Reesy's 20 Gallon Reef Adventure

Thanks trod,

If i've learnt anything from reading all the journals is the slower the better lol.

I saw a Lavender firefish in my LFS on wednesday, hope its still there when i go back for fish was very beautiful.

I have a very good camera phone just dont have the lead to link it to the PC

I'm going to have to uses my dads (photographer buff) camera as it is very good quality. Just make sure I dont break it lol

Will update with pics at some point over the weekend

Reesy

welcome.

Is 10 pounds/kilo a good price? I think that's expensive. If it's already cured, chuck it in a bucket with some water (from the tank you are getting it from) and you shouldn't have a cycle. If you do, it will be a small/short cycle.

Another trick is to wet newspaper with the tank water and wrap the rocks up. They should be fine for awhile like that.

My rock was already cured and out of a tank for about 4 hours before i could get it into mine and the cycle took about 2 days.

Only two day cycle?

Wow thats awsome, I thought that it woulda taken longer than that, but i suppose thats just from personal experience, The LFS I'm getting mine from is about 10 - 15 minutes away from my house.

I think I will take your advice on the whole newpaper idea, anything to get the least die off as possible.

I think even if my tank does cycle in less than a week I'm still going to give it like a month for it to fully mature, Get the hitch hikers all settled in lol.

£10 per KG is quite expensive for Live Rock I agree. However it is a local source (15 mins drive) and it has been in the tanks for atleast 2 months said the shop assistant. Unfortunately where I live there isn't all that much of an interest in Marines as there is Tropical so they dont sell Live rock on a regular basis.

There is one guy who works in my LFS who is never wrong so I'll trust him on this one.

I finish work at 3:45 and I have two 15 litre canisters to transfer 94litres? I have 1 hour n 15 mins to make as many trips as posible before I have to start getting ready to go to work the second job (Bar)........wish me luck!

Plus if all goes well I can test tomorrow and if everything is a OK then we I might purchase the LR or leave it till sunday?
Sound ok?

Cheers,

Reesy

£10/kilo is cheap compared to over here,lol..only really a couple of suppliers and it ranges from 12.99 to 14.99 /kilo....
Check flea bay,etc for anyone selling second hand although being close at hand this lfs is a good idea

Plus with it being local I can pick out the pieces I want? So that s a good thing too?

True,

I live in the US and got mine fully cured for about $2.10/lb and full of coralline.

If it is truly fully cured, you might not get a cycle at all.

Ask if you can borrow some empty salt containers and transport the rock in water

Seffie x

ps great start

Thanks seffie

Well guys the long stressful saturday is all over.

Friday

Finished work at 3:45, rushed to maidenhead aquatics with two 23 litre containers. Filled both of them to top with RO water. Raced home and put the water into the tank. Rushed back to Maidenhead and got another two 23 litres of water. My friend met me there as I had to go to the second job and he lived down the road from the LFS. Got stuck in 5pm traffic going towards my house. Had to bail and go straight to work. FInished at 1am. Went home and filled the tank using the two containers. 3 heaters in the tank to help speed up the heat process. Added salt, got my father to be the stirer and got the sg level to 1.025

Saturday

Woke up bright and early at 9am, tested the tank to make sure everything was ok for the LR pick up. Went straight to Maidenhead (after picking up the fiance). Bought 7.9kg for £79. Raced home put the rock straight in the tank. Didn't bother to scape as I was late for a day out with the guys from my main job (Go Karting). I returned home 3 hours later to and looked hard at the tank and the rocks to see if I could see any life at all, Sadly not. Went to work (Bar) finished at 1am came home, put the moonlights on in the tank and had a look. Found the smallest of shrimps crawling around on one of the rocks!! I am now well happy, first trip to the marine side of life and I have a stable enough tank to host a life, WOOOOO!!

Sunday

Nothing reli tank related happened as I was called into work early and didn't finish till very late. When I got home tho I put the moonlights on and had a sneaky look at the tank and to my suprise saw atleast 3 - 4 shrimps happily scuttling round the rockwork. CHuffed.

Will do the initial first tests tonite, I think almost two day is enough time to give it to settle down.

Also I do have picture that were taken during the weekend and I will upload these tomorrow hopefully

regards,

Reesy

Nice to see you've reached this stage already..the journey has begun...
Would raise sg up to 1.026 and you're ready to reef it up once the tank has cycled...looking forward to seeing your pics and congratulations on a busy weekends work

Thanks buddyboy, quick question.

What is the benefits of increasing the SG level to 1.026? Wont that be a little so salt for the fish that'll be in the tank before any corals?

1.026 is the rcomended average for most coral species and all fish will also thrive at this level....many lfs run their sg lower to allow for evaporation, etc between sg tests and fresh water top ups..old belief is it holds back whitespot etc at these lower sg levels as well but unless as low a 1.009 this is pointless

I know for a fact that my LFS runs its tanks at 1.023, I'll have to increase it tonite to make sure its up to the right level.

Wow, you must be exhuasted but well chuffed

Seffie x

Hey all,

Just a quick update. Done my first set of result tonight and thing i think are looking good.

PH: 8.5 - 9.0 (test no specific)
Ammonia: 0.6
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
SG: 1.027 (know its a lil high will do a water change tomorrow to dillute it a little)

Camera photos have been uploaded, for those who do enjoy them so lol.



Tank with just the water in.


Equipment used.


In the dark - not a very good picture.


Rock after it was freshly introduced.


Thats just the update for now. How would you guys say that my stats are looking? Cycle-ish or not like a proper cycle?

Any info you can give is alway a help.

Cheers,

Reesy

Looks like the start of a cycle, although I could be wrong. Im liking the scape of the rock aswell.