finally starting

monotreme_man · 04/08/2009, 10:27 AM

after what seems like months setting up infrastructure
(sump in basement, plumbing twixt DT and sump,
putting in an electrical panel, setting up RO/DI,
and devising a waste water disposal mechanism),
i am finally good to start adding life to my DT.
the water is about 1.024 salinity and 78 degrees.

the tank has dead rock in it, and i am about to
buy 10-20lbs of live rock to seed it. i'll also throw
in some garf grunge for the heck of it. the live rock
is being bought locally (30mins tank to tank time),
so there should be no measurable cycle.

for teh first week or so, i plan to just do actinics for lighting.
when do i add the cleanup crew? and what should i expect
over the next few weeks? i also plan to buy a couple of fish
for their month-long stay in the QT.

is any of this wrong? am i missing anything?

Sisterlimonpot · 04/08/2009, 11:05 AM

Add your CUC after the ammonia has topped off and has fallen back down to 0. But if your tank has already cured LR you might not see a cycle at all so give it a few weeks to make sure you don't have an amm. spike. What kind of fish are you going to put in the QT. The QT tank will need to be cycled as well. Some people put cured LR or filter media with an abundance of bacteria already on it from their display tank (that has already cycled) to cut down on the cycle.

monotreme_man · 04/08/2009, 11:13 AM

fish? i have a whole list of livestock to get that i was going to post here
but thought to start with a pair of percolas (or ocellaris).

the QT has a hang on the back filter but you're right,
it wil need cycled water to start.

der_wille_zur_macht · 04/08/2009, 11:37 AM

I'm a strong believer in NOT limiting lighting during cycling. If you do, you'll kill off most of the beneficial algae (coraline) on the live rock, and you'll just be delaying any pest algae problems until the point when you run full lighting.

If you want to save on energy, cut the period back a bit or only run some of your main lights, but IMHO running just actinic is a mistake.

If you have any detailed questions or want help with anything, shoot me a PM some time. I'm right in your neck of the woods.

1DeR9_3Hy · 04/08/2009, 12:53 PM

Another thing i will add, even though you are not expecting much die off because of the short trip home...you might want to throw your time table out the window lol. You are going to be dealing with animals, and somethings will just die for no reason.

Give the tank plenty of time to cycle, and research your many parts of the CuC and get to know all about what you want to stock. There are more parts to a CuC than anyone would like to list, so you should keep busy

04/08/2009, 10:27 AM	#1
monotreme_man Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Southern California Posts: 228	finally starting after what seems like months setting up infrastructure (sump in basement, plumbing twixt DT and sump, putting in an electrical panel, setting up RO/DI, and devising a waste water disposal mechanism), i am finally good to start adding life to my DT. the water is about 1.024 salinity and 78 degrees. the tank has dead rock in it, and i am about to buy 10-20lbs of live rock to seed it. i'll also throw in some garf grunge for the heck of it. the live rock is being bought locally (30mins tank to tank time), so there should be no measurable cycle. for teh first week or so, i plan to just do actinics for lighting. when do i add the cleanup crew? and what should i expect over the next few weeks? i also plan to buy a couple of fish for their month-long stay in the QT. is any of this wrong? am i missing anything?

04/08/2009, 11:05 AM	#2
Sisterlimonpot R.C. Fraternity President Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Litchfeild Park AZ Posts: 11,490 Blog Entries: 2	Add your CUC after the ammonia has topped off and has fallen back down to 0. But if your tank has already cured LR you might not see a cycle at all so give it a few weeks to make sure you don't have an amm. spike. What kind of fish are you going to put in the QT. The QT tank will need to be cycled as well. Some people put cured LR or filter media with an abundance of bacteria already on it from their display tank (that has already cycled) to cut down on the cycle. __________________ Jimmy MASVC President Dishes are done man! Current Tank Info: 300 in progress

04/08/2009, 11:37 AM	#4
der_wille_zur_macht Team RC Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NY Posts: 17,749	I'm a strong believer in NOT limiting lighting during cycling. If you do, you'll kill off most of the beneficial algae (coraline) on the live rock, and you'll just be delaying any pest algae problems until the point when you run full lighting. If you want to save on energy, cut the period back a bit or only run some of your main lights, but IMHO running just actinic is a mistake. If you have any detailed questions or want help with anything, shoot me a PM some time. I'm right in your neck of the woods. __________________ Inconveniencing marine life since 1992 "It is my personal belief that reef aquaria should be thriving communities of biodiversity, representative of their wild counterparts, and not merely collections of pretty specimens growing on tidy clean rock shelves covered in purple coralline algae." (Eric Borneman)

04/08/2009, 12:53 PM	#5
1DeR9_3Hy Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 2,575	Another thing i will add, even though you are not expecting much die off because of the short trip home...you might want to throw your time table out the window lol. You are going to be dealing with animals, and somethings will just die for no reason. Give the tank plenty of time to cycle, and research your many parts of the CuC and get to know all about what you want to stock. There are more parts to a CuC than anyone would like to list, so you should keep busy __________________ I hope it never catches on, I like having the oldest tank on here and I don't have to worry about calcification, bio pellets, Vodka dosing, DSBs, Chaetomorpha (I don't even know what that is) Carbonite hardness and all of these other things many people worry about. If I had to think about all of that stuff I would get a stroke. My test kit came in a wooden box and the directions say to keep in a cool chariott. I throw some food in the tank, wave hello to the fish and go out with my wife and have a nice glass of merlot with dinner. Have a great day but most of all, have fun. -PaulB Current Tank Info: 27 Gallon DAS softy/fish reef

04/08/2009, 11:13 AM	#3
monotreme_man Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Southern California Posts: 228	fish? i have a whole list of livestock to get that i was going to post here but thought to start with a pair of percolas (or ocellaris). the QT has a hang on the back filter but you're right, it wil need cycled water to start.