"Michelle Leonard" wrote in message m...
I would personally raise your temps to 82 -- there was an interesting thread
last week about this very thing. I keep my 2 reefs at 82-85 -- very happy
and very healthy. To acclimate the fish, float the bags for 20 minutes or
so to adjust the water temps, then I'd add a little tank water into the
bags -- perhaps 1/2 cup every 10 minutes or so, until you have about 50/50
mixture -- also never pour your LFS water into your tank -- instead pour the
bag of water into a 5 gallon bucket through a net and toss the fish into the
tank from there. The difference between your PH at 7.8 and the LFS
(generally kept at 8.1- 8.3) and the temp changes, could cause PH shock and
death relatively quickly. Especially considering that most fish are already
stressed out when you buy them, depending on how long they've been in the
LFS. If they just arrived (which is most often the case) then they've been
through a lot of trauma in the capture & shipment portion the their recent
history.


I've raised the temp to 78-80 - I see immediate macro algae growth,
and the one true marine fish I can find (yellow gobie), is really
happier - he's swimming around rather than hiding all day - this as a
direct result of you and Marc's advice - my acclimation was definitely
a little too extreme - following the advice of the LFS... grrr... I'm
done listening to them...

My pH will be raised a little!

I'd already decided that purchasing livestock immediately following
their arrival is pretty dumb - I'm of the opinion that the LFS should
keep them for at least 2-3 days before I purchase them - let them have
the stress deaths, not me!

thanks

Greg




"Michelle Leonard" wrote in message
. ..
there is so much to know about cycling -- and so many different opinions
on
"how" do to these things. There are some great websites with pages
specifically laid out for starting a tank, but again ,you will find a lot
of
conflicting information on them.

Here's what I know from making a lot of mistakes, reading a lot of
conflicting information and sorting through it, and trying it all.

Live Rock, Live Sand, protein skimmer - lots of water circulation and tons
of patience. rule of thumb#1 - one pound of live rock for every gallon of
water in your tank. 2-4 inches of live sand. a good protein skimmer. at
least two good power heads turning over the water at the rate of about 4x
per hour or more. I use a tank with pre-drilled corners and a 30 gallon
sump and a huge return pump (800 gph) -- I have a 125 reef. Before you
put
fish in, you should put in a cleanup crew -- hermit crabs, emerald crab or
2, and perhaps a few cleaner shrimp. When you see algae growing on the
side
of the tank, add snails -- rule of thumb #2 - one snail and one hermit
crab
for every gallon of water. Rule of thumb #3. Be patient. When you do
add
fish - be sure you only add the ones you want forever. Don't put in
things
like damsels because they are "hardy" and then find out later that there
is
no way you will ever catch them to get the little pugnacious creatures OUT
when they wreak havoc on the other more peaceful tank creatures you place
in
the tank.

Be selective, do your homework, pray a lot and be patient!

Good luck!
"Greg Hewitt-Long" wrote in message
m...
Hi,

I'm new to sal****er, and I've cycled a 100 gallon tank I purchased
from a neighbor. It was previously a freshwater tank, but had been in
storages for about 2 years.

We cycled using live rock (about 15lbs) and silver mollies. During
the cycling we lost about 10 mollies - most during the initial nitrite
spike. I'm told by the LFS that this isn't that unusual... but I did
raise an eyebrow - but not having anyone else I know into sal****er
locally except one guy - I didn't have much of a reference. He said
he lost about 5 from 20 during his cycle.. a much lower rate... hmmm..

Anyway - we added some sal****er fish after cycling - 2 green clown
gobies, and 2 citron gobies. 1 citron and 1 clown die within 48 hours
- hmmm... expensive game this.

10 days later, I decide to add three small green chromis - a hardy
fish I'm told. 72 hours later, 2 have died.

Our other green clown can't be found - for those with an idea to add
gobies - my advice is to only add gobies if you don't need to see
them.. I'm not sure if the green clown is alive still - they yellow
one is - he sticks out, even when hidding in a dead coral head!

This is getting a little annoying.. not to mention these fish I have
to eventually replace.

I've been testing regularly - the pH is 8.0 - Alkaninity is fine - the
ammonia appeared to have spiked a little today (dead fish overnight
perhaps - otherwise a spike from a newly cycled tank with a less than
complete bio filter?).

Anyway - my nitrites are tiny - not quite 0, but 0.1 ppm perhaps - if
that. The nitrate is 0.

I have noticed that we have a slight salt leeching down one end of the
tank - it's a yellow color, and I scrape it off every couple of days -
this may be down to over zealous razor blading on our part - I think
the seal around the top (plastic retainer) perhaps got a little sliced
- but the yellow color it shows has me a little worried - as I had one
more before we lowered the level a 1/2 inch - it was white - surely
our salt would leave a white residue - not a yellow one.

Now - having lost about $30-40 of fish in a short time, I'm asking if
I should be testing for anything other than NH3, NO2 and NO3, pH. I'm
really wary of just adding new fish, as I have only 6 mollies left,
plus 1 chromis, 1 citron gobie, and PERHAPS 1 green clown gobie (if
it's hiding, not dead some place (which it might be - making my
ammonia spike a little).

Any ideas from a long term sal****er keeper would be GREATLY
appreciated.

thanks

Greg Hewitt-Long