I'm New, Have Read Till Me Eyes Blur But.......

[jonnyuk]

i'm new to the marine world but have kept tang cichlids for about 4 months and a heavily planted tropical before that.

i'm about to setup a small 40 ltr marine tank (wanted something low cost in case it did not work out), it will have a aquaray 500 blue/white led, small external filter rated at 200lph with a spray bar, nano power head. i plan on putting about 4k of LR rock in the tank, smashed up LR in the filter with a sponge acting as a pre-filter to stop crap getting in the filter and causing bigger issues, i don't plan on a skimmer just yet, will do if required later on though.

Long term stocking is likley to be cuc, a goby/shrimp pair and some soft corals.

my question is really about live sand, i wanted a really thick bed of live sand but i have read conflicting reports about whether its any good straight out of a bag, i will also have to get rid of it eventually because it will of absorbed all it can.

i could get dry sand and use some friends sand to seed it, would that be a better option?

thanks

 

[seffieuk]

You are right to be hesitant re: live sand - after all, how live can it be stuck in a bag for months with little oxygen! Your live rock is really the heart and lungs of a tank, it will seed your sand

How about starting a journel, so we can follow your progress?

Seffie x

ps oh where oh where are my manners to the salty side of the forum

pps have you bought the tank yet, if not how about letting us persuade you into something a little bigger?

 

[jonnyuk]

thanks for the welcome Seffie, i would love a bigger tank but i have no room for another tank so using an existing one, it currently has 2 shell dwelling tangs in it (they are going to tomorrow) so i'm looking to get my LR, sand and water tomorrow to get things going.

sounds like dry sand and seeding it is the way to go....(same principle as seeding a filter in a tropical tank i assume). i also wanted allot of branch LR to give the illusion of space. my understanding is the less dense LR is the more effective it is, is this true?

would branch LR be dense or porous or just depends on what pieces i pick up.

in general does my setup sound doable

 

[seffieuk]

sounds like dry sand and seeding it is the way to go....(same principle as seeding a filter in a tropical tank i assume).

Yes, it is

my understanding is the less dense LR is the more effective it is, is this true?

Yes indeed

would branch LR be dense or porous or just depends on what pieces i pick up.

Depends where it comes from, you also have to consider surface area, so if you had heavy rock with less surface area it would not be much use to you

in general does my setup sound doable

Its do-able, with good maintance

 

[jonnyuk]

thanks Seffie, good to know i'm going in the right direction if nothing else.

i plan on doing 20% water changes every week. i plan on buying pre-salted water because i want to keep things very simple. assume the sand will require a good stir and vac every week to stop gas pockets and rubbish turning into nasty stuff.

i've also read people put stuff in the filter (made by seachems but can't remember the name) to remove nitrates from the water, is this something i should do from the start or will this mask my cycle process and thus never know if my tank has cycled?


last question, i know every tank is different but how long would it normally take to cycle, a fishless tropical could take 6 weeks (although with my planted tank i skipped all that and put fish in straight away to get things going), i have heard some people stocking with cuc within days if they fill the tank with LR etc straight away (i also plan on using about 15ltr of water from a friends tank when does a water change on friday).

 

[seffieuk]

thanks Seffie, good to know i'm going in the right direction if nothing else.

Your welcome

i plan on doing 20% water changes every week.

Good plan

i plan on buying pre-salted water because i want to keep things very simple.

Ensure you test a sample of the water first!

assume the sand will require a good stir and vac every week to stop gas pockets and rubbish turning into nasty stuff.

Oh, no, no, no........leave the sand alone, your cuc will take care of that. Disturbing the sand can lead to high phoshates etc

i've also read people put stuff in the filter (made by seachems but can't remember the name) to remove nitrates from the water, is this something i should do from the start or will this mask my cycle process and thus never know if my tank has cycled?

Indeed, we use phosphate remove and nitrate remover. Dont use until the cycle is over

last question, i know every tank is different but how long would it normally take to cycle,

How long is a piece of string, all depends where the rock comes, if it is out of water for long etc. lets assume you buy local sourced live rock and transport in water, cycle could last anything from 0 days to a couple of weeks

a fishless tropical could take 6 weeks (although with my planted tank i skipped all that and put fish in straight away to get things going), i have heard some people stocking with cuc within days if they fill the tank with LR etc straight away

Only ever add cuc following your cycle and when nitrAtes are <10 they are very sensitive

(i also plan on using about 15ltr of water from a friends tank when does a water change on friday).

Oh, no, no, no........anything in his tank will then transfer to yours

 

[jonnyuk]

assume the sand will require a good stir and vac every week to stop gas pockets and rubbish turning into nasty stuff.

Oh, no, no, no........leave the sand alone, your cuc will take care of that. Disturbing the sand can lead to high phoshates etc

this bit had me confused hence my question, i read if you have a live sand bed you leave it alone, if not then it does need a clean. with this is mind then will any sand bed become a live sand bed time?

(i also plan on using about 15ltr of water from a friends tank when does a water change on friday).

Oh, no, no, no........anything in his tank will then transfer to yours

good point, i was working on the assumption his tank was good (so to speak) and would aid the cycle but from further reading there is next to nothing in the water column in terms of good bacteria, unlike the water column in a planted tank....oh how things are different on the salty side!

 

[seffieuk]

this bit had me confused hence my question, i read if you have a live sand bed you leave it alone, if not then it does need a clean. with this is mind then will any sand bed become a live sand bed time?

Yes it will become live, seeded from the live rock

further reading there is next to nothing in the water column in terms of good bacteria, unlike the water column in a planted tank....oh how things are different on the salty side!

Indeed that is correct, but you could transfer nasties, like phosphates etc or even parasites, there is little of any benefit from using tank water from someone elses tank

 

[jonnyuk]

yesterday was a good day, i sold my shelly tangs and cleaned the 40ltr ready for the marine stuff. went to a5 and bought some TMC sand (thought you can't really go wrong with that stuff but could be proved wrong), 6k of LR and my salted water. by 6pm this is how it looked

for now it will stay like that until i buy a few smaller pieces of LR and scape the tank, my main concern yesterday was just to get the LR in the water (in the end was only out of water for about 20 minutes).

i did notice this on one of the bits of rock, hoping someone could tell me what it is

on the lighting front, currently i'm using a aquaray 500 (marine blue and white) but long term its too big for the tank, apart from the tmc titles i've not seen any small compact LED lights for marine...anyone recommend something?

cheers

 

[lewiss]

Nice pictures - well done, people don't do it enough on here!!

Looks great! Have you started a journal! Would be great to see!

As for the ID, it's poss a sponge? But I'm not 100%. I'm sure someone will come along and help you out in a bit!!

 

[sorgan]

Hmm is it hard or squishy? Any movement? Does it change shape at all?

 

[jonnyuk]

thanks for good words, always good to get encourage, any constructive criticism also welcome (keeps on the straight and narrow).

i have no idea sorgan, will have a "feel" tonight. i have not seen it move about in the current, it looks very spongy to be honest.

 

[sorgan]

Lemme know and I will see if I can I'D it.

 

[jonnyuk]

will do

i'm also on the hunt for an aquabeam 1000 HD tile, think this will do the job nicely.

 

[lewiss]

I dunno what anyone else thinks but it looks dead? Wait and see what Sorgan thinks!