Newbie needs help.

[Zenmaster]

I use to have tanks back in the 80's and understand things have changed since then so I'm going to ask some ignorant questions.

I understand there will be cloudy water for a while because of the new sand I added but how long should that last? Also, does anyone have an opinion on how long I should wait before I add some fish? I plan on having a FOWLR tank and have had the live rock (165pnds) in the tank for about a week. I have two cleaner shrimp, snails, and crabs that I added yesterday.

Also, I was told the LR was all I need to start the culture. Do I need live sand as well?

Thanks in advance for any replies! Great site, I'm beyond excited about reviving my old hobby. :mixed:

[bertoni]

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=239848

That thread is a good place to start. Live sand is optional, not required. Cloudy water usually goes away after a few days. The amount of time to wait before adding fish depends a lot on the condition of the live rock, so it's highly variable. Any where from 3-6 weeks is within normal.

[drummereef]

The sandstorm usually will go away in a couple of days. No worries. Only start adding livestock after your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are zero. This indicates your cycle is finished. I would recommend adding your cleanup crew first then wait a week or two before adding any fish. You don't need 'live' sand, just live rock to start the cycle. It's fine to use the dry stuff. The live rock will help seed the sand. The sand will become live in time. What other filtration do you plan on running?

[stealthbimmer]

cloudy water should last a day or so, i would not add anything....fish,inverts, anything untill ammonia,nitrites and nitrates are at 0. whatever sand you put in will become "live" with time.So, do not add any fish until your cycle is over

[jer77]

Have you tested the water yet for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? This will make things a lot easier. I'm guessing your LR was cured? Do you have any sand in the tank? You don't really need live sand if you got some LR. Your snails, crabs, shrimp and LR should already have started the cycle so you don't need to buy anything else to seed it.

[Zenmaster]

Wow, thanks for the responses! Drummerreef asked what other filtration I'm running. Taking the advice of my local marine store I have MSM Reeffilter Algae filter. 36x18x17, 40 total gallons with 20 gallon refugia & 20gallon sump 1440 flow rate and twin 18watt lamps. Was that to much info?? lol I also have the euro reef skimmer and iwaki pump 1200gph. Thanks again for the help.

[Zenmaster]

I have not tested the water for amonia, nitrite or nitrate yet. It sounds like I need another trip back to the store. Thanks again.

[drummereef]

I'd get some Salifert test kits if you don't have any at this point. A refractometer is a good tool for measuring salinity too. Can you post a pic of your MSM Reef filter Algae filter? I'd love to see what that's all about. What lighting are you running?

Btw, my cousin lives in Maui too. You lucky dog!!! :D

[Zenmaster]

The lighting is Aqualight pro-professional series light retro kit. Two 150 watt 10,000 k double ended HQI metal halide lamps. two 96watt true actinic 03 blue square pin compact flourescent lamps, four 1 watt lunar blue-moon-glow 470nm LED lamps with built in cooling. I'll take a picture and post it tomorrow morning. I love my tank, I'm staring at it while I write lol..

[Zenmaster]

Ha! Just caught the end of your post, Maui is a small rock, I probably know him lol.....

[drummereef]

And you plan on keeping a fowlr with this??? Dude, you are setup to keep a reef with the equipment you are pulling out. :D Or are you going to keep an aggressive species flowr or something?

Yeah, he just came back to the states to visit for a few weeks. I've yet to make it over (kicking myself while typing). :lol:

[Zenmaster]

Ya, the guy at the store says it won't be long till I convert to a reef tank. I was planning on doing some triggers, groupers, eels, hawkfish etc.. I like triggers! But looking at your gallery maybe my store guy is right !!! The reef tank at their store is unreal.

[drummereef]

Yeah, he's right! :D You'll be doing corals in a matter of months, if that. Just make sure with the triggers you are planning on keeping they are reef safe. Some are, some will eat your hard earned cash. ;) Don't know much about keeping groupers.

[Zenmaster]

Here's the guys website that helped me with the tank.. very cool

http://www.msmaquatics.com/default.asp

[drummereef]

Looks like you are in good hands there. All depends on the representative you are dealing with but it looks like they have their stuff together. So the MSM algae filter is basically a sump/refugium combo?

[Zenmaster]

I'm not sure how to post pics. I guess I'll try to put them in my gallery in about 5 minutes or so.. :)

[drummereef]

Here you go...

1. Get a Photobucket account
2. Upload your photos to Photobucket
3. Copy the IMG Code for the desired photo
4. Paste the IMG Code into this thread

Easy peasy. :)

[Zenmaster]

Cooolio! http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u153/Zenmaster67/tank001.jpg

[Zenmaster]

one more..

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u153/Zenmaster67/tank002.jpg

[drummereef]

Oh yeah! For a newbie you have a sweeeeet setup. :D :thumbsup:

[Zenmaster]

I had lots of help... LOL

Understand, I've been waiting for this tank since I sold my last one in 1985. I had to sell the kids to pay for it, don't tell!

[drummereef]

:lol: In any event you are on the right track. Keep us posted on the progress. :)