I know what you mean about the snorkelling sucking you in. I went
snorkelling for the first time a few months ago in Vanuatu. Luckily for
me the Great Barrier Reef is within driving distance (a long drive) and
my son now lives near Mackay so I will have a bed and chauffer when I
get round to getting there.

You are going to need some test kits to check your water. You want at
least Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate but probably will also need Phosphate
and KH (Carbonate Hardness also known as alkalinity in the US). If you
want to keep coral you will also need a Calcium test.

Tank cycling invlolves provision of Ammonia, in this case by your live
rock and live sand. Gradually bacteria will build up to "consume" the
ammonia and convert it into Nitrites. Different bacteria will then build
up that convert the Nitrites into the less toxic Nitrates. Your tank is
cycled after you see a rise in Ammonia followed by a rise in Nitrites
while the Ammonia level falls and then a rise in Nitrates while the
Nitrite level falls. Ammonia and Nitrites should be 0, Nitrates should
be less than about 5 in a sal****er tank I think (someone correct me if
I'm wrong here anywhere).

This whole process generally takes about 4-8 weeks and you can get mini
cycles when you start adding fish. Never add all your fish at once -
allow all the good bacteria to build up.

Good luck with the tank and spend ages reading everything you can on the
net.

Cheers
miskairal (complete novice at sal****er but have had freshwater fish for
a while)

Ishmael wrote:
Hello everyone,
Always loved them, always wanted one, never knew anything about them
except they were cool.
My lovely wife and I went on honeymoon in the Tahitian islands for 3
weeks and snorkeled everyday. When we got back to Atlanta we missed
the underwater views we saw everyday. So much that we had to get a
marine mini reef set up. The tank is my first, but I think after
reading most of the book I bought along with everything I needed minus
fish, the dealer hooked me up with the right stuff. Live rocks, live
sand, protien skimmer ect. The water has been in the tank for one week.
The specific gravity is perfect, the temp is 73 f and Im starting to
get a layer of brown splotches on everything? The book didn't mention
the brown algae? whatever it is doesn't look great. How long do I have
to wait to introduce specimens? When do I know it has cycled? Please
help.......