My saltwater journey

[jwd]

I swore I'd never do saltwater again!

I'm a freshwater guy and have been in the hobby for about 10 years off and on. About a year ago I setup a 20g saltwater tank and spent the bare minimum on everything. I used tap water! It was a disaster and I shut it down after a month or two.

Fast forward to today and I'm back at it again but I'm doing everything the right way. I sold everything that had to do with freshwater and now I'm doing saltwater. I'm going from a 125g and 75g freshwater setup to a 32g Coralife Biocube. My fish hobby resides in my office at work so maintenance is going to be so much easier now.

I'm going to update this thread as time goes on and also give you guys a link to everything I've bought and plan to buy. I've done a lot of research and plan to do much much more. Feel free to critique and tell me what I"m doing wrong at any time. I'm totally new to saltwater and need your help.

Here is what I have bought so far.

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/fiji-pink-arag-alive-live-reef-sand.html Sand

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/project-reef-rock-2-1-walt-smith.html Rock

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/koralia-nano-425.html Powerhead

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/4-stage-75gpd-plus-ro-di-system-bulk-reef-supply.html RO/DI

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/finnex-hmo-heater-w-digital-led-controller.html Heater w/ controller

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/red-sea-coral-pro-salt.html Salt

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06X958X7Z/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Tank

https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/instant-ocean-holdfast-epoxy-stick-bonding-solution Rock glue

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/instant-ocean-bio-spira.html Bacteria

I plan to buy:

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/tunze-osmolator-nano-3152-auto-top-off.html Auto top off

More to come. I want to buy a skimmer but I haven't found one that everyone is sold on, I don't want to make mods to my tank, and honestly with good husbandry you don't have to have one on such a small tank. With that said, I DO want one and WILL buy one when I find the right one.


Here is where I'm at in the process. I've put together the stand that goes with the tank. I bought another 32g brute trash can and I'm making RO/DI water now to keep on hand. My other brute can has about 15 gallons of mixed salt water and I have my dry reef rock curing. I have a powerhead and heater in there as well. This will allow all of the phosphates and other stuff to leach off into the water. Most people do this for weeks or months depending on what type of rock they have. I'm still trying to find out how long I need to do this for. This rock is dry but dry means more than one thing. You can have a dry rock that was once live and has dead organsisms on it that will leach nitrates and other unwanted stuff in your water. Then there is dry rock that is man made and hasn't been in a reef environment. My rock is man made and doesn't have any dead organisms in it. Also, it has been painted. Mine is different from most peoples rock and I really don't know how long I need to cure it for. A good rule of thumb is to test the water it's curing in and if the water is free of phosphates and other materials then you should be good to go.

That's where I'm at now. Once my rock cures I'll use a bonding paste to bond them all together and add them to the tank. I'll mix up my water and fill the tank. I'm going to kick start it with a bottle of Bio-spira and go the fishless cycle route and add ammonia.

I'm planning on doing an LPS (Large Polyp Stoney) coral tank with a few fish. My favorite coral has to be frogspawn and hammer corals. I also like zoas a lot.

Here is one question I'm trying to figure out so if you would like to chime in please do so.

I don't know how I'm going to stack my rock. This is an issue because I'm going to bond them together.
Here is a par graph for this tank


I've read that this tank's light is decent and will grow LPS and softies well but suffers when it comes to SPS (Small Polyp Stony). I'm not really that interested in SPS anyway so that isn't that big of an issue. My guess is to stack the rocks to where most of the real estate is in the middle of the tank where the LPS will thrive (according to par levels). Basically, if I stack the rocks like a tower from top to bottom the top and bottom won't get used a lot. The light is about 19-20" above the sand bed.

I'll keep adding to this thread. Feel free to ask any questions you have or give me any advice you have to help me have a painless journey!

 

[jwd]

Another thing I'm trying to decide on is what media to add. I have bought Seachem's Purigen and Phosguard but I might return the Phosguard because of people saying it can add unwanted material to the water once it's used up. I believe it was some sort of metal that I read. I need to know what media to add. I'm thinking I'll just add the purigen.

Also, I've read that you should do your cycle without any media in the filter so you cycle your rocks and make them live and THEN add media. Is that correct?

 

[tlindsey]

I swore I'd never do saltwater again!

I'm a freshwater guy and have been in the hobby for about 10 years off and on. About a year ago I setup a 20g saltwater tank and spent the bare minimum on everything. I used tap water! It was a disaster and I shut it down after a month or two.

Fast forward to today and I'm back at it again but I'm doing everything the right way. I sold everything that had to do with freshwater and now I'm doing saltwater. I'm going from a 125g and 75g freshwater setup to a 32g Coralife Biocube. My fish hobby resides in my office at work so maintenance is going to be so much easier now.

I'm going to update this thread as time goes on and also give you guys a link to everything I've bought and plan to buy. I've done a lot of research and plan to do much much more. Feel free to critique and tell me what I"m doing wrong at any time. I'm totally new to saltwater and need your help.

Here is what I have bought so far.

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/fiji-pink-arag-alive-live-reef-sand.html Sand

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/project-reef-rock-2-1-walt-smith.html Rock

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/koralia-nano-425.html Powerhead

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/4-stage-75gpd-plus-ro-di-system-bulk-reef-supply.html RO/DI

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/finnex-hmo-heater-w-digital-led-controller.html Heater w/ controller

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/red-sea-coral-pro-salt.html Salt

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06X958X7Z/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Tank

https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/instant-ocean-holdfast-epoxy-stick-bonding-solution Rock glue

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/instant-ocean-bio-spira.html Bacteria

I plan to buy:

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/tunze-osmolator-nano-3152-auto-top-off.html Auto top off

More to come. I want to buy a skimmer but I haven't found one that everyone is sold on, I don't want to make mods to my tank, and honestly with good husbandry you don't have to have one on such a small tank. With that said, I DO want one and WILL buy one when I find the right one.


Here is where I'm at in the process. I've put together the stand that goes with the tank. I bought another 32g brute trash can and I'm making RO/DI water now to keep on hand. My other brute can has about 15 gallons of mixed salt water and I have my dry reef rock curing. I have a powerhead and heater in there as well. This will allow all of the phosphates and other stuff to leach off into the water. Most people do this for weeks or months depending on what type of rock they have. I'm still trying to find out how long I need to do this for. This rock is dry but dry means more than one thing. You can have a dry rock that was once live and has dead organsisms on it that will leach nitrates and other unwanted stuff in your water. Then there is dry rock that is man made and hasn't been in a reef environment. My rock is man made and doesn't have any dead organisms in it. Also, it has been painted. Mine is different from most peoples rock and I really don't know how long I need to cure it for. A good rule of thumb is to test the water it's curing in and if the water is free of phosphates and other materials then you should be good to go.

That's where I'm at now. Once my rock cures I'll use a bonding paste to bond them all together and add them to the tank. I'll mix up my water and fill the tank. I'm going to kick start it with a bottle of Bio-spira and go the fishless cycle route and add ammonia.

I'm planning on doing an LPS (Large Polyp Stoney) coral tank with a few fish. My favorite coral has to be frogspawn and hammer corals. I also like zoas a lot.

Here is one question I'm trying to figure out so if you would like to chime in please do so.

I don't know how I'm going to stack my rock. This is an issue because I'm going to bond them together.
Here is a par graph for this tank
View attachment 1254632

I've read that this tank's light is decent and will grow LPS and softies well but suffers when it comes to SPS (Small Polyp Stony). I'm not really that interested in SPS anyway so that isn't that big of an issue. My guess is to stack the rocks to where most of the real estate is in the middle of the tank where the LPS will thrive (according to par levels). Basically, if I stack the rocks like a tower from top to bottom the top and bottom won't get used a lot. The light is about 19-20" above the sand bed.

I'll keep adding to this thread. Feel free to ask any questions you have or give me any advice you have to help me have a painless journey!

I think you are well on your way to a successful reef setup and hopefully you will find a good skimmer.

 

[jwd]

I think you are well on your way to a successful reef setup and hopefully you will find a good skimmer.

Thanks! I'm trying to be as patient as possible. I normally jump in and rush it but I really want to make sure everything is done perfectly.

 

[tlindsey]

Thanks! I'm trying to be as patient as possible. I normally jump in and rush it but I really want to make sure everything is done perfectly.

Yes patience is the key I had to learn this myself.

 

[jwd]

If it's clean man made just cycle the tank as normal you don't have to wait that long. Only reason to wait that long is if it was originally alive and is now dead. Yours is clean fresh new. Cycle like normal.

This was posted in a thread leading up to this one and I'm thinking that I may go this route. I might add the rocks now. I was thinking that in the beginning. Before I do that I'm going to test the phosphate. I need to buy a test kit for that. I just tested my nitrate and ammonia and the nitrate was zero and the ammonia was 0.25 ppm. My pH is 8.

 

[tlindsey]

This was posted in a thread leading up to this one and I'm thinking that I may go this route. I might add the rocks now. I was thinking that in the beginning. Before I do that I'm going to test the phosphate. I need to buy a test kit for that. I just tested my nitrate and ammonia and the nitrate was zero and the ammonia was 0.25 ppm. My pH is 8.

That route is fine. Have you decided what fish are going in the aquarium?

 

[jwd]

That route is fine. Have you decided what fish are going in the aquarium?

My options are pretty limited with such a small tank but I'm sure I'll add a couple designer clown fish. I haven't decided on that completely. I need a cleanup crew also. That's the fun part and I haven't even had the time to put a lot of thought into that. I've been so caught up in setting it up.

 

[tlindsey]

My options are pretty limited with such a small tank but I'm sure I'll add a couple designer clown fish. I haven't decided on that completely. I need a cleanup crew also. That's the fun part and I haven't even had the time to put a lot of thought into that. I've been so caught up in setting it up.

The setup would be great for Seahorses but once the aquarium has matured .

 

[tlindsey]

The setup would be great for Seahorses but once the aquarium has matured .

Btw Clown fish are one of my favorite fish also great looking and hardy.