Considering the switch from fresh to salt...
- Thread starter stingraybob
- Start date
Best just to take it slow and realize their are different ways to skin a cat - pros and cons to every do's and don'ts. There are so few things written in stone when it comes to aquaria but one that is - the only way to know whats in the water and how much is by testing it.
Using a hydrometer to test for Salinity and a basic Saltwater Cycling test kit for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, PH. - This is were you start. Not all Live Rock is fully cultured, not all Live Sand is even alive, most are ammonia bombs to jump start the cycling process without the use of food or by piosoning fish. Cycling with LR alone it took my 210 reef 6 weeks for Nitrates to get down to 20 ppm - safe for fish, then another several months before soft corals, and a few more months beyond that for stoney's - Take it slow, you got time between the advances to get your head around the next step - your test kits will let you know.
Using a hydrometer to test for Salinity and a basic Saltwater Cycling test kit for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, PH. - This is were you start. Not all Live Rock is fully cultured, not all Live Sand is even alive, most are ammonia bombs to jump start the cycling process without the use of food or by piosoning fish. Cycling with LR alone it took my 210 reef 6 weeks for Nitrates to get down to 20 ppm - safe for fish, then another several months before soft corals, and a few more months beyond that for stoney's - Take it slow, you got time between the advances to get your head around the next step - your test kits will let you know.
Wow, that is some amount of aquariums you've got there man!! How long does maintenance take per week and if you don't mind, whats the expense of having that many tanks? Any chance of some pics of your Rays & Marine tanks?? Couldn't have written a better reply than what's been said here by the way!! Spot on!!
I have a schedule on my frig that tells me what tanks to maintain that day and also helps me keep up with filter cleanings and such.
It takes me about 3 hrs a day to maintain the tanks for that day. usually 6 per day.
Its not really hard to maintain them now. Since they have been up and running for awhile, its simply cleaning glass and water changes/vacume. I usually have three tanks draining for water changes at a time. Most of my breeding tanks do not have substrate (depends what is in it), so easy to vacume if needed.
Ill post some pics tomorrow of the marine and ray tanks. The pond is a work in progress. I have the pond set up, rock around it almost finished and reduing the lighting. But will be cool when finished to my plans.
thanks, I figured the best information is best given when easily spelled out and in steps. Of course, every tank is different, cycling time can be different for each tank. The two saltwater tanks I have, one took two weeks to go thru its cycle, the other took two months. Its just now starting to get fish... No telling how long it will take the 150 to cycle. But doesnt matter to me, I have big plans for that fish only tank and will get it rt the first time. I want to stick a blue spotted ray in it with some other fish. So I will make sure if Im going to spend that kind of money on a saltwater ray, Its ready and rt the first time.
Post pics tomorrow.
Thanks again
Fair play mate, that is some serious dedication to the hobby!! I currently ONLY have a 14" O in a 450 Litre, had to run down my other three tanks for financial reasons! Doing a postgraduate diploma and it ain't cheap ha ha!! I'll be back with a reef set-up in the near future hopefully!! I've never kept Rays before but there a super fish, blue spotted rays are prob my favourite out of all the Rays (both fresh & marine)!! What other fish would you put with that? Interested in Morays or Groupers?
Do you have a fish room or something for all them tanks? Sounds an awesome set-up you have going!!! One more question ha, what fish do you breed? Are they feeders or do you sell them to your LFS for an extra few quid??
Do you have a fish room or something for all them tanks? Sounds an awesome set-up you have going!!! One more question ha, what fish do you breed? Are they feeders or do you sell them to your LFS for an extra few quid??
Well I think after reading all this Im gonna pull the trigger and give salt a shot...gonna start shopping around for the live rock, skimmer, maybe a uv, and start building my sump...40 gallon should be big enough i would imagine for a 75 gallon tank...ill update my progress every so often and let ya guys tell me what im doing wrong lol...wish me luck
MFK wont let me add pics.. Ive tried the last few days.. Will try again later.
We have 4 tanks in our living room and the rest are in our basement. Our basement is a unfinished open room the entire debth of the house, so we have plenty of room.
I breed jewel cichlids, guppies, angel fish, ghost shrimp, cherry shrimp and gold fish. I use the gold fish, ghost shrimp, cherry shrimp and sometimes the cichlids as feeders (depends on how many I have). We sale off the fish also to local pet stores or people for feeders or for whatever they want them for.
We have had a few litters of pups from the Motoro rays also. Have been also working on breeding black ghost knife fish and clown fish.
I have two small 10 gallon tanks set up that reproduce copopods for my salt tanks. This makes sure i always have plenty on hand. Since my wife like her manderin, we need to always make sure he has copopods for him. But they are easy to reproduce.. They do all the work. All I have to do is wipe the tanks down from time to time..
This is what I do instead of party. I enjoy working on my tanks. Always buying and saling to. I just bought two more complete saltwater set up's and got a really good deal. So will be setting one of them up for whatever at some point down the road for whatever we decided and prob sale the other off to make some of my money back.
We have 4 tanks in our living room and the rest are in our basement. Our basement is a unfinished open room the entire debth of the house, so we have plenty of room.
I breed jewel cichlids, guppies, angel fish, ghost shrimp, cherry shrimp and gold fish. I use the gold fish, ghost shrimp, cherry shrimp and sometimes the cichlids as feeders (depends on how many I have). We sale off the fish also to local pet stores or people for feeders or for whatever they want them for.
We have had a few litters of pups from the Motoro rays also. Have been also working on breeding black ghost knife fish and clown fish.
I have two small 10 gallon tanks set up that reproduce copopods for my salt tanks. This makes sure i always have plenty on hand. Since my wife like her manderin, we need to always make sure he has copopods for him. But they are easy to reproduce.. They do all the work. All I have to do is wipe the tanks down from time to time..
This is what I do instead of party. I enjoy working on my tanks. Always buying and saling to. I just bought two more complete saltwater set up's and got a really good deal. So will be setting one of them up for whatever at some point down the road for whatever we decided and prob sale the other off to make some of my money back.
