ReeferFulton's most SPECTACULARLY AWESOMEST tank build(s) EVAHHH!!!!

[reeferfulton]

ok , thanks for the posts .
this has triggered another hour of reading the forums in search of ways to cycle the dry rock in my tank ..
few questions .
in tank now . is 50 lbs dry ,

1. Would you recommend adding say 5 pounds of live rock from the bins at the local fish store ?
If so add it to the DT or the sump ?

2. If i add 5 lbs , do i still need to cycle with the shrimp .

3. Is there actually anything Beneficial ..(inverts etc) living on the live rock that fish stores have sitting in the big black bins soaking .. Or is this just rock that is soaking that they call live ..

Ex . Do they feed there live rock typically ?

I am confused all over again lol .. Seems the internet has way to many opinions . and that there is so many schools of thought on how to establish a SW tank.

I need to set up the beneficial bacteria chain in my tank , From what i have learned the only way to do this using dry rock is to introduce ammonia . and wait .

Now if i say spend 50 bucks and go buy some ready to go live rock . I transport it in sw and shove it in my tank, I will have very little die off on that lr .
essentially that one peice of rock ( if they have been feeding it ) should have no cycle ..

So my point is . what did the LR do for my tank at all ? other then introduce microorganisms or whatever people are always talking about .

Or is this LR piece (rubble ) intended to merely seed the other rock ..

Seeding is different then cycling i think ..

errr brain hurts

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by reeferfulton

ok , thanks for the posts .
this has triggered another hour of reading the forums in search of ways to cycle the dry rock in my tank ..
few questions .
in tank now . is 50 lbs dry ,

1. Would you recommend adding say 5 pounds of live rock from the bins at the local fish store ?
If so add it to the DT or the sump ?

2. If i add 5 lbs , do i still need to cycle with the shrimp .

3. Is there actually anything Beneficial ..(inverts etc) living on the live rock that fish stores have sitting in the big black bins soaking .. Or is this just rock that is soaking that they call live ..

Ex . Do they feed there live rock typically ?

I am confused all over again lol .. Seems the internet has way to many opinions . and that there is so many schools of thought on how to establish a SW tank.

I need to set up the beneficial bacteria chain in my tank , From what i have learned the only way to do this using dry rock is to introduce ammonia . and wait .

Now if i say spend 50 bucks and go buy some ready to go live rock . I transport it in sw and shove it in my tank, I will have very little die off on that lr .
essentially that one peice of rock ( if they have been feeding it ) should have no cycle ..

So my point is . what did the LR do for my tank at all ? other then introduce microorganisms or whatever people are always talking about .

Or is this LR piece (rubble ) intended to merely seed the other rock ..

Seeding is different then cycling i think ..

errr brain hurts

1. The more LR you use to seed, the faster you will have the tank ready. I won't give any specific amount of week since that varies (some people who starts with matured LR only won't even have any cycle). I personally prefers to get LR from reefers instead of LFS since LR from reefers have a much much less chance of any pest.

2. You would still need to feed the cycle. By adding LR, you are introducing bacteria in the system which will need food to multiply. Without the initial LR (called seeding), you would be starting the system without any bacteria and hence the bacteria will take much longer to appear in your system.

3. LR is only LIVE because of the bacteria. There will possibly be other living stuffs (algae, hitchhiker, pests, etc.) but basically, LFS keep LR connected to their systems to keep them live (generally, not all I guess).

SW do have many schools of thoughts but only few of them are correct. Sometimes, you just have to read through all and be the judge of the correct one yourself. If you read "LR is bad" and another article says "LR is good", be our own judge to see which one sounds "right".

If you transport cured LR from LFS to your home, you will basically have NO dieoffs and the bacteria will be living on it. Uncured ones will have a different stories and I am not too familiar with it. So when you put it in your system, the bacteria will spread over your macro rocks and thus seeding takes place. And then you start cycling with some sort of method (like shrimp) and the bacteria, which is already there, will multiply and BAM! You will have bacteria all over your rocks in....oh well....due time.

Tried my best

[reeferfulton]

well i went to the LFS and picked up 3 whopping pounds of LR

i asked a few questions about it . they had it sitting in black tubs . I asked if they feed it . I was told no . die off from new rock into that holding tank kept the rock going .

there was one pump in the tub which seemed to provide some circulation.
we choose a few small peices that looked brown , had some coraline on them and didnt smell


placed them in my tank

.

kept the shrimp in there as well .
The shrimp still looks eatable lol no signs of decay thus far .

I had to add about 1.5 gallons of top off water yesterday , and again today .
I will see how that trend continues , as i dont even have the lights on yet.
I am quickly see what all the hype is about in regards to ATO units .

I am not in a rush to start this cycle . would be nice to have some CUC in there in say 3 weeks , but will see

[reeferfulton]

Well my add for some live rock worked out . I met an Awesome local Reefer
RICE REEF.

It was great , looked over his amazing tank ( i mean drooled over ) for at least an hour .
I picked his brain and he was happy to try and help answer my newb questions .

He had a few small pieces of coralline coated rock .. ANd the came with a few surprises attached to them . hope they make it





Man ontop of that he grabbed a couple bristlestars for me too ..

I placed everything in the tank . turned on my lights and all sorts of stuff started appearing .. Now i see why people say that live rock is worth the risk .
So many things to instantly look at .. No idea if they are good or bad mind u .

Also nabbed up some

at the advice of some people . Applied the normal dose for starting up a tank . Turned off the skimmer like it said too .

So i guess now i will run my lights from when i get home from work till bed time . see if any of these corals make it through .

Today I also realized why going Bare bottom is so nice ,
1. i dropped a power head and created a sand storm .
2 i can see some areas on the bottom that have crap settling .. not good
.

anyway Rice Reef gave me a peek into the local group of Reefers , and all i can say is ..... I think i want in lol

gnight

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by mrhasan

1. The more LR you use to seed, the faster you will have the tank ready. I won't give any specific amount of week since that varies (some people who starts with matured LR only won't even have any cycle). I personally prefers to get LR from reefers instead of LFS since LR from reefers have a much much less chance of any pest.

2. You would still need to feed the cycle. By adding LR, you are introducing bacteria in the system which will need food to multiply. Without the initial LR (called seeding), you would be starting the system without any bacteria and hence the bacteria will take much longer to appear in your system.

3. LR is only LIVE because of the bacteria. There will possibly be other living stuffs (algae, hitchhiker, pests, etc.) but basically, LFS keep LR connected to their systems to keep them live (generally, not all I guess).

SW do have many schools of thoughts but only few of them are correct. Sometimes, you just have to read through all and be the judge of the correct one yourself. If you read "LR is bad" and another article says "LR is good", be our own judge to see which one sounds "right".

If you transport cured LR from LFS to your home, you will basically have NO dieoffs and the bacteria will be living on it. Uncured ones will have a different stories and I am not too familiar with it. So when you put it in your system, the bacteria will spread over your macro rocks and thus seeding takes place. And then you start cycling with some sort of method (like shrimp) and the bacteria, which is already there, will multiply and BAM! You will have bacteria all over your rocks in....oh well....due time.

Tried my best

Agreed ^

Glad to hear Rice Reef was able to help you out. There are a lot of good reefers out there that enjoy helping others, it is a wonderful community to be involved with

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by fishoholic

. There are a lot of good reefers out there that enjoy helping others, it is a wonderful community to be involved with

Personally I think we're all a bit crazy and Jon should run away fast!!

[Aquattro]

You should drop by for a visit, I'll give you a whole bunch of pointers on what not to do. lol

[reeferfulton]

sounds like a plan

learning from others mistakes is always easier then from your own ..

and less costly lol

[reeferfulton]

well I told myself it would never happen to me lol hahaha

Let me RODI run today with a timer to remind me to turn it off ..

ran about 15 minutes onto the floor under the stairs ... o well


So . things on my wish list .
1.Auto top off
2.Apex controller
3. Auto shut off .. need to research this
4. LED's one day
5. Better knowledge of what I am doin

[kien]

RODI overflow does seem to happen to a lot of people but is totally (well, almost totally) avoidable. Look into getting one of these Kent Float valves for your RODI container. It would have saved your bacon ;-)

http://www.kentmarine.com/products/float-valve-kit.htm

If you get one, keep in mind that you should not use it as a primary shut off. You should still shut off the primary source water goig into your RODI unit when you are done making water. If you souly rely on the float valve you will get frequent on/off cycles from your RODI (from evaporation of your reservoir) which will prematurely exhaust your membrane.