New Tank

[Anonymous]

Danno,

Try Aquatics Unlimited in Greenfield, WI. It is just a tad SW of Milwaukee on HWY 100 (S. 108th St) between Beloit Rd and Oklahoma Ave. I have been going there for a few years and its a terrific place. The sales staff is very knowledgable and if they don't know the answer to one of your questions, they'll ask someone there who does! HTH!

Chris

 

[Danno]

More info: part of the nitrite problem was caused my my lack of experience. I used well water from my buddies house instead of city water for the initial fill.(I now know I should have used ALL RO, live and learn) The ph was 7.8 and the nitrates tested between 10 and 20. After I had the tank up and running for 3 days I got a complete test kit. The Nitrite level was 5+ OH Crap!! I did a 10 GAL RO water change and things dropped slightly. On advice from the now infamous LFS I added live rock to cycle the tank I also used Nitromax Marine to help with the start up.

After the partial change to of 6 gal this morning, 10 hours later the Ph is 8.2,Nitrate 10,nitrite .50 Amm 0. Things are improving. I may also have been reading the test colors wrong on the damn little card that came with the test kit. My 9 yr old was helping with the water test tonight and matched the colors better,(might be a little color blind)the two yellows on the ammonia card are hard for me to distinguish. I'm have no doubt the fish know drastically. danmhippo, thank you for your patients and understanding. The yellow tang my 9 yr old calls Spot and I are on our way to becoming friends already and I have a 55 gal 4'x21" in the basement that will probably get set up down the road as I gain experience. That should give him a little more room to live. I'll be a little wiser when I go on that journey.

Chris: thanks for the advice I may take a ride tommrow just for conversation and questions.SeaMac : I understand, I was feeling a little beat up on there for a while.

It's hard to convey all the facts with out real conversation : ) Thanks to all

 

[tazdevil]

Danno, a nitrite level of 5+ on city water? That seems a little strange to me. I know nitrates can be present, adn the scourge known as phosphate (hair algae miraclegrow basically) can be very high, but never seen nitrite in city water. You may want to try a different brand of test kit to verify that result. Your defenetly on the right track with using R/O water, if you can find it, try for R/O, D.I. water, just a bit more healthy for reef tank. Sounds like your tank is on track, wait about 3-4 months before adding any more fish, give it a chance to age well. (rule of thumb in salwater tanks, reef or otherwise: The only things that happen fast, tend to be BAD things). Good luck, keep us updated.

 

[Jawbone]

Danno Shh dont tell anyone but I never gave them a swirly... I bagged em and dragged em to the lfs and donated them back.

The swirly was much more dramatic for print

 

[Danno]

I was just being dramatic also,After the slight flaming I was getting I figured I raise an eyebrow or two.

And to clarafiy I didn't want to use my city water with clorine in it so I used well water from my buddies house. From the test results I now know why he has a RO unit in his house for drinking water. (Good source for water changes

)Im limited to 5 gal a day though.