Its been 6 months of questions and answers from great people on the RC, like you, wendy, et el. I had a bit of a brown algae bloom on the 6 day old rock, but blew it off with powerheads and turkey baster (better get a new one before thanksgiving).

Im looking forward to the curing process and staring at the rock hoping for life. Im going to only run actinics during the process. I read on another thread something that made sense. With all of the nutrients and byproducts in the water, along with the full sun lighting, it would be an algae bloom heaven. Any thoughts? I love the research and learning process in this hobby.

Shawn

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9904775#post9904775 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sgallagher7 [/i]
[B]Its been 6 months of questions and answers from great people on the RC, like you, wendy, et el. I had a bit of a brown algae bloom on the 6 day old rock, but blew it off with powerheads and turkey baster (better get a new one before thanksgiving).

Im looking forward to the curing process and staring at the rock hoping for life. Im going to only run actinics during the process. I read on another thread something that made sense. With all of the nutrients and byproducts in the water, along with the full sun lighting, it would be an algae bloom heaven. Any thoughts? I love the research and learning process in this hobby.

Shawn [/B][/QUOTE]

Shawn, it's Wednesday! LOL.

Anyway, when I first got my LR, I didn't even have my light bulbs yet, so for the first week or so it was curing without any lights at all (other than the flashlight, of course). IMO running only actinics is a great idea, especially since you don't "need" all the lights for the curing process. I know there are many opinions about this, but I'm not sure that there's a "wrong" way to do it. :)

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Wendy

Yes it is wed!! Waiting for the phone call is like waiting for a baby beeper to go off. Good god.

How bad of an algae bloom did you have? Also, how frequently did you change water? I have read threads ranging from frequently to none at all. I was thinking of just paying attention to the ammonia level only, sinse nitrites will be crazy anyway.

Its here!!! I pick it up at noon. Man I am jacked. Lots of pics to come.

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9906765#post9906765 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sgallagher7 [/i]
[B]Yes it is wed!! Waiting for the phone call is like waiting for a baby beeper to go off. Good god.

How bad of an algae bloom did you have? Also, how frequently did you change water? I have read threads ranging from frequently to none at all. I was thinking of just paying attention to the ammonia level only, sinse nitrites will be crazy anyway. [/B][/QUOTE]

Yay! I can feel the excitement all the way over here. :rollface:

I had a pretty bad algae bloom. At first I had diatoms, but by that time my parameters were stable so I started adding a cleanup crew. The diatoms didn't last long either, only a few days. THEN came the hair algae. :eek2: And boy did it come fast and furious. I added more cleaners, and currently I do weekly water changes of 20%. I've almost got it nipped in the butt. As far as I know many people go through different kinds of algae blooms though. Just be patient, watch your params, and be diligent with the water changes. :)

Ok, now I'll be watching your update like a hawk. :D

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Wendy

SWEET.....so this is where the fun starts. When I got my first large shipment of rock, first thing first....i mixed some salt water, and got out a tooth brush and went to work....just on the portions with alot of sediment. I examined it carefully looking for crabs, and things that I dont want in my reef. BEFORE I FORGET.....WEAR GLOVES!!!!!

If you get it in the tank tonight be prepared to do a 20-30% water change on sunday.....leave your actinics on it will speed up the process. yeah I know you may have an algae bloom but as soon as you spot it, do the water change.

By the way, what test kits are you using, and are you using a hydrometer or a refractometer?

Well here ya go. I received an email this morning that my rock was waitn for me. Got there at noon to receive 78 lbs of LR. Couldnt wait to get home. It was XMAS!!!

Took out 5 gal of tank water to get ready. Opened the box, and boom. The smell of the sea. This stuff was fresh. My guess is less than 4 days out of the water.

Here is a pic [IMG]http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/144187IMG_0368.JPG [/IMG]

Easily 12 pieces of different sizes. [IMG]http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/144187IMG_0370.JPG [/IMG]
[IMG]http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/144187IMG_0371.JPG [/IMG]

Scrubbed a few sponges off, Found many worms, clams, and feather dusters. Damn I am one happy guy. Only disappointment was a sea urchin that I would have loved to have, didnt make the trip.

Totally awesome, Shawn! WOW - those are some awesome looking pieces of rock. You have got to be so happy.

Sorry about your urchin. Don't fret it, perhaps there's another one hidden somewhere.

Can't wait to see it all in your tank. :D

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Wendy

well wendy, here ya go.[url]http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/144187IMG_0377.JPG[/url]

[IMG]http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/144187IMG_0380.JPG [/IMG]

lets try that again

[IMG]http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/144187IMG_0377.JPG [/IMG]

Terrific! How glued to the tank are you? :D

How much fun was it putting the rock in the tank? Did you re-arrange yet, or systematically place them?

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Wendy

I rearranged a bit. There was way to much life on it to decide. It was awsome going throught the whole process. I was a bit scared stickn my hand in a box of live things. The first worm that shot out made me jump. This is awsome. Im sure I will get cataracts from starring into the tank for so long. :-)

Its been 4 hours. Once you get live rock in , the addiction takes over. I see lots of worms, and a great deal of a small scallop like clam. They are plentiful, open and living. The skimmer is workn like a dog. I have lots of SW ready for a water change if my ammonia gets over 1.0. I want this stuff to live.

Looking good, is that the total amoung of rock your going to use? I think with another 50 pounds or so you will be in good shape, that depends on what type of corals you are going to stock and where you ar going to get it from.

Looks great, what kind of test kit are you using, oh you may want to find one more power head and put it on the back of the tank....

I added another 30 lbs of fiji that I was curing for 6 days. The total rock is 108 lbs.

As for my kits, I have salifert kits across the board. The majority of reefers on RC seem to be using them. I have been happy with them so far. Nitrate has been high, but thats to be expected.

I have 3 k3's in the tank now. 2 on the left and 1 on the right, along with my returns. Total turnover is approx 2800 g/h (37x). The flow is great, and the rock isnt accumulating much debris.

Great, so do you plan on adding more rock or will so stay at that amount for awhile. Expect to start seeing an increase in chemicals today. THis must be a bit hectic right now because you have things on the rock that you are afraid of losing. I had the ability to get cured rock, and at 2.95 per pound I couldnt beat it. So I didnt see any spikes. In my nano however, I waited till the nitrates began to rise to do a water change.

Im gona stay with the rock amount for now. With a mixed reef, I want to have room for some fish as well ast corals. Im gona test the parameters today and expect the ammonia to be up.

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9914071#post9914071 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sgallagher7 [/i]
[B]Im gona stay with the rock amount for now. With a mixed reef, I want to have room for some fish as well ast corals. Im gona test the parameters today and expect the ammonia to be up. [/B][/QUOTE]

Shawn, no worries, the tank will fill in nicely. I had tons of room initially until I started stocking. And a lot of my additions came attached to some nice pieces of rock, thus filling out bare spots. :)

Now the fun REALLY begins, doesn't it? I can feel your excitement. :D

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Wendy

Yup. Constantly looking in the tank. I have lots of what I think are limpits, also what appears to be an attached abalone. Lots of worms. Coraline colors are yellow, orange, purple, and blue. I just hope that the colors come back cuz I know it tends to die back a bit. I have been running just actinics, and I can see the difference in the bleaching, when compared to the first 30 lbs of fiji I cured with full lights. No crawling critters yet, but thats ok. Im starting to do research on the next step, algae eaters. What kind of snails and how many to get. I wont get them until the tank is cured.

First test stats.

Ammonia .25
Phosphates 0
Nitrate 100 ( But thats to be expected)
Salinity 1.026
Temp 80.4

Of all the test, I'm thinking that the ammonia level is the one right now that will dictate water changes.

For snails you should probably start with a mixed back of 30-40

Turbos, nassarius, etc.

Look into some scarlet hermits and some blue leg crabs

That will be enough to take care of any algae growth and will be a good start and base for cleanup.....as far as the crabs get 10 scarlets and 10 blue legged hermits. over time you will find you will purchase 10 or so snails ever few months, and the same with the crabs.

Thanks. That helps alot. I have read pluses and minuses about crabs, and them eatn snails, etc.

I did exactly what newreefbishop said. Once the rock was cured, and the parameter was pretty stable I got some various snails and small blue-legged hermit crabs and some red-legged hermits. I love the hermits - they have caused no harm to anything, BUT I do provide them with empty shells in case they shed and look for a new shell. :)

As my algae bloom began, I added more cleaners, as needed, but didn't overdo it either because once they consume everything, I don't want to starve them.

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Wendy

Wendy, you hit the nail right on the head. Its important to give your crabs an alternative to killing snails. Obviously some snails will die, and the crabs will clean up and take the shell, On average I love 1-5 snails a month but I dont think a hermit has actually killed one since I started.