# help needed with marine tank setup after confusing visit to aquatics store



## cookis81 (Feb 25, 2009)

i have recently started setting up a marine tank, 3 weeks ago infact and need a bit of help

i went into local aquatics store (the guy says he has been working with marines for 30 years) to ask their advice and they basically said i had done everything wrong and i sould start again but to be honest im not sure if i should trust them or if they are just wanting my money. So i have loads of questions.
i have had the tank for awhile sat in garage but after reading another thread about setting up a marine tank i decided to start myself so i followed the advice from that thread. the tank is 40 gallon with 20 gallon sump. and i have no livestock in there, although i intend to keep fish first and when tank mature would like to start looking into corals.

1. i mixed the salt water and filled the tank (the guy in store said i shouldnt have added salt yet a my tank isnt mature enough)

2. i added sand which i bought online which says its suitable for marine/saltwater tanks (the guy said i have ruined the setup using normal sand and should replace the sand with coral sand which he tried to sell me today he also told me reason my ph is low is because of the sand. )

3. i added 15kg of fiji live rock i know i need more but i bought it from someone who was shutting their tank down (the guy in shop told me adding live rock was pointless because its no longer live it will have died he said i would have been better adding tuffa rock or ocean rock which again he tried selling to me today)

4. temp is 25c, pump & filter on (he never mentioned any of these to me)

5. i bought a testing kit have been testing daily not sure if its any good now but it was a 4-in-1 testing strips pack. today my nitrate was 0, nitrite 0, kh 240ppm and ph 7.0 

the reaon for going to aquatics store was to ask for help with the ph he did show us some chemicals but we refused straight away dont want to get in to that, will adding coral sand help raise my ph or does anyone else have any advice and also what do you think about the guys advice do i need to start again?


----------



## tishba (Nov 5, 2008)

the live rock will have died if it had been stored outside of the tank,if it came straight out of a mature tank it will be fine and it will turn your normal sand live


----------



## cookis81 (Feb 25, 2009)

thanks for reply the rock did come out of a mature tank and straight into mine its lovely rock with loads of coraline algae when we first put it into our tank we exected it to die but we had a couple of tiny patches turn white the the rest is still a lovely purply colour.
as for the ph levels the guy in shop said it was down to he sand ifi wat for th sand to become live will that help with ph?


----------



## tishba (Nov 5, 2008)

probably not.you only want to worry about the ph when you keep corals fish should be ok


----------



## tinks30 (Nov 2, 2008)

I too work in an aquatic store, only for a year and own a marine tank, but i hope i can help?
1, He is talking rubbish about your tank not being mature enough to add salt water too, You need the salt water to mature the tank!
2, What type of sand did you buy? Most types of sand are fine to put in a marine tank, but it is best to use coral sand or coral gravel as it helps with the ph.
3, your live rock sounds fine, when shops get it in, it has often been on the road in a dry box for several hours, they usually keep it for a week or two to cure it ( they put it in a vat of salt water with a pump and skimmer and change the water and this rock is far from dead, the crabs i found the other day and all the bits of growth on the rock prove that! Not sure what tuffa rock is, But ocean rock is very dead rock it is just for decoration and i think is crap!
4, Temp, pump and filter sound good.
5, I wouldn`t bother with a dip stick test kit they are crap. You need a liquid test kit. You need to test your ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, ph and salinity. Do you know what your salinity is? r you using a hydrometer ( they are not accurate) or a refractometer?

The tank you are using, have you ever used a treatment in it? As most cold water or tropical treatments have copper in which will kill corals and inverts, the treatments could have seeped into the silicon and could leach out into your marine tank.


----------



## cookis81 (Feb 25, 2009)

i bought the tank a few months ago from someone who kept corals and he made a point of saying he had never used any copper treatments i didnt think anything of it at the time but now i know why he kept going on about copper thank you.

im not sure what type the sand is i dont have the bags anymore it just looks like sand lol

i have a hydrometer and the reading is 1.024 / 32

thank you everyone for all your help, i want to make sure everything is right before even looking at fish no matter how long it takes


----------



## cookis81 (Feb 25, 2009)

oh and the tuffa rock and ocean rock he was trying to sell me wasnt in a tank curing or anything it was sat in a pile on the floor with prices written on each piece.
i dont think i will be visiting that shop again!


----------



## tinks30 (Nov 2, 2008)

Ocean rock is just dry rock, so it is fine just sat on the floor, but i would never put ocean rock in a marine tank its more for tropical fish.


----------



## mask-of-sanity (Dec 27, 2006)

ocean rock works ok in a marine tank along side live rock, mate had a humungus marine tank with a mix of both and it worked well..........i dont no a lot about marines tbh as they are something i have never kept but would agree on the test kit , dip ones are not accurate get yourself a good liquid one, hagen do one for tropicals that covers the amonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph......coral sand will raise your ph so maybe worth getting some and mixing it in with the sand you already have , i have also found that ocean rock raises the ph to


----------



## Lostcorn (Dec 12, 2005)

I think that coral sand acts as a buffer to help keep the ph at the correct level.


----------



## cookis81 (Feb 25, 2009)

ok think i will get some coral sand to mix with what i already have, how much do you think i will need? main tank is 30 gallon and also have 20 gallon sump


----------

