What's the best water to start with?

[Triggerhappy77]

Hey, I'm green to the marine game and have been doing a lot of research, but still have a lot of questions. Hope y'all can help! 1. I'm having a lot of trouble finding out if I should start my biocube 32 with nutri seawater (price varies greatly and mixed reviews from enthusiasts), pre made from my local fish store ($8 gallon plus bucket rental etc.), or make my own( salt mix and distilled h2o plus my inexperience worries me). I have horrible tap water and no filtration system. What's my best bet here for success without emptying my wallet? 2. Live rock... Finding beautiful pieces in the shape, size, and color I want online. But is there any kind I should stay away from? Must it be cured already? 3. I think I have live sand figured out but any suggestions? Thank you for the helping hand!!! Many more questions to come I'm sure.

 

[Oscar47f]

for your water question I've used nutri seawater and its worked fine but i like making my own R/O water and mixing in a high quality salt.(i use the red sea pro salt) the R/O will cost anywhere from 150-250 for a good one off brs.com and it will outlast probably even the tank itself... Heres my opinion on live rock, just don't.... reason being, you get a lot of unwanted hitchhikers into the tank that are hard to get rid of.. you never really know with live rock and you pay for water weight... I would buy dry rock, this allows you to buy the amount you need without water weight and you have time to think about your aquascape... and for live sand i like the carib sea fiji pink i find the sand grains are the right size for sand sifters and they don't blow around the tank.. hope it helps lol

 

[Triggerhappy77]

I see, I found a portable rodi unit at pure water club that is $75 or so for a 50 gpd model. Seems reasonable as I am in an apartment and anything else would be a bit difficult to pull off. I thought the live rock was good because it has the critters in it on it. If I get dry rock to start do i need to do anything special? I.E. supplements or additives stuff like that? Thanks again

 

[Garrett W.]

Check your LFS and see if they sell RODI water and not just the pre-mix. Mine in town sells five gal for a dollar so i just do that and use my own salt (aquavitro salinity).

 

[indyjaco]

I'd get distilled water for now and mix it yourself for now. Best option is to get a 4 stage RO/DI with a TDS meter and hide it under your sink. Get yourself a 50G bag of RC or IO and a good way to test salinity. Of course, mix and heat the water outside of the tank.

I'd start with 25 lbs of dry rock, about 20 lbs of sand and add some bacteria to the tank to begin the cycle.

 

[Oscar47f]

i agree get a 4 or 5 stage filter and you can buy an adapter and put it under a sink or something... and if you use dry rock and bio spira which is an additive consisting of beneficial bacteria, along with live sand it'll become live rock in no time..you only need one bottle or two about 14.99 each bottle maybe.. but after that no need to add any supplements.. or you don't have to add anything period, just wait for the tank to cycle for a few weeks.. and you can get something good from live rock but theres a very high chance you'll get stuff that you don't want like aptasia, mojanos, worms, parasites....

 

[jeflen651]

I used Carib Sea Life Rock and couldn't be happier three years ago. It is man made induced with bacteria, cheaper than live rock (I bought from Pet Mountain, com and comes with free shipping), and is critter free. I also used carib sea live fiji pink sand. With this combo it took 3 weeks to cycle my tank.

 

[Triggerhappy77]

What a wealth of knowledge! Is dry rock even cheaper still than man made live rock? RC or IO??? I have all the test kits and a nice refractometer as well, any other thoughts on bare bones start up. I'm in absolutely no rush to get coral let alone fish or inverts in there. I really wanna be a water pro before I risk any life on it.

 

[Robert Vacchiano]

If you look on line you can find a cheep ro unit. It is the cheapest way to go making your own and surely better than using treated tap water

 

[Salt Creep01]

+1 on the life rock

 

[indyjaco]

I'd get a 25 lb box from Marco rock and call it done.

 

[Triggerhappy77]

I'd get a 25 lb box from Marco rock and call it done.

Looked at Marcos rocks and he's got some nice looking stuff and very reasonable price. Think I'm going with that for rock and sand. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Triggerhappy77]

Now that I have my water rock and sand plan done. A few options for equipment: against my lfs's advice I am getting a skimmer(aquatic life 115) but with all the videos and mods out there I'm lost beyond that. Should I get a uv sterilizer, heater or chiller? All deemed unnecessary by lfs but my reading suggests otherwise. And then ofcourse there's filtering. What media? Toss the sponge provided? Media basket? And so on and so on until my wife is sick of me youtubing videos of aquariums and takes my phone. Haha

 

[indyjaco]

In-Tank has some media baskets which will help you out. I ran some filter floss and chemi-pure elite. My first tank was a BC29 so a lot of this relates to what I went through. The aquatic life is good as well as the small Tunze skimmer.

You don't need a UV or chiller. I would 100% get a heater ~100 watts and some type of controller for it. You could also use the controller to manage the lights as well.