Help With My New Saltwater Tank

[Richard B]

hi everyone

bascially the mrs wanted a folr tank for her 21st so i had a 4ft x 2ft x 2ft spare laying around.


went to the lfs near me and said i need whatever for a folr tank.


ended up with 20kg of live sand. 100lts of pure ro water, (made him check it) hydromete, powerheads x2 but no live rock, also a master test kit




now im not to sure on what to do now. i know i should have got a RO unit and skimmer but that will come soon enough, will start a journal tomorrow documenting that start.

now what will i need to start the cycle, can i use just the sand or will i need to buy some rock??



Any help please, i would like to make her 21st magical

 

[Uriel]

Just done some quick Calculations. Don't you need 450l approx of water for that tank.

Pretty sure the first step would be to get everything running and stable. Fill the tank up with RO water setup your powerheads/heaters. Add the salt and give it time to mix. Then make sure your salinity, temp ect are correct and stable.

Your going to need 50kg of live rock for a tank that size and it isn't cheap. just so you know. I've read mixed opinions on live sand, some say it's useful others say it's snake oil. I'm pretty sure it isn't a replacement for live rock though.

 

[woody88]

What test kit did you buy? What lph are your powerheads [need 20x turnover].
Dont add the sand yet, but you need the RO water up to temp and powerheads running, get some pro reef salt mix [around £50 for 20kg] mix till you get salinity at 1.025sg. Get yourself a refractometer [£20 on fleebay] [hydrometers are inaccurate]

Once temp and salinity are correct then add Live rock [preferably cured] to start the cycle, and then start testing for ammonia, nitrite. Once these reach zero test for nitrate [keep an eye on PH level] do large water change 40-50%, test again for all and if all good, then your ready to add CUC [snails,hermits etc] as these will keep your algae issues down and will eat all the diatoms [brown covering on rock and substrate] which you will see as the cycle nears its end.

Also read the journels on here as they are a big help and will give you a good idea on how to go about setting up and maintaining a marine tank.

Oh! Welcome to the salty side