4 important questions

[b_braz]

ok gonna try and wrap a few questions into one post here.
1st... Test Kits. I see cheap ones and pricey ones. What am I looking for in a test kit?
2nd... Live Rock. Again all kinds of prices many types. I have herd of bad and good critters being in or on the live rock. How do you know what Live Rock is good vs the bad?
3rd... UV Light. Should I be using it during the cycle? What are the pros and cons of the UV?
4th... Iron. I hear and read 2 different sides on this. Is it good or bad for a REEF?

Sorry for all the questions but they all come to me at once haha. I have been reading a lot of info but its hard to tell what is real and whats bull.

And Happy New Years!!!!

[Palting]

ok gonna try and wrap a few questions into one post here.
1st... Test Kits. I see cheap ones and pricey ones. What am I looking for in a test kit?
For ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, cheap for marine is all you need. Once you get past the cycle, you will rarely use them. Precision is not needed, since the mere presence/absence is all you want to know. The pH test is in the same group, since you don't really want to chase pH and precision is not needed.

For Alk, calcium, and magnesium, precision and reliability is needed. Salifert and Red Sea Pro are the usual recommendations


2nd... Live Rock. Again all kinds of prices many types. I have herd of bad and good critters being in or on the live rock. How do you know what Live Rock is good vs the bad?
Live rock carries the beneficial bacteria as well as can carry pests. I've seen rock that has been sitting in saltwater sold as "live" rock but carry minimal beneficial bacteria. They usually are heavy and dense rather than light and porous, and ony have an even coating of slime or turf algae. "Good" live rock will have coralline encrustation, is very porous so can carry a lot of bacteria, and will have a fresh sea smell and not a dead fish smell. Be aware that all live rock can carry pests.

3rd... UV Light. Should I be using it during the cycle? What are the pros and cons of the UV?
IMO, UV has no use at all in our home aquariums. I had one hen I thought it would prevent Ich, but later found out it does more bad than good. There is some use for UV in a multi-tank system, but no so much in home aquariums. You'll her contradictory opinions on this.

4th... Iron. I hear and read 2 different sides on this. Is it good or bad for a REEF?
Iron is usually used as a supplement for systems that grow macroalgae. If you don't grow macroalgae, you don't need it. See this link: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/rhf/index.php

Sorry for all the questions but they all come to me at once haha. I have been reading a lot of info but its hard to tell what is real and whats bull.

And Happy New Years!!!!

[b_braz]

Thank you for the info. how about controlling phosphates?

[Timfish]

Originally Posted by b_braz

1st... Test Kits. I see cheap ones and pricey ones. What am I looking for in a test kit?

To add to Palting's response here's a couple of evaluations of test kits:

http://dfwmas.org/files/TestKitAnalysis.pdf

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/6/chemistry

Originally Posted by b_braz

2nd... Live Rock. Again all kinds of prices many types. I have herd of bad and good critters being in or on the live rock. How do you know what Live Rock is good vs the bad?

In addition to Palting's response I look for lots of spnges, tunicates and other stuff. In all the years I've been keeping slatwater I've run across a few pests, mantis, aptaisia (although far more on cultured corals than cultured live rock), krakon worms gorilla crabs and as far as causing unwanted mortalities of desirable corals the one animal that has ALL of them COLLECTIVELY beat are BTA's. In my not so humble opinion the benefits of live rock, either wild or cultured in the open ocean, far out way the risks.

Originally Posted by b_braz

3rd... UV Light. Should I be using it during the cycle? What are the pros and cons of the UV?

I will differ from Palting on this one. Iv'e run UV on my reef systems for years and I will gladly say UV's if properly sized and installed can cure a reef system from ick and velvet. The problem I've typically seen in applications where they don't work is they are not large enough for the tank in question or have been set up in such a fashion that a percentage of larva are left in the tank with the fish for long enough time for a few to find a host and perpetuate the life cycle. One thing that really aggrevates me is many UV manufacturers advertise their UV will kill parasites and algae but give the reccomended tank size for killing algae and do not point out the tank size for killing parasites is a third or fourth the size

Originally Posted by b_braz

4th... Iron. I hear and read 2 different sides on this. Is it good or bad for a REEF?

Go with Palting, I've never worried about it.

Originally Posted by b_braz

Sorry for all the questions but they all come to me at once haha. I have been reading a lot of info but its hard to tell what is real and whats bull.

And Happy New Years!!!!

And for phosphates I would recommend Elos professional. It's more sensitive than the Hanna (which can give a false "good" reading when phosphates are too low). GFO works good for removal but you do want to monitor it. You can kill off your corals faster with phosphates to low than too high.

[b_braz]

Thank you very much for your input. I put some live rock in last night and am keeping Very little light on. I'm hoping that keeps the ugliness down during the cycle haha.

[MondoBongo]

Originally Posted by b_braz

Thank you very much for your input. I put some live rock in last night and am keeping Very little light on. I'm hoping that keeps the ugliness down during the cycle haha.

the uglies will come and (with good care) go in time.

we all fight our battles with aiptasia, hair algae, and cyano. some times dinos too.

it took my tank about 8 months to really start stabilizing, for me to figure out my husbandry and what i was doing, and for the pest algae to begin to subside.

good luck, and have fun!

[b_braz]

Originally Posted by MondoBongo

the uglies will come and (with good care) go in time.

we all fight our battles with aiptasia, hair algae, and cyano. some times dinos too.

it took my tank about 8 months to really start stabilizing, for me to figure out my husbandry and what i was doing, and for the pest algae to begin to subside.

good luck, and have fun!

Thanks for the good luck. And I am having tons of fun with it. But I have to ask.... How long does one wait for the "clean up" crew? Do u add them before the fish?

[MondoBongo]

i added my cleanup crew before the fish, about a week or two before actually.

it was probably about a week or two after my cycle finished, and with the initial add i went light.

[b_braz]

Originally Posted by MondoBongo

i added my cleanup crew before the fish, about a week or two before actually.

it was probably about a week or two after my cycle finished, and with the initial add i went light.

Thanks for that info. been really trying to sit on my hands through this stage. I picked up a test kit and ran my 1st test of my cycle today.

DATE: 01/04/2014
RESULTS
TEMPERATURE 78°F
SALINITY 1.023
AMMONIA 0.50 PPM
NITRITE 0 PPM
NITRATE 0 PPM
PH 7.9

So this is just 4 days into the cycle. How am I looking so far???

[MondoBongo]

Looks like it is off to a good start.

[BlindZide]

Doing great man! For the CuC, I am not sure about anyone else but Turbo Snails the size of Golf Balls wrecked havok on my corals. Knocked them over, knocked them off rocks, pushed them across the sand.....argh, large dudes, do well with algae, but they are terrible at taking care of decorations.

[b_braz]

Originally Posted by BlindZide

Doing great man! For the CuC, I am not sure about anyone else but Turbo Snails the size of Golf Balls wrecked havok on my corals. Knocked them over, knocked them off rocks, pushed them across the sand.....argh, large dudes, do well with algae, but they are terrible at taking care of decorations.

Oh wow. No I don't want them that big then. Are there better crabs then others?

[acabgd]

Originally Posted by b_braz

Thanks for that info. been really trying to sit on my hands through this stage. I picked up a test kit and ran my 1st test of my cycle today.

DATE: 01/04/2014
RESULTS
TEMPERATURE 78°F
SALINITY 1.023
AMMONIA 0.50 PPM
NITRITE 0 PPM
NITRATE 0 PPM
PH 7.9

So this is just 4 days into the cycle. How am I looking so far???

If you plan on keeping coral I would slowly increase the salinity to about 1.026
Some keep it at 1.025 although that's lower than natural sea water, but 1.023 is definitely too low.

[b_braz]

My ammonia has climbed up to 1.00! How high can expect it to go during the cycle?

[MondoBongo]

It varies from cycle to cycle. Mine got to around 1ppm or so, but it can chance. The important thing is that it converts to nitrite and comes back down.

[b_braz]

Originally Posted by MondoBongo

It varies from cycle to cycle. Mine got to around 1ppm or so, but it can chance. The important thing is that it converts to nitrite and comes back down.

Is there anything I can do to help that along?

[mpderksen]

Get a NetFlicks account and wait it out. Then, wait some more. Rushing = some dead snails = higher levels = more death. If you only do 2 things,it's wait, and wait.

[arnoldrew]

Originally Posted by acabgd

If you plan on keeping coral I would slowly increase the salinity to about 1.026
Some keep it at 1.025 although that's lower than natural sea water, but 1.023 is definitely too low.

1.023-1.025 is the standard recommendation given for fish-only. I've never heard anyone say 1.023 is too low.

Originally Posted by b_braz

Oh wow. No I don't want them that big then. Are there better crabs then others?

While some people have success with them, prety much any crab thats not a hermit (commonly seen, at least) can and probably will eventually take fish or other inhabitants of your aquarium. Even hermit crabs have been known to kill snails for their shells.

[MondoBongo]

Originally Posted by b_braz

Is there anything I can do to help that along?

not really.

you can try the bacteria in a bottle stuff, but in my opinion the jury is still out on their efficacy.

time cures all things.

[b_braz]

Originally Posted by MondoBongo

not really.

you can try the bacteria in a bottle stuff, but in my opinion the jury is still out on their efficacy.

time cures all things.

Ok I agree with that. Just been watching those levels rise. Makes me a little nerves that is hasn't topped out yet

[mpderksen]

You didn't say what kind of LR you used, but some will have more die-off than others. During initial cycle, the levels rise more if there is a lot on the rock. I started with about 3/4 Dry and clean, so the cycle took longer as the bacteria spread, but the level didn't get as high. Last time I used all Live, and the cycle was grosser, but faster. Eventually, the swamp goes away and stabilizes. You could scrape the glass, and filter out the floaties, or even run the skimmer if you want. Someone else can comment on that. I ran my skimmer from day 1 since it was new to me, and I wanted to get it performing well before the fish came.
Once everything stabilized again, in either case, I added the CUC, which puts a minimal, but necessary amount of ammonia into the system. Wait again, like 2 weeks. Each life form you add tips the balance, and the bacteria population shifts to get it back.
Some people add a "hearty" fish early to be an ammonia source, which I think is cruel. They pick a damsel, which ends up being something territorial and/or unfriendly to the next thing they want to add.
You would never get a puppy and let it live and poop in a small bathroom while you build your dog run.....you build the home first. Cycling is basically building a healthy home for your fish.
Nothing good happens fast. The best part is that if something is truly off, (like rocks that are leeching something you didn't expect) nothing suffers and you can make changes without finding other places to house your livestock when you end up doing something major to correct the problem.
But, in short, very small chance that what you are seeing is abnormal.

[b_braz]

Its been a little bit since I updated. Well... The uglyis have showed up I know its a good thing but It has showed its ugly face as Hair Algae... What does this mean?

[b_braz]

ok think I'm about ready to rock and roll here.
Ammonia is 0
Nitrite is 0
Nitrate is 5.0ppm
also added a protein skimmer