New 90 G lets go

[hawks66]

Ok, i have my 90 gallon plumbed, and dry rock from reefrocks.net

ive decided im going to ask questions no matter how stupid they seem.

Im going to run a line directly from my RO/DI line right into the tank to fill it. then when the pumps turn on, add salt till its 1.026, and get the heater going.

no lights, and add some ammonia, a peice of LR rubble to the sump. then test every other day and track numbers..

I'm not going to run the skimmer, or GFO/Carbon Reactor at this time correct?

can i add the kalkwasser to my ATO?

sound like a plan?

[crsswift70]

That's how i originally set up my tank except i think i threw in a shrimp for the cycle and had more live rock. Not sure why you'd need the kalkwasser at this point. Your salt mix probably gives you the right amount and nothing will be taking up the Calcium.

[Rsummerville]

I would fill it with ro/di, heat it up and get the pumps running while making sure you have no leaks. After you reach your target temp add salt to maybe the 1.024 mark wait over night then test the salinity again. Slowly add salt don't want to over do it.

You can run lights and your skimmer but the carbon and gfo are not needed at this stage. Throw a pinch of food in there and wait for an ammonia spike. Kalk is not needed until you have to supplement for corals, so wait for that a ways down the road. Sounds like you're on track. Good luck!

[hawks66]

filled up, got leaks squared away. got the temp up. added the salt. still dealing with cloudiness.

My drain pipe is very loud unless i turn the flow way down, i think i'm going to try and get a larger pipe diameter to combat this.

i started with seachem stability and some ACE brand ammonia.

also i think my skimmer pump is malfunctioning. so theres that to deal with as well.

[hawks66]

ok i think i have the drain pipe problem sqaured away, i went with what i think is called a reverse durso. the pipe T's off, and one end goes up to let air out, the other exits below the water. also i used some bushing to make the pipe step up to 1.5 inch pipe. with this im running nearly wide open on the return pump.

as for the skimmer, the first issue i had with bubbles was just a rookie mistake, but he second was not. it was very very loud. turns out it was missing some rubber bushings inside and the ceramic shaft was bouncing everywhere, lucky for me it didnt break. The full issue is found here.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2304891

As for the cycle, slow and steady. added enough ammonia to get us to 5 ppm and over the course of the week we are now down to 1. im going to start checking for nitrates and nitrites soon as well. probably gonna pump it back up to 5 ppm once we get a bit lower.

now we wait on the lights to arrive from reef breeders!

[ncc2015]

How long until your order with reefrocks shipped?

[Spyderturbo007]

Originally Posted by Rsummerville

I
You can run lights and your skimmer but the carbon and gfo are not needed at this stage.

Not necessarily. Some dry rock can leach phosphates, so you'll want to test for Phosphates and run GFO to address the issue.

[thegrun]

Add the salt before you heat the water and before you place the rock in the tank. Salt will have less calcium precipitate if you mix it cold. You don't want undissolved salt crystals getting trapped in the pours of your rock, so mix it before the rock goes in. There is no need for the Kalkwasser at this time since there are no corals. I would test for phosphates after two weeks and if you see any run the GFO. I would also start the skimmer after week two to break it in.

[hawks66]

Originally Posted by ncc2015

How long until your order with reefrocks shipped?

my reefrocks order shipped the next available day, i do belive i ordered on saturday, and it left their facility that monday? here's the thread where you can see what i got

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2303985

Originally Posted by Spyderturbo007

Not necessarily. Some dry rock can leach phosphates, so you'll want to test for Phosphates and run GFO to address the issue.

I'll start testing for phosphates, hoping for a low number, that was the review that reefrocks.net seemed to be getting from everyone.

Originally Posted by thegrun

Add the salt before you heat the water and before you place the rock in the tank. Salt will have less calcium precipitate if you mix it cold. You don't want undissolved salt crystals getting trapped in the pours of your rock, so mix it before the rock goes in. There is no need for the Kalkwasser at this time since there are no corals. I would test for phosphates after two weeks and if you see any run the GFO. I would also start the skimmer after week two to break it in.

I added the salt after the water heated up, i added most of it to the sump so hopefully theres none in the rock, its been 2 weeks. ill do some more refractometer tests to see if its changed.
I used instant ocean salt to start and ill use reef crystals for all my water changes from here on out. i plan on doing a 50% water change once the cycle is done.

[igot2gats]

It won't hurt to run your skimmer.

[cidbozek]

I would still take a turkey baster or power head and blow off your rocks really good
to make sure no salt mix is trapped.

[hawks66]

ok, finally got 0's on both ammonia and nitrite. Im going to add 2ml of ammonia and check in 24 hours to see if they both go back to 0. if so, would we all agree that we are cycled?

[greech]

Yes but take your time stocking, don't over feed and continue to test.

Sounds like you did your research. Welcome to the hobby!!!

[hawks66]

Ok, here we are 24 hours later and again the tank comes up 0's after adding 2ml Ammonia!! I would love to do a 50% water change and get stocking but now here is the latest dilemma. Im goin on an unexpected trip for 5 days.

im thinking about putting in about 5 ml ammonia just to really boost up the bacteria. thoughts on this?

then when i get home. 50% water change and add 2 clowns and a blue chromis. and some frags!

here's what we've got

[Mussin]

Id probably just let it sit for the next 5 days and test when you get back.

[ncc2015]

Thanks for letting me know. I was just concerned since the status on mine never updated but I received them shortly after. Your rockscape looks great!

[crsswift70]

It looks like you have rocks against the front glass? That will be a pain to clean in the future. I leave room for a magnet scraper around all the viewable sides to get off the algae. Plus, you have some small rocks precariously placed and balanced at the top that are just asking to tumble down and hit the glass

[hawks66]

None are against the front glass, I left a fist worth of space on all sides, going to epoxy the highest rocks before adding anything. Low rocks have posts for stability

[hawks66]

got my reef breeder lights and 2 ocellaris clowns! they werent too interested in eating tonight. hopefully they'll get used to the place soon. here's a side shot.. sad iPhone quality.

[hawks66]

Ok, next question, probably a stupid one like all the rest.

I started with pure ammonia, i watched it rise, and fall, and nitrites rose and fell, and nitrates rose and i did a 25G water change. Should i be concerned that i have not gotten an algae bloom, or should i count myself lucky. i feel like my tank is almost too sterile, does this just mean that i am doing an excellent job water quality wise?

im going to add a pinch of coraline scraping soon.

Clowns are doing nicely, eating, getting a chromis and hopefully yellow tang next. having trouble getting the skimmer dialed in. i get some brown gunk on the top of the pipe, but i cant seem to get any solid stuff in the cup. is the bioload just too low currently?

thank you experts!

[FsuNole]

Originally Posted by hawks66

None are against the front glass, I left a fist worth of space on all sides, going to epoxy the highest rocks before adding anything. Low rocks have posts for stability

I'm not sure if your rocks are already in the water but I used JB water weld to bond my rocks together. Only throwing that out there if you wanted to use it. It can cure while in water too but not sure if I'd do that just in case it puts anything toxic out. Once dry its hard as cement. I got my rocks from reefrocks.net too.