Newbie

[zaf88]

hi all my first post! anyway, i have a 92 gallon corner tank that wass freshwater. i broke it down cleaned out the magnum 350 and eheim 2217 filters. filled the tank up w water and salt till the sg was 1.020 (my lfs said to keep it at 1.017, which i thought was nuts but he said it keeps disease down). then i added crushed corak and live sand, without rinsing it first so i made a huge mess of the water. after several filter rinsings the tank is quite clear now. i added 9 baby damsels as my lfs told me to and am think of vacuuming the gravel to get teh rest of the crap i shouldve rinsed out out. so now the equiptment, i have the eheim 2217 running as a bio filter. the mag 350 has charcoal in it. i was thinking of getting the nu-clear 533 or a eheim professional 3 to replace the mag 350. what do u think of these brands?? also i have 10 pounds of live rock and am lookig to get 150 pounds more. where do u guys go for cheap live rock?? i am adding a uv steralizer. is there anythign anyone would recommend me do or get? i know nitrates r gonna be a problem, how about those denitrator's i see for sale, do they work???

 

[SkiFletch]

hi all my first post! anyway, i have a 92 gallon corner tank that wass freshwater. i broke it down cleaned out the magnum 350 and eheim 2217 filters. filled the tank up w water and salt till the sg was 1.020 (my lfs said to keep it at 1.017, which i thought was nuts but he said it keeps disease down). then i added crushed corak and live sand, without rinsing it first so i made a huge mess of the water. after several filter rinsings the tank is quite clear now. i added 9 baby damsels as my lfs told me to and am think of vacuuming the gravel to get teh rest of the crap i shouldve rinsed out out. so now the equiptment, i have the eheim 2217 running as a bio filter. the mag 350 has charcoal in it. i was thinking of getting the nu-clear 533 or a eheim professional 3 to replace the mag 350. what do u think of these brands?? also i have 10 pounds of live rock and am lookig to get 150 pounds more. where do u guys go for cheap live rock?? i am adding a uv steralizer. is there anythign anyone would recommend me do or get? i know nitrates r gonna be a problem, how about those denitrator's i see for sale, do they work???

Ok wow, ummm, not to be negative or sound confrontational, but you're doing a bunch of things that are NOT by the book and downright dangerous if you ask me.

First off, liverock and a protein skimmer should be all the filtration you'll need. No eheim filters, and most dentrators are pieces of junk. If you grow some macro algaes in your tank (or more prefferrably in your sump), you can help keep nitrates down. Keeping filters with coarse media will trap waste and create excess nitrates. Liverock can handle all the filtration you need and if you get some with anaerobic zones, can house nitrate fixing bacteria that helps process nitrates. 150lbs is more than enough LR if you can afford it. The best place to find cheap LR is locally from someone taking their tank down. Along with liverock you're going to want enough powerheads to generate a total flowrate of 20+ times your tank volume. So you're going to want more than 1800gph of total recirculating powerheads.

UV sterilizers are good things to have on tanks that size and will help keep disease down in your tank.

I'd also get a protein skimmer for a tank that size. Fish are messy and will make enough organic waste to make a skimmer beneficial to have.

Give the 9 damsel fish back immediately to your LFS. They are not needed to cycle the tank and WILL bully other fish if you leave them in the tank. What you really want to do is buy a lot of LR (liverock) and allow the dieoff from the LR to fuel the cycle. Also, I'd reccomend raising your sg to like 1.022

Lastly, take a look through the stickies. Theres lots of other topics I didnt cover here, but you'll need to wrap your head around them if you're going to succeed. Spend plenty of time there and then come back and ask questions on things you're confused on . You're off to a pretty good start, keep it up and of course,

 

[zaf88]

ummm all the damsels died in 2 days. they seemed to be doing so well then in like an hour the tank ph dropped from 8.2 to 7.4. am, nitrites, nitrates all were zero. its just hard to know who to trust these days. i go into the store and ask anout the things i read online and they laugh at me and tell me about their 30 years of dealing w fish blah blah blah. then i come on these sites and u guys say the lfs people r all wrong. its just so confusing. well it seems that u r right. so im going to order 180lbs of live rock. is there a type u guys like, or a website u get from??? r u saying i should take my filters off the system?? the problem w slime and tuff like that is the stupid corner stand i have doesnt have anyroom underneath the tank. r there any devices i can buy to simulate an anerobic enviroment that doesnt take up alot of room?? appreciate the response, and will read ur stickys right now. thank u

 

[SkiFletch]

Well, when dealing with your LFS, remember that first off they are in business to make money and therefore a living. Also please remember that they often have to deal with customers that are downright rude, full of themselves, or completely lost. Combine those reasons with the fact that very often an LFS has to hire less than qualified people and taking their advice as gospel can lead to disaster. Also remember to take things you read online with a grain of salt because as much as we may mean well on forums like these, sometimes we too can make mistakes. The lesson is to always double check or even triple check your info, regardless of the source

As for ordering LR, lots of online retailers offer good quality stuff, but it really depends on where you live and what's around you. Compare prices and quality of whats available locally with what you can get online and see what works better for you. Remember to calculate online shipping as it can drive up the price quickly. Also, you would be very well advised to look around this forum and others for people locally taking tanks down and selling off their LR. Thats usually the best way to do things for LR if you can.

As for nitrate removal and nutrient export, macro algaes in sumps or hang on back refugiums or deep sand beds in buckets are some of the most efficient means of controlling or even eliminating nitrates. Some people even grow them behind rock formations in the display tank...

 

[crazyelece]

LFS incentive = you come in and spend money. They get you to buy a bunch of damsels $$$. Then they die and you go back and complain. They tell you it must be blah blah and you need component X which costs $$$ and maybe need to dose it a couple times later $$$ $$$. Once you figure out what you are doing and get everything straightened out, you still need a store to go to to get the correct equipment and livestock $$$ $$$ $$$. So in the end they get you to spend more money which makes them stay in business longer so the next unsuspecting customer will be told they've done it this way for 35 40 45 etc. years.

There are some good LFS out there, the secret is to find them and then spend your money there. Even if it costs a little more it is usually worth it in the long run.