Planning My New Tank

[australia]

i am setting up my first salt water aqaurium, so far i have a protein skimmer, salt, hyrdometer,filter,substarte, is there anything else i need? i am planning to put 2 clown fish in there!

cheers damo

 

[-Nemo-]

Water testing kit (for nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, and Ph at least)
I'd also recommend a good amount of live rock to give you a head start. More than worth the money.

What size tank is it?

 

[australia]

Water testing kit (for nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, and Ph at least)
I'd also recommend a good amount of live rock to give you a head start. More than worth the money.

What size tank is it?

it is a 2 foot/80litre tank, i plan to have a pair of clown fish in there

does a hyrdo meter measure the amount of salt in the tank?

 

[fatfishman]

[/quote]

it is a 2 foot/80litre tank, i plan to have a pair of clown fish in there

does a hyrdo meter measure the amount of salt in the tank?
[/quote]

Yes a hydrometer will measure salt levels, test it against your lfs one to make sure its nice and accurate

 

[chrissaysyes]

it is a 2 foot/80litre tank, i plan to have a pair of clown fish in there

does a hyrdo meter measure the amount of salt in the tank?

Yes a hydrometer will measure salt levels, test it against your lfs one to make sure its nice and accurate

Actually Hydrometers measure Specific Gravity which you can use (under the right temperatures) to get a fairly accurate handle of the salinity of your water. You'd probably want to go with a Refractometer to measure actual salinity.

 

[australia]

okay thanks alot guys, here is a update of what i have done:



Today i setup a 2 foot, 80 litre tank, firstly i added my coral sand, 100 watt heater, 1000litre filter and i added the water by using a hose to fill the tank then i used Prime to declorinate the water, then i mixed my salt into a bucket of water from the tank and put it back into the my tank, then i put 8kg of live rock in there with a powerhead and last of all a hydrometer! Now i have everything turned on and going fine!

btw i plan to put a pair of clown fish in there to breed....

my questions are:

what should my temp be? when cycling? and after?

how long should i cycle my tank before adding clownfish?

What else do i need to know? as i am new to marines!

cheers damo

 

[andywg]

Actually Hydrometers measure Specific Gravity which you can use (under the right temperatures) to get a fairly accurate handle of the salinity of your water. You'd probably want to go with a Refractometer to measure actual salinity.

But then refractometers measure the refractive index of a liquid which can be used to get an idea of the salinity (or SG). I can't think of any tool which directly measures the salinity.

 

[SkiFletch]

Well Damo, as it's summertime in Australia you should strive to prevent your temperature from climbing over 83F. In the summertime, keeping the tank cool is usually more difficult than keeping it warm . For the wintertime, I keep my tank at 76-77F. You can add clownfish after your tank's ammonia and nitrite are down to 0 and the salinity is correct.

 

[chrissaysyes]

You could also measure chlorinity with a LaMotte test kit and convert your results to salinity in parts per thousand... or so I've read.

 

[-Nemo-]

A note about the hydrometer: After you use it, make sure you rinse it VERY well with freshwater. Otherwise the salt can build up in it and cause the readings to become inaccurate.

The length of the cycle varies from tank to tank depending on many things. Just keep testing the water, (at this point i'd say only weekly). By the way, I try to keep my temp. at a constant 78F (28C).

Also: Do you have any plans on adding a cleanup crew? I'd recommended adding them in before the clowns.

 

[australia]

A note about the hydrometer: After you use it, make sure you rinse it VERY well with freshwater. Otherwise the salt can build up in it and cause the readings to become inaccurate.

The length of the cycle varies from tank to tank depending on many things. Just keep testing the water, (at this point i'd say only weekly). By the way, I try to keep my temp. at a constant 78F (28C).

Also: Do you have any plans on adding a cleanup crew? I'd recommended adding them in before the clowns.

yes i want a cleanup crew, what do u suggest for me?

 

[1entra]

yes i want a cleanup crew, what do u suggest for me?

Well you could start off with a few snails and possibly a couple of hermits. But wait till your nitrites and ammonia are 0 first.

What is the current SG of your tank?

 

[australia]

i think i killed my live rock, i added the liverock before i added the salt to me tank, did i kill the live rock and what should i do?

okay what is SG?

my Salinty is 1.020 if thats what u mean

 

[Musho3210]

no, its hard to fully kill live rock, some-a lot of the life might have died, but there is enough in it to still be considered live rock.

 

[australia]

no, its hard to fully kill live rock, some-a lot of the life might have died, but there is enough in it to still be considered live rock.

cool, thanks alot buddy i realy thought i killed all of it