Newbie Questions

John-

That's all great info thanks. Now a couple of questions. The guys at my LFS said that when I need to add water to just add it to the sump only, said I could do both but recommend only the sump. Also I can buy the RO/DI water from them, but why would I need to add fresh water to a salt water tank? Do the water I get from my LFS come premixed with salt or do I need to buy the buckets of salt then mix in the water?
Sorry for the confusion, I thought when you get the water from the store it's premixed with salt. If not then I mix that all myself correct? Guess I'll need a crash course in that as well

 

Yeah, if you are adding only two or three gallons in, say a 75g tank, you really don't need to bring it up to temp. Adding it to the sump allows the colder water to distribute a bit more before pumping into the tank. Also, pouring water directly into a tank will stir up stuff off the LR and stir up the LS also. It's just a cleaner way of doing things.

The RODI water you buy from the LFS does not have salt in it. It's just purified water. You add just RODI water when topping off a tank that has succumbed to evaporation. The salt stays in the water, so if you keep adding saltwater, your SG will gradually increase until it becomes an unhealthy environment. You can also use it for freshwater dips when introducing/treating corals and fish.

When buying the salt, don't bother with anything other than the big buckets that mix to 160g. And the best pricing I have found is on Pet Supplies, Dog Supplies, Cat Supplies, Pet Meds & Pet Products. You will get it from them at 40% to 60% of regular retail.

Now, I would have one major water change worth of water mixed with salt just in case you need it right now. I just bought a garbage can from Home Depot that was heavy duty and sealed tight.

So that's my two cents worth. And dude, this hobby is one huge crash course. I have been slamming my way through the forums for about four months now and feel like I know maybe 2% of that which I need. So just go with it and read, read, read.

 

Thanks for the link, is there any particular brand you recommend over the other? Once my tank is setup I need to have extra water both fresh and salt ready and on standby? My LFS said to let the tank cycle for a month...after it cycles I can start to introduce fish so I won't need to change the water. For salt water tanks how often do you change the water? Your major changes include...obviously water changes, gravel cleaning but what about filter changes etc? I ask b/c one of the sales rep said he changes his water only once every other month or even once every 3 months is that ideal?

I have so many books that I'm reading up on and taking all of my notes, and of course asking you guys questions (That I hope you don't mind)...like I said it's my first salt water/real tank so I'm all ears!

Thanks!

 

Water changes all depend on your bioload and what your parameters show up as. I have a friend who changes maybe once monthly but I change once weekly. There are many kinds of salt and to each his own. That is dependent on how much you want to spend also. Just like food, you get what you pay for. Just because it is cheap deosn't mean it is the best but also doesn't mean it will kill anything. I personally use Instant ocean right now but at my next purchase will be changing to red sea. I hear that things do really well in it. As for the extra water Pharm uses a garbage can, I went to my local feed store and purchased a plastic 50 gall drum. In that drum I have a pump to keep it circulating and have salt in it. Then my RO/DI unit water in my 12 galls taht I mentioned earlier. Hope this helps!

 

From my experience which isnt much.. well 6 months worth..lol...;D The type of salt we found that is really good is Oceanic.. It mixes really well... We tried another type which I think was instant ocean and to me it didnt seam to dissolve very well... Me and my husband always have extra water because you never know when you may need it.. You still need to do water changes after you add fish... Depending on the size of your tank.. You should do about 10% when you do do it.. We do ours weekly but our tank is only 26gal... currently we are doing 20% water changes every other day because we are battling an algae out brake.. but when thats taken care of we go back to 10% once a week... Your tank you could probably go longer than a week, but it also depends on your bio-load.. correct me if im wrong please.. As for your filtration we were doing ours once a month but we currently found out that it should be done ever 2-3 weeks.. Now, im not sure if thats because of the size of our tank... but some one else will probably answer that more accurately.. A really good book to add to the collection is Salt Water Aquariums for Dummies.. I love that book!! It has all the basics then some... I refer to that thing all the time!!!!;D It's good to ask lots of questions... Hear you will find a lot of good answers with lots of knowledge!!! Good Luck!!;D

 

its hard to give a definitive answer because each tank is different. If you have high phosphates you should be changing your phosphate media more often. if you have a good skimmer than you can get away longer without water changes. If you run a refugium you also can also go longer between water changes. So it really depends on the individual system. i change my carbon every 2-3 week, my phosphate media every 4-6 weeks, i prune my refugium when need be, and i do a water change maybe once every 2-3 months. Maybe i shouldnt go so long between changes but when you work with fish for a living and then go home the last thing you wanna do is mess with your own tanks hahah!

 

i got the red sea max after three weeks the only problem i sometimes get is micro bubbles which make my tank look dirty and give my hydrometer false high readings. i already have coral, a starfish, 20kilos of like rock and 3 kupang damsels

 

I have heard good things about Red Sea Max. I do not like Oceanic (my batches never mixed well). Regular Instant Ocean is OK, but I have heard of things being different batch to batch. I use right now IO Reef Crystals. It's has done well by me.