a little advice

• so i am home with our new tank and it is set up bare bottom with the live rock in it. i didnt have enough water to fill it..... i put a hob on the back and started the heater and put the fish in a 5gal bucket with the water from the bags and 1 cup from the tank after the water started circulating we are going to walmart to get some water from there purifier to top it off and get a. power strip with backup to handle the lighting and filtration is everything right so far? 319-464-7565 to call if im not doing something right.

 

Did yoU cycle the tank? Is this a saltwater tank? Because you really want to put the tank together and and let the tank break in before adding fish. Usually one month minimum. Otherwise, you are talking a good chance to lose the fish. The ammonia build up can be leathal
If not taken care of properly.

 

This tank has been up and running 2 years and the fish were in it b4 i bought it today. the coral sand mix is in buckets till i get it clean. i purchased it in minneapolis and tore it down and moved to waterloo today.

 

Uhh do not use wmart water. I would of had a ro machine ready before bringing it home. Go to acc for more water. I also would of added sand first. Now its gonna make a mess when you add it. Make sure you have a heater phead and rock in there. Keep a eye on the params closely. Watch out for a possible ammonia or nitrate spike.

 

AC&C inztructed me not to put the sand in till later. i will talk with andrew in the morning and get things figured out. current temp is 80 deg and adjusted the overflow to make the sump run. i brought 80% of the water home without distrubing the sand then removed live rock & placed in buckets of water. sand was then drained and removed from tank and is in 2 5gal pails. tank salinity is a strong 35 turned the vho lighting on as the tank is clearing and all the zoos and mushrooms and frogspawn opened up on the live rock.

My phone is to dead to take a picture and i need to fiddle with the skimmer a little more to make shure its working properly as i moved it in the sump to place some of the live rock in there submerged

thanks so far so good.

 

First off Josh is not a newbe, he has had about 12000 gallons on freshwater tanks for an long time. I think your fine. Your live rock is your biofilter and it's established.

 

How are you going to clean the sand? If you plan on using it in your display tank, I would just rinse it several times over with clean saltwater to get rid of the detritus (junk) that has collected in it. Also, be aware that it cannot just sit idle in a bucket for days and days......there is the junk I mentioned in it, plus living organisms that will die and really start to smell like a beach at low tide. You can buy pre-made saltwater at most fish shops (assuming they sell saltwater fish, coral etc) I would go buy 5-10g and use that now. Yes, it is a little more expensive than making your own, but right now, you don't have RODI water, so you'll have to go buy that, then mix and heat it etc. I'd get the sand taken care of right away and take your rocks out add the sand then add the rocks back in. Don't let the rocks dry out when you take them out. This is what I would do if it were me setting it up. Maybe Andrew told you not to add the sand because it was dirty?

Btw, I haven't had a problem using Walmart's RODI water in the past, they're checked regularly by people who run a water purifying business, not Walmart. It is a huge pita to haul 5g jugs of water all the time though, get a RODI unit asap /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/smile.gif

 

Great, that makes more sense. When I read it, (and it was late and I was a bit sleepy) I got the impression it was a brand new tank. If you were moving an established tank, the live rock should have plenty of bacteria to keep the tank parameters in check. And the fish would have been fine for a while in a bucket while you got more water. In fact, getting more water was probably a good water change for the system as well.



best of luck with the tank!

 

Everything made it over night and the people at wally world let us take 5 gal buckets in. working on how i want to install the ballasts in the stand and replacing the hood fan as its NOISY! installed the powerhead in tank today for more water movement with a pree filter to avoid the possibility of the anenomie getting in it. i plan to wash the sand and add 3-6 lbs at a time using some new ro water and a 3mil 8+12 bag and slowly dump it around the tank and let the snails and crabs move it around.

 

update on the tank, everything was doing fine, last night the new construction that was supposed to be done last week b4 i brought the 75 home was finished in the living room ( new flooring) so we semi broke the tank down and moved it to the other room and placed it on a peice of cut lenolieum to keep water off the laminate fooring if i drip or spill a little. re placed the rock and water, fish& anenomie. (amazing how much the anenomie moves around).

i was able to fix a couple concerns with wire connections in the hood ( because i got shocked by a bare wire when i touched it by accident and it hurt like HELL), and figure out how the built in skimmer in the sump properly operates.. i need a longer hose for my overflow box or return hose, as there both on one sied of the center brace, but there is a powerhead on the opposite end of the tank.

washed the sand in some RO water ( was fairly clean) drained and used a solo cup to transfer sand into the tank roughly 10-25 #s. by scooping the sand then filling the cup in the tank and lowering it to the bottom and slowly dumping it the sand had no obvious odor when i started rinsing it and there were several small white starfish crawling about in the tank after i dumped it i



most inportant thing i am doing is making everything accessable for the wife to help me with the tank as she wanted one as bad if not worse than me.



i will let the tank run all day today and take a good water sample to AC&C tonight and check things out. salinity is still at upper specification but within tollerance. .



note the best thing i have found is on a rock i recieved from a lady in minnesota when i picked up a free damsel from her when i got the tank . has what i believe is frogspawn? on it but her lighting was shot (2 bulbs not functioning and the acitinic would flicker). its only the size of a quarter , but im cool with that , and look foward to lots more fun,

the wife already has a want list, i think im in trouble.



joshua

 

Pics!

 

Not to shift the focus, but walmart has RO/DI water in larger amounts than 1gal? For my biocube I just normally buy distilled water, but I would love to not lug around 1gal jugs all the time.

 

yeah you can carry in whatever jug you want and fill it the 5 gal home depot buckets are $2.75 brand new and you can buy a lid 2 and its .38 cents a gallon

 

I've bought Walmart, hyvee and target water. I get the purified stuff, and target water is by far the best. Idk y but after i switched to the target water, my hair algae problem as gone away, and the only thing different i do is not buy Walmart water.

 

Nice, 38 cents a gallon makes me happy. Does target have the same system or are you buying by the gallon djvanzuuk?

 

You talking about the culigan water?... I buy by the gallon cause i only have a14gal biocube