Just Started My First Salt Water Tank! My Journal

[mikersx02]

You would not have had to look at your pet rock for months on end, if you had started the tank with 1 pound of live rock per gallon (fully cured of course). You would have experienced no cycle and you could have started stocking within the first 24 hours!

I doubt very many people with sizable tanks (larger then say- 50-60 gallons) fill the tank with live rock up to 1-1.5 lbs of live rock from the start. The cheapest I have found live rock around here was for 5.99 a lb. 75x5.99 is close to 500 USD.

Is it safe to add a few pieces of live rock with my current situation/setup?

 

[crazyelece]

In my 120 I used half dead rock and half live rock. It cycled in two days. You do not need to have all live rock, you just have to add the live rock before the fish. If you do the cycle will not take long and you can start stocking. Once you start the bacteria colonies grow as more fish are added. This is why you add 1 fish a month so the bacteria can catch up without harming anything.

 

[mikersx02]

In my 120 I used half dead rock and half live rock. It cycled in two days. You do not need to have all live rock, you just have to add the live rock before the fish. If you do the cycle will not take long and you can start stocking. Once you start the bacteria colonies grow as more fish are added. This is why you add 1 fish a month so the bacteria can catch up without harming anything.

i got a 5-6 lb live rock today- Put it at athe highest point in the rock pile. Im sure it will spread to the other rocks. Lots of purple algae on it- havent seen any feather busters yet- We shall see.

 

[Chac]

I doubt very many people with sizable tanks (larger then say- 50-60 gallons) fill the tank with live rock up to 1-1.5 lbs of live rock from the start. The cheapest I have found live rock around here was for 5.99 a lb. 75x5.99 is close to 500 USD.

I am a memeber of many forums & would say most if not all SERIOUS marine keepers do start there system with most or all of the qty of Live Rock

 

[mikersx02]

Just wanted to post an update.

All of the fish are still alive and are eating like champs, minus the one that died due to injury.

I did go to the pet store and boughta 5lb live rock to help the tank a little (cured). I havent seen anything die off of it yet. I plan on buying a few more dead pieces and a few more live pieces in the comming weaks... they didnt have very many quality pieces at the store- or I would have bought more. Most of what they had were HUGE round pieces.


Edit- also amonia is still under control. Nitrates are also adding up now. Im at work right now and dont have my water quality log with me right now.

 

[Chac]

I havent seen anything die off of it yet.

You wont actually see any die off, the only indication of die off will be an increase in Ammonia & Nitrite

Edit- also amonia is still under control.

How do you mean under control - as the only acceptable levels of Ammonia is NIL

 

[mikersx02]

I havent seen anything die off of it yet.

You wont actually see any die off, the only indication of die off will be an increase in Ammonia & Nitrite

Edit- also amonia is still under control.

How do you mean under control - as the only acceptable levels of Ammonia is NIL

under control meaning that its not doing anything out of the ordinary for a cycling tank... IE, because I "added fish too soon" the amonia isnt going crazy. You have to have amonia to get rid of amonia-

 

[Navarre]

The problem is that this topic started about 5 days ago and i guess the tank may have been setup a little before this.. so lets say the tank has been setup for 6 days. During this time the fish have been sitting in ammonia because its cycling. Now the fish may live, in fact they probably will if levels dot rise any further.

However if a little research was done before hand all that needed to be done was to add liverock and put the fish in within an hour and as long as enough liverock was added then the tank was instantly cycled, no ammonia spike and your ready to rock and roll.

With our knowledge of marine keeping these days there is simply no need for cycling a tank with fish. A simple frozen prawn would have done exactly the same job as fish waste. Just because a tank is not interesting to watch doesnt warrant putting a fish or any other creature through an ammonia cycle to satisfy a persons viewing habits. Sorry if this sounds harsh but marine keeping is above all learning patience and rushing fish into a system like this only shows me the opposite.

By looking at your rock it seems you have tuffa rock in there. I would never add tuffa rock due to its ability to dump toxic contents many months or even years after the tank has been setup. TO me, tuffa rock is a timebomb and it will go off when you least expect it.

 

[mikersx02]

The problem is that this topic started about 5 days ago and i guess the tank may have been setup a little before this.. so lets say the tank has been setup for 6 days. During this time the fish have been sitting in ammonia because its cycling. Now the fish may live, in fact they probably will if levels dot rise any further.

However if a little research was done before hand all that needed to be done was to add liverock and put the fish in within an hour and as long as enough liverock was added then the tank was instantly cycled, no ammonia spike and your ready to rock and roll.

With our knowledge of marine keeping these days there is simply no need for cycling a tank with fish. A simple frozen prawn would have done exactly the same job as fish waste. Just because a tank is not interesting to watch doesnt warrant putting a fish or any other creature through an ammonia cycle to satisfy a persons viewing habits. Sorry if this sounds harsh but marine keeping is above all learning patience and rushing fish into a system like this only shows me the opposite.

By looking at your rock it seems you have tuffa rock in there. I would never add tuffa rock due to its ability to dump toxic contents many months or even years after the tank has been setup. TO me, tuffa rock is a timebomb and it will go off when you least expect it.

what kind of toxic contents does that type of rock release?

The box of rocks was advetised as feller rock/stone at the pet shop.

I still like the way I proceded with the tank- I have not added and will not add any more fish for a long time to come. I have added a larger piece of LR, and I will probably add a few more pieces in the comming weeks- Im not super tight on money, but I dont have another 500-600 dollars that I am willing to spend to fill the tank with live rock. I chose to do it over time rather then all at once.

 

[canyoubelieveit]

Either you are being misunderstood, or you don't have a clue what you are doing. Where are you located in the states. I am in Ohio... if you are close by I will gladly sell you some LR for a decent price. What do you plan to add in with the damsels once the tank is cycled? What is your goal for the tank?

 

[Navarre]

Tuffa rock is manmade and can harbour chemicals when its constructed This is rare of course but the most dangerous problem with tuffa is that it acts like a sponge. It will keep all manners of nitrate, phosphate and even worse waste materials. This will slowly build up over time until one day it simply releases it all back i nto the tank. Not good as i am sure you will agree.

 

[mikersx02]

Tuffa rock is manmade and can harbour chemicals when its constructed This is rare of course but the most dangerous problem with tuffa is that it acts like a sponge. It will keep all manners of nitrate, phosphate and even worse waste materials. This will slowly build up over time until one day it simply releases it all back i nto the tank. Not good as i am sure you will agree.

You may be right about the absorbtion properties of tufa rock, however- from the googling I did, tufa rock is naturally forming-

Either you are being misunderstood, or you don't have a clue what you are doing. Where are you located in the states. I am in Ohio... if you are close by I will gladly sell you some LR for a decent price. What do you plan to add in with the damsels once the tank is cycled? What is your goal for the tank?

I live in South Eastern Virginia (Newport News to be exact)

They build the US Navies Nuclear Carriers and subs here.


Anywayss- Honestly, some of the damsels are aggressive, so I wont be keeping all of them. I will talk to the lfs and see if anyone will take them for free for re-sale.

I am looking at a few false percula clowns(less aggressive), scooter blenny, maybe a hippo tang, and a royal gramma- any other suggestions.

 

[mikersx02]

I have another question that I have done some searching on and havnet found much usefull info (googling)

with my75 gallon tank- and the possibility of going with SOME coral or anemone's next year....

What type of lights would be best? I would prefer to stay away from MH lights. Too much heat... too much having to build wierd fixtures and cooling.

From what I understand VHO or t5 lighting would be ideal... I understand some coral wont work with this type of lighting.

How many watts per gallon? I have heard 2wpg and 4wpg- Thanks for any input.

Is ODYSSEA JEBO an ok manufacturer? I would like learn more about lights so when it comes time to upgrade- I will be ready.