This is my first adventure into saltwater, it was starting out as a FOWLR tank but the LFS during a visit convinced me into a small Zoa colony frag so I guess FOWLR no longer qualifies.
I have 30+ years with various fresh water tanks both with live plants and without and the last time I tried salt was 1985 with a 29 gal tank, when most of the stuff you had to make yourself and their was not a LFS that had live rock, or sand so things have come a long way since that failure so long ago.
So my first real saltwater tank is this one as follows:
56 Gal Marineland tank, stand, glass top, and https://tinyurl.com/y8adgztt hidden strip light (not the actual one, mine is two strips that the total length equals my tank (my tank has a plastic divider in the middle).
I have 40 lbs of pink coral sand, 50 lbs of live rock, a canister filter , a penn plax cascade 1000 ( I know I have heard it all about the nitrate factory thing with canister filters but I am doing ok so far). In my canister filter, in the bottom basket, I have 14.1 oz of Matrix high capacity biofiltration media (says for up to 200 gal on the package and recommended by my LFS)with the canister filter bio floss on top of the basket, the middle basket, I have the 10 oz. Chem-pure original formula with bio floss on top of that, and in the top chamber, I only have one bio floss mat in the basket. We skipped on the sump filter setup because 1. there is not much room under the stand as it is, 2. we didn't want the waterfall noise in our living room all the time. I do not have a heater (though I am thinking of getting one soon) because my LFS says here in central FLA you most likely won't need one.
I have an API Saltwater master test kit and a not so good Instant Ocean beam hydrometer. I have been up until 2 weeks ago testing the water daily with my test kit and once a week having my LFS also testing to confirm my results. My tests come out slightly higher and they have the same test products so I am not sure of the discrepancy. I am relying on them for my salt level though because they have a refractometer and I should have purchased one instead.
I am purchasing my saltwater from my LFS.
Placed my live rock in my tank and positioned it how I wanted it, then added my sand, filled the tank with fresh saltwater from the LFS, turned on the filter, and added the coagulant that came with the sand. Cycled for a week, testing daily with no rise in ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate and a PH of 8.2.
Purchased 2 "Nemo" clownfish and tested for a week again without any change in water chemistry.
Added 5 turbo snails and 5 hermit crabs (not sure what type of hermit crabs the LFS picked them out for us). Cycled for a week again no change in water quality. Then the down turn. At another LFS we purchased a strawberry dottyback and a jewel damsel. We told them what we had in the tank and what we were planning and we were told those two fish should be great. Well that did not last long, within a week the dottyback terrorized the damsel to death. We called the LFS and they had said they were sorry and they should have worked out but would trade back the dottyback for something else as soon as they had a holding tank open up for it. Well that went on for a few days, in the meantime the dottyback started to chase after my clown fish. So we contacted our original LFS and they would gladly help us out and take the dottyback off our hands and that the dottyback is an A$$hole and should not have been an addition to our tank.
Purchased a Coral Beauty Angelfish, a cleaner shrimp and an emerald green crab, tested for a week and the water remained with 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and now see a climb of 10 nitrate so I am assuming that ammonia and nitrite is being cycled faster than I can see results from. Picture is from week 1, Yes I have fake plants and anemones. They glow under the blue light at night and there was not much else to look at.
That's all for now. I will write more later.
Thank you for reading and in advance for your advice and comments.
I have 30+ years with various fresh water tanks both with live plants and without and the last time I tried salt was 1985 with a 29 gal tank, when most of the stuff you had to make yourself and their was not a LFS that had live rock, or sand so things have come a long way since that failure so long ago.
So my first real saltwater tank is this one as follows:
56 Gal Marineland tank, stand, glass top, and https://tinyurl.com/y8adgztt hidden strip light (not the actual one, mine is two strips that the total length equals my tank (my tank has a plastic divider in the middle).
I have 40 lbs of pink coral sand, 50 lbs of live rock, a canister filter , a penn plax cascade 1000 ( I know I have heard it all about the nitrate factory thing with canister filters but I am doing ok so far). In my canister filter, in the bottom basket, I have 14.1 oz of Matrix high capacity biofiltration media (says for up to 200 gal on the package and recommended by my LFS)with the canister filter bio floss on top of the basket, the middle basket, I have the 10 oz. Chem-pure original formula with bio floss on top of that, and in the top chamber, I only have one bio floss mat in the basket. We skipped on the sump filter setup because 1. there is not much room under the stand as it is, 2. we didn't want the waterfall noise in our living room all the time. I do not have a heater (though I am thinking of getting one soon) because my LFS says here in central FLA you most likely won't need one.
I have an API Saltwater master test kit and a not so good Instant Ocean beam hydrometer. I have been up until 2 weeks ago testing the water daily with my test kit and once a week having my LFS also testing to confirm my results. My tests come out slightly higher and they have the same test products so I am not sure of the discrepancy. I am relying on them for my salt level though because they have a refractometer and I should have purchased one instead.
I am purchasing my saltwater from my LFS.
Placed my live rock in my tank and positioned it how I wanted it, then added my sand, filled the tank with fresh saltwater from the LFS, turned on the filter, and added the coagulant that came with the sand. Cycled for a week, testing daily with no rise in ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate and a PH of 8.2.
Purchased 2 "Nemo" clownfish and tested for a week again without any change in water chemistry.
Added 5 turbo snails and 5 hermit crabs (not sure what type of hermit crabs the LFS picked them out for us). Cycled for a week again no change in water quality. Then the down turn. At another LFS we purchased a strawberry dottyback and a jewel damsel. We told them what we had in the tank and what we were planning and we were told those two fish should be great. Well that did not last long, within a week the dottyback terrorized the damsel to death. We called the LFS and they had said they were sorry and they should have worked out but would trade back the dottyback for something else as soon as they had a holding tank open up for it. Well that went on for a few days, in the meantime the dottyback started to chase after my clown fish. So we contacted our original LFS and they would gladly help us out and take the dottyback off our hands and that the dottyback is an A$$hole and should not have been an addition to our tank.
Purchased a Coral Beauty Angelfish, a cleaner shrimp and an emerald green crab, tested for a week and the water remained with 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and now see a climb of 10 nitrate so I am assuming that ammonia and nitrite is being cycled faster than I can see results from. Picture is from week 1, Yes I have fake plants and anemones. They glow under the blue light at night and there was not much else to look at.
That's all for now. I will write more later.
Thank you for reading and in advance for your advice and comments.
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