LynnEdwards Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 Good morning! Today is my very first post and today we will be setting up our very first tank! We bought a 75 gallon aquarium over a year ago and it housed only a 'cat fish' (my cat liked to jump into it and sleep) We also purchased two other smaller tanks over the last year - one which is to become our 'sump' and the other which is to be our 'holding tank'. Along with these purchases we have two boxes full of 'stuff' that came with it- protein skimmer, jets to move the water, random chemicals, a heater, nets, scrappers to clean the walls and 'all that jazz' There were two problems with our purchases. The first is that we bought an acrylic tank - previous owner had a big fresh water fish. I have no interest in fresh water fish. This means we can't drill our tank (we found this out later). Also the 'light' thank came with our tank is only for fresh water so we had no light. Since I know next to nothing about this other than what I have read I turned to google. The lights I was told I had to get to have pretty corals like I eventually want cost over 700 dollars And so our tank sat....being a cat tank only Until now. I decided we needed to just 'sell the thing' since I will never have the pretty corals I so want. 700 for lights plus another 1000 for all the live rock and sand and blah blah blah just to start it just never seems to be in budget with 3 kids. So I went to craigslist to see how much I can sell it for and came across...all the pretty pictures of salt water tanks I fell in love with the first time *sigh* the sadness! I also found that without it ever being set up we wouldn't be able to easily sell it for much. BUT! I found someone selling lights! And corals! This means that her lights can grow corals!!!! Also she is going to give us her 'live sand' from her tank! The kiddos have said that doing the aquarium would be an awesome Christmas present and are putting their allowance together to get the lights- So Today we will have everything put together. The plan is to get the live sand, water and lights from the lady breaking her tank down - use her sand then some additional sand (she has a 55 gallon tank, we have a 75 gallon tank) - get live rock and put that in , put in additional water from the aquarium store and....wait? We were told last night that the fish store peeps would test our water when we brought it in so we could wait a few days and have them test it I suppose. Any advice is much appreciated I am more excited than the kids now I think! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 There were two problems with our purchases. The first is that we bought an acrylic tank - previous owner had a big fresh water fish. I have no interest in fresh water fish. This means we can't drill our tank (we found this out later). If your tank is acrylic I think you can drill it. It is tempered glass that you can not drill. Also, Lights don't cost $700 for a tank unless your buying all new stuff IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobR Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 Congrats and welcome to this wonderful, and very addicting hobby! The best advice moving forward as you get your tank started is to take it slow, and be patient, and do a lot of research. Most people will tell you that nothing good happens fast in this hobby. This is a great site to ask questions and get advice as there are a lot of great folks here with a ton of experience. Good luck moving forward and welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 Forgot to say hello and welcome, great to have you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LynnEdwards Posted December 18, 2011 Author Share Posted December 18, 2011 There were two problems with our purchases. The first is that we bought an acrylic tank - previous owner had a big fresh water fish. I have no interest in fresh water fish. This means we can't drill our tank (we found this out later). If your tank is acrylic I think you can drill it. It is tempered glass that you can not drill. Also, Lights don't cost $700 for a tank unless your buying all new stuff IMO. I was looking to buy new because I was afraid to buy used...I know lots of lights aren't right for salt water and just didn't know what to get. I also didn't find this forum until yesterday I asked my husband and he said yes our tank is tempered glass SO wrong words. We have the overflow thing for it already though so we just have to figure out the sump then we are ready to get started. If we get our live rock and sand in today - can we put anything else in? The cleaning shrimps or anything like that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobR Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 You can definitely find new lights for a 75 under $700. The biggest thing with lights is knowing what you want to keep in the tank. Soft corals will demand less light than Large polyp stony corals which demand less light than the small polyp stonies. Do you have an idea of which corals you would like to keep? You also have to decide whether you want Metal halide lights, fluorescent (which there are a couple of different types), or LED. As for adding livestock, IMO it is advisable to get your water tested and know where your levels of Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, Salinity and pH are before you add anything. Once you add corals you are going to need to keep track of things like alkalinity, calcium and magnesium. (These levels are dependent upon whicj type of coral you choose to keep). Check out this link there are many good articles about saltwater basics: http://archive.reefc...threadid=102605 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LynnEdwards Posted December 18, 2011 Author Share Posted December 18, 2011 You can definitely find new lights for a 75 under $700. The biggest thing with lights is knowing what you want to keep in the tank. Soft corals will demand less light than Large polyp stony corals which demand less light than the small polyp stonies. Do you have an idea of which corals you would like to keep? You also have to decide whether you want Metal halide lights, fluorescent (which there are a couple of different types), or LED. As for adding livestock, IMO it is advisable to get your water tested and know where your levels of Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, and pH are before you add anything. Once you add corals you are going to need to keep track of things like alkalinity, calcium and magnesium. (These levels are dependent upon whicj type of coral you choose to keep). Check out this link there are many good articles about saltwater basics: http://archive.reefc...threadid=102605 We are buying these lights: http://www.austinreefclub.com/topic/19864-parting-out-all-livestock-from-55g/ Hers is 55g and mine is 75g but they are still 48 across - I'm really hoping this works? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 First off: Welcome! Second, check out the resources tab at the top right of the home page for some good articles. Third, patience is a must. Go slow, ask questions before purchasing things, and research,research,research. Lastly, not to say your husband is wrong but most tanks above 40 gallons or so are not tempered with the exception being the bottom panel. You can usually drill the side without issue. In my opinion, side drilled/overflow box is the preferable way to do it as it takes up less floor space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LynnEdwards Posted December 18, 2011 Author Share Posted December 18, 2011 First off: Welcome! Second, check out the resources tab at the top right of the home page for some good articles. Third, patience is a must. Go slow, ask questions before purchasing things, and research,research,research. Lastly, not to say your husband is wrong but most tanks above 40 gallons or so are not tempered with the exception being the bottom panel. You can usually drill the side without issue. In my opinion, side drilled/overflow box is the preferable way to do it as it takes up less floor space. Robb - how could we know for sure? We are only going by what we were told when we bought it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 Edit: sorry, was replying on my phone. The best way would be to call the manufacturer. There are some tricks you can use with polarizing sunglasses or camera lenses. Check youtube; I found a video there the other day that provided a great demonstration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teresa Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 Not sure if you've done this yet - but please please fill the tank with fresh water and make sure there are no leaks. This can be done immediately and should most definitely be done before you add all the wonderful saltwater creatures. Let the water sit in the tank for 24 hours and check the seams to make sure there are no leaks. It would be a huge bummer to find all your money and hard work down the drain - or rather - on your floor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LynnEdwards Posted December 18, 2011 Author Share Posted December 18, 2011 Not sure if you've done this yet - but please please fill the tank with fresh water and make sure there are no leaks. This can be done immediately and should most definitely be done before you add all the wonderful saltwater creatures. Let the water sit in the tank for 24 hours and check the seams to make sure there are no leaks. It would be a huge bummer to find all your money and hard work down the drain - or rather - on your floor. Yep - all done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaJohn Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 if its been setting for over a year definatly check for leaks and also toss all the chemicals in the trash and get new stuff just do it . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LynnEdwards Posted December 18, 2011 Author Share Posted December 18, 2011 Tank was filled with water and left for hours earlier - no leaks SO today's progress - now have lights, sand, coral substrate, 100 lbs of cured live rock (at $2 a lb, woooo!) and 35 gallons of salt water from RCA - I have to give those guys a shout out, they were much help today! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LynnEdwards Posted December 19, 2011 Author Share Posted December 19, 2011 So - what started out great ended not so well The lights I bought worked when I was there - we unplugged them and got them home. Now one of the circuits the lights are constantly blinking. Any ideas what I can do? It is an Odyssea light, 48 inches long - has 6 bulbs, says 260 watt dual strip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Possibly a loose wire? See if you can open it up and take a look. Was it used? If it was new, you might consider NOT opening it and taking it back in the AM as faulty unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaJohn Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 The first thing I would do is remove and move the bulbs around and make sure they are in snuggly. I know when my t5 bulbs are going out they will sometimes flicker and if you wiggle them around they will pop on a few more times but it tells you they are at the end of there life. Might be from age or from bouncing around in your car on the way home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaJohn Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 call the person you got them from and ask if there was a problem they may know what wire comes loose sometimes when the fixture is bounced around.If its not a bulb going bad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LynnEdwards Posted December 19, 2011 Author Share Posted December 19, 2011 Just FYI - thanks to everyone who was so helpful the last 24 hours. The bulb stopped blinking after being left on for about 20 minutes. I guess they just needed to warm up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LynnEdwards Posted December 19, 2011 Author Share Posted December 19, 2011 Here are some pics of my tank now - day 1 Clearly I need more water and I think probably another 50 lbs of rocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 The bulb blinking like that most likely means it needs to be replaced before too long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Looks like y'all are off to a good start. I'd recommend that before you add more water that you do some aquascaping. Check out the FTS(full tank shot) thread in the photography section for some inspiration. Then add the remaining water and wait 6 weeks before doing anything else. While you are, impatiently, waiting do some research into what you want to keep coral and fish wise. Browse on line and local retailers, read this and other forums, ask lots of questions and slowly build your tank. I did a solid 6 months worth of reading and putting together a list of things I wanted before I even bought my tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Welcome to the hobby! I'd recommend that you get yourselves a RODI system and make your own saltwater going forward, since in the long run it's a LOT cheaper. Easy to plumb one in. I can help if you guys need guidance on that as I've set up a couple. I recommend that after you get the system filled, even though you bought "cured" live rock, that you test water parameters rigorously and wait for a cycle; you're bound to have at least a small one occur, and it doesn't make sense to risk any livestock. We started our tank with dead rock and fed it with ammonia (if you do, buy the pure stuff, without any surfactant or scent!) until the ammonia readings dropped to 0 in 12 hours. Then we knew that we were ready to start putting life in. Great start; I look forward to seeing more of your tank! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LynnEdwards Posted December 19, 2011 Author Share Posted December 19, 2011 Welcome to the hobby! I'd recommend that you get yourselves a RODI system and make your own saltwater going forward, since in the long run it's a LOT cheaper. Easy to plumb one in. I can help if you guys need guidance on that as I've set up a couple. I recommend that after you get the system filled, even though you bought "cured" live rock, that you test water parameters rigorously and wait for a cycle; you're bound to have at least a small one occur, and it doesn't make sense to risk any livestock. We started our tank with dead rock and fed it with ammonia (if you do, buy the pure stuff, without any surfactant or scent!) until the ammonia readings dropped to 0 in 12 hours. Then we knew that we were ready to start putting life in. Great start; I look forward to seeing more of your tank! Thanks for the tip! We'll look into the RODI system - my husband is a handyman - he's building a custom sump for the thing today We moved the rocks around and are going to get more salt water. I bought a tester yesterday but it's a 'reef tester' and I couldn't test for ammonia this morning! I'm just taking a sample to RCA this morning since we need more water as well anyways. As for the lifestock - we're not doing fish for quite a while - but one of the rocks we bought has a coral on it so...we're going to try to keep it alive. Thanks guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LynnEdwards Posted December 20, 2011 Author Share Posted December 20, 2011 Ammonia - 0 ppm; nitrate 0 ppm; PH 8.4; Calcium 540 ppm; Salinity; 1.023 (this seems low?) Alkalinity 196.9 ppm KH/11 dKH; 0 nitrates, low phosphates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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