New Tank Set Up

[TrooperVinny]

Hi all. Just want to ensure I am on the right track with my saltwater setup. I have the tank almost full with ro water (it's free at my lfs but they closed before I could get enough water last night) and will finish filling it today. I have a powerhead running in the tank right now. I have my wet/dry filter (Pro Clear Aquatic good for 175 gal), a Coralife Super Skimmer (for up to 125 gal) and a Supreme Magnetic drive 9.5 pump that will deliver 900 GPH. I have bought my sand and hydrometer. I have a 300 watt heater in the sump. Now, after I get the tank up to temp and my sg right, do I run it like that for a little while just to clear up any debris in the tank? I plan on doing live sand and live rock. Will adding LS and LR cycle my tank alone or do I need to add a damsel or something? Then, once the sand is in, should I add a clean up crew or is that something that should wait untill I have a food source built up for them? Thanks and sorry for the long post.

 

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

Hi all. Just want to ensure I am on the right track with my saltwater setup. I have the tank almost full with ro water (it's free at my lfs but they closed before I could get enough water last night) and will finish filling it today. I have a powerhead running in the tank right now. I have my wet/dry filter (Pro Clear Aquatic good for 175 gal), a Coralife Super Skimmer (for up to 125 gal) and a Supreme Magnetic drive 9.5 pump that will deliver 900 GPH. I have bought my sand and hydrometer. I have a 300 watt heater in the sump. Now, after I get the tank up to temp and my sg right, do I run it like that for a little while just to clear up any debris in the tank? I plan on doing live sand and live rock. Will adding LS and LR cycle my tank alone or do I need to add a damsel or something? Then, once the sand is in, should I add a clean up crew or is that something that should wait untill I have a food source built up for them? Thanks and sorry for the long post.

Wow your lucky to get free water. You can let things just run as long as you want for it to clear up from the sand. Mine took over a week, it sucked. But if you get uncured live rock, the die off/curing process will create ammonia and cycle your tank. Just be sure to monitor the cycling process and add your first hardiest fish after the nirtates go down. The cleanup crew can wait, or you can have them when you have a fish or 2. But if there isn't much to clean, you will need to make sure you get a little food to the bottom for them.

 

[TrooperVinny]

Ok, some sand, 70lbs and some live rock, approx 35 lbs. I know, I'll need more of both...might be getting 25 lbs of marshall isle LR with live sand this week. Now, will this rock and sand alone be enough to cycle the tank? what's my next step?

 

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

It depends on if the rock is cured or not. If it is, then it may not actually cycle the tank because it may not produce much die-off. If it is uncured, it will raise the ammonia level quite significantly, and will cycle the tank. Just make sure that after the ammonia is at 0, that you keep adding ammonia, like putting in some frozen fish food or something. This is so there is always ammonia to keep the process going. Otherwise, the tank could start to uncycle before you get your first fish in there. Make sure that your first fish is an especially hardy one because there can be spikes in the levels for the first few weeks.

 

[TrooperVinny]

This rock was cured, as well as the rock I will be getting. So do you think I'd be ready for some hardy fish?

 

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

Well, it's hard to say. Do you know if there has been an ammonia spike? If there has, then it's probably already been cycled, but with no ammonia to feed that bacteria, they will have died by now. Test the water after you put in the next batch of LR. Hopefully, you will see some ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.

Some people think that by putting LR in that has lots of bacteria, and fish at the same time, that everything will be ok, because you have the bacteria. I am wary of that, because you really have no way of knowing if there really is bacteria in there, until you get ammonia that won't go down, and already have a fish involved. I would make sure it has cycled before putting fish in. Meaning, track the parameters when you put the new LR in, and watch the spikes and declines to make sure they are happening.