Help a salt water newb?

[Carp]

This is a great forum glad I found it. I have been a lurker for a week and decided to get some feedback.

I bought a 36 gallon corner tank. I put in tap water, put conditioner in it. Also added 2 Aqua clear powerhead 50 and a tank heater. I added salt and let it sit for 4 days. Today I put in 41 pounds of live rock so far. I have sand being ship to me this week. I am going to buy Tunze Nano DOC Protein Skimmer 9002 since the reviews say this skinner is just as good as AquaC Remora Protein Skimmer but quieter. The quieter my tank is the better.

Here are my 1st test results:
PH 8.2
Ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
salinity 29.5
gravity 1.022
temp 78.5

Should I throw in a dead shrimp to help jump start my cycle? I am very new at this. All my limited knowledge on this subject has been gain by this forum.

Any suggestions of feedback would be greatly appreciated. Here is a pic of my tank.

BTW This is an expensive new hobby. I am doing a FOWLR.

 

[Lotus]

Welcome to the land of unlurkers!

It sounds like everything's going well so far. I wouldn't add a shrimp for the cycle. You'll probably start to see ammonia in a few days. If the live rock was fully cured at the store and you brought it straight home and put it in the tank, you may see only a brief cycle with little ammonia or nitrites.

 

[TRe]

great start! dont worry about jump starting the cycle! the liverock will do all the cycling i used to run a tunze 9010 skimmer since it was about the only quality skimmer i could fit within the tight space i had to work with in my sump and i can say i was happy with the results i got with it.... a few things about this hobby other than it being expensive is patience and research! take this time durng the cycle to read,read,read.... u wanna plan out the complete stocking list that way you can start with the least aggresive and work your way up...i kno you plan on do FOWLR but if theres any chance you think in the future youll want corals make sure all your fish are reef safe that way when your ready for the next step all youll have to do is get some lights oh yea and NO DAMSELS! lol
btw welcome to MFT!

 

[TRe]

oh yea and you can save alot of money buying used! craigslist and the selling section on reefcentral are your friend

 

[Carp]

When my tank is fully cycle I was hoping the members here would suggest what fish to start out with etc. I am very excited about this. But I have a lot patience and want to make sure I do this right the 1st time. I think I am going to add 6 inches of sand. Should I put plastic Undergravel filter piece under my sand and live rock or should I leave it out? Thanks for the feed back.

Also doing the cycle should my pumps be on or off?

 

[TRe]

pumps on for cycle, 6" of sand will make a nice DSB and as far as under gravel filters they doont exsist as far as saltwater is concerned any other questions feel free to ask away!

 

[Lotus]

I think Carp meant to use the undergravel filter plate only, for a plenum. I know some people use eggcrate to prevent the deep sand bed (DSB) from getting moved.

Some of the choice on using something in the sandbed will depend on whether you have sandsifting fish or snails.

As for fish, you'll be limited to smaller fish in this tank. Probably nothing that gets over 6". You'll still have plenty of choices. Is there anything you've seen that grabs your attention? The ideal is to plan all your fish from the start, then begin with adding the least aggressive first.

 

[Carp]

I am pretty open minded when it comes to fish. I actually like smaller fish. Could I possibly put a small crab in there too? Maybe you could give me some suggestions. I really been reading a lot on the set up and have not studied the fish yet. I really like colorful fish.

So turn on my pumps now even though the sand has not been added?

 

[Lotus]

Yes, definitely have the powerheads running.

You could get something like an emerald crab or a pom-pom crab. Of course, hermits are good, especially in a FOWLR where they can't bother corals.

Everyone has their favorite for fish. I have mostly small fish in my tank ... pajama cardinals, banggai cardinals, ocellaris clowns, orchid dottyback, gobies. Other popular choices are wrasses, firefish, the small basses, pygmy angels.

 

[Carp]

How many small fish will be ideal for my 36 gallon tank? Do I add the clean up crew when algae starts to appear?. What kind of creatures would you suggest for my clean up crew?

 

[TRe]

cleanup crew comes basically as soon as the tank is cycled .... you want a mix of snails since some go after differant algae's than others ect... im not a fan of hermit crabs but in a FOWLR i say go for it so id say about 10 assorted snails and about 10 hermits to start and then see how they do and u may wanna add more after that... you may wanna add a brittle star or a few shrimp to yur cleanup crew aswell! once you start adding inverts now u got make sure that the fish u add wont eat them lol so when yur at the LFS and see some cool new fish its always a good idea to come home first and do alittle reading and make sure its compatable with what u already have

 

[Carp]

If i get coral at a later time hermits should be avoided?

Thank you so much for the feedback!!!

 

[1979camaro]

You don't need to avoid hermits if you plan to have coral, though some people have had problems with them irritating corals. The bigger problems is that they will frequently eat snails.

 

[Lorna]

you will need some snails especially some nassarius and maybe some astrea, turbo, and ceriths. These will help keep your sand clean and turned over. You could add shrimp such as peppermints expecially if you think you may have some aiptasia on your live rock as they may eat it. Another crab choice is a sally lightfoot which is supposed to be reef safe. Fish I like are gobies, cardinals, pygmy angels, blennies, ocellaris/percula clowns (no anemone) and there are also some very nice reef safe flasher wrasses.

 

[Carp]

How often should I test my water?

 

[Carp]

I retested my water and all the test results are the same. I have fully cured rock. So will I even have a cycle?

 

[quaddity]

I retested my water and all the test results are the same. I have fully cured rock. So will I even have a cycle?

If it was fully cured and you transported it in water or quickly out of water it will not have much die off and you won't see much of a spike. It'll cycle quickly.

 

[MatthewLaw]

I would wati a few days before testing the water again. IF after a few days the amonia and nitrite are both 0 with some trace amounts of nitrate, then your tank may have cycled. If EVERYTHING is still 0 (especially nitrates), then I would be concerned that for whatever reason the cycle has failed to start.

 

[Lorna]

if you want you could add a bit of flake food, that sometimes may help get things going without overloading anything......

 

[Carp]

Thank you for the information. Today my sand arrived and I added 5 inch sand bed to my tank and it is really cloudy water now.