Newbie To Saltwater

[ChefFish]

Hi everyone, my name is Chris & I live in Red Deer. I have been into aquariums for about 8 years and recently took the plunge to saltwater. I decided to buy a used tank that has been running for two years. Not knowing much about it I want advice on if I have a good setup or not, or if I should consider upgrading some on the hardware. Here is what I have: 90 Gallon Tank (4L X 2H X 1.5D), Fluval FX5, Fluval 205, Seaclone Protein Skimmer, Double T8 Standard hood Light (I think it's just basic low level Bulbs) & Coralife Double T5 10,000 48", and a bubblier. I have around 3 inches of substrate (Mixed crushed Coral & Live Sand), 45lbs of live rock (I'm assuming its just run of the mill rock, not Fiji) 2 small Kenya Tree Corals & 1 small Purple Mushroom Coral. There is 5 Turbo Snails, 3 Sand Sifting Snails, 1 Feather Duster, 2 False Percula, 1 Sailfin Tang, 1 Flame Angel, 2 Banded Coral Shrimp & 1 Fire Shrimp. There is also both Green & Red Algae growing (When I picked it up it was in the middle of a bloom, Moving it has killed off a lot and it seems to be under control). I'm wondering if I have a deep enought substrate or should I bring it up past the 6 inch mark? Are my lights going to support Healthy Beautiful Soft Corals or should I upgrade to MH? I also have a few power heads that came with it. Should I add them in? I would really like to add move live rock and develop the Coral side of things on the one side and leave the other side open for things such as the Feather Duster, Starfish, Etc. Any thoughts from anyone out there would be greatly appreciated.

[Jaykit]

I have never kept saltwater myself but I have done my fair share of research as I too am wanting to take the plunge. For your sandbed the 2 types people usually go with at deep (5-6") or shallow (1.5") so i would recommend choosing 1 or the other. I also know that saltwater is all about water movement and that turnover in the tank is a necessity, so yes add the powerheads into the tank. The more live rock is better too as the live rock is what does most of the cleaning in your tank to remove all the unwanted chemicals. Also, for your set-up i would recommend getting rid of your fx5 as people call canister filters nitrate factories for saltwater set-ups and replace it with a HOB filter or sump. Here is a great link that really helped me out when i first started my research: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1696795

If you are planning on going on the reef type tank I would recommend a more powerful light fixture like a mh or t5ho setup, watts/gallon isn't really used as a guide anymore but its a good guestimation of what you'll need and for reefs people usually say 5+wpg. Also, I know that alot of people say that turbo snails aren't the best things to have in reef set-ups as they tend to knock over your corals and cause damage.

Hopefully someone on here will confirm all of this or say that i've no idea what i'm talking about and let you know what you should really be doing.

[bosshog]

The lights you have will be fine, for what you have in there. When you decide to purchase more light loving creatures, you will need more light. A basic stocking plan will make it easier to decide what equipment you will want. Research lots, spend less. Put the powerheads in there, generally the more flow the better. Shoot for at least 50x turnover, so 4500 gal/hr. Get rid of the bubbler, I can't imagine the mess that is making with the salt creep and spray all over everything. 3" of substrate is fine.

[ChefFish]

Thank you to both of you. It's like I cant read enough,lol.

[MMAX]

Cannister filters are only nitrate factories if you run the original equipment inside them ie. bio pellets/balls and foam blocks. Keep your carbon packs but throw away everything else. Fill the whole filter with live rock rubble and you won't have a problem. Turbo snails are perfectly fine in reef set-ups. IMO they are a necessity. Yes the can knock stuff over but if you take the time and glue your corals down you'll be ok. If you're going to add more rock into your tank, you'll have to make sure it's already cured. If not you'll cause another cycle which will jeporidize all your livestock.

[Sprucegruve]

I'm just reading this post, have never tried saltwater or read about it.

What do you mean be carful adding more live rock make sure it's cured?

What do you mean cured

Sorry for cutting into this post with such a lame question

[MMAX]

Live rock is essentially what the name says...living rock. It can contain stuff such as crabs, starfish and corals amongst a whole load of other things. When the rock is harvested and shipped (usually wrapped in wet newspaper) there is going to be die off of these living things. You go and throw this into your system and all hell will break loose. Ammonia from the dead organizims in the rock will kick start another cycle which you don't want in an established system. You can buy cured rock from certain stores or you can cure it yourself. Get a Rubbermain tub, a couple of powerheads for movement and a heater. I "cooked" mine for about a month and didn't have that much of a cycle in my 100 gallon.

[DevonCichlid]

I've only got about 15lbs of live rock in my new tank, its a 21G tank. I've been cycling for about 3 weeks now. Is this enough live rock for this size? If it isn't, should I just add more and consider it a restart of the cycling process?

Any opinions are appreciated.

[MMAX]

I've only got about 15lbs of live rock in my new tank, its a 21G tank. I've been cycling for about 3 weeks now. Is this enough live rock for this size? If it isn't, should I just add more and consider it a restart of the cycling process?

Any opinions are appreciated.

It all depends on what you want to do with your tank. For a reef tank you want to shoot for about 1 pound of rock per gallon. 15 pounds in a 21 gallon tank should be a good start. Do you have a sump? What kind of filtration are you running?

[DevonCichlid]

I've only got about 15lbs of live rock in my new tank, its a 21G tank. I've been cycling for about 3 weeks now. Is this enough live rock for this size? If it isn't, should I just add more and consider it a restart of the cycling process?

Any opinions are appreciated.

It all depends on what you want to do with your tank. For a reef tank you want to shoot for about 1 pound of rock per gallon. 15 pounds in a 21 gallon tank should be a good start. Do you have a sump? What kind of filtration are you running?

No sump, I was just using my existing cannister filter 205. I removed the chemical filtration, have lots of bio in there with the regular filter pads in there. I was going to go with a reef tank for sure.

[MMAX]

I've only got about 15lbs of live rock in my new tank, its a 21G tank. I've been cycling for about 3 weeks now. Is this enough live rock for this size? If it isn't, should I just add more and consider it a restart of the cycling process?

Any opinions are appreciated.

It all depends on what you want to do with your tank. For a reef tank you want to shoot for about 1 pound of rock per gallon. 15 pounds in a 21 gallon tank should be a good start. Do you have a sump? What kind of filtration are you running?

No sump, I was just using my existing cannister filter 205. I removed the chemical filtration, have lots of bio in there with the regular filter pads in there. I was going to go with a reef tank for sure.

Get rid of all the bio pellets and foam blocks and fill it with live rock rubble. See my above post from May 18.

[DevonCichlid]

Sounds good I'm gonna give that a try. Thanks!

[2manytanks]

ChefFish - Sounds like you're well on the way between the set-up you bought and the advice you've been given. One thing I would like to re-inforce is what bosshog told you, the lights you have should be OK for the tank and livestock you have now, if the tank is only 24" deep, and you have a substrate layed down bringing everything even closer to the lights, and the softies are sitting on rocks even closer to the lights, then you should have no problems at all. It's not necessary for you to put out the big bucks for more extravagant lighting. If you decide to get in to hard corals you may want to change to something brighter like MH. At the same time, whether necessary or not, the shimmer provided in the water by MH lighting is just the greatest.

As to the old line about sponges etc. being "nitrate factories", I'm tired of hearing that, and in my opinion it's bull. If not regularly cleaned any type of filtration is going to produce nitrates. If you want to keep your tank and water clean and sparkling you have to remove the solids, and whatever material you choose to remove the solids with has to be cleaned or replaced itself - or yeah - it's going to produce nitrates. Likewise, if you leave the solids in the tank and water, guess what, they'll just settle somewhere else and produce the same by-products there. Any filter that adds too the problem just isn't being kept clean enough, period, and I'd rather clean and replace the cloth and foam filters in my sump than than the sump itself and the tank. And as to nitrates, with a live sand bed and live rock you really won't find it to be of much concern once it has settled in, they really are remarkable at keeping the water clean - but you are still going to have solid waste.

You may find in the future that your protein skimmer may be a bit too little for your tank, a really good protein skimmer is abbout the best investment you can make. Oh and a good clean up crew like sand sifter stars and gobies, and sand dollars to stir up the sand and keep it clean.

Have fun.

[MMAX]

ChefFish - Sounds like you're well on the way between the set-up you bought and the advice you've been given. One thing I would like to re-inforce is what bosshog told you, the lights you have should be OK for the tank and livestock you have now, if the tank is only 24" deep, and you have a substrate layed down bringing everything even closer to the lights, and the softies are sitting on rocks even closer to the lights, then you should have no problems at all. It's not necessary for you to put out the big bucks for more extravagant lighting. If you decide to get in to hard corals you may want to change to something brighter like MH. At the same time, whether necessary or not, the shimmer provided in the water by MH lighting is just the greatest.

As to the old line about sponges etc. being "nitrate factories", I'm tired of hearing that, and in my opinion it's bull. If not regularly cleaned any type of filtration is going to produce nitrates. If you want to keep your tank and water clean and sparkling you have to remove the solids, and whatever material you choose to remove the solids with has to be cleaned or replaced itself - or yeah - it's going to produce nitrates. Likewise, if you leave the solids in the tank and water, guess what, they'll just settle somewhere else and produce the same by-products there. Any filter that adds too the problem just isn't being kept clean enough, period, and I'd rather clean and replace the cloth and foam filters in my sump than than the sump itself and the tank. And as to nitrates, with a live sand bed and live rock you really won't find it to be of much concern once it has settled in, they really are remarkable at keeping the water clean - but you are still going to have solid waste.

You may find in the future that your protein skimmer may be a bit too little for your tank, a really good protein skimmer is abbout the best investment you can make. Oh and a good clean up crew like sand sifter stars and gobies, and sand dollars to stir up the sand and keep it clean.

Have fun.

On the other hand, you might want to get a good light right away. I remember saying when I first started that all I wanted was soft corals. Now that I'm over 4 years in, I've moved up into alot of SPS. You don't need a MH for them, I think people like them for the shimmer effect but they do throw alot of heat. I run an 8 bulb T5 on mine but even a 6 bulb would have worked. One thing you should stay away from is the sand sifting stars though. They never seem to get enough food and always end up dieing.

[ChefFish]

Thanx for the advice everybody. I have added 2x 175w mh lights and kept the 2 40w t5's. I also added 40lbs of live rock (cured). Things seem to have stabilized nicely and I have began slowly adding in some other corals. I would like to add a small schooling fish that would be reef safe. Does anyone have any suggestions? As well I would like to convert a 20 GS tank I have into a sump or refugium. Any advice?