Hey Edward Finch, Welcome to TR.
Listen to Carmie, she is a great resource here on TR.
I would like to clear something up for everyone concerning "seeding" a new tank to kick off the "cycle". Back in the "old days", I'm talking
before the use of
live rock (LR),
before live sand (LS) was commercially available and
long before the average hobbyist (fresh or salt water) new there was a "cycle". I can speak to this early
"Age of Aquarius" because I'm old and experienced it first hand. We used a fresh dead shrimp to seed our sand beds as a source of
Ammonia to start the cycle. We didn't have the luxury of
LR. No one had "discovered"
LR as the perfect solution to our problems. We did know the cycle was going to happen and jumping into and stocking our aquariums before the cycle was completed spelled disaster for everything we put into the tank. We didn't know about
sumps,
refugiums,
wet/dry trickle filters, those would be
"discovered" much later.
We did know about
skimmers and ozone. I had a hang-on the tank (inside)
skimmer that was air driven and an ozone generator hooked into the airline. I still have that ozone generator.
We didn't have to "seed" our sand beds but, it would take 3 to 4 months for the cycle to complete without doing it. One method we "discovered" was to "seed" our sand bed with sand from an established marine aquarium. That, and the shrimp method combined, shortened our "cycle" time to 1 to 2 months. We tested our water daily as we waited eternities for those bacteria to colonize our sand beds with high enough populations to consume the
Ammonia and
Nitrite (both highly poisonous) that was being produced. It got pretty old staring into bland aquariums with little or no livestock and that led to impatience, which led to impulse buying way to early. Countless marine specimens have perished to impatience. Patience is one of the most important "traits" you must develop in this hobby.
The "discovery" of
LR and all it's benefits (LR brings all the necessary ingredients together in our aquariums, dying mater and the correct bacteria) changed this hobby forever. If you understand the "cycle", the benefits of
LR and LS and know how to use them to your advantage, a successful marine aquarium can be set up in a very short period of time compared to "the good old days".
Because you are going to use
LR and LS you don't need to use the "old" method of seeding your system with a dead shrimp and certainly not with a banana peel.
Quote:
| first, how much will the water cost in a 55 gallon tank if im using distilled water |
First off, you should not use distilled water. Commercially available distilled water is distilled over
copper piping. This water may have a trace amount of
copper, something you want to avoid in a marine aquarium because it is very toxic to our critters. Listen to Carmie about getting
RO/DI water from the
LFS or buy your own
RO/DI unit ASAP. You will be doing (hopefully) weekly water changes. You will want one in the future (about $140).
As a beginner, you will want to question us about everything BEFORE you do it. That may seem strange to you but I'm serious. You will be amazed at how costly a simple wrong decision can be. Bring it here first!!! And one important piece of information repeated on all aquarium related forums is this -
"The worst place to seek information is your LFS". That may seem ridiculous but it's true. You are bound to find out sooner or later might as well be from us before you rely on advice from them.
I hope this helps you in making your system sucessful.
Dick
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