New tank

[christine]

I have a 29 gal tank that I just got . It's not set up yet, doesnt even have water or anything in it yet, but I have all the filtration, etc... Just wondering...I read to cycle with a damsel... I don't know...should I put one in ? Im hinking about addind a peppermint shrimp after about 6 weeks....And is live sand a good idea for substrate?

 

[Navarre]

Welcome to the marine forum. Its great to see you asking questions before going ahead and setting the tank up.

Firstly, you should NEVER cycle a tank by using a fish, be it a cheap and cheerful damsel or that very expensive Angelfish as there now ways to cycle a tank without putting a fish in such danger.

You say you have the filtration in place? You dont mention what type of filtration this is but as the tank is not full of water I will assume its not live rock.

If you were to purchase live rock (About 30lbs of it) then you will not need to cycle the tank and fish can be added within 24 hours of the tank setting up. You need good quality mature live rock for this and its not cheap but its by far the best filter that money can buy as it will complete the nitrogen cycle where nearly all other filters cannot.

If you can tell us what type of filtration you have in readiness for this tank then we can reply with a method of administering an effective program to cycle the tank.

hope this helps

 

[christine]

I got a 29 gal marine setup, and it has biowheel filtration. I thought you weren't supposed to use biowheels, but it says it's a marine biowheel, maybe this is different?I think I might go ahead with the live rock ...is the live sand I have anything like live rock... its not in yet..just curious
also if I cant get the live rock, how long should I cycle before adding a peppermint shrimp? I have one that I can get in about 6 weeks.

 

[Navarre]

It seems that these biowheels are very popular outside of europe, unfortuntely i have not had any experience with them so i cannot comment on how good or bad they are. If you do not use liverock then your tank will need to cycle. You can do this by simply placing a frozen dead prawn in the tank and let it rot! This will cause ammonia to rise and in doing so it will kickstart the cycle of the tank.

How long with a cycle take? well thats not easy to answer, it all depends on many things and each tank is different. I would estimate around 4-6weeks but i might be wrong of course. By adding liverock this will help with cycling much faster, if you add the full 30lbs then no cycle will need to take place at all!

The live sand... hmm.. what can i say, personally i dont rate it at all, its simply not worth the extra money IMO. I bought 2 huge bags of the stuff for my tank and my sump and to be honest i really cant see any benefits by using this rather than a cheaper dead sand. the liverock has colonated the sand far better than the livesand can do on its own in my opinion. If you already have this sand then dont lose heart, its not going to do any harm to the tank, it might even be of some help to kickstart off the cycle if you dont use Liverock.

Lastly, Why add a peppermint shrimp as your first addition? No warning from me or anything im just curious as its an odd shrimp/addition to start the tank with as they are extremly shy and hardly ever get seen by their owners. (i have 3 in my tank somewhere and i havent seen them since the day they were placed in the tank.. could be dead for all i know )

 

[christine]

I know someone with a peppermint shrimp, and they dont really want it....so Im taking it off their hands when the tank cycles...I know that's sort of strange...but whatever...Ill add some fish too...I just havent really thought over fish..Thanks for the advice..I dont think me LFS sells any sand but live sand, so I guess thats what Im adding..I probly get some live rock, too.


By the way...when I get there...what/how many fish should be good for 29gal?

 

[Navarre]

Just a word of advice. Make sure the Shrimp is a peppermint shrimp. Ther are red with very thin white stripes on them. They look alot like Camel shrimps or Dancing shrimps. The problem is that camels/dancing shrimps are also known as coral munchers

To spot the difference its easy if you know what you are looking for. Peppermint shrimps do not have a hump on their backs whereas camel/dancing shrimps do. If this shrimp has a hump then i advise you not to accept it.

As for the numbers of fish to add to hte tank. I would only add 2 for now, dont add them all at once as it could overload the system (especially if you dont have much liverock). It really depends on the size of fish and filtration you have but for now just aim for a couple and let them settle in. then watch your water perameters for a while and then consider adding another.

 

[chkltcow]

Navarre: A biowheel is a compact and easy version of a wet-dry filter.... except it uses a turning wheel in the water stream instead of bioballs. If bio balls are considered a nitrate factory in a SW tank, a biowheel will be too. If you're doing fish only... you might be fine with the biowheel in place. But, if you want corals, you're a lot better off stocking up on LR and letting it handle all the biological filtration.

 

[christine]

Thanks, Navarre.

It's not a peppermint shrimp then . By the way, on the live sand, it said it gave instant filtration and i have about 45lbs. of it in the tank. Is this an acceptable alternative to live rock? If not I believe I will work with a fishless cycle for about 6 weeks.

 

[Great Lakes]

Hi Christine. You should go with the long term cycle if all you have is the sand. It really does not have the biological exchange capacity of live rock.

GL

 

[Navarre]

reat lakes is right, if you have no liverock in the tank then you really need some other form of filtration (do you have an external or anything else apart from the sand?)

Thi swill take a few weeks to do but the results are the same. Im a little worried that you are going to try to run the tank on sand alone? Its a great backup but IMO you will need something to take the some of the load also.