I am VERY new to the salt water aquarium world. I have gone from many years of fresh tropical water to salt water aquarium. I now have the largest aquarium I’ve ever had, a reef ready 125 gal newly set up under the guidance of Mike DiLorenzo from The Fish Bowl, Dover Delaware, whom by the way is GREAT!
I’m looking for for some reading material (book) that I can read/study and get more acquainted with the hobby. The more I look at different books the more I get confused on which would be the best one to buy. Can/would anyone recommend a book that would assist and NOT confuse me?
ok off topic - bragging lOl - The aquarium was completely setup April 1, 2014. And is doing great. I have live sand, live rock added at set up, a few days later added 2 orange striped chromis, to help the water to get established, but they died.
Mike is helping me with information such as water changes and keeping me at bay with when & what can be added. Added 2 green chromis. So far so good.
April 11, 5 gal water change, added 1 foxface, 2 more yellow striped chromis (died again), 1 algae blenny, 1 orange spot goby & a gheto grass in the sump.
Water is still doing great on April 16 added 10 crabs, 10 snails, 1 diamond goby, 1 algae blenny, 1 lavender tang.
April 18, 23 gal water change. Plan on doing small water changes every week.
I had a few books but never read them lol. They are usually outdated material. Just ask here, you may get different opinions but more than likely someone has already lived through it. One piece of advice I will give you is slow down on adding fish or they will die. Usually if you add a few quickly before your good bacteria colonizes. You want it to build slowly.
:Welcome) to DRC! Like Dunk said, there are so many books out there and they pretty much says the same thing about setting up a reef tank. How ever if you feel comfortable by reading something to learn maybe something from the link below may help you. Also, our club does have a lot of links to various website that will help you with reefkeeping in the long run as well.
We are here to help any one asking for help. Specially new to the obsession (once you get the bug bite, it will become an obsession). Also, like Dunk said again, in this hobby one must have patience. Things will not happen over night it takes time. With that said, I don’t think you have cycle your tank at all before you had put those animals in. It takes a while for a tank to fully cycled and have bacterial buildup to support the animals in the tank. You can also help with cycling the tank by adding bacteria in the tank such as seachem product stability.
Test your water during the tank cycling. It will tell you when your tank is ready for the animals.
You said you have live sand and live rocks, but how much of it? is it enough to support the tank? do you have a sump with a protein skimmer or hang on the back protein skimmer? if so, is it big enough to support the tank?
My advice as well. Don’t spend any more money on buying animals till your tank is cycle. Also, don’t do anymore water change yet till your tank is cycled.
If you have anymore questions, please don’t hesitate to ask, we’re to help. And most of us here have lots of experience in reefkeeping.
Again welcome and hopefully you can join us at one of our club meetings.
I won’t be going to meetings that far north. Mike is coaching me on what & when I can add animals. We tested the tap water before getting the set up and everything was ok except the nitrates were high. The last 2 times before anything was added the nitrates we 80. The animals that have been added are cleaners for the sand, rock, algae, etc.
The set up is 125 gal reef ready & the stand & glass lid
Sump proflex
Pump - Mag
Protein Skimmer in sump
Wave Maker
60 lbs white Base rock - This rock is coming alone great turning into live rock
50 lbs Live rock
Live sand
UV light
Deep Blue Triton 5 pump
Crystal Clear Aquatics Advanced Filtration Handheld Refractometer for salinity
[quote=“culookn, post:6, topic:7300”]
I won’t be going to meetings that far north. Mike is coaching me on what & when I can add animals. We tested the tap water before getting the set up and everything was ok except the nitrates were high. The last 2 times before anything was added the nitrates we 80. The animals that have been added are cleaners for the sand, rock, algae, etc.
The set up is 125 gal reef ready & the stand & glass lid
Sump proflex
Pump - Mag
Protein Skimmer in sump
Wave Maker
60 lbs white Base rock - This rock is coming alone great turning into live rock
50 lbs Live rock
Live sand
UV light
Deep Blue Triton 5 pump
Crystal Clear Aquatics Advanced Filtration Handheld Refractometer for salinity[/quote]
Is the noise coming from the pump it self or because it sitting on the bottom of the sump? if its because of the pump it self, then there nothing you can do other than get a new quieter pump. If its because it sitting on the bottom and contact the sump then you can build a small stand from an eggcrate or any non-corrosive material to elevated it from contact.
[quote=“reefman66, post:10, topic:7300”]
Is the noise coming from the pump it self or because it sitting on the bottom of the sump? if its because of the pump it self, then there nothing you can do other than get a new quieter pump. If its because it sitting on the bottom and contact the sump then you can build a small stand from an eggcrate or any non-corrosive material to elevated it from contact.[/quote]
It seems to be both. I can hear the propeller at times. To lessen the vibration I used 2 unused rinsed out bath scrunchies and a flat piece of sponge. May need to look into a quieter one. Looking at the sump pic that I posted you can see the white scrunchies behind it and under the pump.
