New guy-New to the hobby

[Ironman58]

Hey y'all-I'm taking the plunge and converting my 50-gallon freshwater to a reef tank. It's a little intimidating, but I found a local fish store that seems to have a very knowledgeable and helpful staff and MANY beautiful reef tanks. I've been reading up all I can, and everybody says it's not THAT hard to do. The guys here at work have a little 20-gallon reef tank that's just amazing so I'm 'encouraged'-The store has live rock for about $5.00 /lb that's already been cured. I'm not sure what kind it is, they have little pools in the store with the rock in there with pumps flowing over it so it looks ok. Questions:
What rock should I look for?
Can I 'mix and match?'
How long would it take a 50-gallon tank that's already cycled with freshwater to cycle with saltwater?

The guys at the store don't seem too pushy, i.e. buying expensive equipment, etc. The owner suggested I could start slowly and add skimmers, sumps, etc later on, using most of my existing equipment.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll be here a LOT asking a ton of questions. I had pretty good success with my freshwater tank and HOPE that I can continue with saltwater.

[scrmbld33]

1. yes you can mix and match live rock
2. cycles usually take 4 - 6 weeks for a saltwater tank
and also check out the thread at the top of the new to hobby sect for new people lots of good reading in there

[welcome]

[hollback]

Welcome!

You might also want to look into a local club in your area. A local club will usually provide knowledgeable, unbiased information. it is also a nice place to start for used purchases and cheap, quality livestock. Take it slow and do some research before each purchase.

[Mike7]

Welcome to the hobby. I switched from fresh to salt, and I'll tell you, its a whole different ball game.

[trd47]

ironman welcome to rc.

how long have you been reading about reefing and where? I've been reading up on reefing for about a year before actually starting. i started my tank just recently around the beginning of september. To make a long story short all that reading WILL pay off.

[capn_hylinur]

Originally posted by Ironman58
Hey y'all-I'm taking the plunge and converting my 50-gallon freshwater to a reef tank. It's a little intimidating, but I found a local fish store that seems to have a very knowledgeable and helpful staff and MANY beautiful reef tanks. I've been reading up all I can, and everybody says it's not THAT hard to do. The guys here at work have a little 20-gallon reef tank that's just amazing so I'm 'encouraged'-The store has live rock for about $5.00 /lb that's already been cured. I'm not sure what kind it is, they have little pools in the store with the rock in there with pumps flowing over it so it looks ok. Questions:
What rock should I look for?
Can I 'mix and match?'
How long would it take a 50-gallon tank that's already cycled with freshwater to cycle with saltwater?

The guys at the store don't seem too pushy, i.e. buying expensive equipment, etc. The owner suggested I could start slowly and add skimmers, sumps, etc later on, using most of my existing equipment.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll be here a LOT asking a ton of questions. I had pretty good success with my freshwater tank and HOPE that I can continue with saltwater.

ditto on the:
[welcome]

The live rock and substrate form the basis for your tanks filtration for the life of your tank. Don't skimp on these--buy good quality live rock and a good argonite sand bed.
I agree that a protein skimmer is a must.
The protein skimmer forms the mechanical part of your filtration, the live rock and sand bed form the biogical filtration.
The other thing to consider is the flow rate--it should be between 20-40 times the tank volume per hour.
This is accomplished by adding power heads---Hydor Korilias are an excellent choice as delivering a turbulant force like the reefs rather then a straight blasting laminar force.

As far as curing and cyling----- a very basic outline
curing live rock involves the dead stuff on the live rock falling off into the water--this produces ammonia, nitrates and phosphates
this in turns stimulates bacteria to multiply or cycle to meet the new biological demands on the system.
The curing of live rock is usually a one time occurance.
Cyling of bacteria however is a continuous process--everytime there is a new bioload demand on the tank the bacteria cycle or increase.

that said---the word cured is really used loosly with LFS--it usually has some degree of cleaning off --that's all.
You need the rock to cure in the tank to start the cyling process of the bacteria.

[Vinnie71975]

Originally posted by Ironman58
Hey y'all-I'm taking the plunge and converting my 50-gallon freshwater to a reef tank. It's a little intimidating, but I found a local fish store that seems to have a very knowledgeable and helpful staff and MANY beautiful reef tanks. I've been reading up all I can, and everybody says it's not THAT hard to do. The guys here at work have a little 20-gallon reef tank that's just amazing so I'm 'encouraged'-The store has live rock for about $5.00 /lb that's already been cured. I'm not sure what kind it is, they have little pools in the store with the rock in there with pumps flowing over it so it looks ok. Questions:
What rock should I look for?
Can I 'mix and match?'
How long would it take a 50-gallon tank that's already cycled with freshwater to cycle with saltwater?

The guys at the store don't seem too pushy, i.e. buying expensive equipment, etc. The owner suggested I could start slowly and add skimmers, sumps, etc later on, using most of my existing equipment.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll be here a LOT asking a ton of questions. I had pretty good success with my freshwater tank and HOPE that I can continue with saltwater.

Rock type for the most part is ascetic, Pick pieces that you like that you can afford. In a 50g tank i would personally use about 150 to 200 lbs of live or Base rock(Base rock is cheaper) The recommended bare equipment IMHO is Lots of Flow (Power heads) A Good heater, and a Good Skimmer. if you want a reef tank you will need Good lighting, If not cheap lights will work(fish don't care about watts per gallon but corals do!) Also a Good RODI water unit should be on your list of first things to get. You shouldnt use your freshwater that was in the tank you should mix up SW with RODI water to fill the tank. Cycles can take anywhere from 4 weeks to 3 months(mine was the latter) to Cycle the tank throw a raw Tailless cocktail shrimp in and let it rot away.good luck!

[phenom5]

What rock should I look for?

The type of rock is really a personal preference. You want rock that is light, and pourous, not heavy and dense. I personally look for shape. I could care less about hitchhikers, b/c those will come with time, and come in on frags...not to mention they just get in the way. I like to fill my tank with corals, not hitchhikers. But this too is a personal preference thing. If you are setting up a FOWLR, not a reef, you may want more hitchhikers.

Can I 'mix and match?'

Absolutely...mixing LR from different locations increases the bio-diversity in your tank...which is a good thing.

SW is definitely more challenging than FW, but your FW experience will help, as your familiar with a lot of concepts that will be similar between the two.

In a 50g tank i would personally use about 150 to 200 lbs of live or Base rock(Base rock is cheaper)

Careful...that's a pretty loaded statement.

[auntynatal]

I've got a 45g tank with 45lbs of LR and 8 lbs of BR, that is what I was recommended by my LFS. Its pretty full of the stuff tbh and any more would leave less swimming room. The one mistake I did make though was not having live sand! How I wish I could go back and do that bit again!

[auntynatal]

oops double post!

[auntynatal]

I've got a 45g tank with 45lbs of LR and 8 lbs of BR, that is what I was recommended by my LFS. Its pretty full of the stuff tbh and any more would leave less swimming room. The one mistake I did make though was not having live sand! How I wish I could go back and do that bit again!

[jimbo78]

Originally posted by Vinnie71975
Rock type for the most part is ascetic, Pick pieces that you like that you can afford. In a 50g tank i would personally use about 150 to 200 lbs of live or Base rock(Base rock is cheaper)

i would love to see 200lbs of lr in a 50g tank. i think you would have to break it it to rubble to get it to fit.


try to start off with 1-1.5 lbs a gallon

[Ironman58]

Thanks y'all-Man, it seems sorta overwhelming and EXPENSIVE but I'm certainly in NO hurries and want to do it right. I just walked over to look at the little 20 gallon tank the guys set up here in the office and just couldn't take my eyes off the different corals and algae. I think it'll be worth it.
One thing I noticed on that tank was little areas on the glass that had green and blue 'spots'- The heater has the same thing on it. They don't have any filters that I can see, just a pump. They keep a pitcher of water next to the tank and just add that every few days.

Anyway, I'm taking my fresh-water fish to the store for credit and getting everything set up this weekend. I figure I'll let the live sand and live rock set for a couple of weeks, do a lot of water-checking then add the shrimp/snails.

Now about this isolation tank thing-Do I need to get a 10-gallon tank and keep any fish I buy in it for 4 weeks like I read on the 'net somewhere?

[capn_hylinur]

Originally posted by Ironman58
Thanks y'all-Man, it seems sorta overwhelming and EXPENSIVE but I'm certainly in NO hurries and want to do it right. I just walked over to look at the little 20 gallon tank the guys set up here in the office and just couldn't take my eyes off the different corals and algae. I think it'll be worth it.
One thing I noticed on that tank was little areas on the glass that had green and blue 'spots'- The heater has the same thing on it. They don't have any filters that I can see, just a pump. They keep a pitcher of water next to the tank and just add that every few days.

Anyway, I'm taking my fresh-water fish to the store for credit and getting everything set up this weekend. I figure I'll let the live sand and live rock set for a couple of weeks, do a lot of water-checking then add the shrimp/snails.

Now about this isolation tank thing-Do I need to get a 10-gallon tank and keep any fish I buy in it for 4 weeks like I read on the 'net somewhere?

IMO live sand is a waste of money--all you need is one cup of it from someone elses tank to "seed" your sand bed. Even if you don't do that the live rock will seed the sand bed.
If it takes more time to cycle---good-- the longer you wait the more the bacteria cycles--giving you a stronger base of it before you start adding fish.

a good method to follow is 4-6 weeks cycling
add your clean up crew--snails shimp etc
add some really hearty coral
final add fish--one at a time--a week between to allow the bacteria to catch up to the new bioload they create.

[capn_hylinur]

Originally posted by Ironman58

Now about this isolation tank thing-Do I need to get a 10-gallon tank and keep any fish I buy in it for 4 weeks like I read on the 'net somewhere?

the isolation tank aka quarantine tank aka qt

you always protect your main tank and its inhabitants from disease, unwanted hitchhikers etc --its like your homeland security
4-6 weeks is the accepted norm by most to make sure diseases have not shown up or been irradicated.

some advantages of a qt:
disease monitoring and prevention and treatment

introduce stressed out or easily stressed out fish to your main tank

help get difficult feeders to feed--either by lessening the stress of other fish or by experimenting with different foods

help acclimatize different fish and inverts when there is a big difference between your tank and the l.f.s(live fish store) in water conditions.

since you have a 4-6 week cycling process ahead of you--set up your main tank and let it cycle
setup your qt tank prior to buying your first inverts--its easier then because you can use water from your tank for it--that way the water conditions will match in both tanks.
You can run a hob on the main tank for about three days and then transfer it to the qt tank--it will be seeded with enough bacteria by then to run the qt (hob--hang on the back filter)
the only thing else you will need is some pieces of pvc piping for the fish to hide in if needed.

[capn_hylinur]

Originally posted by Ironman58
Thanks y'all-Man, it seems sorta overwhelming and EXPENSIVE but I'm certainly in NO hurries and want to do it right. I just walked over to look at the little 20 gallon tank the guys set up here in the office and just couldn't take my eyes off the different corals and algae. I think it'll be worth it.
One thing I noticed on that tank was little areas on the glass that had green and blue 'spots'- The heater has the same thing on it. They don't have any filters that I can see, just a pump. They keep a pitcher of water next to the tank and just add that every few days.

the green stuff is some nuisance algae, the same as in your fresh water tank, the purple (blue) stuff is corraline algae--that's a good sign the tank is healthy. Corraline algae is to be encouraged esp when it covers the rock--it prevents other nuisance algae from using the rock.

If you didn't see any filters then perhaps they have a sump--a separate tank under the main one to house a protein skimmer

to review what I posted above:
you have live rock and sand for biological filtration
a protein skimmer for mechanical filtration