order of stocking?

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Paul_MTS

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will hopefully have my tank up and running VERY soon now so wondering on the order to do things.

obviously i get the tank running with sand in there etc first question being when do i add my algaes to the MM sump, without any waste in the tank i won't have nitrates so surely the algae would die??

then the living rock gets put in, so what happens after that??

i think my final stocking will be large ammount of live rock, lots of corals, a large clean up crew, a percula clown, fire fish, jawfish and maybe a flame angel.

it's a 24x15x15 tank, with sump it's a 125litre capacity.

thanks.
 
Hi Paul...macroalgae is photosynthetic, so, it should do fine in the beginning if you have good like and good water circulation. There are dozens of ways to start up your tank. A quick general outline after you have all your stuff ready:

1) Water test your tank. Hook up all equipment and make sure everything works well, temps are good etc. Consider using FW in case there is a leak.
2) Since this is a first time set up, you can mix your first SW in the tank. Fill it all the way but have a container to take off a third for when you add your LR/LS. If you are planning on having corals, I would aim for a s.g 1.025-1.026, the ocean's s.g. Temp 79-81.
3) Some put LR in first and put sand in to prevent shifting; some put sand in then add the LR
4) After aquascaping, topoff with the rest of the SW. It will silt up really bad, but, should settle out over 1-2 days. You can dust off the rock with a turkey baster
5) Cycle and check params. Make more SW and make/get pure water to do your FW topoffs
6) When params hit zero and nitrates climb, do your first water change, 25%. Wait for a little algae, then add the cleanup crew.
7) Weekly 10% water changes.

Many, many other ways to do this. Have fun reading the posts to follow. SH
 
thanks for that, in SW how long has the cycle usually take? and will adding biological media from FW tank help at all?

reason I'm asking is mainly as a mate at work was running a tank freshwater then suddenly changed it to SW adding everything very quickly, within a month he has a few corals, 2 anemonies and quite a few fish and hasn't had a problem yet, I'm not going to follow suit but wondering if FW bacteria can help at all?

and I didn't really get the 2nd part of No. 5??

to start the tank I'm going to try and get as much RO water as possible maybe 50/50 then on water changes I'll just use RO, guys at work have RO units so can slip em a few quid for a container full!

Oh and any specific type of lighting for the sump? I have a 2ft T8 unit I can use easily but does the bulb matter, I have orignal tropical and freshwater lamps by Arcadia at the moment, I'm guessing there Marine White bulb would serve me well.

doh keep on remebering other questions!

on my light unit it's 2 55W power compact bulbs, at the moment there's 1 12k white bulb that came with it and a Interpet Triton plus I put in which is very red/pink. Should I change the bulbs? If so to what?- I think i only have the interpet range to choose from :/

right thats it for now!
 
The second part of number 5 is to do with evaporation.

As you're no doubt aware, all tanks will gradually have water evaporate. When the water evaporates in SW it leaves the salt behind. Therefore you have to top up with freshwater (or else the SG will just keep rising).

Only when doing water changes do you use SW.

IIRC FW bacteria will dieoff once in SW. If the liverock is fully cured then you can start running a tank extremely quickly (instantly adding livestock etc).

HIH

Andy
 
Oh Yeh didn't think of that! I don't think I'll have a problem with evaporation any ways as My tank is fully covered.

I'll be getting live rock most likely mail order for the best price so probable have to wait a bit for it to cure and settled again right?
 
It depends on the shop that sends the rock and of course how far it has to travel. Some shops are highly skilled at packaging liverock and i would have no problems adding it straight to a tank the moment it arrives )providing its next day delivery).
 
I'm planning on buying from this place- http://www.urbanreefglasgow.com/ so right at the other end of the country!

Any ideas on how much live rock I should put in? I'm considering aquascaping so it's along the sides and back with like a bay in the middle, doe sthis sound OK or should I go for the usual stack in the middle!!?

going by 1kg per gallons(US) i can put 25KG in. (i think i saw that guild somewhere!)
 
Paul...you WILL have evaporative loss and you will have to topoff. That is one of the 'new' things you have to do in SW as compared to SW, maintain your specific gravity. The same as temp swings will cause stress in a marine or FW tank, swings in s.g will cause problems too.

LR is about 1-1.5 lbs per gallon of tank water. Ask the seller if it is very porous or light. If it is poruous, err towards buying more. It will help with the biological filter and sometimes with denitrification. At 125lites (?31 gallons US?) I'd say 30-35 lbs(check my conversion Paul). I think your plan for an open aquascape is a good one. I tried to do that (atoll shaped). Avoid the big rock clump....you want good water circulation with lots of caves, ledges and flo-thru.

Go only with RO if you can. You'll kick yourself in the ?bum if you get a tough algae bloom. RO will keep your phosphates as close to zero as possible. Welcome aboard. SH
 
naturally I'll top up the tank if need be But I'm saying there as NO spaces on the tank for any water to evaporate out of the system. Some might be able to get out through the covering of the sump depending how well i fit the lid.

the volume of just the tank is 25US gallons the whole system with sump is 32US gallons.

I think I'll start out with 15KG and see how that goes, I'll drop the seller a e-mail tonight asking about weight.

I'll get as much RO water as I can to start it off, after that I'll easily be able to use RO water after that though.
 
If you can't get enouh RO, you can always pick up some distilled water at the grocery store. I have a 24G and started with 20lbs...wasn't really enough. I added 2.2 lbs and I could still use more.....err higher if you can and if your wallet can afford it. You won't be sorry. LR is the heart of your system. SH
 
will use as much LR as possible originally i was thinking 20-25kg.

i think there's 2.2 lbs to a Kg...
 
I have a completely encased 25Gallon freshwater tank aimed to keep discus. Even with no way for water to escape, somehow it does >-< Just a tad slower then usual.
 
So if my liverock is fully cured I can add clean up crew as soon as i get my first algae bloom?

Ben
 
1 last question on this mater.

at what kind of rate can i stock my tank with the few fish I am having and when do corals come into it all?

Now i'ved got my first fish I'm itching to add more!
 

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