Questions..

[Waterlover91]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this whole saltwater aquarium thing so I want you guys to give some advice on how am doing so far and to answer some of my questions. Thank you in advance.

After months of research, I finally convinced my father to get me a 38 gallon tank. Its pretty small compared to what others start with and recommend, but that was my budget. I brought a wet/dry filter, a heater, powerhead, andan oceanic bio cube protein skimmer. The skimmer is for tanks between 14- 29 gallons. So it is smaller than my tank, however I asked the guy at the store and he told me since I was getting live rock I could stay with that skimmer till I can afford a bigger one. Should I have just gotten the bigger one from the start or will this do for now?

I did some tests on my tank yesterday and this is what I got:
PH: 8.0
Salinity: 1.021
Ammonia: 0

I read in some places that the PH is suppose to be above 8.2. How do I get it up? or will it just go up when I add live sand and live rock to my tank?

How long does it to cycle tank with cured live rock? Can you cycle a quarantine tank with just two live rocks along with a sponge filter? How long does that take?

Again thanks everyone for reading through.

 

[Bifferwine]

Hi and welcome!

Skimmers are underrated for performance. The skimmer you bought is probably okay for a tank half the size it's rated for. It's a good idea to always buy a skimmer rated for twice your tank size. I think you got ripped off on that skimmer, it's not a very high quality brand, and it's not going to do much at all for your tank if you want to stock more than a couple fish.

That said, if you buy enough live rock (1 to 2 lbs per gallon), you don't need to upgrade to a better skimmer until you want to start keeping more fish or some more sensitive invertebrates, like corals.

I would recommend adding another powerhead. Saltwater tanks need a lot of circulation, and for a tank that size, two powerheads would be better than one.

Ammonia is reading 0 right now because you haven't added anything to cycle the tank. When you add live rock, that will kick start a cycle as things on the rock die off from being transported. Your ammonia will rise, then your nitrites will rise. These will drop down to 0, and your nitrates will then rise. The only practical way (for now) to bring down nitrates is through water changes, so you'll need to do some water changes during or after your cycle.

Cycling a tank using live rock is the best way to go (please don't use live fish to cycle a tank, please!). It usually takes several weeks to cycle using live rock.

Also, what are your goals for this tank? Fish only? Reef tank? If you want a reef tank, you will have to buy high quality lights.

 

[Waterlover91]

For now I just want fish only. The reason being cause I have very little experience with any sort of tank. I have done my research and so far I will probably wait at least a year before I try to keep any corals.

 

[UnderwaterWorld]

welcome, I bet you won't be able to go that long without corals, they are half the fun!! The cycle will take I'm guessing around 2 weeks if you use live rock and live sand, that's my experience with usually shorter, but it could take over a month so just be patient and make sure you have a good test kit

 

[Doc]

corals are OK, but the fish..... now you are getting somewhere!!! Biff hit the points about getting your tank cycled.

When you are ready for corals, you will need decent lighting, determined by what kind of coral you want to keep. Start with soft corals, like mushrooms, leathers, xenia, and zoas. If you are looking for LPS corals, you will want to get stronger lighting than for soft corals. Look to hammer corals, trumpet corals, frogspawn, etc.

-Doc

 

[fatman]

Nitrification-- The process by which bacteria convert toxic ammonia into less toxic (in sea water) nitrite and then into relatively harmless nitrate Nitrification is sometimes erroneously called “the nitrogen cycle” in aquaristics. This is a continual process. Stabilized reef aquaria typically run at ammonia and nitrite concentrations that are both undetectable by hobby-level test kits and far below toxic thresholds for marine organisms. However, when the system is first set up, it is critical that ammonia and nitrite readings are monitored until both are at zero. This may take anywhere from a week to a month. Zero readings indicate that a sufficient quantity of the needed nitrifying bacteria have accumulated to handle CURRENT LEVELS of waste produced in the aquarium. The system should be stocked very slowly at this point so the nitrifying bacteria can multiply accordingly. Chemically expressed as NO3-, Nitrate is the final byproduct of the complex series of bacterial based chemical processes known as nitrification that cycle organic waste in the aquarium. While relatively non-toxic to marine life, high levels of nitrate can stress organisms and make them vulnerable to other pathogens. More commonly, nitrate is a wonderful fertilizer and too high a level can lead to a rapid progression of nuisance microalgae that can quickly overtake a reef system. Nitrate readings are expressed in ppm with readings below 10 ppm considered acceptable by some reef aquarists. However, one should strive for the lowest levels possible. The use of Live Rock and/or Deep Sand Beds can help maintain nitrate levels close to zero by providing anoxic (low oxygen) zones that harbor specialized bacteria that convert nitrate to harmless nitrous oxide gas.
If you raise the raise the salinity a little bit by adding more salt mix then the pH is likely to rise also. The pH also stays depressed for a while with newly mixed water until you have cirrculated it enough to get rid of excess carbon dioxide and increase the level of dissolved oxygen. Tap water has a pretty low low lecel of dissolved oxygen, well filtered water (RO or DIO water) has even lower levels of dissolved oxygen than tap water. addition of live sand and live rock will initially lower your pH due to the effect of putrfecation of dieing organics. This depression of pH usually goes away as nitrates strt climbing and ammonia readings go to zero. Denitrifying bacteria grow and multiply best at lower a lower pH. Given a very long time a tank will cycle without theaddition of outside organics as it can get both nitrogen and oxygen from room air, but that would take a long time and provie a small level of nitrifying bacteria. The original nitrifying bacteria would also come from within room air. It is every where there is moisture and a media for a growth platform without disinfectants and such.