I wanna try salt water....

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mshill90

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 4, 2009
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Mechanicsburg, PA
So, I've decided to try a salt water tank..

I want to start small- I know bigger is easier, but right now, I don't have the means to do anything large scale for SW.

I have a 30 gallon long that I am going to use for this project. I have a bucket almost completely full of Instant Ocean (Purple color bucket). And I have a huge plastic tote full of base rock.. I plan on using a HOB for this tank as well.

But... how do I start? How do I get bacteria going... and the hydrometer... salt... liverock....

help.

(Note: unlike many people who start salt water, I know that you don't add salt when the water evaporates- you only add water because salt doesn't evaporate)
 
Fill it with freshwater, get temp to 76 F, add salt to desired level (use a hydrometer), add powerhead to get proper cirulation. If you plan on filtering the water with live rock...cured or uncured will be fine and at the same time add a good quality skimmer. From there test for ammonia and nitrites, if levels look desirable add your first fish.

Don't cheap out on live rock. Find a reputable source to get you started. Thinking by saving a few bucks will cost you more in the long run.

Goodluck
 
marconi;5086638; said:
Fill it with freshwater, get temp to 76 F, add salt to desired level (use a hydrometer), add powerhead to get proper cirulation. If you plan on filtering the water with live rock...cured or uncured will be fine and at the same time add a good quality skimmer. From there test for ammonia and nitrites, if levels look desirable add your first fish.

Don't cheap out on live rock. Find a reputable source to get you started. Thinking by saving a few bucks will cost you more in the long run.

Goodluck
Click to expand...


I know all about the nasties that can be found in live rock.- but, I don't understand what is meant by cured/uncured... is uncured just base rock?

Basically, to get this thing going, I need to have something that's holding bacteria... such as seeded sand or live rock from a tank?

I have an Eshoppes S-120 Economy cone skimmer, but it's required a sump, and I can't sump a 30 gallon tank.
 
Cured rock is rock not producing ammonia from die off. Uncured rock is usually brand new shipped rock with die off of some of its bacteria from shipping ( live rock is shipped in damp newspaper so die off is inevitable). In order to keep the live rock in good shape the proper conditions must be provided to cure it ( rock either goes into an already established tank or vat to cure with plenty of circulation and great protien skimming). Base rock has no beneficial bacteria and in my opinion is a waste of space and money. There is probably a number of LFS that carry salt in your area. Ask them if they are getting any new shipments of rock in and where its collected. Depending on where its collected will determine its porosity and more porous type the rock the better to use. Fiji, tonga and indo rock is usually pretty decent. Your paying the big bucks for the bacteria that comes with the rock, so well maintained rock is key.
 
There is only 1 place in my area that carries live rock, and that is The Fish Place down in Lancaster PA. And I have heard from several people that keep SW that they will never buy LR there.

The only other place is Petco, and they only have the fish.. no rock.

I was reading that you can add seachem stability to salt water, but I am assuming that this would not make rock "live" either.

I have a friend that has a salt water tank, so I will see what I can do as far as buying some live rock off of him.

Do I want to get everything going and cycled before adding the live rock?
 
Buy cured rock from an established tank to start off. Curing your own rock, especially as a beginner, is hard, time-consuming and not worth it.

Also, I think you would be better off in this size tank getting a couple powerheads and just the live rock as filtration. It's what I'm attempting in my tank.
The hob filter doesn't do much in terms of filtration and water movement.
 
Get on craigslist and find some live rock in your area. There should be some for 2-3$ a lb. :D
 
Mudslinger14;5086731; said:
Get on craigslist and find some live rock in your area. There should be some for 2-3$ a lb. :D
Click to expand...

just emailed someone about some now actually :)

There is a pet store about half an hour away (mom and pop kinda) that uses AC's as filtration on their SW tanks, and they are small 20 gallons- that's where I got the idea of using HOB.

In all honesty, I would like to use the empty 55 gallon in my basement, but it's not my tank. :(

I have some ideas going in my head... I may be able to find a way to use a sump..
 
Hey You !

No worries with That Fish's LR - It will jump start your cycle and most if not all of the hitchikers will not survive the Nitrogen Cycling. In fact - their Haitian show rock is very well cured and copapod factories.They also have the enviormently friendly Aqua-cultured Purple dyed rock that's got established colonies already in it - will cut down on Nitrite time. BUT no big suprise here - you need a constant source of ammonia to continue cycling as it never truely stops. Hence the uncured and partial cured are what I used to get to Fish and inverts - ya the 180's got erie inhabitants.
Just aviod LR covered in green hair algae - it's more or less used in refrigiums and by no means should be used in your main tank.

I did use base rock when 1st started along with uncured LR. The Base was white calcium rock @ 2.99 a lb (in the oval tubs) , if you use anything else like slate, granite, volcanic - your gonna create an algae tank due to silicates - same goes for pool filter and general purpose sands. Live sand is an ammonia bomb, whatever was alive in the bag died from lack of oxygen. I used sterile Pink Solomon and Agronite.
Also with just base rock and no LR theres no coraline algae introduction. I do belive you can get "Cycle in a bottle" too but I'm no big fan, also organic rot like a piece of shrimp but it takes longer. LR takes 4-8 weeks for Nitrates to be 10 ppm. The calcium from the Baserock, LR, Agronite, and salt mixes should stabilze the PH @ 8 - 8.4, weekly w/c will replenish the hydrogen.

Getting started - general thumb rule - 1 cup salt per 2 gallons water, hydrometer will tell you excatly - you need a heater and good water circulation more so than a HOB as you don't want the salt falling out of suspension. Use as much base as you want but I'd add some (5-10lbs) of LR for the rot. The benificals will grow on the base rock too. After this the fun starts - learning how much to top off, preping 10% weekly w/c's, stabilizing salinity, skimming, lighting, removing phosphates, refrigium, R/O tech, getting the corrcet CUC's (clean up crew) , growing friendly in tank denitrifyers, food varites, and even move on to more advanced stuff like carbon dosing.

Also - Bigger is always better - puts the ppm's on your side - salinity can change very quickly with daily evaporation.

Enjoy! It's not really that hard just daily.
 
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