My Tanks Progress (more pics added) 2/22/11

First topic message reminder :

So i decided to try sw for myself. First let me say i have never done any water tests on my two fw tanks or have i ever done tests in general. So with that in mind this is a whole new ball game for me. To start i purchased a 30 gallon long tank( its about 3 feet wide) I added sand on Dec 13th( about 45 lbs argonite?) and i purchased a whisper ex70 power filter. I have a koralia nano and 1( one on each side of the tank for water movement. The tank has been up and running like that since the 13th. On saturday the 18th i purchased 31 lbs of live rock. It was put in the tank that night. I know everyone says 2 lbs per gallon but the tank would be stuffed if i put 60 lbs of rock in it. It looks good with what is in it. ( I will post pics soon) So tonight leads me to water test number one of a million im sure. Here were my results, I went with the API saltwater master test kit. the scale was a color range so the numbers arent exact. I got my wife to help me determine about what they were.

PH 8.0-8.2
ammonia 0-0.25 ppm
nitrite 0.5 ppm
nitrate 7.0 ppm

I know they need to come down a little but let me know what you think. ALso i picked up some stuff off craigslist the other day. Let me know what i can use these for.

-Kent marine starter kit(comes with essential elements, pro-ammonia detox, and pro buffer dkh)
-Kent super buffer dkh
-kent garlic xtreme
-kordon rid fungus(herbal formula)
I got all of these for 10 bucks. figured i could use them. ALmost all of it is brand new.

So far this sw adventure has been fun. It is different looking at a tank for two weeks with nothing in it really except water. I have been keeping a total so far and with all my purchases i am still under 300 dollars. Thats for everything. And i have a heater on the tank too. Any suggestions please feel free. As i said i will get pics up soon.

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New Pics 12-30-2010..



New pics 1/4/2011




New pics 1/11/11






New Pics 2/22/11 - Making Progress...

nice pics

looking good...glad those pumps worked...might have some actinic t5 bulbs at meet and greet

looks like a work in progress! good for you:)

Congrates good looking so far.

Thanks everyone. Especially Elrollo, cichlid lover, and cwhip. And anyone else who has lent advice. Im bored so before i clean my other two tanks and do my water changes this morning im going to retest the water. Just for the heck of it. Hopefully by next friday i can throw a few chromis in.

it looks like dead /dry rock is it? if it is it will take longer to cycle in.

I think yes. Every thing was killed off that was in it. It was in a tank with just salt water running around it but it was not in a established tank. I did add sand yesterday out of a established tank with some water. Ill keep adding the seachem stuff and check every couple of days. The levels came down a little bit from my readings this morning. Just waiting now.

great!

from my first testings this is what the difference is

Ph is the same
ammonia is about .25 still
nitrates are down a little to 5.00
and nitrites are down to almost nothing 0-.10

So hopefully in a week those will be where they need to be and i will just be waiting on a cycle. My understanding is once those are stable and where they should be i can add some of those blue/green chromis in right?

Side note .. re: turkey basters

I have a couple that see plenty of steady action. Right now is the best time to purchase one in the stores. Oddly enough they can prove difficult to find after the holidays. Especially the cheap ones.

It's worth noting, and your mileage may vary here, I didn't have fish in my reef for 4 months (side note I wanted a mandarin and was trying to build up pod population), and the only reason I ended up with them was a result of a flat worm outbreak. I added a six line at that time. Now I have flat worms in my fuge, but none in the display. The six line also wiped out my pod populace.

I cycled with just lfs bought live rock that had come in fresh on a shipment the day before I bought it. The die off on the rock provided the ammonia I needed to cycle with. This took a small bit of time. As I'm planning to cycle new build I'll be using going the cwhip route of using macro from my current setup, the sand and the rocks in it there too. Nothing good comes from rushing a cycle, not in FW, and especially not in a reef setup. I'd go grab a piece of LR from a buddy's tank if you can get it, drop it in with what you have already and sit back and watch. SW setup's never just have a piece or two of rock on em. You'll have ALL kinds of stuff living in the rock no time.

yeah mine has around 260lbs of LR.
you can use your water change water from your current setup in the new tank as well.

Alrighty well i just opened my presents. Santa brought my light!! yay. Its a 36 inch solarmaxHE by deep blue t-5 with a 10k bulb in it. It looks really good on my sand and rock. My wife did good not knowing anything about fish stuff. I know everyone is going to say i need a actinc bulb. I will look for a shorter fixture and run one later on with this one. Looks good. Still no algae. I might go to petco tomorrow and pick up a piece of their live rock that has all kinds of germies on it.

youre not gonna start seeing Diatoms until about 10-14 days in.
ok lets see pics of this light:)
this one?
http://store.seacorals.net/deblsohe36t5.html

Yes thats the one. I will post pics later. I am about to run to my mothers. It looks alot better than the 24 inch flor. that was on there. So i have that long for diatoms from the time the rock is added or from the time the tank is wet? And also just checking, but did you or someone else tell me that if at the end of this week using the seachem if my levels are straight to add the chromis. Or should i wait til i see algae?

So just for the record in case anyone out there was thinking about doing a sw tank. The whole patience while cycling SUcKS. I look at this freakin tank several times a day( well its in my diningroom-kitchen) so yea i see it alot. And as nice as it looks with its white sand and white rock, I wish it would hurry up and turn brown. I think im going to try to find some rock tomorrow from a mature tank to help seed/ encourage this thing to get going. I guess by my birthday( January 28th) i may be able to add live stock.

I started mine straight from day two with live rock and never experienced a true cycle. I put in @13# on day 2 and then another 8-10# on day 7 or 8. By week two I had my clown and kept adding rock since then.

The cycle waiting would be horrible starting from dry rock.

Youre telling me, i do water tests every couple of days and they are coming down, but there is no color in this tank from what you see above. I see things moving around on the rocks and on the sand but i know its just rock crumbs, lol oh well I knew i was signing up for this from the beginning. in your opinion do you think if i can get a good piece or two of rock with alot of stuff goin on on it that it will help kick this thing into second gear because i feel like im just idling right now. stuck in nuetral

IMO I would get some rock that is already live. It isn't cheap and I would be careful where you get it. I get mine at my LFS ( http://www.coralreefkeepers.com ) but it has risen in price to $5.99/lb right now. I have about 42-45# in my tank in the most recent pic that I posted from yesterday.

The other benefit from already live rock is all the little critters that come with it. I have pics on my camera of asterina stars & micro brittle stars and spaghetti worms that have just appeared in my tank from the rock. It is so cool to just notice a tiny starfish on your glass that you have never seen before. I have to get some time to post some extra pics of my tank. I usually get online at work or on my phone so I don't get to post pics often.

If i look at the rock at petco what should i look for

if you can fit it in the pope suggests a nano package from gulfliverocks.com

I like to pick rock that has some coralline algae already started on it. At the point my tank is now I go for size & shape rather than that now though.

08 you got pm!

back to you

Alright well another water test. Pretty much the same as the last one except i got a 0 on the nitrite. Is that normal for that to stablilize before the other stuff? ph still at 8.2. The ammonia is at .25ppm and nitrate is around 5.00 ppm

Ok so hopefully no one gets all crazy on me but m impatientness got the best of me. I went to the lps to get a piece of live rock that is actually live to try to help seed my tank and move things along. I did find a nice looking piece little bigger than a softball. It has some nice purple on it. Im assuming thats what i want. Purple not green. And i just couldnt resist the little 3 dollar blue damsel. I am just trying to get this thing going. Two hours since i put it in and its going threw the rocks up down. In front of the circ pumps. Seems ok. I guess i will see in the morning.

For one thing impulse buys are dangerous! where you planning on Damsels? Do you know damsels get very aggressive and will kill other fish. Your tank is not cycled yet if you have ammonia and nitrates And you probably should have waited to add fish. Patience and self restraint is the key to a successful SW tank.