New to saltwater

C

crazymman

Reefing newb
My name is mike. I an basically brand new to the hobby. I bought a used setup from a guy that had been sitting for a while. Its a 55 gal tank with a t5 lighting system and a coralife protein skimmer. It came with about 60 pounds of live rock and about 25 to 30 pounds of live sand. But like i said it had been sitting for a while and im not even sure if the bacteria is still alive. Anyways im just kinda lost on what to do next. Any advice would be great. I look forward to learning from you guys! Thanks
 
Hey Bifferwine do you think the live rock i have still has bacteria in it or should i still go ahead and throw a shrimp in there? He said the rock was sitting in his tank with the water but the tank was just sitting. He said the tank was runing for 2 years. It sat out over night at my house until i could get the tank cleaned and setup.
 
You should still throw a shrimp in there. If it has been kept wet, it does still have bacteria on it. But if the tank has been neglected or empty, then there's probably not enough bacteria still on the rock to handle the addition of fish just yet. Adding a shrimp will get those bacteria breeding like crazy so that you'll have enough to handle the waste produced by livestock when you add them.

If there are living animals in the tank -- fish, corals, inverts, etc. then I would advise against using a shrimp. But if it's nothing but rock, sand and water your tank will cycle much faster with the addition of a shrimp.
 
Cool. Im not sure how he kept up with the tank so ill just throw one in there tomorrow. No fish or anything yet just rock sand and water.
 
Sweet i was worried i may need a sump or something. Thanks for all the help. Im sure I'll have a million more questions lol.
 
You will want a sump down the road, for sure ;) A sump is invaluable. But you can still run a very nice, successful tank without a sump. Sumps just make it easier.
 
So i went to my local lfs today and they sold me a bottle of Tigger Pods. There called Capecods. He said it would replenish my live rock. does anybody know anything about this?
 
Copepods, not capecods :D

Yeah, those are the bugs that live in and on your rocks and sand. They make good fish and coral food.
 
should my protein skimmer be producing foam in the collection cup even though my tank has only been running for a little over 24 hours now?
 
should my protein skimmer be producing foam in the collection cup even though my tank has only been running for a little over 24 hours? Im getting no foam.
 
If you have any waste in the tank, it will produce foam. So if you have live rock, or your tank is cycling, it's good that the skimmer is working!

82 is a bit high. Can you lower it 2 to 4 degrees? Try buying a cheap little clip-on fan at Walmart (they are about $7 or $8) and attach that so it blows across the surface of the water.
 
Since my tank is so new i am thinking of buying a little bit of quality live rock online to help seed the live rock i have now. Is this something I should do? Is it okay to do this when the tank has just started running?
 

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