Salty lady......

[ladymaiden]

I went in about 2 weeks ago to talk to the owner of one of the LFS about a job and saw a 24 gal cube sitting in the warehouse behind the store. I made the remark that me and my hubby were wanting to get one and he said that he might work out a deal with me, that a customer traded that one in on a larger tank. Hubby and I went in this past Saturday to talk to the guy, and $100 later, we walked out with the tank and stand. Now I just have to do some research on the tank. I am not sure what kind it is. He called it a "knockoff" of a JBJ Cube. I need to find some kind of instructions etc on it. I really have no idea what all I have other than the light, moonlight, and someother parts in the back. Anyway, it will be a while before I can set it up. It needs a good cleaning and the legs on the stand need replacing, then I will have to save up the money to start it up.*SUNSMILE*

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Sounds good. Those cubes make cool little tanks.

 

[MatthewLaw]

welcome to the salty side of the forum!!

I suggest you fill the tank and make sure there are not any leaks (which could could cause some serious issues!!)

as i am learning, satlwater takes a good amount of money and patience so the two seem to work together rather well during startup!!

 

[ladymaiden]

Oh yeah, definitely gonna fill it and check it out. It has some salt dried on the inside so I was already planning on doing that while I was cleaning it. I have some work to do on the stand as well so I will be taking my time to get things cleaned up and fixed before I start working on it. Plus I want to find someone locally that has a SW tank to come by and walk me through all the bits and pieces of the tank itself. I've got all the time in the world to get this up and going.....One step at a time....

 

[Lorna]

Just make sure you use nothing other than vinegar to clean any parts of the tank with. It could be an aquacube which is current usa's cube.....these had some problems with leakage so yes do check for any leaks. You probably should replace the bulbs in the light and make sure everything else works.

 

[ladymaiden]

Well, so far, I have gotten it cleaned up. Still got a little more specific areas to clean though. I have checked the lights and they work fine, as do the fans. There is one moonlight and the bulb ibs a 10000K bulb. Is this a good light to have? I will check the powerjet when I add the water, hopefully it will work also.

I do have to do some work to do on the stand, unless I decide to buy another stand. It seems that one of the legs on the stand is missing and the person who had it before just nailed a block of wood to the bottom of the stand. Since it was not put on right, the bottom of the stand is loose.

Will check in later with updates.

Ladymaiden

 

[Lotus]

Definitely check the tank with freshwater before you add the saltwater. If there's some kind of problem (filter, powerhead, leak) and it has to be drained, it's a lot easier if you don't have to worry about where to put the saltwater.

 

[ladymaiden]

oh yeah, I am most definitely using freshwater to check for leaks, as well as vinegar and water to clean. It will be a while before I set up the tank. I still have to come up with the money for the heater and thermometer and everything else I need. Then I will concentrate on the LR and LS.


The LFS that I bought the tank from sells filtered fresh and saltwater by the gallon .50 a gal for fresh, and 1.00 a gal for salt. They have a set up where each tank is filtered separately so that there is no cross contamination. I figure that would be the best way to do it so I will most likely buy my water there. That way I would have the same water mixture in my tank that the fish were living in there at the store.

 

[MatthewLaw]

you could do that initially but that method may turn out to be rather expensive when you are doing regular water changes.

i would suggest eventually purchasing marine salt and a hydrometer, so you can add the proper SG saltwater into the tank.

SG is the ratio used to determine salinity level.

 

[Lotus]

I'd say you're better off buying water from the LFS, assuming "filtered" means RO (reverse osmosis) water. On a smaller tank, it will work out reasonably cost effective. It's really not a good idea to run a saltwater tank with tapwater, and good RO units are fairly expensive. You'll also need to top up with RO water. In saltwater, a 5 to 10% weekly water change is all that's needed.