New Tank Setup

[NightHawk]

Hi, i am setting up a new marine tank; here's what i got so far :

55 gal tank
fluval 404 filter
CaribSea Reef Sand
I started to cycle the tank with CoralLife's Nitroplus and Sal****er
Nitrigying Bacteria
No fish until i am sure my water quality level is good enough to handle
fish, don't want to see my fish to die

I am planning to get live rocks but when i was in the store, i asked the
owner and he gave me some interesting information. he said i don't need any
substrate for a saltware tank ( which i have bought already ), he suggested
live rocks.
Then i went to another store, the store owner gave me a totally different
story, he said i need at least 4 inches of sand ( and no crushed coral ),
according to my research, crushed coral is needed for the alkalinity.

As most of you are, i started with freshwater and this is my first attempt
on sal****er.....even with all the research and reading, i still get
conflicting information...a bit frustrated?

So here are my question, why would adding live rocks will speed up the
cycling, does it generate ammonia or bateria? i was planning on buying them
piece by piece to slowly build up my tank ( yes ... because of budget ).
Do i need substrate and why?
What brand and kind of protein skimmer is recommended?

any help is appreciated.

[Dinky]

"NightHawk" > wrote in message
news:Fjb8b.4094$7a2.2818@pd7tw1no...
> Hi, i am setting up a new marine tank; here's what i got so far :
>
> 55 gal tank
> fluval 404 filter
> CaribSea Reef Sand


Start here: http://faq.thekrib.com/sbegin.html
Tons of info, Still the best source on the net far as I'm concerned.

As far as the first LFS clerk, he's partially right. A fish-only tank *can*
be fine without substrate, but IMO, it'd be bloody boring to look at.

[Richard Reynolds]

> Hi, i am setting up a new marine tank; here's what i got so far :

what kind of marine tank, a FO/preditor/species/FOWLR/reef ???
as you cross posted its not really clear

> 55 gal tank
> fluval 404 filter
if its a reef take the 404 back :)

> CaribSea Reef Sand
> I started to cycle the tank with CoralLife's Nitroplus and Sal****er
> Nitrigying Bacteria
this wont be enough you NEED a source of ammonia even a few lbs of cheasy cheap LR will
do, raw deli shrimp will also.

> No fish until i am sure my water quality level is good enough to handle
> fish, don't want to see my fish to die

good.


> I am planning to get live rocks but when i was in the store, i asked the
> owner and he gave me some interesting information. he said i don't need any
> substrate for a saltware tank ( which i have bought already ), he suggested
> live rocks.

correct, and wrong :) You will want to use some form of substrate but you dont need to.

> Then i went to another store, the store owner gave me a totally different
> story, he said i need at least 4 inches of sand ( and no crushed coral ),

corect and better :)

so far the worst thing you have done is you asked someone at a LFS something other than
"how much does that cost" :)

> according to my research, crushed coral is needed for the alkalinity.

very wrong, first many sands are made from the same thing CC is, AND neither will really
help alkalinity unless you have other very serious problems first.

> As most of you are, i started with freshwater and this is my first attempt
> on sal****er.....even with all the research and reading, i still get
> conflicting information...a bit frustrated?

its actually not really all wrong info, some is different :) but as in FW you can do
things many different ways and they work. but you should be focusing on the thing that is
the easiest to achieve and produces the best results for the most people, thats the 4" bed
of sand :)

> So here are my question, why would adding live rocks will speed up the
> cycling, does it generate ammonia or bateria? i was planning on buying them
> piece by piece to slowly build up my tank ( yes ... because of budget ).

it does many things, it will have bacteria on it, AND it will have things that will be
dead/dieing that will add ammonia to the tank.

> Do i need substrate and why?

see the very first question, but generally if its a REEF then yes you will want a 4" dsb
if its a FO then a 1" sand bed will do wonders. you want sand as it wont trap things and
polute your tank.

> What brand and kind of protein skimmer is recommended?

euroreef !!!!


ok now for a person on a budget Ive been liking the t-1000multi itll work HOB for a while,
then when you get a sump itll work there to.


> any help is appreciated.

feel free to post here often :)

hope that helped :)

--
Richard Reynolds

[Marc Levenson]

I think this page will help you a lot, it is from my site.

http://www.melevsreef.com/overview.htm

Take a look at that, and then feel free to ask more questions. I answer
questions all the time here.

Marc


NightHawk wrote:

> Hi, i am setting up a new marine tank; here's what i got so far :
>
> 55 gal tank
> fluval 404 filter
> CaribSea Reef Sand
> I started to cycle the tank with CoralLife's Nitroplus and Sal****er
> Nitrigying Bacteria
> No fish until i am sure my water quality level is good enough to handle
> fish, don't want to see my fish to die
>
> I am planning to get live rocks but when i was in the store, i asked the
> owner and he gave me some interesting information. he said i don't need any
> substrate for a saltware tank ( which i have bought already ), he suggested
> live rocks.
> Then i went to another store, the store owner gave me a totally different
> story, he said i need at least 4 inches of sand ( and no crushed coral ),
> according to my research, crushed coral is needed for the alkalinity.
>
> As most of you are, i started with freshwater and this is my first attempt
> on sal****er.....even with all the research and reading, i still get
> conflicting information...a bit frustrated?
>
> So here are my question, why would adding live rocks will speed up the
> cycling, does it generate ammonia or bateria? i was planning on buying them
> piece by piece to slowly build up my tank ( yes ... because of budget ).
> Do i need substrate and why?
> What brand and kind of protein skimmer is recommended?
>
> any help is appreciated.

--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

[NightHawk]

Thanks very much for all the invaluable information, i will go through the
web sites and read more.

Regarding to Richard's question. I plan to have Fish with Live Rocks only
for now...maybe later on down the road once i get comfortable, i will go
into reef.
"NightHawk" > wrote in message
news:Fjb8b.4094$7a2.2818@pd7tw1no...
> Hi, i am setting up a new marine tank; here's what i got so far :
>
> 55 gal tank
> fluval 404 filter
> CaribSea Reef Sand
> I started to cycle the tank with CoralLife's Nitroplus and Sal****er
> Nitrigying Bacteria
> No fish until i am sure my water quality level is good enough to handle
> fish, don't want to see my fish to die
>
> I am planning to get live rocks but when i was in the store, i asked the
> owner and he gave me some interesting information. he said i don't need
any
> substrate for a saltware tank ( which i have bought already ), he
suggested
> live rocks.
> Then i went to another store, the store owner gave me a totally different
> story, he said i need at least 4 inches of sand ( and no crushed coral ),
> according to my research, crushed coral is needed for the alkalinity.
>
> As most of you are, i started with freshwater and this is my first attempt
> on sal****er.....even with all the research and reading, i still get
> conflicting information...a bit frustrated?
>
> So here are my question, why would adding live rocks will speed up the
> cycling, does it generate ammonia or bateria? i was planning on buying
them
> piece by piece to slowly build up my tank ( yes ... because of budget ).
> Do i need substrate and why?
> What brand and kind of protein skimmer is recommended?
>
> any help is appreciated.
>
>