Hi All,
I am a newbie to this hobby and stated off to set a 20gal saltwater tank. I went to a nearby pet store and got a cheap tank which came with a small filter and hood with lights(i put 2 25W cfls in it from home depot). Also got some salt, 10lb of Bio-active live aragonite(reef sand) and some dry white sand. According to the instructions given by the guy at the store, i followed this process:
1. Filled the tank with water and added appropriate amount of salt. Started the filter and water heater. Left this for about 2 days and checked the salinity to be 1.022 specific gravity. The water was crystal clear. So guess this should be fine.
2. Added the 10lb reef sand(bio-live-sand). This is where the problem began. The water became murky and there was a thin layer of foam on the top.
3. After about one hour, added white sand to this and mixed both sands. This made the water even more cloudy and has zero visibility through it.

Guys, i need some help with this. Please let me know what made the water cloudy and how to clear this? Should i wait for some days to let it settle down? Should i start my filter again(tried it for about 2 hrs and didnt make it any better) . I dont want to throw this away and start all over again.
Any help appreciated.

Thanks in advance
jo

Add some live rock or a couple of cups of real established live sand from a friends reef system. Once the colonizing bacteria start to multiply and coat the sand grains it will drop like a rock.
For the foam on the surface, float a piece of paper towel or newspaper on the surface and it will soak up the foam.

You could add some filter floss or a filter sock to the filter and it will help take some of the cloudiness out.

Thank you for your response. I thought the instant live bacteria in the live sand(bio-active aragonite) that i got should do this work.
Isnt it same as the established bacteria?

Thanks
Jo

Yes and no. The stuff has been in the bag so long, its not likely alive anymore. Fully Cured Live Rock would also help out. A Skimmer would also help out. Leave your filter running.

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Thank you guys. This was really helpful. Going to get a small live rock today for the tank. Hopefully this will clear things up.

jo

took my 20g a few day to clear with out rock . but that its been fine

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Thank you guys. I woke up yesterday and saw that the tank was almost clear. Got couple of live rocks and placed it yesterday. Today is completely clear.
I have one more question, my aquarium hood has these 2 screw fixtures for normal bulbs in which I fit 2 normal cfls (20W output each). Do you guys think thats fine? Should i replace my hood with one that has a single strip light fixture and put a coral sun bulb? Thats what the guy at the pet store told me? Should I do that?

Thanks
Jo

If you intend to keep corals you will need better lighting. T5 HO, Metal Halide or LEDs would support corals.

Places like Aquarium Lighting Superstore! - Hellolights.com - Metal Halide, LED, T5, Compact Fluorescent are a good place to look at lighting. You might keep an eye out on Craigslist for used lighting, it will save you half or more off of new lights and I have picked up some great deals that way.

I have converted both of my current systems to LED recently. The 16 gallon bowfront nano used to have a 96w powerquad PC and it is now two Ecoxotic Panorama strips:
Aquarium Lighting & LED Lights: ecoxotic Panorama LED Module

I believe they just had a significant price drop and you may find them for about $79 each some places.

My large 100G reef had 2x250w MH and 2x140w VHO fluorescents and now has two Aqua Illumination Sol Blue LED fixtures and their controller. Those just dropped $130 per fixture from $529 down to $399 but they also introduced their Sol Nano for small systems at $299 which would fit your needs excellent. Lots of money but the adjustability is amazing.

There are also many DIY LED kits and components on the market which are much more reasonable but don't have all the adjustability.

You might also look for a used Viper clip on Metal Halide fixture. They come in 75 watt and are great for a 20 gallon system. I have seen them around here for $50 complete on Craigslist.

So with led lighting, do i have to have a set of day lights during the day and led lights for the night? or should i just have one set of blue and white leds together for day and night?

Thanks
jo

It varies by brands and models. You can get pretty much whatever you want. I already had a Reefkeeper Lite with LED nightlight pods so I don't use the moonlight function on my AI Sols even though it has that capability.
The Panorama strips can be found in all white, all blue or 50/50 versions. I have two of the 50/50 versions but may one day add a less expensive blue Stunner strip just to supplement the blue spectrum and for a nightlight. I also still have a few of the Coralife 1 watt LED nightlights laying around, I may just use one of those since its only a 16G tank.
With the DIY light kits you install as many or as few bulbs and color combinations as you want and power them seperately for things like moonlights. nano-reef.com has several of the DIY vendors as sponsors and they have forums and articles on how to do it.

Thank you guys. I went ahead and ordered an led star with 3 12000k leds and 6 royal blue 452nm royal blue leds.
I have couple more questions:
1.Is a 10gal tank too small for a saltwater tank with couple of small live rocks and 4-5 fishes?
2. I just took some water from my 5 day old tank to the pet store and they found that the amonia, nitrates and nitrites are very low. The pH is 7.8 but the alkalinity is just too high(more than 300 on the test strip reading). Is that a good sign or i should do something to reduce this? My pH looks to be close to the required value but if i reduce the alkalinity, wont it reduce the pH too?


Thanks
jo

You can probably safely keep two very small fish in a 10 gallon. I only keep 6 or 7 medium sized fish in a 100 gallon and it maxed out. Clowns, gobies, damsels although they can be mean or maybe a small wrasse.

Are you using RO/DI to make your new saltwater and are you doing regular 10 to 20% water changes? Once you get the magnesium, alkalinity and calcium corrected the pH is pretty much going to take care of itself.

Thank you. I think I will go ahead and exchange this for a 20 gal(coz m budget is a bit small :-)). Should i go for a long 20gal or high 20gal. I heard long ones are good.

jo

I prefer a long tank, it gives you more surface area for oxygen transfer and more swimming room for the fish.

great. will get that today. Also i had a question regarding a DIY LED light project i am undertaking to setup the lights. LED light DIY - help needed
greatly appreciate it if you have some ideas on this