My saltwater journey

[jwd]

Here is the tank so far. I put the water in an hour ago so it's still cloudy. I had a rough time with the bonding putty for the rocks. There wasn't enough solid spots between two rocks to putty them and make a firm hold. So in the end I just stacked them to where they are really solid without putty. They're leaning up against the back wall which is some sort of firm plastic. I tried moving the rocks and they're really solid so I won't have any problems with a little clown fish pushing them over. It would take a dovii to move them.

 

[tlindsey]

View attachment 1255623

Here is the tank so far. I put the water in an hour ago so it's still cloudy. I had a rough time with the bonding putty for the rocks. There wasn't enough solid spots between two rocks to putty them and make a firm hold. So in the end I just stacked them to where they are really solid without putty. They're leaning up against the back wall which is some sort of firm plastic. I tried moving the rocks and they're really solid so I won't have any problems with a little clown fish pushing them over. It would take a dovii to move them.

Position of rocks look good.

 

[jwd]

Position of rocks look good.

Thanks. It took forever and it could be a lot better if I had more rocks to work with. Now for the long cycle process.

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

My Nano 40B Saltwater tank still running and cycled for almost a year (dosing liquid ammonia at 4ppm a week to keep BB alive) and it's still EMPTY LOL.

 

[twentyleagues]

It really doesn't take that much longer to cycle a salt tank. If you don't have any live rock or live sand then it may but with all the products out there, microbacter, and all the other saltwater safe bacteria additives. When I started my nano salt tank at work I got a bunch of live rubble rock from my lfs and put it in a phosban reactor and cycled the tank, 2-3 weeks I had diatoms on the rock and sand. That's usually a sign that the cycle is coming to an end. I tested had 0 on amon and trite and 5-10 trates. Added a clean up crew threw in some pellets for about a week tested all good and added fish never looked back from there.

 

[jwd]

My Nano 40B Saltwater tank still running and cycled for almost a year (dosing liquid ammonia at 4ppm a week to keep BB alive) and it's still EMPTY LOL.

I was just looking at ammonia calculators! I have them open in another tab. This will be the first time I dose ammonia. It says to dose 2.4 mL on this 32 gallon. Sound about right? That's to spike it up to 2 ppm. Keep it at two or let it fall and repeat the dose?

It really doesn't take that much longer to cycle a salt tank. If you don't have any live rock or live sand then it may but with all the products out there, microbacter, and all the other saltwater safe bacteria additives. When I started my nano salt tank at work I got a bunch of live rubble rock from my lfs and put it in a phosban reactor and cycled the tank, 2-3 weeks I had diatoms on the rock and sand. That's usually a sign that the cycle is coming to an end. I tested had 0 on amon and trite and 5-10 trates. Added a clean up crew threw in some pellets for about a week tested all good and added fish never looked back from there.

I didn't want to risk live rock and didn't want to cure it for how long you're supposed to so I went with dry man made rock. I do have live sand though. I'm going to dose ammonia today and buy a bottle of bacteria.

 

[jwd]

All clear!

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

I was just looking at ammonia calculators! I have them open in another tab. This will be the first time I dose ammonia. It says to dose 2.4 mL on this 32 gallon. Sound about right? That's to spike it up to 2 ppm. Keep it at two or let it fall and repeat the dose?

You won't see the ammonia fall for next 2 weeks if you using dry rock (nothing wrong with that it's the best to void all unwanted pet from the live rock), when ammonia start to fall then dose it again and start to keep your eyes on Nitrite (probably take around 2 weeks to see Nitrite start falling). I over dosed my tank just because I knew the species I'm gonna get will produce ton of waste so I wanted my tank have more than enough BB to cover it as soon as I get my fish in my tank, its took me around 8 weeks to complete cycle my tank, after that it will eliminate 6ppm ammonia within 48 hours and all nitrite within 24 hours, remember our fish WON'T produce that much waste in a day lol. After I got all number down I just dose 4~6 ppm a week to keep thing stable until I find my fish (Antennarius pecies)

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

Another thing is that don't impulse buying LOL I knew it's hard for saltwater cause too many colorful species out there to choose

 

[jwd]

You won't see the ammonia fall for next 2 weeks if you using dry rock (nothing wrong with that it's the best to void all unwanted pet from the live rock), when ammonia start to fall then dose it again and start to keep your eyes on Nitrite (probably take around 2 weeks to see Nitrite start falling). I over dosed my tank just because I knew the species I'm gonna get will produce ton of waste so I wanted my tank have more than enough BB to cover it as soon as I get my fish in my tank, its took me around 8 weeks to complete cycle my tank, after that it will eliminate 6ppm ammonia within 48 hours and all nitrite within 24 hours, remember our fish WON'T produce that much waste in a day lol. After I got all number down I just dose 4~6 ppm a week to keep thing stable until I find my fish (Antennarius pecies)

Another thing is that don't impulse buying LOL I knew it's hard for saltwater cause too many colorful species out there to choose

Yeah, you can't impulse buy in this hobby. Everything is so expensive compared to freshwater. Also, I live 2 hrs away from a saltwater fish store so that helps with impulse buys. The only fish on my radar right now is a pair of Golden Nuggets.



I cannot wait until I can order a pair of these. Other than that, I'm mainly building a reef tank. I want to start slow with fish but really fill it up with LPS.

One question I have for you is when do I add my cleaner crew? Without fish won't they starve?