Guest koopa ninja June 27, 2005 Share June 27, 2005 Hi my name is zach and im 11 years old. i just set up salt water tank and looking to see if any one has any thing to give up to get me started. i have been studying with my teacher all year . If any one can give me any thing i would greatly appreciate any donations . By the way i have a 28 gallon Bowfront ,a couple of figi rocks an inch of sand and Orbit lights . Please my rocks are lonely. zach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grav June 27, 2005 Share June 27, 2005 Zach, Welcome!! I'm sure we will be able to help you out with some starter corals. What area do you live in? I'm in Fairfax VA and would be happy to help if you are close. To make sure you get contributions that will do well in your system, tell us more about your tank. How long has it been running? How many watts are the lights? What filters / skimmer and other hardware do you have? What are your water tests showing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocko918 June 27, 2005 Share June 27, 2005 Zach, I would be more than happy to help you with some corals as well. Let us know where you are located. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dchild June 27, 2005 Share June 27, 2005 Hi Zach - welcome! I have a rock of zoos for you that your teacher asked me to hold. Let me know when, I can drop them off. Steven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest koopa ninja June 27, 2005 Share June 27, 2005 Hi my name is zach and im 11 years old. i just set up salt water tank and looking to see if any one has any thing to give up to get me started. i have been studying with my teacher all year . If any one can give me any thing i would greatly appreciate any donations . By the way i have a 28 gallon Bowfront ,a couple of figi rocks an inch of sand and Orbit lights . Please my rocks are lonely. zach 33783[/snapback] Hey heres some info on the tank. B) PH:8.0 Amonia:0 Nitrite:.5 Nitrate:10 ppm Alk:Norm Spg:1.025 calcium:500 Cloudy because of new sand Aqua clear 300 filter (foam-carbon-amonia remover) LIGHTS:Orbit 24'' down to dusk 1-65 watt sunpaq dual actinic (420nm+460nm) 1-65 watt sunpaq dual daylight (6,700k+10,000k) 2-lunar lights If i left something off let me know and i will get the information. thank you, zach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest koopa ninja June 27, 2005 Share June 27, 2005 Hey heres some info on the tank. B) PH:8.0 Amonia:0 Nitrite:.5 Nitrate:10 ppm Alk:Norm Spg:1.025 calcium:500 Cloudy because of new sand Aqua clear 300 filter (foam-carbon-amonia remover) LIGHTS:Orbit 24'' down to dusk 1-65 watt sunpaq dual actinic (420nm+460nm) 1-65 watt sunpaq dual daylight (6,700k+10,000k) 2-lunar lights If i left something off let me know and i will get the information. thank you, zach 33798[/snapback] oops i forgot. My tank has been running for about 4 weeks and i live in oakhill,va close to herndon and chantilly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 June 28, 2005 Share June 28, 2005 I can add some info to that as well. Zach and I took a trip up to Tony Gallo's to buy some rock, so he's got about 20 lbs of rock in the tank right now, all fully cured, that's been in the tank since it was set up initially. Also, the water is all RO/DI water. My comment to Zach - hey, looks like you were paying attention to those tests! Does your mom understand what you're talking about yet? We had many discussions on how she had to learn a new lingo to understand you and your brother... Good luck with the tank, when I get over to Robert's house, I'll clip some things from our classroom tank for you as well. By the way, on the filter, I'd remove the ammonia remover and the carbon and replace it with some high quality activated carbon. This will prevent your nitrates from building up (they're already at 10 ppm which might have something to do with the sand you added, the lack of lights for a few weeks, and the filtration you have on there). Just let the filter run free. You might even consider taking the foam out and also the carbon and running it once a month or so instead of constantly. Call me if you have any questions, you should still have my home number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghazanfar Ghori June 28, 2005 Share June 28, 2005 I've got some Xenia if you're interested. Maybe some zoos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest koopa ninja June 28, 2005 Share June 28, 2005 I've got some Xenia if you're interested. Maybe some zoos. 33810[/snapback] Thank you to all the people who donated stuff to me ill private message everyone and set up a good time for you or me to come over and pick up the stuff. I will try to post pics of my tank soon! zach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocko918 June 28, 2005 Share June 28, 2005 I was wondering if you think his tank is ready for corals being 4 weeks old and still showing signs of nitrates. I would wait until your parms come down more. Any other suggestions on that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caribbean Jake June 28, 2005 Share June 28, 2005 Zach Did the tank go through the Ammonia cycle? Basically, did you observe the Ammonia go to 40 or 50 ppm and then back to 0 ppm? The reason for this question is that if you start putting Zoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest koopa ninja June 28, 2005 Share June 28, 2005 ZachDid the tank go through the Ammonia cycle? Basically, did you observe the Ammonia go to 40 or 50 ppm and then back to 0 ppm? The reason for this question is that if you start putting Zoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caribbean Jake June 28, 2005 Share June 28, 2005 You still need to cycle the tank before introducing corals. One way of doing this is get a raw shrimp (uncooked), clean, and drop it in the tank for one day. the pull it out and let the cycle begin and follow through. If the cycle has already been completed, you shouldn't see any spikes in you Ni or NH in the next three days, on the other hand if you do see a spike, then you need to proceed with the NH cylce until completed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest koopa ninja June 28, 2005 Share June 28, 2005 You still need to cycle the tank before introducing corals. One way of doing this is get a raw shrimp (uncooked), clean, and drop it in the tank for one day. the pull it out and let the cycle begin and follow through. If the cycle has already been completed, you shouldn't see any spikes in you Ni or NH in the next three days, on the other hand if you do see a spike, then you need to proceed with the NH cylce until completed. 33856[/snapback] RAW as in uncooked the kind we would eat or live that moves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest koopa ninja June 28, 2005 Share June 28, 2005 RAW as in uncooked the kind we would eat or live that moves 33858[/snapback] i am 11 you know (not that smart) may be a dumb question but... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caribbean Jake June 28, 2005 Share June 28, 2005 Zach sorry. There is never a dumb question. The dumb question is the question we never asked. RAW -Uncooked, means.. - dead, without preservatives or additives, without any added chemicals we humas love to add to consumables. Basically,, go to a grocery store and ask for a raw and uncooked shrimp. They should give/sell you a piece of dead shrimp. that's all you need to start. Some others will tell you to use Urine to start the cycle and is possible but not recommended. The RAW shrimp will decay in your tank and create the necessary balance to start the NH cycle wich will then turn into NI cycle and then into NO cycle and you will end up at the end with a NH=0 NI=0 and NO=0. Then your cycle will be complete. Ask you teacher at school about the Amonia and Nitrate Cycle. Now, once you know you went through the cycle and all your parameters are at cero = 0. I will gladly give you some Zoo's, Capnella, and Anthellia Corals, all these are easy begginers corals that in the event they die, you can always get more easyly and cheap. But the idea behind a reef tank set up is not to let those corals die but instead try to keep them and reproduce them, then you will become a serious Reef Keeper...... don't jump. you will get there. The fun is just starting Zach.. it will get better soon. Good Luck. Jake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 June 28, 2005 Share June 28, 2005 Hey Jake, Zach's tank has probably already gone through a cycle. His nitrates are up at 10 ppm and they had to come from somewhere as there were none in the water he used. My guess is that tiny nitrite spike he saw is due to two factors, one, he added sand to the tank and that probably caused a tiny bit of die off. The second factor is that his tank was up and running for three weeks without any light. He added the light last week along with the sand, so my guess is the addition of light is speeding up some of the processes in the tank such as decomposition of old algaes by heating up the water a bit. The rock itself, although fully cured, did have a layer of turf algae covering all of the areas exposed to any light. The rock that I bought at the same time as Zach has had most of it eaten away by my clean up crew, but I think that Zach's is probably still covered with it because he only has a couple of crabs and snails. This is probably where the die off is coming from, as it has probably died off more quickly because of the light and temperature increase. Anyway, long story short, it should be cycled, and the fact that there is 0 ammonia, and 10 ppm nitrate suggests that it is in fact cycled. His nitrite test results will tell the tale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest what up June 28, 2005 Share June 28, 2005 Zach, The tank only 4 weeks old give it sometime. The cycle process need to be completed before adding any corals. Fish first would be the best for cycle the tank. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caribbean Jake June 28, 2005 Share June 28, 2005 Dave / Zach In that case, you might want to start adding one small fish like clown or damsel, wait few days and then add some easy corals like Xenia, Capnella, Anthellia, Sinularia or easy Pink Zoo's. Once these are acclimated then you can move on to other corals that may thrive in your set up and lights. Again, good luck. Jake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 June 28, 2005 Share June 28, 2005 I had suggested something along the same lines, but I told him to add some snails and crabs to clean up whatever needs to be cleaned up and then get going with corals. I also told him to make sure to add slowly so that he doesn't over burden his system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest koopa ninja June 28, 2005 Share June 28, 2005 I had suggested something along the same lines, but I told him to add some snails and crabs to clean up whatever needs to be cleaned up and then get going with corals. I also told him to make sure to add slowly so that he doesn't over burden his system. 33870[/snapback] Hi I retested the Nitrate and Nitrite Nitrate: 5 ppm Nitrite: .2 I know i didnt wait 5 min in the nitrate test Opps :o sorry I will be more careful and retest tommrow B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbartco June 29, 2005 Share June 29, 2005 Have some capnella and sarcophyton anytime your tank is ready. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Stearns June 29, 2005 Share June 29, 2005 I can give you some easy soft corals as well when you are ready- zoanthids, colt, green tree Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest D33rex July 1, 2005 Share July 1, 2005 Ill can also bring you a bag of softies next meeting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest koopa ninja July 1, 2005 Share July 1, 2005 Ill can also bring you a bag of softies next meeting. 34024[/snapback] well i dont have a .......drivers licens im only 11 you know =( but i can see if i can get a ride. zach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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