# Ryan's fish tank diary Part 1.



## en71ce (Feb 26, 2007)

Hi guys,

I suppose this is more of a blog requesting for feedback and advise in case you guys think I'm doing something wrong and could do it another way better!

Currently I have purchased a 4ft fish tank which is approximately 190 litres (50-55 gallons). I have purchased and installed a foam rock looking background by using silicone (as seen in my other post regarding chemicals) I'm quite confident there are no trace elements of it left and it is clean and fish safe to use.

I have purchased aragonite for my substrate and have washed it for a good 3 hour period before placing it inside the tank.

I have now filled the tank up with water leaving enough water level to add live rock.

I currently have a cannister filter circulating the water and plan to buy a powerhead or two to acquire more water flow.

The next step is to add salt mix (which i have already purchased, brand is Red Sea) I'm just curious on how long I should circulate the salt before adding live rocks, As a good friend of mine that has an established marine tank has advised 2 weeks is good, but then my LFS advised 2 days is sufficient.

Any advise will be appreciated!.

Will blog more as I begin setting up my first marine tank! :lol:


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## usmc121581 (Jul 31, 2006)

Can you add pics thought out the process?


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## en71ce (Feb 26, 2007)

*pictures*

Thats a great idea! and I'll take some photo's tonight when i get home.

Pity I didn't take photos from the start i.e. from when the tank was completely empty.

Because right now its full with water / substrate added / cannister filter functioning.

I will take a pic of how clear the water is before adding salt and then take a pic of it after i add salt.

And take more pics everytime i add something to the tank!

but by what i mentioned above does everything sound the way it suppose to be done?


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## en71ce (Feb 26, 2007)

*im back!*

Hi guys,

Im back, kinda took a 2 week hiatus because I went on holidays.

Well right now the status of the tank is as follows:

Tank is filled with water.
Added salt to the tank prior to going on holidays, so it had 2 weeks to be run in.
Heater/Cannister filter/powerhead running successfully.

I added my first piece of LR on the 15th of April, and all seems to be ok.

I purchased a hydrometer and it suggests that my salinity is a little high but not to a large extent.

The only conceern I have at the moment is that I have run a PH test and my water seems to be alkaline.

What PH level should a SW tank have?

Overall regarding water conditions, I understand that nitrate/nitrite levels should be 0 or as close to 0 as can be. The same with amonia. But what about PH?

Also apart from the average SW test kit purchased from a LFS should I be looking at getting anything else?

Will post pics as soon as I have time to take them! thanks for your feedback guys!


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## trreherd (Aug 7, 2006)

sounds like your off to a good start. its a good thing you purchased a hydrometer bacause you will need one if you plan on keeping your critters alive. How high is your salinity? it should be around 1.023-1.022. To bring the salinity down simply add some water. you were asking about the ph and i think marine ph should be somewere around 8.5. To be ohnost i dont think you should even need to test ph. If your using an aragonite substrate and you have your rock in there, you ph will be perfect + theres nothing you could really do about a ph problem if your using aragonite and lr. Your amonia and nitrite should be 0 when you have fish in there but when you start to add fish these params will go up and than slowely go back down.(its called cycling) your nitrate should be bellow 20. but. water changes will keep you nitrate in check. when you do a water change idd think that two days of curculation would be fine, two weeks might be too much. how much lr did you buy? You should end up with about 60 pounds. Are you cleaning your lr? Lr gets pretty dirty on its way to your aquarium. I scrubed mine with a tooth brush to get all the crap off, dust it with a powerhead to get some of the rock dust off it. A few days after adding your lr your sand and rock will get covered with this ugly brown algea, mine hasent gone away yet but i think it will when i get some hermits and snails. Every time you disturb the rock you will kick up more dust and cause more brown algea, so dont go O.CD. on your rock, it wont be spottless.
Good luck!


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## Age of Aquariums (Apr 13, 2007)

If its a reef tank then your salinity should be 1.025.


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## Age of Aquariums (Apr 13, 2007)

On reef I think the ph should be 7.5-8.5 but I'm not sure.


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## usmc121581 (Jul 31, 2006)

If its a reef the salinity should be around 1.026-1.028. And the PH should b3 8.3.


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## Age of Aquariums (Apr 13, 2007)

trreherd said:


> your lr your sand and rock will get covered with this ugly brown algea, mine hasent gone away yet but i think it will when i get some hermits and snails. Every time you disturb the rock you will kick up more dust and cause more brown algea, so dont go O.CD. on your rock, it wont be spottless.
> Good luck!


The algae is part of cycling


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## en71ce (Feb 26, 2007)

*update!*

Hi Guys!,

Me again, just wanting to update you since i've been slacking off a bit.

Since my last update, I have purchased more live rocks. Here are a couple of photos I"ve taken.

1. First piece of live rock I purchased.









2. Picture of total live rocks at the moment.









3. Picture of some coral that is already growing on the live rock? any suggestions on what type it is would be helpful?









4. Picture of 2nd larger coral growing on one of the rocks i purchased? once again any suggestions on what type would be great!.









5. Picture of both corals growing.









Well guys this is all for now.. I'm slowly changing direction from FOWLR to a full reef setup.. I have to make up my mind soon! =) any feedback will be awesome and also wouldn't mind the names of the corals I currently have.

Next on the shopping list is some decent lighting, i'm leaning towards T5 setup as I heard they produce more power than power compacts and standard fluro's. That and I can't really afford a MH setup at the moment, althought i'd love an MH setup!

Current water quality is as follows and most of it is due to the new LR only been added 2 days ago.
PH - 8.2
Amonia - 0.25
Nitrite - 0.25
Nitrate - 5.0
SG - 1.025-8

Prior to adding the new rocks the amonia/nitrite/nitrate levels were 0.


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