Some quick Questions...setting up new tank/29g

Ok i have had a few FOWLR tanks a few years back and i am setting up a new tank that i am hopefully looking to turn to a reef sometime but i am in no hurry. So far I set up a 10g refugium with about 4 inches of special kitty litter and about 2 inches of sand on top. i bought salt at petco the other day but i do not have a hydrometer yet. so i just kinda guessed. i am going to use my dads old 250watt metal halide that i found in the garage. i also found an old skimmer that i am going to hook up and i am running a little tetra HOB filter with carbon. right now i have bought 8 pounds of live rock that are currently in my refugium. at the moment i am bleaching like 25 pounds of my dads old live rock that i will use as base rock and hopefully my new live rock will survive and seed to the newly bleached rock.

my qustions

1. does anybody know where i can buy some replacement cords for my light? mine are corroded as hell.

2. will my possibly incorrect salinity levels slow my cycle? also i am waiting on my next paycheck to order a heater so will this affect my cycle? I am going to order my test kits with my heater so idk if i have experienced any spikes yet because i cannot test anything.

3. I am in high school and have a tight budget. what are the essential testing kits that i need to start? other than ph, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrite...

4. I am going to order my supplies online so does anybody know the best site with great prices cause my LFS's are ridiculous.

any critiques or recomendations will be greatly appreciated. oh and i also used tapwater...i know a big no no...but too late now. well thats all i can think of for now so if i think of anything else i will post on here and thanks for all your indirect help guys. i have been glued to these forums for the past month and thats what gave me the idea for the refugium instead of an old wet/dry.

 

Try going to Radioshak for the electrical cord. You could splice it.

For a few dollars you can buy a hydrometer until you have money for a refractometer. I still use my hydrometer after 1.5 yrs on my 29g. Though I wouldn't say it is all that accurate any more.

For a reef you will want magnesium, alkalinity, &phosphate test kits too. Try APU or Seachem or Red Sea for test kits. You'll want what's kalled a master test kitin order to get the tests you need. Although none of the companies sell magnesium tests in a kit so you wil have to by it separately.

I mainly shop on Fish & Pond Supplies | Aquarium & Garden Pond Specialists. But there are others too, like Aquarium Pet Fish Supplies, Tank Accessories, Products & Equipment & www.bulkreefsluppy.com. you could also go through our forum's sponsors.

I use tap water also. I've never really had the money for it, but will soon as I am working on a new build. You should use a water treatment sense you are using tap. This can be obtained online too.

What about substrate? You could go BB(bare bottom) or there's live sand. Many times this "live" sand is dead by the time you get it, as most of the oxygen in the bag is used up. I have CC(crushed coral) in my tank now. I like it. You just have to keep up with the water changes & clean the substrate other-whys you will see nitrates go up. My cuc doesn't dig too much, which is one of the reasons it doesn't work so well, for me at least. If you go with a reef I would suggest an argoinite base. It has calcium & stuff in it that will help with you cycle(as with other substrates), but you are not spending th extra money & it won't go bad on you.

 

Yes thanks for the help. I have sand at the bottom. I bought some at petco so I don't think it was live sand. I wanted It so I could get sand sifters such as gobies. And as far as the tap, our eater is pretty good here. And I have never owned a refractometer. Is there that much of a difference? Oh and btw, I woke up to a crazy mess last night around 4 o'clock. My return line to my DT slipped out ad onto the floor. It was a mess. I have already been electrocuted twice and now this problem.
Are there any other good alternatives to sumps/refugiums because it is turning out to be a lot of trouble. :/

 

You will need to get some water conditioners to netrulize the bad stuff you put in there and try to find a good water station at your grocery store so you can get RO water from now on, and you will need to read up on how to proplerly cycle a tank because you will not be looking to get any critter for a little while until your tank cycles.

Any other questions feel free to PM me.

I will post up a guideline for a tank cycle in my next post.

 

This is from another thread seems like good info and a nice timeline.

Here is my mini essay;

Tank cycling:
There are some who would tell you that once "the numbers" are all good the cycle is over and you are ready to go, I am not one of those. What many beginner (even some advanced) aquarium keepers are not (fully) aware of is that the full cycle takes at least 6-8 months. The reason being, mainly, is this is the time required to fully cultivate a total beneficial bacterial base and achieve a saturation of such. Also, allowing the tank to "season" and go through the inevitable mini-cycles and diatom blooms and get fully established is the key to a healthy and stable tank in the future. You could have one fish after about the 6 week mark, let the tank get established by light feeding and going through a moderate light cycle (6-8 hours) for the next 3 weeks.At the 2 month mark, A 25% water change of the "total"water volume is in order. After that, add a few clean up critters (crabs and/or snails) and allow the tank to "catch up" to the added load (you may at this time add some live bacteria to help in this process) and give it another 2 weeks doing all your tests on a regular (weekly) basis and determine if the tank is stable. Water changes of 30% should be carried out once a month to once every 5-6 weeks. Coral should not be introduced (even soft) until the tank is around 3-4 months old. Too many beginners don't exercise the proper patience and discipline at this early stage of getting their tank going only to have problems and head aches down the road. Once the tank has gone through this full cycle period and the tank is stable, then and only then, should you add more difficult coral like hard coral. I always employed a bit of advice I got when I was starting out to add bacteria after each water change for the first and subsequent next 4-5 changes. After the 4th water change then and only then add to the tank and minimally at that.
Another good tactic I learned is to add (whatever you are adding) a couple days after a water change. This gives the new creature fresh minerals and trace elements and a good 3-4 weeks (I adhere to 4-5 week intervals between changes) to adjust to the new water parameters, light, temp etc. before disrupting the tank for the next water change.
I hope this helps.

 

You should post up some pictures of your set up so we can see what you have to work with you sound like you might be rushing things.

 

the light is an aqua medic metal halide. my dad had it on his old bow front...i will try to post some pics later. can i have some tips on doing this with my iphone anybody? also, i am going to order this all at once from doctor foster and smiths, some salt(thinking about going red sea), a heater(100w visi-therm heater), api master saltwater testing kit, and some fish food. which water conditioner would you guys recommend? also anything else i should order? right now im just gonna let my tank cycle and will probaly place this order in like 2 weeks. next thursday im going to my LFS to pick up a hydrometer though.

 

sorry cant figure out how to post pics on here

 

As always there is more then one options I like Jager Heaters way better they are reilable as a heater can be and salt I like to use reef crystals if you get the 200g box you save some money, and I like STRESS COAT AND STRESS ZYME to condition my water.

 

As far as pictures go you will want to upload them to a photobucket account and post the img code on this site to get your pictures to display.