New reef JBJ CF nano

[AquaTricia]

Hello everyone! I just realized that i posted this in the wrong forum, but i have absolutely no knowlege of this type of communications, so HELP!! If you know how i can transfer all this to the right forum, let me know. My tank is a 28g nano which will one day be a reef tank. Right now it is a 29g nano with 2" of aragonite live sand and I topped it off with CaribSea Figi Pink live sand. I have 16.9 lbs of live rock. I have 3 problems. Every time I touch the thing the sand or particles blow up and I have a white tank for a day or two. How do you aqua scape your rocks if you can't even see them? I'm going to add another LR tonight to complete what I want to do, but I can't really see inside. I also will get an underwater putty to connect them, if I can ever see the things. oh yeah, I wash out the sponge every day with tap water and let it dry while I put in another sponge.
My LFS keeps telling me not to get testing equipment, that I just need to bring a sample to her and she will test it for me. Sound right to you?
Last question (for now) is that the tank has been going for 9 days. It developed brown spots on all surfaces. I assume they are diatoms and that I needn't bother with them. Am I correct? They will go away on their own?
Thanks everybody for your help. I studied everything I could find for 3 months to prepare for this but I guess I'm not.

 

[melosu58]

Moved to SW general discussion. Welcome aboard.

 

[Mrc8858]

What are you using to circulate the water and did you rinse your sand before adding it. That could be the reason your getting such bad sandstorms. As for testing. I might say no test kit and trusting your lfs might be ok if there trustworthy but if you plan on a reef then you need to be able to do it all yourself, trust me. The brown spots sound like diatoms which over the next few months your tank will go through different blooms which is normal. Once that's all over with you should have yourself an established reef tank and you'll be able to fully enjoy the SW world so goodluck and welcome to AA any more questions feel free to ask that's why we're here

 

[Grizz]

Turn off your pumps when you aqua scape it will help withe the sand storm Get a test kit because when things go bad the LFS is always closed

Your sand will stop blowing around when you get a bacti slime coat it just takes time Sounds like you have diatoms so your off to a good start
PS rinse your sponge with old tank water, tap water will kill off the bacti your trying to build

 

[AquaTricia]

New reef JBJ nano CF

Thanks for replying, Mrc8858 and Grizz.
Because I have a cube the filter and wavemaker are included. I also added a Koralia 425. I am definately getting testing kits as I would like to utilize the lfs for emergencies and water. I was there yesterday to have my water tested, she said it was good, but gave me no readings, but then I didn't ask (duhhh!), and when I left, I had a water clarifyer, 2 "olive pit" snails, one beautiful turbo snail and two peppermint shrimps. She tried to sell me crabs and damsels, and I don't want either, and she seemed perturbed. I did not rinse my sand first because it was live sand and both the lfs and the bag said not to rinse.
I'm creating an arch, which isn't too stable, so
I bought something calles AquaStick to bond them together. Does this stuff actually work?
Again, thanks.

 

[Crystal A]

This is why you want your own test kit. I would never trust a fish store to watch my water parameters. Just make sure your cycle is done before adding anymore life stock. With saltwater slow and steady wins the race.

 

[AquaTricia]

New JBJ nano CF

Thanks, Crystal A. Could you give me your opinion of something to bond my rocks together so they don't tumble? I tried something called AquaStick, but it does not seem to work, and, yes, I read the instructions.

 

[Grizz]

try the gel type super glue iv'e had good luck with it
Be careful with those "olive pit" snails (olive snails) are Predatory on most other mollusks including snails and clams. i'd bring them back and don't trust that LFS Most will write the test results down for you. Wise move with damsels little punks lol
Also water clairfyer is a waste of money run a small HOB with poly fill and charcoal to clear your water

 

[AquaTricia]

Thanks, Grizz. I have been unable to find anything but the stick type of bonding material. That's all they had at the Lfs and at Petco.com and Doctor's Foster and SmithAquatics. Yeah, I found out I wasted $15 on the clarifier. I never see those snails. You'd think as small as the tank is I could see them once in a while. Didn't know they were predatory. Thanks for the info.
Question, I only have about 19 lbs of live rock in the 28g tank. Once I can get those rocks stabilized, do you think I should get more live rock?

 

[Mrc8858]

Adding LR after the fact isn't a very good idea. Either put it all in now or add lace rock later down the road to not cause a mini cycle

 

[AquaTricia]

Well, you got me there. Tomorrow will make 14 days since I set up the tank. Adding a rock this soon might cause a mini cycle? I'm glad I said something or I could have created a disaster for my shrimps and snails. And could you please tell me what lace rock is? Thanks again!

 

[Mrc8858]

Lace rock is rock before its "live" and yes anytime you add LR without curing it first you will experience die off which could result in ammo or nitrIte spikes

 

[Grizz]

+1 Mrc, add well rinsed dry rock from this point on plus side is it's cheaper and no pest minus it takes about 2 weeks to become live

 

[AquaTricia]

New reef JBJ nano

Any rock I would add at this point would be cured live rock. Are you saying that I can't add even use cured live rock now? And, what would be the definition of dry rock? I know when I started my cichlids tanks, I was told to get this rock the lfs said was from the desert and to boil it before puting it into the tank. Is that what we're talking about? Please excuse my ignorance as the books don't talk about all this. I need the experts. Thanks again.

 

[Crystal A]

You could do live rock but you would have to cure it in a seperate container with saltwater and a heater. You would also have to test the water to see the ammonia spike and trites and trates go to zero. Once the parameters are normal you can add it to the existing tank. Base rock is rock that has no bateria on it hence "not live". If you add that to the tank over time it will become live. As far as bonding don't know I didn't bond any of my rock so I couldn't help ya there.

 

[Newfiereefer]

+1 for the test kits . It's much faster and easier to understand and get to know you tank if you do you own water test.

I also got live sand and didn't rinse at the beginning, since the " live bacteria " in the sand is most likely dead when you buy it , that is bad advice . I had to do several massive water changes to clear mine up( 55g ) but since then it's been fine ... You filters will do a good job of clearing it also.

You may wanna slow down on the stocking . Since each animal will add to the bio load, the bacteria need time to catch up to the load , adding a lot of life stock can cause a ammonia spike.

Snails and hermits are a ok start . Also don't be fooled by damsels , they look all innocent but they are mean pricks ! I have a friend who has 2 in with a snowflake eel .... They rule the tank, they will actually smack the eel in the face with tail fins .

 

[Newfiereefer]

Adding LR after the fact isn't a very good idea. Either put it all in now or add lace rock later down the road to not cause a mini cycle

I've added rock bits at a time with no ill effect , but only a few pounds at a time .... Unless you count diatoms as I'll effect >_<

 

[Newfiereefer]

You could do live rock but you would have to cure it in a seperate container with saltwater and a heater. You would also have to test the water to see the ammonia spike and trites and trates go to zero. Once the parameters are normal you can add it to the existing tank. Base rock is rock that has no bateria on it hence "not live". If you add that to the tank over time it will become live. As far as bonding don't know I didn't bond any of my rock so I couldn't help ya there.

A good LFS should cure the LR before selling it , I have not had any issues with the LR I've added to my tank. As for bonding ... I have tryed the Orca whale underwater glue... It's crud , I think the hard sticks are ur best bet , will be easier to work with , the orca glue just floated around had to remove it with a net :-/

 

[AquaTricia]

New JBJ CF nano

Thanks for the ingo guys. If the reef store on the other side of town doesn't have the gel, I will go back to the bonding stck. The turbo snail is kinda big and I am afraid he will knock the top rocks down.
The Lfs I use sells live rock from Figi and aquacultured live rock from South Florida. I bought some of each. All of it is cured and I bring it home in a bucket if salt water. Also, another possible problem has developed. One of my rocks, live of course as that's all I buy, is turning white like someone is going in and painting them. It is the rock on the top. Any ideas?

 

[Mrc8858]

That's the die off it will probably all turn white but it will regain its color over time