Hello everyone I am a new member and new to saltwater aquariums. Please assist me in this task of starting this new hobby. I am looking forward to talking and meeting others.
Welcome to RRMAS! Feel free to post questions, I'm sure some of our guys and gals will be happy to help. Our next meeting will be August 15 at Kim's house. Hope you can make it!
Thanks for replying. I will plan on attending. I am starting a 55Gal tank and my plans are to have live rock and fish. I think I have everything I need to get started. My first question is what is the best way to get the water for the tank and can I use water from wall mart out of the reverse osmosis water machine? Secondly how much sand and super naturals should I put in my tank? I got 2 10lbs of super natural and 1 20lb & 16lb bags of carib sea arag-alive sand?
I'm not familiar with super naturals. Medium size aragonite is what I use for sand bed. Here's a calculator to determine how much sand you need depending on your tank size and how deep you want your sand bed. http://www.reefcentral.com/index.php/sand-bed-calculator As far as live rock, you may find some locally or you could buy on line. I love mine from Tampa Bay Saltwater. It's mined and then maricultured in the Gulf. Lots of life. My tank cycled in 8 days with it. Live Aquaria also has live rock (but only the dyed man made kind). If you're not doing corals you would be fine with RO water.
Ok what's the best way to get all that water to my house? I have a 55Gal tank and a 20gal quarantine tank.
There really isn't a great way that doesn't involve a lot of lifting and carrying (one of the reasons for having your on RO/DI). You could use inexpensive 5 gallon buckets from Home Depot/Wal Mart or you can get these from most local fish stores. Unfortunately that's gonna be around 15 or more buckets to fill your tank and quarantine. One other option is to just use tap water and treat it with Prime or another dechorinator. Downside for a FOWLR would be introducing phosphate and increasing likelyhood of unwanted algae blooms.
Thanks for the info and I have purchased a RO buddies for the house just got to install it. Now I got to find a good stand for the 20gal aquarium that matches the decor and I will be ready to begin my journey. I will have more questions once I get my RO buddies installed. Dee
Looks good Dee! One thing I always do is make sure you have room around the rocks to get a Mag Float or similar glass cleaner. Nice to see you went ahead with some zoas/palys too! Keep us updated as things change.
Hiya, It's a little blurry. But it looks like a type of algea. If it's hair algea, it's a pest....if it's got more form to it, it might be good. Kim/Benton, AR