1st Salt Water Tank!

kindaconfused

kindaconfused

Large Fish
#1
May 7, 2005
188
0
0
36
san diego, california
#1
My girlfriends mom has decided to allow me to make a saltwater tank. she is buying a brand new tank and stand but i have to pay for everything else. Now i had a couple questions.

1 - When cycling the tank for a month i do it with live rock but do i need to do it with the filter and powerhead?
2 - Do i need to add anything to the water that i would not add to a freshwater tank while cycling?
3 - What is all the equiptment that i am going to need. what type of filter things like that.

I am going to be talking to some buddys and me LFS to find what i need but i just wanted to see what you guys had to say.

Thanks Everyone!
 

yamahaguy06

yamahaguy06

Large Fish
#2
Feb 28, 2005
569
0
0
36
Waterford, CA
#2
ok, well I'm shure the other guys could lay it out better than me but I'll try. Biggest piece of advice I can give you is go with a skimmer(protien skimmer) not a filter. And yes power heads. I believe you want about 10x your tank size for water flow(example. 60gal-600gph) and you will want to cycle with those going(you wont be turning them off, they will always run) I would recomend MaxiJet powerheads to. and after you mix your water and it has been a few days for the salt to mix realy good and temp to get right(78-80) then you can put your rock in.(they say a pound per gal)

some people recomend the product cycle? I used it and I guess it just boost the process. But we will see what the other guys see...
 

OCCFan023

OCCFan023

Superstar Fish
#5
Jul 29, 2004
1,817
5
0
35
New Jersey
#5
1) No need for a filter in the cycle, but you will need water movement.

2) Just get the tank to the right temp, salinity, and pH and such and then add your live rock, no need for anything else.

3) Depends on the size of the tank
 

kindaconfused

kindaconfused

Large Fish
#13
May 7, 2005
188
0
0
36
san diego, california
#13
i dont remember the demensions ill take some measurments and i have filter and protien skimmer all set up and running. I have fake sand and got 65 pounds of live rock today and have set it all up. I have two 600 gph power heads and a small 50 gph powerhead but have yet to put those in. i plan to get a few cheapy fish too put in there to help the bacteria in a few days. Another thing what is the dead shrimp thing you mentioned. i have know idea what that is. It sounds a bit disturbing. I have a hydrometer/salinity test thing and im going to buy a full test kit in a couple weeks. sorry i didnt respond i have been really buisy setting up the tank!

Thanks!
 

RockingCricket

RockingCricket

Large Fish
#14
Jul 29, 2005
443
0
16
46
Sunny Cali & Rainy England
#14
The dead shrimp method is the prefered method of cycling a tank because no fish are forced to endure the uncomfortable conditions of cycling water. I didn't do it myself, but I believe the method is to throw in a couple of dead prawns or shrimp which introduce ammonia into the system and start the cycle.
If you've added live rock though, I believe that is enough to kick start your cycle. Please correct me people if any of my information is off.
 

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