new to saltwater

flatsout1171

flatsout1171

Reefing newb
i have a 125 gallon with wet/dry and a uv and a canister filter? i was wanting to do fish only tank. i got water and sand and some rock in it and running for three weeks now..last sunday took my water to local fish shop they tested water and said it was okay bought 2 damsels and one died wed and the other by friday? tested was everything checks out ??? i am at a lost why they died??? could use some help please?
 
How did you acclimate the fish?

What's most likely is that your water levels were reading zero, but as soon as you added the fish it caused them to spike again. How much rock do you have? This can happen if you don't have enough rock. You need 1 to 2 lbs per gallon (so in your case, 125 to 250 lbs of rock).

How much flow do you have? You need a lot of powerheads for water movement for a tank that size.

You also need to get your own test kits. The most important ones are a hydrometer or refractometer for salinity, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, alkalinity and a thermometer.

Without knowing what all the above parameters are, it's hard to say what happened.
 
i have a hydrometer,test kit. i only have about 5 live rock.i bought the tank from a co-worker he had bought all the rock. i just moved it to my house..i probally need more rock huh?
 
the local fish shop said take the bag set it in the tank and in about 30 minutes drain the water out into a bucket and drop them in?
 
If you don't have any powerheads, that's probably a good reason why the fish died. Saltwater fish need a lot of flow. At least 10 times turnover rate the size of the tank. In some tanks, there's 100 times turnover rate (for example, in a 125 gallon tank you want to aim for at least 1,250 (10 times 125) gallons per hour of movement). You need to get at least 3 or 4 powerheads for a tank that size before you will be able to keep animals in it.
 
If you have a picture saved on your computer, do this to post it in the thread.

In the reply box at the bottom of your thread, click "Go Advanced". Click the paperclip button to attach your picture, and write your message in the box.

If you are on a budget, MaxiJet powerheads are the best bang for your buck. Koralia powerheads are more expensive, but are also very good.
 
okay so i need to get those before i put anything else in tank? because my wife had bought another dasmel yesterday and i told her it will probally die. but we did the drip method this time. cant get the picture to upload it says error?
 
Do you have a photobucket account? You can upload the pic to photobucket and then paste the
 
The tank looks empty. Get some power heads and more rock in there. How deep is the sand? I dont see much sand in there either.
 
If it is fake rock, that's not going to support any beneficial bacteria. Fake rock includes plastic rock and lava rock that you buy at a pet store, or that reddish colored rock that has streaks of color in it.

You need to buy rock from the ocean. Calcium-based rock. Bacteria colonizes all the spaces in between the particles and keeps the bad stuff out of your water. Without a place to live, the bacteria cannot live in your tank, and your animals will continue to die from toxins.

You need at least 3 or 4 powerheads. Without water movement, your animals are suffocating to death.

The good news is that you have a very nice tank and stand. Just fill it with the right stuff, and you will have an awesome setup.
 
thank you for the help..it is fake rock...i can buy some rock now and then add some more as i go right. that rock is not cheap if i had to buy that much at one time...i will go and buy the powerheads like you said i think i will get the korila 4's they seem to be the best from what i have seen...thanks for the info. i think i got a pretty good deal on the tank setup? i paid 100 dollars for all of it....lol
 
Live rock can certainly be expensive. Buy a few good, sizable pieces of live rock, and use base rock for the rest. This seeder rock is live rock, but has basically been dried out - it doesn't have all the beneficial bacteria or critters that come with live rock. However, after a couple of months next to live rock, it will be 'seeded' and will become live rock. If you're usin this method, stock your tank very slowly to allow the rock time to 'grow'.

Alex
 
Add sand in before you add any more livestock. You should have around 125 lbs of rock to start with, and then keep adding more as your bioload increases. With just a damsel, you'll probably be good with 50 lbs of rock in there, but make sue you slowly add more base rock as you grow your tank.
Things that will help you a LOT long term & getting started:
Refractometer (makes maintaining your salinity a whole lot easier without the guesswork, I couldn't survive without one)
Good skimmer - your water quality will go up significantly
Hang on back refugium to grow macroalgae in
 

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