Startup 1.2.3

[vapovick]

Substrate gets washed in saltwater, nothing else.
Live rock gets cured ?

Does all live rock need to be cured, if it is bought allready cured ? i.e. if the LFS cures the rock, what would need to be done once I get it home ?

Thanks again ! slowly but surley !

Everyone has been a great help.. :)

[djswift]

1)Don't wash your substrate, the small particals are a good thing
2)Cured live rock has already gone through the die off that happens after it leaves the ocean.
3)You can cure your own live rock, expecially if you are starting a new tank.

Do a search on LR and you will find all the info you need

[cwbroden]

Are you starting a cycle for the tank with the live rock? (Meaning is this a new tank.) Definately take things slow and you have a better chance for long term success.

[vapovick]

yes this is a new tank... brand new..

I have seen conflicting opinions on what do start with.

1. some say put the live rock in first and let it cycle before adding the substrate, others say add sub first then LR.

2. Should the water be salted first ? before adding anything,.or does this matter ?

3. once LR salt and sub are added what is the recommended time before adding fish ?

I assume the 3rd question depends greatly on the water chem. but any info would be great. I have bought a couple of books, but wanted to clarify whats going on...


Thanks

[DouglasTiede]

Question 3:
are you going for a (fish and LR) or (some fish and a reef)?

Here is what I did and it is working Great!!
- set up tank, level it.
- add water to about 90-95% full
- add salt to just short of proper amount for gallon/water mix
- stir, let cycle with pump and Power heads, heater for 2 days
- check specific gravity and temp( is temp steady?)
- add salt slowly and allow hours to pass to bring it up to as
close as possible to desired specific gravity
--- when specific gravity and temp are set, let it cycle just as
salt water for 1 week.

--- purchase LR and Sand, add lower level of live rock, add sand
to desired depth, add rest of live rock to best as possible
finial location ( sand storm doesn't help one see in there )

--- let it cycle for 2-3 days, sand will settle,

--- slowly pick up, keeping under water the LR that I want moved,
carefully shaking it off under water, and placing it.

--- let sit one more day, make any finial moves i might desire..

--- sit back and let it cycle and watch the life come to life!

--- LR might need to be dusted at some point again,

all is doing wonderful for me, all the good stuff is growing and
and my tank is cycling like it should..
I keep my lights out other then maybe 4 hours a day to keep
algae growth down, and keep out of the tank.. no hands in it!

Now that it is cycling I test it every one or two days ...

( get a log book and keep track of everything!!!! )

My tank will some year, be a (hopefully) nice reef
with very few fish.

[DougSupreme]

not a bad plan, but the week you let it cycle as just salt water; there is no cycle until ammonia is introduced to the tank. All you are doing for a week is making sure the water is mixed thouroughly and heated to the correct temperature. You could probably do this in about a day. Save you a week.

[DouglasTiede]

I had ( yuck.. tap water, so i needed to let it sit for a while )

[rjwilson37]

Tap water sits for a day and it should be fine losing it's chlorine.

Get yourself two 5gal buckets don't use these for anything but the tank. Add water to tank and then add salt mix to specific gravity like 1.023, make sure water and salt are mixed well. Run your filter's and heater to test equipment as well as adjust heater to get a good pretty steady temp of like 78-80. Just do this for a day. Now add your LR before LS, so you do not end up with dead spots. A dead spot is where the rock sits directly on the sand and this pressure on the sand causes a dead spot. Lay your base rock down where you want it and in the same day add your Live Sand of course turning off all filter's till sand settles about and hour or two. Now you turn the filter's on and you can grab a fresh shrimp from your near store, just a fresh uncooked shrimp. Toss it in and it will add ammonia to your tank after a few days. You can pull it out after about 5-6 days, that should be enough ammonia to get it going. Now if your using cured LR from LFS it will fully cycle in about 2 1/2weeks to 3 weeks. You will start to get your brown algae at 1 1/2 weeks, this is when your nitrites are coming down and nitrates are going up. You can get your cleaner crew now of about 15-20 assorted snails, 10-15 assorted hermits, 2-3 emerald crabs.

(If your not using cured LR and curing it yourself as part of the cycle, then it will have die off and ammonia, but may take a week or two longer to cycle.)

You can add some fish when the tank finishes it's cycle at around 3 weeks or a little longer if not using cured LR. You can also get 2-3 cleaner shrimp and 2-3 pepperment shrimp. Only add like two fish every week to 2 weeks, you do not want to upset your new cycled balance to much. Some fish can handle the change, some can not, so the smaller the change the better.