Salt Water Experience

Went and started something new in my fish world. I (you may or may not know) have successful freshwater Angel fish breeding program and fish room. Today I’m taking in a totally new direction. After watching numerous YouTube videos and getting complete backwards on the whole salt water subject. I Final set up my first saltwater tank about a month ago. It is a 14 gallon bio-cube and has since wanted to upgrade (got to love it). So we (the wife and I) went and picked up an all in one 50 gallon tank (sea clear system II) of craigslist, it has a built in sump in the back. I could not beat the price at $60.00. While I was there getting the tank the guy say hey if you’re interested in a light fixture for that tank I have one and I will sell it to you for an additional $60.00. WOW. It has 4 dual tube Compact fluorescent for a grand total 400 watts. Needless to say we had to make a mad dash to the ATM, but I just couldn’t pass that up.

On the way home we stopped at one of our favorite mom and pop fish stores Blue Sierra Exotic Fish & Supply in Issaquah, WA. Toni is the best she always has a smile on her face and ready and willing to answer any and all questions that you have, and trust me there, I ask a lot of questions. Talked with her and showed her my Craig’s list find and ask a ton more questions. After an hour and a half in the store even after closing time, we ended up with a 40 lbs. bag of Ocean Direct ready reef Caribbean sea sand and a T. crocea clam, that Lori just could not live without (She got that for a steal thou).

Got home and I just had to play with my new toy (I mean test out the new tank). Filled that bad boy up with water and started up the pump. It was locked up harder then Fort Knox. So damn I'm thinking here we go (got to love craigslist finds). I took the pump off the return and opened that bad boy up and did a little maintance, take it apart and scrubbing it down with water and some vinegar. Then let it sit in that same mixture for 10 min. Then plugged it back in and it fired right back up… (I almost got a shower form that). Put all back together and back in the tank. Added some OXY clean to the tank and then and let it run all night.

After letting the tank sit overnight I took a small wash cloth and a green scrubby to it and almost all the salt build up came right off. It’s amazing how much buildup gets all over the tank. Drained it and then wiped down the entire thank. I then took it out side and let the 80 degree weather in Washington State (WOW I know) dry it up. The wiped it down again with a different wash cloth and warm water. Rinsed it again, and again, and again. Brought in the stand (I was going to use on a different project). And set the tanks up on it.

Refilled the tank and got out the instant ocean the bag says will make 50 gallons of water. I added the salt to the tank and let it run. Has been running now for over 24 hours. So far all the water tests Okay. Tonight I am running of to Jeff Schulstrom's in Everett to pick up some live rock. I already have live sand from Blue Sierra and I grabbed a 2 more 10 lbs. bags of regular sand. The plan is to add the live sand to the top of the Nature's Ocean - Premium Marine Substrates. After I get back form Jeff's going to add the live rock and sand to the tank. I still not sure if I want to bond the rock together using Loctite or not? Any ideas would be great...

Nice score. Only one warning do not buy fish from blue siarra. Last time I was there they had 6 yellow tangs in a 30g. When I asked them how long they intended to keep them he said that that was their designated yellow tank. A group of 4" ones that size needs a 300g or more. I kept a moorish idol alive in my 220g untill I broke it down but everything I bought there died within a few days.

Keeping any fish in what they "need" is not realistic for any store that wants to stay in business.
Fish stores are there to make money, and keeping 6 fish in a 300 gallon tank is a good way to go out of business. The tangs will survive short term in that tank without any trouble as long as there is good filtration, and they WILL sell because fish that don't sell don't make money. If they are there longer than a month or two the price will be lowered until they sell. I have a purple tang and a powder blue in a 20g long QT. They are like best friends, no aggression at all. But don't tell the tang police, they would probably crucify me.

Ya, but 6 yellows in one small tank. If they were all juviniles Maby but they were all at least four inches. You have two of my favorite tangs so treat them well or I will call tang911.

ya its just a quarantine tank, the hyposalinity treatment will be done on labor day, then they go into the 72g.

Thanks for the post robbing but anyway here is the update as of last night.

I got home from Jeff's ( ) with the live rock got it all stacked and set into locations then added 5 gallon bucket of crushed coral as the bace then another 60 lbs of sand to the tank. Sure enough now matter how manny times you clean that sand it looks like you poured 40 gallons of milk in to it. Couple more days and it should look fine.

pics!

Zerc wrote:ya its just a quarantine tank, the hyposalinity treatment will be done on labor day, then they go into the 72g.

a 72 gal tank is still not big enough for those two fish

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HAHA! just mess'n with ya! But really, its not!

Hey Angelman, how is this build coming along?

Nice start Angelman! your tank should looking good by now... BTW...I would recomend to use the powerhead to blow out all the sand that settled on top of your liverocks... it's the reason why I always added the sand first and let it sit overnight..then add live rocks.......I figure you might have added some more additions to the tank already..any cool fishy...really, we need some pics here..congrats on the new tank once again....