I'm not exactly new to saltwater tanks, I've had a ten gallon saltwater tank running great in my room for a little over a year but it only has two moderate sized live rocks, four fish, one shrimp, a couple hermit crabs, two snails, and one small coral that's doing great. I recently came upon a Red Sea MAX 250 that I picked up for free but it needed a bit of work, which isn't an issue at all as I'm more than happy to fix it up as I got it for free. Everything in the tank (which wasn't much more than a few coral and one urchin) was very very dead when I got it and the live rock was COVERED in algae and what looked like hundreds of thousands of bristle worms, and who knows what else so I decided to let the rock dry out and just start fresh. my question is what would be the best way to go about curing the rock? It's been baking in the sun for a week now and my next step is to spray it off and scrub all the nasty **** off, then in about another week or two boil it all and leave it all in a big tub of RO water with a thermometer and powerhead for a while then throw it in my tank. Hows that sound? my other question is since I won't have any livestock in the tank for a few months, other than maybe a small clean up crew to help cycle after a month or so, could I use tap water to get the tank going? I use RO water for my 10 gallon that I pick up from a pet store a few cities over with a 5 gallon bucket, but driving back and forth filling up 13 buckets and carrying them upstairs sounds awful lol I'd much rather hook up to the sink and pump water into a garbage can and let it mix then into the tank. I figure since the rock won't be live yet and I don't plan on doing a substrate it really wouldn't be a big deal, but I figure I'd ask anyways! Also, I do plan on setting up my own RO/DI system in the near future.
65 gallon aquarium startup questions
- Thread starter Matt27
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Hemmdog
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Scrub the rock. Put it in a brute trash can with a pump and a heater. Fill with saltwater. Add some Dr. Tim’s One and Only(bacteria) Let it do it’s thing for a month or two. Check salinity daily and top off when necessary. Because this is used rock you may want to do a few water changes once it’s cycled to remove any excess phosphate the rocks may be harboring.
Never boil rock, never use tap water if you ever want to have coral & a successful reef.
They 5gal sell water jugs at most fish stores. Get a few. I have 8. Lol. It’s not fun lugging it around, your absolutely correct, but it’s necessary.
Don’t be lazy and use tap, you will regret it forever when you wonder why your stuff isn’t growing and looks like crap.
Congrats on the new tank! Free is good! Those fish are getting quite the upgrade!
I was only planning on using tap water for the initial set up since there won't even be anything living in there for at least a month, I'll have my own RO/DI system set up in a few months when I can afford a really nice setup. I figured between 15-20% water changes once a week (with RO water from pet store) with whatever additives I need with a month or more before the rock goes in and another month before livestock I'd have plenty of time to get the water parameters back where I need them. I tried using a few different brands of the premixed saltwater from a few different stores, the numbers where wildly inconsistent.
As for the rock, the trashcan with heater and pump was my plan, I was only planning on boiling it to be absolutely sure everything is dead on it before letting it sit in saltwater for a while and start coming back to life. Once its in the tank after a month or so of mixing in the can, it won't be for another month that I add CUC to help aid cycling, Then put my current and new fish in over time once water parameters are good. That's all with water changes weekly.
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Welcome Matt. I gotta go with Hemmdog on this. I would never use tap water even initially. You just never know what effect it will have on the tank even during the cycling process. Can you pick up a used RO/DI unit at an LFS or on craigslist? As you said, you'll need one eventually. Anyway, congrats on the new tank. Ya can't beat free! Glad to have you as part of the group.
I was always skeptical about the tap water for setting up the tank but that was undoubtedly the easiest route which is why I asked. I have since learned my neighbors have an RO system hooked up to their kitchen sink, The lady of the house said no I can't take the water I need but her husband said yes, so I'm gonna take their water before she finds out I got the okay anyways lol
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