New... Have a question or two

[OstarPartyOfFour]

Hey guys my wife and I just bought a 75gallon glass over flow tank. just started the cycle a week ago. When buying salt water forgot to account for over flow, acrylic filter box (AVS-100) and skimmer (curve 5) so after filling pump was running dry added 7 gallons of distilled water and thoughts good or bad. Also I wanted to know what kind of refractometer people are using? what would be a good one to buy?

 

[Reefer508]

When adding fresh water your salinity will drop. Not a big deal right now but you will need to watch for swings once you start adding livestock. The more stabile the better, with all your parameters. Any refractometer will work as long as you calibrate it. What type of tank are you going for? Fish only or a reef? You will want to find a good suppler of R/O DI water for top offs if you cannot set up your own.

 

[OstarPartyOfFour]

Thanks for the reply. that was one of my concerns but also was making sure that in a pinch like I was in that distilled water is better than tap water. Besides John do you know of anyone in our area that sells R/O? Going to see john this Thursday, on average what should I expect for loss/evaporation. It looks as though I have already had about a gallon or two evaporate. Ill be grabbing a refractometer from john this week. what kind of tank do you have?

 

[aresangel]

Albert just put up three good water filters. I would recommend getting one of those so you don't have to go out and buy the water. You can easily install it under your sink or in your basement. I have heard of some people getting the reverse osmosis (RO) from Walmart or their grocery store in the 5 gallon fountain bottles. I personally would invest in the filtration.


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[OstarPartyOfFour]

Hey guys so for anyone who pays attention to this post i have had my tank cycling for 3 weeks my wife and I are trying to figure out when and what kind of fish to do.... My son loves Finding Nemo and Finding Dory and wants to do fish from those two movies but the tank is so new i dont want to buy the fish he wants and have them die i was thinking of buying some school fish. I was planning on doing some of them anyways but i figure start with them and if they dont do well or worst case live not end of the world. Does anyone have any thoughts i am so new to this i dont know what or where to start... Will take any and all advice thanks guys everyone here has been so helpful.

Thanks Ostarpartyoffour

 

[Cpage101]

Cycle done?what size tank?


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[aresangel]

Cycle done?what size tank?


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Earlier post says 75 gallon.

With a child that may get attached you may want to stay away from the powered blue tang. They will outgrow that tank. There are a couple smaller tangs like the Kole eye (yellow eye) or tomini tang or that would suit that size for the most part. If you did want the "dory" then you can buy small but if she gets too large/aggressive you may need to find her a new home.

Other fish from that movie include a royal gramma, a yellow tang,

Damsels are pretty and cheap. Some people used to put them in the water as sacrificial fish without properly cycling. If they are on your wish list then they could be first as I mentioned before... cheap.

My favorite inhabitants are my hawkfish, one spot foxface rabbitfish. And chocolate tang (mimic lemon peel tang).

Just some suggestions




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[gzr918]

Yes is your cycle done? You should set up a quarantine tank now too so you can start off on the right foot

 

[OstarPartyOfFour]

Albert THANKS you have been super helpful so far looking in to filtration... what do you have anything i should be looking for? As far as i know my cycle is done but i guess i dont know because i dont know how to tell if it is. I have finally got salt level to where it should be and water level in the ADV-100 filter set right my skimmer is starting to get to a slight green hue on the top and has finally leveled out on its bubbles/level. BTW skimmer is a Curve 5 if that helps. i have read so many ways to get ready for fish from just adding unneeded food to live rock my LFS sea creatures in N Providence said live rock was not needed with right sand and bacteria to start. salt running between 25 and 26. what and why is a quarantine tank good or bad for?

Thanks Ryan

 

[OstarPartyOfFour]

Oh and BTW i have a 75 gallon RR over flow tank and down the road want to do reef my son wants fish dad wants a reef.

Ryan

 

[Chris A.]

Welcome
I would definitely add rock since it's your primary biological filtration. I'd probably stay away from the damsels since eventually everyone wants them out lol
Maybe a chromis?
You can get the clowns since they actually are very hardy and there's a few people in the club that breed them.

 

[gzr918]

Quarantine is important for any new fish you purchase. You want to observe them for at least a week for any signs of disease. If disease appears, you treat it for as long as necessary! Since aquariums are closed, small systems, disease can quickly decimate your livestock and ruin the whole fun of it all. It's worth it now to get into quarantining. I can guarantee you'll run into a disease eventually...everyone does. Not to be a downer! But it really does pay off to ensure you add healthy fish to your family!

 

[gzr918]

If you have more questions feel free to PM me, I'll tell you how to set up a simple cheap and effective QT

 

[Cpage101]

Ryan read this article below this was the one I found when I started. I used dr tims one and only and a piece of fresh shrimp to cycle mine. Get yourself a good marine test kits like sailfert or red sea are the popular ones. As your cycle progresses you will have ammonia present, then nitrite. As it continuies these levels will drop over time and eventually test to 0 as the lower you will see the by product nitrate. You must test for all 3 when ammonia, nitrate are 0 and you have nitrates your cycle is complete.
http://www.drtimsaquatics.com/resources/how-to-start


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[Cpage101]

bTW I put it in a nylon so I could remove it easily once I tested ammonia of about 3-4 ppm. This way it does not make a mess in the tank only used about a 1" piece on my 40g


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[Cpage101]

Earlier post says 75 gallon.

With a child that may get attached you may want to stay away from the powered blue tang. They will outgrow that tank. There are a couple smaller tangs like the Kole eye (yellow eye) or tomini tang or that would suit that size for the most part. If you did want the "dory" then you can buy small but if she gets too large/aggressive you may need to find her a new home.

Other fish from that movie include a royal gramma, a yellow tang,

Damsels are pretty and cheap. Some people used to put them in the water as sacrificial fish without properly cycling. If they are on your wish list then they could be first as I mentioned before... cheap.

My favorite inhabitants are my hawkfish, one spot foxface rabbitfish. And chocolate tang (mimic lemon peel tang).

Just some suggestions




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Ha! Sorry I missed that in the opening line it was late lol!


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[OstarPartyOfFour]

Just want to start off by saying thank you to everyone like I said very new to this and appreciate the patience and that no one is shaming me on my lack of knowledge and experience. GREAT SITE here hope to some day be able to give back. So moving on my tank has not yet been cycled I bought live sand that was in salt water bought the salt water from my LFS and the sand came with a packet of bacteria. I think I am safe to assume that that will not be enough to cycle the tank.

Chris did you cycle with fish?

Cpage101 how did you cycle you tank did you buy that additive of use fish or what?

thanks guys
Ryan

 

[Cpage101]

Just want to start off by saying thank you to everyone like I said very new to this and appreciate the patience and that no one is shaming me on my lack of knowledge and experience. GREAT SITE here hope to some day be able to give back. So moving on my tank has not yet been cycled I bought live sand that was in salt water bought the salt water from my LFS and the sand came with a packet of bacteria. I think I am safe to assume that that will not be enough to cycle the tank.

Chris did you cycle with fish?

Cpage101 how did you cycle you tank did you buy that additive of use fish or what?

thanks guys
Ryan

Ryan
I did use the Dr. Tim's one and only. I put a piece of fresh shrimp in a nylon and put it in the tank to rot which causes the ammonia. I also put Dr tims in with the shrimp based on the instructions on the back for amount. After about a day in the tank you should test for ammonia. At this time you should see some in your test. I usually try for 3-4PPM ammonia. Once there I removed the shrimp and waited. You can test every 3 days or so. You should now test for Ammonia, Nitrite and nitrate. It can take anywhere from weeks to a month to complete the cycle. Once your tests show 0 Ammonia 0 Nitrite and you should see nitrate on your tests the cycle could be complete. To be safe put a piece if small shrimp in for an hour or 2 then test the next day to see if ammonia and nitrite are 0. If they are you can do a 20% water change and add some clean up crew as you will probably have a diatom bloom. This is normal. In a few weeks it will pass.I recommend at the beginning slowly add livestock so your bacteria can continue to build. There are plenty of articles on cycling a saltwater aquarium. My best recommendation is while you cycle your tank do lots of research. This way you can know what to expect, plan livestock and passible additional equipment. As aways you can ask questions here everyone is great. Been paying a member for 2 years and reefing for only 3


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[Chris A.]

When I started, I cycled with damsels and had to break down the tank to get it out lol
Most people cycle like described above now a days. More humane

 

[OstarPartyOfFour]

Oh ok because when i bought all my stuff at my LFS no one had mentioned this and i thought i just needed to let the water go thru the filter for two weeks and was redy to go. Thanks again guys for all the help ill be doing the fishless cycling and doing my reading in the mean time thanks for all the help once again ill keep you all posted on my progress.