10 galreef tank, quck question.

[theatrus]

People don't like the biowheels since they eventually turn into nitrate factories. I don't have any expierience with them (FW or SW) so I can't comment.

Probably take as long as big tanks. But since your source of LR was your LFS, and I assumed you transported it wet/submerged, you're probably not going to have much dieoff/source of ammonia to get the cycle going. Maybe someone else can jump in here.

 

[hisc1ay]

Really, if you have all that live rock you don't really need the biowheel to grow bacteria on, which is really what it's for. In my 10g system I will have 20 lbs sand, 15 lbs live rock, and a protein skimmer (which will also act as my powerhead). The LR will be the biggest filtration unit. I don't have a skimmer yet, but I'm using a Whisper filter that I had on it when it was fresh. I have a filter cartridge in there to trap some of the gross, but also because I found out the carbon is beneficial in this tank as well.

Get ready to see some pretty fun stuff on that rock in a week or so. Especially with your lights. If you got the 24" satellite, that's the same light I have on my system, and it's great. The lunar light is a fantastic night-light. So soothing. Plus you can see some cool stuff!

-j

 

[Zero333]

Ok so it looks like i am taking my Biowheel out when i get home.

Also i have 40Lb's/4-5" of sand in there (want to have some cool sand critters, sifters star ex..) and 8.5 soon to be around 10Lbs of LR. So i guess the biowheel is just useless and soon to be problematic.

Also I am getting cured live rock from the LFS and I tested all my stuff recently both my Nitrate and Nitrites are low, PH is at 7.9ish and Amonia is gone. Is this normal, is it accelerated, or is it common for a tank of this size for 4 days into cycling.

I just want to do this correctly once, no need for screwing this up.

thanks

 

[nodoubt471]

you might want to look into raising your ph, normal SW ranges are in the 8's

 

[klam]

There will be some die off from the rock during the transportation from the LFS to your house. So there might be a mini-cycle.

It is common for nano tanks to have a quicker cycle when using good cured rock. My 10g cycled in about week and ammonia never showed up on my Salfert test kit. But I waited a full month to make sure before I added my clean-up crew just to be on the safe side.

 

[Zero333]

this being my first venture into the SW world i am going to wait a bit before I add life, other then life that came with the LR. If chemical levels keep stable for a while i might add a clean up crew but i am in no rush to kill animals because i could not wait. Also this gives me time to get used to keeping up with the never ending battle to keep my water level correct. I am sure as you know evaporation on a 10 gal tank is pretty rapid, even with the makeshift plexy glass hood i made,, i need to go to home depot tomorrow to pic up some of this egg crate stuff, or whatever it is called.

Also thanks for the comments, everyone is making this process a lot easier and stress free, sure books have loads of info in them, but i like to hear from experienced individuals a lot more.

 

[nodoubt471]

definitly go with the egg crate, it will help oxygenation. its best not to seal off the tank totally, and just keep up with toping off- i know, i have a 10g running too.