My First Aquarium and DIY Skimmer

Yes, I agree with you. Thing is, I never even considered the salt issue that much. When reading how to webpages and things like that, they usually just says mix the salt. It's a dangerous assumption to think that means the cleanest salt you can find. When it comes to things in the water, NO SHORT CUTS or cheaper options. :)

Regardless, I'm moving forward. Tonight I'm mixing up the water batches and tomorrow I am going to replace the water again in the 50 gallon tank. With 2 100% water changes, I'm sure I will have at least a mini-cycle.
 
for the damsel you should wait, the tank most likely will cycle. Empty fish tanks are boring, but it gives you time to enjoy all the tiny little creatures that inhabit your rocks.

If the little guy asks about the fish just tell him the truth, you have to fix his home up a little better for him first :)
 
You know, it's interesting you mentioned my son. When the fish died the second time, I just told him and he was very interested in it. He's very grounded when it comes to that kind of stuff I am finding out.
It's a good idea to wait. I'll be watching the water parameters over the next couple days. Should I add something to start the cycle, like come ammonia?What if there not enough to start a cycle and it never starts again?
 
Drop in a bunch of fish food. If you dont see any ammonia, you know the tank is safe to try and add another fish.

And this is probably a great lesson for your son, cutting corners never works ;)
 
Your in the wrong hobby if you want to cut corners. With this hobby you have lots of time to get it right the first time and save up money along the way. Cycle your tank = 27-30 days unless you use a chemical to help speed it up. (don't use the chemical!)
So while your waiting on that, which is the first big cost of your aquarium, the start up, you can plan small things for the future. Don't add lots of things at once, Go slow, start small and work your way up. You'll learn things along the way and your tank will be much happier for it.
 
Last night I mixed a fresh batch of saltwater and let sit over night with power heads blowing. Tonight I will drain the display tank and add the new water batch to it. Third times a charm, eh? :)
 
Yes, and let the tank cycle through again you bacteria probs needs to re-establish. This time i think you've got everything on the right track this time around, best of luck!

And remember if you dont know something, or are iffy about something, just ask! Were here to help :)
 
Yes, I will be asking for sure. I'm not going to add another shrimp though. I think I'll add fish food over the next couple of days and watch the water like little_fish said. I'll report what my reading are as I go along.
 
hachadwick said:
Once again, maybe my screw up will help someone NOT make the same costly and time consuming mistake:)
Click to expand...

I can tell you that I'm watching this thread very closely. I feel for you and the trouble you're having and hope you get this resolved soon so you and your family can finally enjoy it! That being said, I find all this invaluable. I'm in the process of gathering components for my system and the information here on your process has taught me a lot so far. I want to thank you for being so open and forward with your problems and for posting regularly.

Good luck and fingers crossed that all the problems are fixed! :D
 
Thanks for the post. I'm glad this is all helping you. This whole process has taught me a lot about patience and planning. I joked with my wife that it's helping me develop my procrastination skills. Don't rush, do it in 4 weeks after the cycle..lol
She said there is not such thing as procrastination skills!! :)
Seriously though, I would never have made it this far without the people on here "slapping" me upside the head and keeping me on course. :chair:
Glad to know my mistakes are helping someone else because it makes them worth while in a way.
My dad is building a tank with my help and I will starting a DIY stand tonight for him. I am keeping up his thread here so if you'd like to keep up that you can too. It's a huge 125 gallon tank and is going to have everything! He's got more money than me...lol:)
 
Man just read this whole post, and all I can say is props to you. I probably would of taken the tank out into the desert to put it out of its misery by now lol.

But I'm right there with you, I grew up with a saltwater tank in California, but we just went down to the beach and picked up sand and water, when we moved to utah in the 90's, saltwater was way way way expensive so we did freshwater. Which was fun and easy, but I could set up a planted freshwater tank in about 3 days with fish...When I decided to get into freshwater again there was so much more to learn and I spent probably 2 years reading about it before I got into the hobby. I've got a 56 gallon running right now for about oh I would say 3 months or so, but it took me probably 9 months just to get all my gear for it! It's been so rewarding though! It's fun to see everything going on in the tank...makes me already want a bigger one! :grumble: Serious props to you though man, through all that has gone on you keep trucking away.

On a side note that I want to throw out there though, when I put my light on the tank it burnt a whole through the middle support, so I cut it out. Is there a different kind of material that I could use that won't melt? Like a piece of acrylic or something? the tank seems fine for now, but I would really hate to come home one day and have everything all over the floor.:shock:
 
thanks for the comments. I'm not real sure what you question is though. Your light burnt through your top support? My lights sit on a piece of glass which shield the plastic.
 
You need to replace the middle brace ASAP, through many discussion on here we have come to the consensus that it is important for structural support. I cant remember how the middle brace has been replaced in the path though.

Also how close to the tank are your lights? Sounds like something is off if the middle brace is being melted. And what type of lights do you have?
 
Ya that middle brace is very important. I learned this after doin some research to see if I could remove the black plastic rims. A ghetto rimless haha. Also, I saw the importance in my 38g sump when i filled it up. There's a lot of pressure on the glass in the middle.
 
What can I replace it with?

I can't remember the name of the light I will have to check when I get back home tonight, but it has two sets of blues on each side, a metal halide light in the middle and a strip of LED's down the middle...the problem was though that the metal halide light set right in the middle where the brace was. Came home after I had it running for the day and there was a hole burnt right through it. I'm in a basement apartment that I'm renting and really didn't want to drill holes in their ceiling to mount the light so it sits on legs about 5 inches above the water.

Doesn't heat up the tank much, temp stays about 78-79 during the day and night. any tips on replacing it would be great. The strip ran from the top of the tank to the bottom. I have a 56 gallon square that I found at petsmart. It's an odd shape for a 56, not long more wide, but it works great. Well besides the brace melting lol
 
You know, we should rename this thread "The problems thread"....LOL
I wonder if you could order a replacement for the entire top of the tank from then manufacturer.
 
That stand is a beast....my dad built me a stand for mine...it's pretty much strong enough to have a dump truck drive over it...
 
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