First Saltwater Setup

[wrano]

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/114125Picture_020.jpg

Here's a picture of my first saltwater tank after being set up for 1 week,it is a 55g I switched out the crushed coral i had after not liking it for LS. After three days i put a piece of live rock in there along with two Damsels. I have been thinking of adding some more LR can anyone give some suggestions on some good places to purchase some, Ive checked reefscience I really like there Indo-LR. Has anyone had good expieriences with them Also how many Lb's should i get I dont want it to be to cluttered but i wouldnt mind getting rid of my hang on filter.

Dave

[CrazyLionfish]

Your tank looks good. However, are you checking for nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia to make sure that your tank is fully cycled? If you haven't I would suggest doing so, it usually takes longer than a week. I got my LR for my new tank from LiveAquaria.com the fiji 45 lb package, very happy with the results, numerous different live forms on the rock. A good rule of thumb for live rock to be affective filtration, is 1-2 lbs per gallon. So 55-110lbs preferably for your tank.

[Aadler]

at least 55lbs as much as 80 i would say, cant help with the indo-lr, ive bought all mine locally. Lookin good, you picked a great hobby :)

[wrano]

No i have not checked my water yet the LFS said to wait a couple weeks then bring them a water sample since i dont have a test kit, but i think i will take some tomorrow and possibly get my own test kit. also do i need to wait for the tank to cycle to add more LR or should i load it up now

[wrano]

also i added two 20 Lb bags of LS is this sufficient or will I need to add another bag I didnt want to have half the tank filled with sand so I may have bought to little.

[Muleball39]

Dude you need to read a lot more about starting a reef tank. You are moving way to fast. Buy your live rock now and then cycle it. That step alone will take at least a month. Then you can add stuff like fish and corals. It is just mean to cycle with fish in the tank.

[Muleball39]

I have 60Lbs of sand in my 55 and it is about a 2 1/2 inch deep sand bed. That is probably the least amount I would put in there.

[AllenFord_SC]

LR is kind of overpriced usually. Go with Base rock form one of these sources.

www.reeferrocks.com
www.hirocks.com

Go with 40 to 50 lbs. of base rock and "seed" it with some LR. Also I agree in part with what Muleball said. The tank needs about 1 month to get the cycle over with or longer in some cases. I don't really know about the cruelty part of his statement since plenty of people use Damsels or Chromis to help move the cycle along. My tank never had an initial cycle that I noticed, however I used fully cured LS and LR that was over night delivered to my door with minimal die-off. but it was expensive. Are you running a skimmer? This will help with your cycle and make living through the cycle easier on your fish. Best of luck!

[AllenFord_SC]

Also you are definetly going to need test kits. The sooner the better.

[Muleball39]

Its just as easy to complete your cycle with a piece of raw shrimp from the supermarket as it is with fish, its just that the fish won't have to try to fight through the cycle which could kill them. Why risk it when you don't have too.

[rjwilson37]

If your LR was already cured LR from the LFS, then it only takes your tank about 5 to 10 days for you tank to cycle, so your probably doing ok, just make sure you do about a 20% water change after it finishes it's cycle. If you want to get more LR, especially online LR that get's shipped to you, then don't really add anything else to your tank until you get the LR in that you want. Your tank is going to cycle again when you get a bunch of online LR since it will ship and get some die off after it is put in your tank. Your damsels will probably live through this as they are very hardy fish, but you may want to get the damsels out before you add more LR so they are easy to get out. If they are not a semi aggresive or less aggresive damsel, they will get very teritorial and make it hard for you to add any more fish into your tank. Those two damsels will pretty much attack any fish you put in there and possibly stress out, or kill them in one way or another. Those type of semi-aggresive damsels can be passive and not very aggresive, or sometimes they can be very aggresive, you just never no until you get everything in there that you want. A lot of people say, why put a $5 damsel fish in a tank with a bunch of $50 dollar fish just so see if it works, I mean why take a chance.

If you want damsels in your tank somewhere down the line, they should be the semi aggresive kind and also be the last fish you add after everyone else has established there area's.

Good Luck and welcome to the Grind!

[piberoptikz]

;) looking nice!

[rjwilson37]

That looks like a seaclone skimmer hookup on a maxijet, am I correct? If it is... is it a 100 or a 150?