Finally took the plunge....SALTWATER

[SamG347]

Thanks everyone....yeah I'm not dreading it at all. I got 3 nice pieces of liverock today..I hate going to a place like petco for this stuff but it is really my only close fish/aquaria source. I'm going back at the end of the week to get 2 more pieces of Fiji liverock and 6-8 red hermit crabs which are only 99 cents till nov.20th!
I will get pics later...I'm so excited. Rebel what is a good test for ph and nitrates?

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

You can save money by getting lace rock an placing small live rocks on it. The stuff migrates an grows on to the lace rock.

All the tests seem to be the same to me but I've only used a few. If you think you need to test your water then you probably need to do a water change anyway so I'm not sure buying the tests are worth it. Most pet stores will test it for you anyway.

Guess there debatably useful the first 3 months but thats about it.

A friend set up a 10 gallon once an just dumped all kinds of food in there for months with no fish. After a while the whole substrant was alive with bugs an worms an no matter what he did he couldn't over feed his tank. Not something I would do my self but its proof good biologic filter an a skimmer an the tank will find an equilibrium. Then all you really have to do is add feed an change the water every now an then to replace the trace elements.

 

[SamG347]

Ok so you wouldn't worry too much about PH and nitrate/nitrite in the tank? I'm planning on getting a good clean up crew established...then add some fish in a few weeks. I have a regular hang on filter...was thinking of adding some of those blue bio-balls to it to create more room for bacteria to grow. The newer hang on filters have a lot of that blue textured buffers on them already..never had that on old filters.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

All 3 are important but if you keep to a good water change schedule they should always be good.

Beads with a good texture work good for bacteria.