Vince's 55g Starter Tank

[Magma]

Time to cycle the tank IMO here is a great article about starting the cycle and what to watch for etc.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articl...ank/Page1.html

This is basic info about ammonia to nitrate
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articl...ate/Page1.html

[vince0]

Thank you! That was exactly what I was looking for! Looks like I'm headed to the grocery store tonight!

[fishytime]

Lookin good so far......that article should help you get things going.... You may however need to exercise a little more patience as far as your cycle goes due to ratio of live to dead rock.....looking forward to some updates...... Have fun with it

[vince0]

Are you saying I should add more live rock to the set-up, if I wanted this to jump along a little quicker? And also, with adding a couple dead shrimp, how long do i leave them in there? And should I put them anywhere specific, or is there somewhere that they will have the greatest impact.

I was also curious about adding a sand bed? I like the idea of sand, and wanted to get a symbiotic shrimp/goby combo, or at least try for it. What is involved in adding sand bed? What is the best time to add the sand bed? Should I wait until the tank is cycled completely?

Thanks again for the info, and any additional info is great!

[vince0]

I added 2 raw frozen shrimps to the tank last night, and when I go up this morning I found a lot of tiny dead shrimps and copepods. It would appear that ammonia is starting to register on the test kit. Also, since I added the raw shrimp, my skimmer has stopped producing micro-bubbles! Im starting to notice some alge and diatom growth. I can't wait for it to be safe to add more live rock

[lee9]

Originally Posted by vince0

I was also curious about adding a sand bed? I like the idea of sand, and wanted to get a symbiotic shrimp/goby combo, or at least try for it. What is involved in adding sand bed? What is the best time to add the sand bed? Should I wait until the tank is cycled completely?

I have a Yellow Watchman Goby and Tiger Pistol Shrimp pair. In hindsight, I wish I would have used a coarser substrate for my sand bed. I currently have a mix of fine live sand and aragamax sugar-sized sand. The Tiger Pistol Shrimp is like a little bulldozer. It's a permenant construction zone at the bottom my tank. haha It's cool to watch but it makes a mess of things with the fine sand. I can't really put anything right on the substrate or it gets partially buried. My bottom live rock gets a lot of sand on it too. My tank is very small though (28 gallons) so it probably won't be as much of a problem for you.

That's just my experience with the pair so far. I really enjoy them though.

[vince0]

Did you add your sand right away, or did you wait till later?

[Magma]

I added mine before I filled the tank, it still clouds the tank but not as bad, if you want to add it after it will take a day or 2 for the sand to settle and your tank will look white.

But then your rock will be touching the glass already and be more secure.