Just put the water in..... Options

[mark752]

Got my very first salt water aquarium. It's a 28 gallon nano cube & I put the salt water in the tank 2 nights ago which I purchased from the fish store & also added live sand. What should I put in next & when? Also should I leave the light on all day? Sorry, I'm brand new to salt water.

[circusordie16]

http://www.nano-reef.com/articles/

[mikellini]

If it were me, I would buy as much live rock as I could afford, up to maybe 30 lbs, and add it to the tank immediately. While it settles in and the tank matures, I would read some of the articles found from the link above. It should be at least a couple of weeks before adding anything else is a good idea, and maybe up to 6 weeks if the rock is crappy.

Whether or not to run the lights is debatable; myself, I would run the lights for a regular photoperiod right from the start. That way, you're likely to get past your algae bloom sooner and there won't be a change in parameters that is usually associated with starting to run lights.

P.S. Regular photoperiod can be anywhere from 8-14 hours, depending on intensity of the lights and staging (ie actinics-daylight-actinics). However, with the stock lighting on your tank, probably 12 hours is a good place to start.

This post has been edited by mikellini: Nov 7 2009, 09:33 AM

[mrbigshot]

go buy some live rock from your local fish store, and decide if how you want to start your cycle. if you want to use a fish to do it buy a damsel, they are pretty amonia tollerant and most will survive the cycling process athough there is some talk of damage being done to the fish. may be but im sure there is less damage to the fish than if you were to feed it to a carpet nem.

yellow tail damsels are under $6 around here, i cant see them being very much everywhere else. you could pee in your tank (i wouldnt as copper and other bad stuff come with it) you could use amonia, a dead shrimp or somthing else. you could use fish food but that takes a long time before the food breaks down if you go that route.

as far as lighting goes, if you have coraline on your rock you could run the blues primarily. lighting at this phase is for you, coraline, and any fishes. you wont have any corals so you really dont need any lights.

This post has been edited by mrbigshot: Nov 7 2009, 09:38 AM

[fstransk]

This is how I would do it. Put the LR in and aquascape it the way you like it. Put the sand in around the LR then add the water. I'm not a big fan of the damsel or dead shrimp but to each his own. I like to run the lights on the cycle I will be using once the tank will be set up. Wait until everything tests 0, wait two weeks and slowly start adding things. Don't do a water change during the cycle. If you have some coraline on any of the rocks you might have to dose some calcium and adjust dkh if you want to keep it. Read the threads on here. There are very useful. Good luck to you and welcome.

[ajmckay]

So much advice, yet so much different from one another.

A few things:

1)

2) As stated, live rock would be your next step. How much you add depends on how you want to arrange the rock, the type of livestock you want in your tank, and what the live rock looks like. FYI, the best live rock is very porous, with cracks, crevices, holes & the like. There are also different ways to add live rock. I started out with about 2/3 dry "base rock" and then bought a few choice pieces of live rock. See my tank thread for pictures. The live rock is "live" because it's cultured with the bacteria necessary to support your tank. Over time, all rock in the tank will become "live". Base rock is a lot cheaper.

3) A shrimp, pee, or damsel is really not necessary in a tank established with any amount of live rock. If you're using 100% dry rock, then you do need an initial source of ammonia. Use what you like but the safest would be a few fish food pellets.

4) Once you have live rock in your tank, do as circus suggested and read the articles. Become an expert on the nitrogen cycle. There are a million threads on N-R.com titled "My tank is cycling, when can I add fish?" or any number of variations of that. This is the easy way out. I'm sure people will tell you, but you'll save yourself a lot of trouble later on, and your tank will most likely be more successful if you master the concept of the nitrogen cycle now.

5) If you want to run lights, fine. If not, fine. To each his own on this one. As the previous poster did, I ran my normal light cycle, which is 9 hours.

6) Go slow and ask questions!

7) Good luck!

This post has been edited by ajmckay: Nov 8 2009, 12:07 AM

[Hawaii_Bio_Cube]

I just started mine and wow there is allot to learn. Start reading everything you can get your hands on!

[mark752]

Thank you so much everyone for all your advice. I added about 10 lbs. of live rock to the tank. I do have another question. My water is still a little cloudy looking. Why is this?

[mikellini]

Depending on the grain of the sand, it may take a day or two for everything to settle. Could also be some die-off from the rock, but it's probably because of stirring up the sand. Read Read Read