Hi Everyone

lilyicu

FOWLR
I am new to the saltwater world but currently have a 125g freshwater cichlid tank and a 10g fry tank. I am trying to get all of my equipment together for a 72g bowfront saltwater tank. I have read one book and have two more on the way. I have a question, I read in the book about making sure you have air stones in the tank. I currently have two bubble curtains in my 125g. I don't see any bubbles on the tank pictures on the site. Do you have to have the air pump and air stones? I will have an Eheim 2217 filter and a ventari protein skimmer along with 2 powerheads. Any help is appreciated. I love forums!! :)
 
Welcome to the site.
Bubbles arent good in saltwater.They cause a lot of salt creep which just looks nasty.Plus the airstones produce micro-bubbles that can get stuck to the fishies gills.
Just make sure you have a decent ripple along the water surface and you'll have plenty of gas exchange.
 
Powerheads = yes, airstones = no. If you have a 72 gallon tank, you will probably need 2 to 4 powerheads, depending on their strength. Airstones really don't serve a purpose in saltwater. And like Yote said, the bubbles can be detrimental to the animals.
 
Thank you so much for the help. I am glad that I asked. The book (Saltwater Aquariums for Dummies) really pushed the airstones and air pumps. Now I can make a good return to my LFS.
 
Welcome to the site. Glad you found us. You may also want to visit our articles forum. Just click on the Articles at the top of the page. You will find a lot of information that will explain things a bit about the saltwater hobby, equipment, startup, etc. good luck and again welcome.
 
It is the second edition from 2007. I returned the air pump and air stones yesterday. My venturi protein skimmer came in the mail today so I had a chance to play with it. Everything is starting to come together.
 
I also read through the site that some people keep their fish in a quarantine tank with copper prior to adding them to the main tank, is this a common practice? If I am going to be adding anemones last, can I use the same filter on the quarantine tank that had the copper in it?
 
Nope.The The copper residue will always be in that filter and copper will kill your inverts like anemones,shrimp and stuff.
 
Yote is right, even the smallest concentrations of copper can be fatal to inverts.

The thing is, you don't need to quarantine inverts anyways. Corals can and should be dipped for diseases and parasites, and anemones don't need anything. I can't think of anyone that quarantines their inverts.

Oh, were you not talking about quarantining the anemone? If you weren't, sorry I misunderstood!
 
Nope, inverts don't need to be quarantined. You can't treat them with meds, so quarantining them would be pointless. You can, and should, dip corals before you add them to the tank. That will take care of most coral diseases and parasites. As for inverts like shrimp, snails, crabs, starfish and anemones, there's nothing you can do about them. Just add them to the tank.
 
Is there a special order to adding them? I had read that the anemones should be added last.

Not really any certian order to add inverts,just wait on the anemone untill your tank has been running for at least 10 months,a full year would be even better.
Anemones require a lot more stable conditions than 99% of the corals.
 
I also have a question about rocks. I am going to do live rock but I wanted a base rock also. No one here in Houston seems to know what Lace rock is....my LFS said that they have honeycomb rock to use as a base. I went and looked at it today and it is Texas Holey rock. I didn't think that I could put a limestone based rock in a saltwater tank. I have several lbs of holey rock in with my cichlids. Is this safe for a saltwater tank?
 
I'm not sure about the holey rock. I would look at base rock from places like Marco Rocks or something off Craig's List. You can use the vinegar test to see if the rock is good. The rock will fizz and start to dissolve slightly if you put a few drops of vinegar on it.
 
I had been looking online and found lace rocks and also Fiji rocks. I was trying to find something locally so that I didn't have to pay all the shipping charges. If it fizzes is that a good sign? Everyone here has holey rock, but no one has Fiji rock or Lace rock. I had looked on craigslist for Houston and found nothing worth while.
 
Back
Top