Want to Start a Marine Aquarium?: A Step by Step Guide

[Travis L. Stevens]

FWIW, you're definitely not doing anything bad, just ahead of schedule

[JerseyWendy]

Originally posted by Travis L. Stevens


It really sounds like you have something great going on for you locally. You should really feel honored. Not everyone has the priviledge of having a good LFS near them.

Yes, first-chevalier, I envy you about your LFS. I just drove 50 miles (round trip) to check out a store near me whose website looked SO impressive and promising, only to be extremely disappointed. I went in hopes of seeing different tanks with different lightings, possibly seeing a skimmer in action (in person) and how it's set up. Nope, no such luck. I won't even say WHAT I saw.

Thanks for all the help, Travis.

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Wendy
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[mascencerro]

I made a similar trip tuesday to an LFS out of town that was supposedly good and different than the local one, only to find out it was a dump. They had 1 saltwater tank with a couple "Nemo Clowns - $19.99" and a bunch of tanks with feeder guppies and goldfish. Oh, and 1 tank with their plants, all it was is a bunch of hornwort. Needless to say, I won't ever waste gas to drive up there again.

[Cali-girl]

Travis-
Thank you so much for spending all this time and continuous effort on a thread like this one. It is incredibly helpful to all the newbies like me who are interested in setting up a saltwater aquarium.

Not wanting to start until I thoroughly research what I'm getting into, your thread has made a lot of the "complicated" issues more understandable. Hopefully I will starting up my own peice of the ocean this spring!

Thanks again!

[SquidHC]

Man for a beginners how to guide, this sure is all over the place and really confusing.

[WaterKeeper]

Originally posted by SquidHC
Man for a beginners how to guide, this sure is all over the place and really confusing.

Yeah, but it all you darn Newbies fault!!!



Actually Squid, having been there and done this, it is really hard to keep order, and stay on course, in an open thread. Since the board is interactive you really need to go with the flow of the comments and questions presented. I think Travis is doing fine under an open discussion environment. It is harder to stay on track here than say a Reefkeeping Magazine article on the subject.

and BTW

Hi Cali

To Reef Central


Waterkeeper omits that he has popped in on occasion and helped take the thread off course.

[first-chevalier]

Tank update. The algae bloom started two days ago and is simply taking over grrrrrrrrrrrr. I hate that. HOWEVER, I have discovered the lawn-mowing capabilities of both Astrea snails and my new favorite member of the clean-up crew, the Blue Leg Hermit Crab!

Today, we spotted a snail the size of a pin head motoring across the glass, which highlighted these little white doo-dads litteraly EVERYWHERE behind the rock pile. We now have a pod outbreak.

WOOT!

Almost there. Water parameters continue to show zero Amonia, Nitrites, Nitrates and PH is 8.2.

I think we've settled on a purple fire fish, a VERY small six-line wrasse, and perhaps some kind of pigmy angel that has a yellow face and purple body, but we're not sure. We'll SLOWLY introduce the fish one at a time, let the tank cycle, then the next fish. How does that sound?

[JerseyWendy]

Originally posted by WaterKeeper

Waterkeeper omits that he has popped in on occasion and helped take the thread off course.

[/B]

....and Waterkeeper has a mighty fine thread for us Newbies, too.

In fact, there is SO much awesome information in Travis' and Waterkeeper's threads, they are "stickies", and can be found quite easily if looked for in the right place.

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Wendy
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[Travis L. Stevens]

Travis-
Thank you so much for spending all this time and continuous effort on a thread like this one. It is incredibly helpful to all the newbies like me who are interested in setting up a saltwater aquarium.

You're very welcome and welcome to the board!

Not wanting to start until I thoroughly research what I'm getting into, your thread has made a lot of the "complicated" issues more understandable. Hopefully I will starting up my own peice of the ocean this spring!

I understand completely. Unfortunately those issues are still extremely complicated, but now at least you have a base knowledge to grow from.

Thanks again!

You're welcome again

Man for a beginners how to guide, this sure is all over the place and really confusing.

It's very difficult to keep the thread on target. As a word of advice while looking through the thread the main content always starts out with a large, bold lettering with a section number and header as well as notations if it is the beginning of a new chapter, a continuation, or an addition to something I forgot (which happens often ). In addition to all of this, I will soon have a Table of Contents that will be posted at the first post of the first page as well as the first post of the thread split for easy navigation. Give me a little time with it though. Thanks again for showing your interest here and happy reefing.

It is harder to stay on track here than say a Reefkeeping Magazine article on the subject.

Shameless plug for the e-zine, eh? Just kidding. i highly recommend reading through the wonderful articles there.

Waterkeeper omits that he has popped in on occasion and helped take the thread off course.

Really?! You "Omit"? You might want to "Omit" that word and replace it with "Admit". *Travis pokes Waterkeeper in the ribs jokingly*

Tank update. The algae bloom started two days ago and is simply taking over grrrrrrrrrrrr. I hate that. HOWEVER, I have discovered the lawn-mowing capabilities of both Astrea snails and my new favorite member of the clean-up crew, the Blue Leg Hermit Crab!

Ah yes. It will be a few weeks to a month before you will notice drastic improvements, so don't jump the gun. Be warned that Blue Legs are quite aggressive for food and shelter.

Today, we spotted a snail the size of a pin head motoring across the glass, which highlighted these little white doo-dads litteraly EVERYWHERE behind the rock pile. We now have a pod outbreak.

Wonderful! This means that the tank is progressing very nicely.

Almost there. Water parameters continue to show zero Amonia, Nitrites, Nitrates and PH is 8.2.

That's great. Keep watching.

I think we've settled on a purple fire fish, a VERY small six-line wrasse, and perhaps some kind of pigmy angel that has a yellow face and purple body, but we're not sure. We'll SLOWLY introduce the fish one at a time, let the tank cycle, then the next fish. How does that sound?

The baby steps are a great progress. I would look a little more into your fish selection. The Bicolor Angelfish gets rather large for a Pygmy Angel and may not benefit from the tank size. Other than that, it's not too bad. Watch out for the firefish jumping. They're notorious for it.

[JerseyWendy]

I'm thrilled to report that I'm another step closer to get going with my tank. Yesterday I purchased a Quiet One 4000 return pump, and today I ordered the Octopus NW-200.

As soon as it warms up a bit outside I'll go "wood shopping" and start tinkering with the stand and canopy. Yay.

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Wendy
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[lovejoy]

Hiya,

Can anyone here please let me know what anemone this is as I have been so many different things by other people, I just don't know anymore

[Travis L. Stevens]

Have you asked in the Anemone & Clownfish forum? Just as a quick guess it could be a Bubble Tip Anemone (Entacmea quadricolor) or Long Tentacle Anemone (Heteractis crispa)

[first-chevalier]

Just thought I'd let you know I've added an update to my tank build thread here ( http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...readid=1023218 )

Pics included.

Travis, I have a question about the cycle....

I added some clean up crew members and started to get an ammonia spike, but I didn't get any nitrites with it. I got a little gun shy so I did a 5g water change (about 1/3 of my volume). How do I tell the difference between a tank that is going through a cycle of some kind (like after the addition of live-stock) and amonia just building up? And at what amonia level do I pull the trigger on what size water change?

I am assuming the water change size is dictated by the amount of amonia present, but I'll refer back to my last question in relation to that. Thanks.

[first-chevalier]

Is this more aptasia or something more desirable? It just 'sprang up' in the sand of our refugium. If this is something more desireable I'm going to have to figure out how to move it up stairs.

[Travis L. Stevens]

I added some clean up crew members and started to get an ammonia spike, but I didn't get any nitrites with it.

The ammonia spike could have been caused by the rock since you added them at the same time. But, since the rock was in fairly good shape when you got it, the little amount of ammonia that either came from the rock and/or the invertebrates was most likely quickly converted to nitrate, which would make the Nitrite step almost unnoticable.

I got a little gun shy so I did a 5g water change (about 1/3 of my volume). How do I tell the difference between a tank that is going through a cycle of some kind (like after the addition of live-stock) and amonia just building up? And at what amonia level do I pull the trigger on what size water change?

That's just it, if there is ammonia in the tank there will be bacteria that grows to consume it. It doesn't take long for a little added ammonia to go through the Nitrogen cycle. Now, if you had a large animal die and rot, or a large animal was put in then you would have to worry about possibly doing a small water change because the ammonia is a huge spike from a sudden rush of decomposing organics. On the other hand, the addition of an appropriate sized animal or over feeding a smidge by accident will spike the ammonia, but not much to be overly concerned about. Eventually the bacteria will grow to accomidate the new addition.

I am assuming the water change size is dictated by the amount of amonia present, but I'll refer back to my last question in relation to that. Thanks.

Actually, water changes are almost bad in a situation like this. The amount of biological filtration you have will determine your bioload. And bacteria determines your biofiltration amount. In order to have a good amount of bacteria, you have to give it the proper home and feed it, just like any other pet. If the bacteria doesn't have a homes (not enough live rock, etc) or if the bacteria has too little food (water change during a regulated spike), then the bacteria population won't become as dense as you need it to be as quick as you need it. Instead, it prolongs the process because you took food away from the bacteria, but there is still more being entered into the aquarium. The only time I recommend water changes are in emergencies, chemical buildup, or chemical depletion. I still do recommend scheduled water changes even if you show no signs of it. But emergencies would constitute macro algae going sexual, mass spawning of invertebrates, large animal death, etc. By chemical buildup, I mainly mean Nitrate and Phosphate buildup or even sulphate buildup. And lastly by depleted chemicals, I mean Calcium, Carbonate, Magnesium, and all those other things that some people attempt to keep level with dosing.

Hopefully that answered your question, but it's difficult to explain predatorrey ratio theories in words. Think of it this way; what would happen if you fed an ant hill, that was in the middle of a field, sugar water and food? What would happen if you had a second ant colony in a stone wall and you deprived it of food on occassion? Of course, the well fed colony with lots of food will grow faster than the one deprived in the stone wall. It's basically the same thing where the ants are the bacteria and you are the source of organic waste. But, as you know how persistent ants are, so are bacteria. No matter what you do, the ant colonies will eventually grow to the size that is supported by the available food.

I couldn't tell you accurately without a closer picture, sorry. It looks like it might be a Zoanthid, but it could be a Majano anemone as well.

[first-chevalier]

Here's a pic of the thing with the item it's attached to. It appears to be attached to an old piece of shell. thanks guys.

[IMG] http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/...id-help-II.jpg[/IMG]

[Travis L. Stevens]

I'm 90% sure that those could be Zoanthids.

[first-chevalier]

I am too since we added an eight polyp colony over the weekend and they look exactly like the ones we bought, which I watched fragged from a much larger colony. Oh, I've added more pics of the pompom Xenia and two mushrooms on our build thread if you're interested. The pompom is already sending out what I'm assuming is a branch to creat another colony. LOVING it! Thanks so much Travis, we couldn't have done it without you dude. Oh, we also added a very smal six line wrasse to handle the pod outbreak. Water parameters are all still stable to.

[NanoCube-boy]

I agree with travis.

[wyang76]

Following this thread

[first-chevalier]

Then i probably need to move them out of the refugium and into the DT.

[Azazael13]

I know this was answered somewhere else in the thread so I am sorry for asking again.

When you have a sump/refuge setup I assume water evaporates from both the tank and the sump/refuge. How does the tank stay full, or does it not stay full?

[Modemagic]

Originally posted by Azazael13
I know this was answered somewhere else in the thread so I am sorry for asking again.

When you have a sump/refuge setup I assume water evaporates from both the tank and the sump/refuge. How does the tank stay full, or does it not stay full?

Simply put, its not going to stay 'full'. Your going to have to do topoffs from time to time along with all your other regular maintence. Be careful not to topoff to much though, because if your power fails the water from the return pump as well as water from the drain into the sump will both enter the sump. You want to have enough room in there to accomodate for this. Best method is simply to test it... run the tank then pull the plug on the pump and see what happens. If it starts to overflow, then obviously you have too much. When you find a safe 'operating level', make a mark so you know where to topoff to. Works like a champ in my setup with no guesswork. I live in the midwest, and with storms its not uncommon to loose power for small periods of time.

[Azazael13]

well that makes sense. For some reason I thought I read somewhere that the Display tank always stayed full and water only needed to be added to the sump.

Thanks Modemagic

[Modemagic]

Well, the display tank does stay full. What happens is with an overflow, that determines the level of water in the display tank. As water evaporates from the display and sump little by little, the water level is maintained in the display because of the overflow, but the water level in the sump is decreased. Adding your RO water to the sump brings it back up.

After reading my first post I wasn't clear into what tank i was talking about. I pour the water into my sump and have my marks on it. I know it gets low when the water starts to whirlpool in the tank. My sump is actually a smoked acrylic wet/dry filter, so what I did was put a ping pong ball in the return section where the water disappears from, this way I can tell at a glance where my water level is in relation to my mark since my sides are not clear.