My Journey Has Begun...

[fishwatcher]

Ah, well, I may have to look into one of those RO machines one day... when my wallet gets a little thicker! LOL
Could I use distilled water or anything like that?

 

[AK77]

Yup distilled is ok too. So long as the water is pure (or as near to it as possible) then yeah you can keep inverts.

You can but distilled/RO water from your LFS most likely. Have a look at RO machines though, as they will save you cash in the long run. I'm drinking it now

Ideally, nitrates should be 0. Mine are about 10-15ppm and I have a starfish, shrimps and a pencil urchin too,

 

[fishwatcher]

The lfs that has it is the same one with the LR -- 45-50 min one-way drive. So, if I can use distilled water I can buy it at the grocery story 2 miles away! Yay!!
You only do a water change about once a month, 20-30% on salty tanks, is that right?
How often do you feed your saltwater fish/inverts?

 

[AK77]

Well, just be sure to check the water to make sure it is distilled and contains no dissolved salts if you plan on keeping inverts. You can purchase a TDS meter which will give you a read out of the Total Dissolved Salts.

Water changing will depend on the size of the tank. The smaller the tank, the faster pollutants will build up, so the more frequently you'll need to perform water changes. If you are using a protein skimmer, then this will reduce the impact of pollutants in the system. There are people who have achieved equilibriums in their tanks and haven't performed a water change in well over a year. This is done through a variety of ways including the use of skimmers, macro algaes, deep sand beds, and just topping the system up with trace elements.

I feed my fish a few times a day with a sprinkling of flake food and some freeze dried bloodworm. I feed the shrimps every other day with a pellet food, although its not really necessary.

There is a great deal more to marine fish keeping than meets the eye. I'd definitely recommend reading up on the different types of setups and the different ways they can be achieved. Planning is without question, the best thing you can do and patience are a pre-requisite.

Now its nearly 5am... I gotta hit the sack. Happy reading lol.

 

[fishwatcher]

Yeah, I had to turn in myself... got a party to take my little boy to today.
Anywho, is it better in a salt tank to make smaller more frequent water changes or a larger one?
Will tufa rock be ok in a saltwater tank?

Thanks for all the advice... as you can see I truly need it!

 

[AK77]

Ideally you want to keep the water parameters as stable as possible. This isn't as important in a FO or FOWLR tank because the fish can tolerate relatively high nitrate levels, but if you have invertebrates or corals in a reef setup, then fluctuations can cause the demise of the inhabitants. Keeping tabs on your water parameters is essential in that instance and will dictate when a water change is needed or supplements added.

Your SG will fluctuate as water evapourates from the tank. It is only water that evapourates, the salt is left behind and so the concentration gets higher, thereby raising the SG of the tank. As the water level drops, you need to top up with RO water, not salt water.

When performing a water change and removing 20 %, you replace with the same volume of water at the same SG. The frequency of this will again depend on what your water parameters are (nitrate buildup etc). If your parameters are stable and within acceptable levels for the tank inhabitants, then its not going to matter too much if you do one big one, once a month or 4 small ones a month. In this instance, water changes will be mainly about replacing trace elements as opposed to removing unwanted organic matter dissolved in the water.

Some of the parameters that are monitored (but wont necessarily apply in all tank setups) are :

Temperature
Specific Gravity
PH
Alkalinity
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
Phosphate
Calcium

There are others too, which escape me at the moment. Obviously if you have a FO tank then most of these wont apply. If you have a FOWLR and inverts, more will apply. If you have a reef setup, all these and more will apply.

Hope that goes a little way to explaining.

AK

 

[fishwatcher]

Ok... I am writing all of this down, so hopefully I won't have to repeat questions too much in the future! LOL
Do skimmers help keep nitrates down?

 

[AK77]

Yeah. Protein skimmers basically suck up water and mix it with thousands of tiny microbubbles. The dissolved organic matter clings to the air bubbles and forms a foam. The foam then collects in a collection cup and is dispensed with by the owner. They aren't always used, but are by a majority of people.

 

[fishwatcher]

I had been told I wouldn't really need one, being a small FOWLR tank, but I may end up going with one to help. I'd hate to accidentally hurt the little guys in the tank.

I mixed up the salt water Friday evening. I checked the salinity yesterday morning, it read 1.021. This morning it read 1.027. Is it normal for it to go up like that?
I am thinking it just hadn't all mixed until now. Basically I tested too early. Which leads me to this question... when I do water changes, I had planned on putting the water and salt in a 5-g bucket with a bubble wand thing and a heater. How long would I need to leave this to make sure it's all dissolved?

 

[fishwatcher]

Anyone feel free to answer...

 

[sophos9]

Starter test kits for FOWLR are PH, nitrites, nitrates and phosphate...

I would start recalculating the savings on buying an RO unit sooner rather than later. Distilled will cost you a bomb (how much $$$ in the States?) and will become a pain pretty quick. How much per litre for fresh and salty from your LFS, add fuel and wear on your car then price that against a RO unit and water consumption plus replacement filters... I worked mine out, return on investment of 3 months for a RODI unit with much more convenience!!

As for the salty mix, you read the SG before all the mix had a chance to dissolve, either that or you have yourself a major evaporative session.... I go for about 5hrs of turnover, temperature can be adjusted 30mins or whatever before entering your tank. Some say 24hrs pumping before dropping in your tank, I do about 5 to no ill effect...

HTH

 

[fishwatcher]

I need to get the phosphate test then. That's the only one I don't have. Here I can get a gallon of distilled for about .90 cents. If I get a 3-5 gal container I can get RO from the lfs about 45 min drive for about $1 per 4 gallons.
I may end up with an RO unit, but until I get things in a pattern I don't want to try to learn how to do that too. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed already.
As for the reading, I think it just read out wrong... I didn't realize I had to season it, but now that that's done the reading today was 1.022, so I think that's right. I'm going to keep an eye on it though over the next couple of days and make sure it's all ok.
When I add the amount of salt needed (which is going to be a guess on my part... the directions have pounds of salt per litre; although I could convert the litres to gallons, I don't have a way to weigh it out.), will the bubbler/aerator thing work to move the water around enough, you think?
Thanks for the help!

 

[sophos9]

The reason I said about phosphates is due to the direct link between phosphate levels and algae growth, the amount of threads I've read where people have regretted not measuring phosphate and/or adding rowaphos from the start is unreal!

RO is dead easy...
Add unit
Turn on tap
Collect RO water
Check with TDS meter, closer to zero the better!

Yea for sure, its only really due to the fact that RO water will have extremely low O2 levels, so adding air is a good thing for fishes!!

 

[fishwatcher]

I'll be picking one of those tests up this week, then. Or should I just get the rowaphos?
Thanks!