have fish(that i don't want to kill).

If i put the live rock into my tank soon and do frequent water changes will that help?

I know i won't be able to put coral in for a while. I was thinking about getting a bunch in February(not sure if thats too soon)

As you can probably tell im really clueless on all the details.

[soliver]

So i just went out and bought 15 pounds of live rock. All that i could afford right now. Its suppose to be cured already so i put it in my tank. I know i should keep it in a bucket or boil it but i decided to put it in anyways. Im not in a hurry to get nice fish anyways.

So i guess my question now is when should i get the "clean up crew"?

[sharuq1]

O_O Please please don't boil your LR. That would make it very...very..dead rock and therefore useless if you want it for biofiltration. Usually people add the clean up crew before the fish and the LR before either. I would give it one to two weeks before adding the clean up crew depending on your test results, personally, but others might have a differing opinion. With only three damsels, your tank is not overstocked so I wouldn't worry too much. Since you have live sand, that helps as well.

As far as coral goes, patience is the key. "Nothing good happens fast in a reef tank". Frequent water changes will help, but too much and it will prolong your cycle. Use your best judgment, do your regular weekly water changes. If your tests are 0 for nitrite, ammonia and hopefully 0 for nitrate for 2 weeks consecutively after your cycle is done you should be able to slowly begin adding coral. If you want an example, I left my first tank 3 months without coral when it was started and added slowly afterwards starting with "easy" corals. I don't know what type of lighting you have, but good starter corals that don't require uber lights are mushrooms and most leathers. For nitrate, anything under 5mg/L is generally considered safe, but 0 is best. Hopefully someone more experienced will chime in here. canreef.com has a lot more "old salties", so I'd advise going over there and asking a million questions. Also there are lots of great posts about just starting out and links as well.

[bosshog]

Like sharuq1 says, "cooking" or "boiling" LR are not what they may seem. DO NOT literally boil your LR.

Your kind of going about this backwards but I don't see why your method won't work. Personally I'd watch the nitrogen cycle when you add the rock in with the fish. If anything gets too high just do a 5-10% water change, keep some fresh saltwater mixed up and ready to go. If your numbers stay down, which they may, for a week or so get a couple of snails and a few hermits. Your going to want to go slow to avoid trouble with the cycle. In a month or so your tank should be fairly well established, and giving less trouble. I'd wait for a while longer to make sure everything has settled down before adding corals. Probably 3-4 months. Pick some of the easy ones sharuq1 has suggested.

I went too fast and had a bit of a problem with my first tank. Second and third tanks were a piece of cake.

Go slow and enjoy the learning curve.

[2manytanks]

Like Sharuq said, DON'T boil the rock!! (shudder) And even though the rock is supposed to be cycled, if you bought it from a store it likely isn't quite up to snuff yet, but since you have live sand it should help eat the ammonia the rock produces until it really is cured. And siince the fish you have are damsels you should be OK, damsels are very tough and can deal with some pretty harsh water conditions. In any case keep an eye on the water conditions and hold off on adding any more rock until things have settled in, then add some more in small amounts to ensure you don't crash the tank with a suddwen die off in a bunch of new live rock.

When you do want to start with coral, I'd suggest some of the more forgiving soft corals like xenia, colt coral, mushrooms and GSP - they can all do quite well with less than ideal conditions. It'll give you time to learn more before starting with more difficult corals and will give the tank time to mature. I've found that even after the tank is cycled and the rock cured that it actually takes up to another year for the populations of microflora/fauna, amphipods, worms, etc. to really establish themselves and settle to the point where the aquarium really becomes it's own little ecosystem.

And enjoy the live rock, it's really interesting to see all the life that sprouts out of it.

[soliver]

Thanks for the replies.

I don't know why i was told to boil my rock when it sounds like its a bad thing. I was told it would prevent it from leaching. But i didn't want it to die, so i didn't.

I personally wouldn't have bought fish right away either but they came with the tank. I wasn't too worried about selling them since they are damsels and are hardy.

Everyone says not to start with coral right away. I was thinking to wait till February but i might have to wait longer since i didn't add all my live rock at once and im going to be going through a few of these cycles.

I heard somewhere that you will get red algae at the start and then it will turn to green algae and that is when you know your tank is cycled. Is this true?

As for the critters in the sand(crabs, snails, ext.) are they hardy? or should i be really careful when introducing them?

I also have one other question. When i set my tank up after transporting it, the sand was full of stringy things. Kinda looks like fish poop but a lot harder. At the top of them there was something that looked like a blossom. It was white with red specks on it. It reacted to movement around the tank and would shoot back into its stem. Im not sure what this is and if i should remove it or if its essential to my tank?

Shauna

[2manytanks]

At the start you probably will have a red slimy algae but it'll go away. As to whether you get green algae after, maybe, but if your water isn't too high in nutrients it shouldn't be a problem.

As for the stringy things, bonus, you've got some kind of feather dusters - a type of worm which lives in a tube it builds. The feather "blossom" you see sticking out are it's way of gathering food and it's gills. There are some which live in the sand and stay quite small, and others that can grow very large and really look nice. Either way it's a bonus, they look nice and they help clean the tank.

[bignose]

Watch out for the damsils if you add fish in the future. They can be mean little fish!

[soliver]

Watch out for the damsils if you add fish in the future. They can be mean little fish!

I plan to remove them. I just thought they could stay in while i cycled my tank.

[fishytime]

If you are planning on removing the fish anyway, take them out now. Before you add more rock making it harder for you to catch them and you will save the fish from suffering through a cycle.

[soliver]

If you are planning on removing the fish anyway, take them out now. Before you add more rock making it harder for you to catch them and you will save the fish from suffering through a cycle.

Ya good Plan. I think ill do that