another beginner saltwater question!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
haha thank u guys soo much for the help read every word.. the cost isn't an issue really just as long as I setup up the healthiest saltwater tank for a dwarf lionfish .. and im in no rush with cycling either I just thot that the hardy fish method was a good one.. like I said before the price isn't issue as long as I got wat I need to create the healthiest environment for my fish.. number one thing .. any thanks a lot for the help.. this is gonna be my first saltwater setup and iknow wat size tank wat fish and like the direction I wanna go its just the basics that I need to know wen starting the tank and u guys helped aalot
 
im pretty patient and the cost isn't a big issue .. need the info for a healthy and good way to setup a lionfish environment with all it needs etc..
 
throw in live rocks and sand, buy 'dead' rock if you dont want to spend a lot of live rock. I personally liked the hitchhikers, after a few months, the amphipods and copepods came out and made things interesting at night. they also clean up the tank of food waste. i like amitas' start up, it's not complicated at all
 
There's also the option of cured and uncured live rock. Uncured will take longer for the tank to cycle becuz there will be A LOT of die off but you will also get the most hitchhikers which is exciting to see. I got an octopus once! Cured live rock has been established for a while in a tank and everything that was dying has already died off and you the cycling process won't take as long. You can also buy purple live rock which is normal live rock that has been under high light for a while and has a healthy layer or coraline algae which adds some color to the tank. Regardless, coraline will show up anyway as long as your calcium and alkalinity are stable, so I would go with normal cured or uncured. The purple is also usually more expensive b


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alexisnsanti said:
so for the hitch hikers uncured is the way to go?. will all uncured live rock guaranteed have em?. it sounds cool.
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You'll probably get some with cured as well but you'll have more and a bigger variety with uncured. The thing is that you also might get some unwanted hitchhikers like mantis shrimp, which can possibly injure or kill your fish, and pest anemones like aiptasia and majano anemones. If you're lucky though you might get some corals or clams depending on what type of rock you go with. The most common is Fiji but there's a lot more types. I personally like Tongan live rock and Fiji branched rock. You'll find a bigger variety online but some lfs carry other types. You'll mostly find just Fiji though


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Amitas said:
honestly there is no point on spending money on live bacteria cultures in saltwater aquariums, the best thing to do is buy a decent live sand, then a good ratio of live rock is usually 1 pound per gallon, however make sure you arrange the rock with more or less depending on the needs of the organisms going into the tank.

after you arrange your live sand and rock within the aquarium, you will fill It with SW, then turn on all your filters , pumps, heaters,....etc, finally as a better alternative to a live cycle, place a small pinch of fish food within the aquarium, this will seed the water with ammonia, and give the nitrifying bacteria something to eat while the colonies grow. periodically you will want to check ammonia levels, and once they hit zero your aquarium is successfully cycled.

unlike FW in a SW aquarium you will have "hitch hikers" come in within your live rock, such as polychaete worms, various tube worms, copepods, small crustaceans, and every once in a while people have larger things come in on live rock such as fish, bi valves, echinoderms cephalopods, one of my co-workers had a baby snowflake eel come in on his. throughout the cycling process you will be able to watch these emerge throughout the rock and into the new environment you have created.
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I agree 100 percent - good safe advise - SW is not complicated just costly so slow is best
 
Where in California are you? Have you checked around you area for a LFS that deals in SW. You will be able to get most of the basics at Petco if they have a good SW section, but for a lot of the cooler more specialized stuff, I would definitely check Yelp or some other review site for non-chain fish stores ;)
 
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