I need help lol

[Triggz]

Originally Posted by fishytime

I would agree with almost everything said, except for the dry rock....I hate dry rock....it will cause you nothing but trouble and I will bet my life that Marko rock is not lighter than good live rock....it is basically petrified live rock, so I seriously doubt it will ever have the capacity to be as good as live rock.....dry rock could take anywhere from a couple monthes to a year (or more) before you will be able to count it as part of your biological filtration.....for the 25-30 pounds that you will need for that size tank, I would bite the bullet and get all live rock.....start a tank with 100% live rock and you need to be patient, start a tank with dry rock and you will have to be REALLY patient....I know others will chime in and say that they never had any issues with using dry rock, but I work at a LFS and see and hear about the problems on almost a daily basis...

+1!

I am a firm believer that true liverock is the lifeblood of your system. Personally, I like using really fresh liverock when cycling a new aquarium. Usually the liverock will kick in the cycle for you. You may get a few bad crabs, the odd shrimp but I really think the good (different shades of coraline, nice macro algaes, good critters) outweighs the bad. I usually leave the sand out for a weeks if I go this route. This way you can easily siphon out any "crap" that falls off the rocks while its curing. Get in there and give them a shake or hit them with a powerhead/turkey baster to flush out as much die off as possible.

Liverock is def a tricky subject.... gonna get a lot of opinions on this one. Either way you go take your time, sounds like your on the right track

[FFGirl]

Originally Posted by Triggz

+1!

I am a firm believer that true liverock is the lifeblood of your system. Personally, I like using really fresh liverock when cycling a new aquarium. Usually the liverock will kick in the cycle for you. You may get a few bad crabs, the odd shrimp but I really think the good (different shades of coraline, nice macro algaes, good critters) outweighs the bad. I usually leave the sand out for a weeks if I go this route. This way you can easily siphon out any "crap" that falls off the rocks while its curing. Get in there and give them a shake or hit them with a powerhead/turkey baster to flush out as much die off as possible.

Liverock is def a tricky subject.... gonna get a lot of opinions on this one. Either way you go take your time, sounds like your on the right track

Thanks so much for the advise I do want to go the live rock route I never thought of leaving the sand out to keep clean up easier
All of you guys are awesome I so appreciate all of the time you have all given me!!!

[FFGirl]

So YAYYY!!! I am off to go and buy my tank this afternoon!! I am very excited in spite of the fact that all it will be today is a tank full of salt water lol....but tomorrow will come some live rock!!!

[Enigma]

Originally Posted by FFGirl

So YAYYY!!! I am off to go and buy my tank this afternoon!! I am very excited in spite of the fact that all it will be today is a tank full of salt water lol....but tomorrow will come some live rock!!!

How has it gone? Is it set up?

[FFGirl]

Yes, thank you!! It is set up and running right now!! I took the advise of the owner of my new favorite store lol, and went with a mix of marcorock and live rock which I picked up today. Tomorrow I am going to syphon up a bit of debris that has settled in the tank and add my sand. Salinity and temp are great right now....so now to wait...and wait.....and wait lol

[gregzz4]

If you don't mind a suggestion, and it was mentioned earlier by triggs;
Don't put the sand in until your cycle is completed. This may be weeks. Once the sand is in, you won't see what to siphon and what you do see will now be a 'gravel cleaning' adventure.
You are most likely going to get detritus from the rock for awhile

[FFGirl]

Originally Posted by gregzz4

If you don't mind a suggestion, and it was mentioned earlier by triggs;
Don't put the sand in until your cycle is completed. This may be weeks. Once the sand is in, you won't see what to siphon and what you do see will now be a 'gravel cleaning' adventure.
You are most likely going to get detritus from the rock for awhile

ok, I will wait, Just watching the last few hours pass I can't believe all of the debris that is laying in the bottom of the tank!! The one thing that's laying there that disappointed me a bit was a little snail shell I'd imagine he died moving him from the store to my tank? Or could it have just been a little shell that was in the peice of rock?