Almost ready to add water - advise please!

[gridley]

Originally Posted by jostafew

I started my system exactly the same way; I had all my aquascaping done with dry rock (BRS Reef Saver in my case) and the sand in the tank then filled with RODI over a couple days. Started the pumps, set the salinity (SG), then waited for the cloudiness to clear which took a few days for me. Once cleared up I seeded with a few choice pieces of live rock.

You didn't talk about cycling but I'll pass on a tip that you might not have heard; you don't need actual fish making poop to cycle a tank, just nutrients. Throw in some shrimp meat or fish food or whatever you have handy, let that break down and that will feed the ammonia cycle. Once the bacteria population gets this start the cycle with real fish will be reduced and not nearly as stressfull for them. I find the whole idea of buying hardy fish and subjecting them to poor conditions to cycle a tank to be somewhat cruel.

Happy reefing!

I appreciate this - I had thought through some aspects of cycling, but not the details of cycling - I had kind of thought that it would do that just by adding the live rock. Are there two cycles that the tank should go through? One once I add some live rock and another when I start adding some nutrients?

[dc4]

Originally Posted by gridley

I appreciate this - I had thought through some aspects of cycling, but not the details of cycling - I had kind of thought that it would do that just by adding the live rock. Are there two cycles that the tank should go through? One once I add some live rock and another when I start adding some nutrients?

Adding rock causes minicycle from the die off of anything that was once living on the rock. For a true cycle, you can dose ammonia or add a piece of fresh shrimp and wait for the spike. Easier to remove if you put the shrimp in some pantyhose.

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[gridley]

When you say to add a pice of fresh shrimp, would this just be a shrimp that we buy from the grocery store?

[dc4]

Yes, a nice sized piece should do the trick. Even the frozen ones will do.

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[PurpleMonkey]

+1 to the shrimp... just thawed a frozen one and dropped it in.

[Enigma]

-1 to the shrimp. It will get gross, nasty, and could introduce bacteria into your tank that you don't want in there.

I would just add some pellet fish food to get it going, and keep ghost feeding the tank throughout the cycle. Otherwise, you can add ammonia (don't remember how much per gallon).

I've read that urine (which is quite antiseptic for the most part) is a good way to get a tank going too. I haven't tried that approach.

[gridley]

Originally Posted by Enigma

-1 to the shrimp. It will get gross, nasty, and could introduce bacteria into your tank that you don't want in there.

I would just add some pellet fish food to get it going, and keep ghost feeding the tank throughout the cycle. Otherwise, you can add ammonia (don't remember how much per gallon).

I've read that urine (which is quite antiseptic for the most part) is a good way to get a tank going too. I haven't tried that approach.

Wow! I sure appreciate the thoughts and advice - I will take all but the last under consideration! LOL

[molotov]

I recently got my tank wet. For washing my sand I had a bucket in the back yard and put my garden hose in the bottom of the bucket. Slowly I poured the sand into the bucket while the continuous water flow from the hose overflowed and took with it all the dust and washed it away. I found it very effective.

I then slowly diluted my salt in a seperate bucket before pouring it into my tank to avoid salt settling on the bottom. Once the salt was diluted I poured the mixture into my sump.

With all the pumps and powerheads running I placed some live rock I bought from a fellow canreefer who was tearing his tank down.

I'm currently cycling my tank. It's been cycling for a week now with no significant rise in amonia. I've been ghost feeding red flaked fish food. If I don't see any noticable rise in amonia I may add a raw shrimp to the setup to see if that speeds it along. Although I've heard that adding a dead shrimp creates quite the stench.

Hope that helps.