I just setup my saltwater tank yesterday...due to resource constraint, i just start with decent FOWLR 20gl tank...
Bought myself
- 2ftx1ftx1.5ft tank,
- hydrometer,
- marine salt 4kg
- testkit (ammonia, NO3, PH),
- HOB filter with surface skimmer (set 100% water sucked from the skimmer to act like overflow system )
- Protein skimmer with air pump

Now cycling the tank with saltwater. water parameter @ the moment:-
- Ammonia 0
- Nitrate 20ppm
- Gravity around 1.021
- PH 8.5
- temperature hovering around 26-27c

To speed up the cycling process a bit (i guess):
- I use my freshwater tank filter media
- also put activated carbon and used bio-ring in the filter
- i premix 50% of the water with used water from my freshwater tank (that's why i got nitrate 20ppm)...
However if any of the above is not advisable, do let me know....

I'm thinking to get live rock this afternoon at ikano..there are selling RM12/kg..
i dont know if its cured but they keep it in the saltwater tank and not smelly..
And should i put live sand as substrate at this stage..which one first? live sand or live rock??

Evrae90,
actually i was inspired by your setup  . nice that u manage to keep some coral in a small tank..
Did u used any powerhead inside the tank for water circulation??
I wanna put one in mine but afraid will raised the water temp coz i dont used any chiller 

What's the normal price for marine salt?? bought mine at RM33 for 4kg...
since going to used quite often, is there any cheaper brand/option available...
I just wanna start with FOWLR first, if this succeed then consider to get coral...

Hi, after reading ur post in the forum i would like to ask u some question about marine aquarium. Before that let me introduce myself, i'm Megat from kuantan.

I have a 2ft aquarium, recently i go to the fish shop in kuantan and they advise me to buy a salt, bio ring, bacteria start, live sand (2kg) and live rock (3kg). After a few days setting the salt water my hydrometer pointing to 1.022 and the temperature is between 28.5 - 30c which according to the salesperson is suitable for FOWLR. I have a top filter with powerhead unit. He told me to keep the pump running for a 3 days and can put in fish after the water is crystal clear.

Day 4 i buy a blue damsel, it only last for 2 days. Then a yellow tail damsel - 3 days, green corbis - 2 days bear in mind that i didn't put all of them at the same time, only put it after the previous fish die. Today the 2nd green corbis die after almost 2 weeks setting up the fish tank. My observation today i can see something is not right with the corbis skin, it look like "menggelupas" a bit, in fact all the dead fish have "menggelupas skin". All the fish that i have bought didn't last long, the max is only 4 days.

My question is what could  possibly wrong with my fish tank? is it my setup? the tank size itself? The salesperson ask me to place the bio ring below the sponge filter in the top filter box. Should i remove the bio ring if i already have a live rock and live sand? Or should i remove the live rock to give more room to the fish since i already have the bio ring installed? I think something is not right with that salesperson advice to me. I asked him about the test kit, he told that i dont need it at the moment bcoz the water setup is new and not much dangerous chemical inside it.

Tq.

Hi and thanks for replying,

Buying the test kit is on my to-do list for today, really frustrated to watch those fish die. The only living thing that still alive from the first day of setup is the snail. I don't have this kind of problem with my arowana before. BTW do u have any specific brand of filter canister? What about my tank temperature 28.5 - 30c, is it okay? i don't have plan for reef just FOWLR so should i add a fan?  
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Yesterday i buy a canister filter RM80.00 RESUN Cyclone External. Surprisingly the canister filter motor got problem after a few hours of usage and i send the filter back to the shop and they want to replace with a new one but i say noooooo..... I will never believe that brand anymore. I ask him to change the filter with other thing and he agree so i take a KH and NO2 test kit.

By using the old top filter with powerhead, i have perfom the test. The KH is around 7 so i put in 2 spoon (2degreeH) in the tank. The NO2 test showing that quite critical reading, i put in half bottle of JBL Filterstart as advise by the shop owner. He also advise not to buy the ammonia test kit because i have pass that moment already and also to buy the NO2 test kit is better than NO3 because the NO2 reading is more accurate 

What did u guys think of this? Please advise....

TQ.

Hi again, yesterday my kh test is 12dkh and my no2 is 0ppm then i decide to go to lfs to buy some ls. The shop confirmed that the water perimeter is already okay to put in some ls such as damsel and chromis. So i bought 1 each... they managed to live until now but just now when i take a look at the aquarium i saw that the damsel skin look like peeling of and the chromis is shaking heavily.

Did i missed something here?

I think I have found the problem. Marine Ich... I dunno whether the problem is in my tank or the shop tanks... What should I do now? What are the option that I have? Hypo salinity is a no go to me because I have live rock, and coral sand. Thanks to the damsel today because showing me how to rub ur skit with the live rock making me wondering all nite long...

Noob to marine setups. Any decent shop that sells corals around PJ area? Thinking of adding a frag of zoas to my little experimental marine setup. Wanna give corals a shot.

If zoas are hard to find, any suggestions for soft corals?