New tank

[Btrainrolls]

Hey everyone, I’ve been doing some research for some time. A while back I had 10 freshwater tanks for many years going successfully when I was single haha (12 years ago). I’ve always wanted a saltwater reef tank. The family is pretty excited to get into it now. So we are starting with a 40 gallon breeder, rodi filtration to have great water. Mixed the salt to 1.021 salinity. Caribsea live sand 1” depth and 20lbs Carib sea life rock with spores. Temp about 76 degrees F. I added biological booster to get the cycle going. PH 8.1 ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 0. I do have a small circulator pump in there as well as a penguin 375. Will upgrade over time (not the best course I know).

 

[Reefer5640]

Hey good for you and welcome to the hobby! How long has the tank been running?

 

[Btrainrolls]

Hey good for you and welcome to the hobby! How long has the tank been running?

Hey Thank you for the welcome. I’m very new to saltwater. Tank is 2 days running. Really new. First reef tank. I know patience is key. I’m a bit confused on when to put a cleaner crew member in (and feed because there isn’t anything for them to eat now). Some say to put something in in the beginning and some say wait until after cycle. If I read correctly, adding bacteria booster should help cycle in days rather than weeks. I always do research in anything I do, but when it comes to saltwater tanks I find that everyone has their own way.

 

[Uzidaisies]

Hey, congrats on the new tank. Might be a little light on the rock, but I like your use of negative space.

 

[Btrainrolls]

Hey, congrats on the new tank. Might be a little light on the rock, but I like your use of negative space.

Hey thank you, yeah I may go pick some more up today while things are new, maybe another 20 lbs. what do you think?

 

[Uzidaisies]

Hey thank you, yeah I may go pick some more up today while things are new, maybe another 20 lbs. what do you think?

Sounds pretty good

 

[Reefer5640]

Yeah definitely add more rock. If not for more filtration you’ll wish you had when you run out of room for coral. Is that live rock or dry rock your adding? I thought I read life rock. If that’s true and it as actual life rock from the ocean it will be a very short to non existent cycle.

 

[Btrainrolls]

Sounds pretty good

I just saw a post that someone started a 40B as well on Thursday (sep 6th) and added a fish right out the gate. Should I?

 

[Btrainrolls]

Yeah definitely add more rock. If not for more filtration you’ll wish you had when you run out of room for coral. Is that live rock or dry rock your adding? I thought I read life rock. If that’s true and it as actual life rock from the ocean it will be a very short to non existent cycle.

 

[Reefer5640]

Oh that life rock. Gotcha. So it’s dry rock then.

 

[Uzidaisies]

Yeah definitely add more rock. If not for more filtration you’ll wish you had when you run out of room for coral. Is that live rock or dry rock your adding? I thought I read life rock. If that’s true and it as actual life rock from the ocean it will be a very short to non existent cycle.

It’s Caribsea LifeRock, which I think is a man made calcium carbonate rock that’s coated with some purple and green stuff and inoculated with bacteria spores.

I just saw a post that someone started a 40B as well on Thursday (sep 6th) and added a fish right out the gate. Should I?

You could, that’s a “fish-in” cycle. Not something I do personally. Usually people buy a small cheap fish, because I think they tend to have a high mortality rate. The point of doing it, is to add ammonia to the system to feed the beneficial bacteria so they can begin the nitrogen cycle and establish themselves. You can do the same thing with fish food, so I don’t see the need to add a fish.

 

[Btrainrolls]

Oh that life rock. Gotcha. So it’s dry rock then.

Correct

 

[Uzidaisies]

People often use a piece of shrimp or just straight ammonia.

 

[Uzidaisies]

Correction, I guess LifeRock is natural aragonite that’s coated and inoculated. Not man made.

 

[Mical]

First & foremost - Welcome to R2R

Secondly - SLOW DOWN, relax & remember "Patience is Your Friend" (you might want to frame that over your tank)

A couple of things I see already that might be issues - 1.021 is low for salinity - shoot for 1.025-1.026. I would up your tank temp to 78-79 degrees. Then let the tank be for roughly 30 days - no fish, no clean up crew, no corals - while waiting invest into good test kits. Lastly RESEARCH.

 

[Reefer5640]

It’s Caribsea LifeRock, which I think is a man made calcium carbonate rock that’s coated with some purple and green stuff and inoculated with bacteria spores. You could, that’s a “fish-in” cycle. Not something I do personally. Usually people buy a small cheap fish, because I think they tend to have a high mortality rate. The point of doing it, is to add ammonia to the system to feed the beneficial bacteria so they can begin the nitrogen cycle and establish themselves. You can do the same thing with fish food, so I don’t see the need to add a fish.

Yeah I remember rock from the ocean people calling “life rock”. His original post said Carib Sea life rock. My mind just went straight to ocean rock. My bad. I definitely agree with you on the fish food suggestion vs a live fish.

 

[Btrainrolls]

First & foremost - Welcome to R2R

Secondly - SLOW DOWN, relax & remember "Patience is Your Friend" (you might want to frame that over your tank)

A couple of things I see already that might be issues - 1.021 is low for salinity - shoot for 1.025-1.026. I would up your tank temp to 78-79 degrees. Then let the tank be for roughly 30 days - no fish, no clean up crew, no corals - while waiting invest into good test kits. Lastly RESEARCH.

Patience is definitely key, don’t get me wrong, i want to be successful with this. I don’t mind waiting. What test kit do you recommend, I only have the api test kit which after buying it I found some info on it about not being reliable. I’m in no rush to add anything (livestock) until conditions are right. I appreciate the feedback. I will adjust the salinity a bit higher. Thank you so much

 

[Reefer5640]

I use Hanna’s and Salifert. Salifert are cheap, fast, and easy to stay consistent. Hanna’s are expensive but definitely takes the guess out of color chart interpretation.

 

[Reefer5640]

Also, to answer your question about clean up crew. I wouldn’t add any until there’s a natural food source for them (ie: algae and detritus). I was going to mention earlier. What are you doing for fresh water top off for evaporation?

 

[Btrainrolls]

Also, to answer your question about clean up crew. I wouldn’t add any until there’s a natural food source for them (ie: algae and detritus). I was going to mention earlier. What are you doing for fresh water too off for evaporation?

I have a 6 stage rodi filter, and I’ll manually add it for now. Bought it to filter water for my wife’s kidney stone issue as here they add a lot of calcium to the tap water, and it’s helped. She was getting about 60 a year and now we are down to about 2-3, but that’s another story haha.