New 55 Gallon Saltwater Setup (Clear Water)

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

There just something to look at! Am I on the right track as far as my cycle goes? I'm following the "How to set up a FOWLR" Thoughts?

Its not good practice to subject your livestock to poisonous water conditions for the sake of your viewing pleasure. The whole idea behind cycling your tank is to provide an environment suitable enough for your fish to live long and healthy lives.

[Musbtr1pin]

Its not good practice to subject your livestock to poisonous water conditions for the sake of your viewing pleasure. The whole idea behind cycling your tank is to provide an environment suitable enough for your fish to live long and healthy lives.

So I wasted 20 dollars if they die, a simple mistake.. My friend works for the City in the water treatment facility.. He is monitoring my water... I'll be ok and so will the fish, but thanks for your concern!

[Musbtr1pin]

I gotta say, I'm not loving your disregard to the welfare of your fish so far. My .02.

Yikes

[Musbtr1pin]

Sorry that your upset with my choice to cycle my tank with damsels. I was under the impression that you can do it this way if you choose too, and well I chose wrong apparently. I will keep close eye on those guys and if I see any signs of stress, will take necessary actions to make sure they remain alive and well.. So now I just wait a few months and watch my rock come to life...

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

No one's upset here. How you choose to cycle your tank is...well... your choice.

[Original Fin]

A bit disapointed, but not upset. To me, and many others, fish are pets...and should be treated with the same care and repect as cats/dogs or whatever. I'm sure you understand. I'm not mad at you though.

Rock on.

[Musbtr1pin]

A bit disapointed, but not upset. To me, and many others, fish are pets...and should be treated with the same care and repect as cats/dogs or whatever. I'm sure you understand. I'm not mad at you though.

Rock on.

So is it safe to say, that if I really keep an eye on my water for the fish's sake, that maybe I can keep the stress level down, and gaurantee a good life? Or have I totally just screwed any chance of these damsels of surviving? Now with the rock in and the rest on order, I just sit back and watch?

One more thing, the live rock I got from the pet store is ok, but i'm wondering If I should just take it out when my really nice premium live rock comes in? I have 75 lbs on the way, at a whopping 262$ Thoughts?

[Original Fin]

Well, here's the deal...you're still cycling, and probably will be for several more weeks. For that whole duration, there will be toxic levels of ammonia and nitrites present no matter what you do...it's part of the program. Damsels seem to be more tolerant of this than a lot of other fish, so while they may survive it, it is essentially taking years off of their lives.

You'll want to leave the store bought rock in you tank to seed the rest of the base rock that you have coming.

As far as sitting back and watching goes, yes that's pretty much it with the exception of testing. How are you set up for test kits? What have you got so far? Also, how are you measuring salinity/specific gravity?
Maybe you want to adress these questions and other details in a seperate build thread? I'll watch for it.

[Musbtr1pin]

ok, check this out if you can.. Maybe I made a bad purchase.. I purchased the PREMIUM Rock from liverockranch dot com. is where I bought it... If you can look at it, tell me what you think, and let me know if I made a mistake, as I just purchased it two hours ago and can still cancel the order... Thanks!

[Original Fin]

Oops, for some reason I though you were talking about buying dry rock before. My bad. Anyway, I had a look and it looks decent to me, but looks probably don't really count for much. If you just google their name, you'll probably find some product and customer service reviews...that's what I'd go by. At $3.50/lb, it a good price.

Keep in mind that there will be some die off from shipping, there's no way around it, but it's normal. Because of this, you will likely start the cycle over again. If you already had a mature tank with fish and corals in it, this would be a no-no, but it's fine since you've just started anyway. Normally, when you add live rock to an established tank, you'd want to cure it (let it cycle in a seperate container with heaters/flow) first, then add it to the tank a little at a time. Remember that this is the basis of your bio filtration, so additions/subtractions can have a big impact.

[Musbtr1pin]

Oops, for some reason I though you were talking about buying dry rock before. My bad. Anyway, I had a look and it looks decent to me, but looks probably don't really count for much. If you just google their name, you'll probably find some product and customer service reviews...that's what I'd go by. At $3.50/lb, it a good price.

Keep in mind that there will be some die off from shipping, there's no way around it, but it's normal. Because of this, you will likely start the cycle over again. If you already had a mature tank with fish and corals in it, this would be a no-no, but it's fine since you've just started anyway. Normally, when you add live rock to an established tank, you'd want to cure it (let it cycle in a seperate container with heaters/flow) first, then add it to the tank a little at a time. Remember that this is the basis of your bio filtration, so additions/subtractions can have a big impact.

Ok good deal, I appreciate your help. I'd love to post some pictures once everything gets up and going... I will post some pictures once I get the rock in and going. It won't hurt that premium rock that I have coming when I mix it with the ten lbs I already have will it? Just want to make sure there is no cross contamination with any critters that I don't want from the petstores rock... The rock I ordered if it looks anything remotely close to the pictures, is going to be way better... thoughts?

[Musbtr1pin]

I see a lot of light setups with a Nightime Blue light, is this necessary for my FOWLR, or can I simply shut the light off in the evening? and what do you recommend for lights?

[reeferbill]

Hey Mus - Saltwater aquariums are a very enriching hobby. That said, they are also an expensive hobby requiring a lot of knowledge, time, and attention. You are doing the right thing by asking questions, however I recommend you do more research and read as much as you can. In agreement with the other member here, the fish and corals are living beings and should be respected as such. It is not a good idea to begin a SWA as an experiment - you definately will learn as you go - and keep learning, but it is a good idea to have a pretty solid foundation of knowledge to START with. There is great info in these forums and all over the web, books (library a great source), aquarium magazines, and talking to other enthusiasts.

I wish you the best of luck with your tank and the beginning of a hobby you will love. Read up, learn as much as you can, and take the time necessary so that you will have a successful beginning.
best regards.

[Musbtr1pin]

I agree with the readings, I have done a lot and will continue to do more. This forum has LOADS of information for me to scour through. I know it's a dick move to use damsels (forgive me) but I will take it slow from here.. I just was using the information and advice from a friend who has a successful reef tank, and was looking to bounce idea's back and forth.. Thanks for the thoughts, and I will keep everyone posted.

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

Moonlight's are primarily for night time viewing and are not needed for a healthy tank. FOWLR tanks don't really have lighting requirements but if you switch to a reef tank, lighting plays a huge role. Fixtures can get pricey.
Normal output lights will work fine for a FOWLR. All the lighting you need is for viewing your fish and such.

[Musbtr1pin]

Awesome! I was wondering myself if there was any special benefit to the moonlight but that works for me! Saves me some money too!

[Musbtr1pin]

So I was doing some review about the site that I just purchased my Live Rock from.

I ordered 75 lbs of this rock earlier in the evening yesterday. I was doing some extensive research and I have ran across some bad reviews and some good about Liverockranch dot com. Apparently the name used to be "Justliverock"?

I hope I didn't just screw myself out of 300 dollars for this rock. Anyone have thoughts? I mentioned this earlier in the thread and got little feedback about them, other than they have nice rock.

What did I get myself into??

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

Sorry. I haven't dealt with them. I bought my rock from Oceanproaquatics.com. I had tons of die off because I shipped the rock UPS ground ( it was packaged dry) but I didn't mind because I used the die off to cycle the tank. I got a variety of different size pieces and was very pleased overall. I live in CA so shipping wasn't expensive. I think I ended up paying about $2.30 a lb when I calculated the shipping into the overall cost ( bought two 50lb boxes. Here the link Oceanpro Aquatics, Inc.

[Musbtr1pin]

Live rock from LiveRockRanch shows up through air cargo tomorrow morning. I will be giving the rock a salt water dip before it goes into the tank to rid of anything that isn't clinging to the rock.

I have a UV steralizer on the outflow of my magnum 350 and I am currently running just Carbon in the canister. What works best from your experiences, considering what I have for a filter. The UV Steralizer is a Coralife turbo twist 9 Watt. (55 Gallon)..

Any recommendations as far as a Test Kit for water??

[leebca]

The original topic for the thread was cloudy water. Since then the topics have ranged to Live Rock, equipment, and processes. I'd like to keep threads helpful by keeping on topic. Please begin another thread -- one for equipment; one for Live Rock; etc. -- if more discussions are needed. I've closed this thread.

Regarding UV, please read the sticky here and also I encourage Musbtr1pin to go through the other stickies and look through the table of contents (linked below):
UV for U and Me
and
Table/Contents - Link List

Please fee free to begin another thread, but keep the topic straight as you can -- one for Live Rock, one for cloudy water, one for equipment choices, etc. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation.