37g tank?

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celtic_dude

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Nov 27, 2006
Messages
14
Hello again. I was doing a little research on the size tank that I own and had a few ?'s. The tank at the moment is running with a 280 marineland filter w/ biowheel, and heater holding a steady 78 degree temp and an airstone. The bottom only has cc at the moment. I measured my tank I came up with 30x22x12. I think that comes out to 37 gallons. Am I running the right equipment for this size tank. Will go out after the holidays to add a skimmer(still reading up on them) and I am looking at picking up some live rock in the next week or so.(and will most likely cure in the tank). Am I on the right path here? Also saw something about adding a shrimp(like the ones you would buy for dinner?) to the tank to help with the cycle. Is this done before, during or after the addition of the live rock for the curing process? Sorry I am all over with this. Sometimes I seam to read to much and then second guess myself after the 12th time I have 2nd guessed myself. lol... Well any input would be helpful. I want to make sure I do this right since I plan on having this tank for a long time(unless I want to upgrade to a bigger tank some day.) Thanks! :D
 
Looks like you are on the right path, the most important piece of advice I have ever gotten with a saltwater tank, is "Take your time, have patience and don't rush into anything". Another suggestion is loose the airstone, oxygen is entered to the tank by surgace agitation and surface water movement. The airstone is rather useless.
 
Those measurements are closer to 34 gallons. The 280 is fine but once you get your base/lr in the tank (aim for 50+ lbs) you can do away with the bio-wheel and just use it for circulation. If you get at least 25 lbs of uncured lr (along with 25 lbs of base) then it should have enough die-off to cycle your tank. As long as your nh3 hits 2-3 ppm your fine. A small raw cocktail shrimp may be needed to elevate your nh3 if you buy curred lr.

The 280 does 280 GPH which is about an 8 times turn over for your 34 gal tank. I'd still add two more powerheads (one on each side) for better surface agitation/oxygen exchange and get them in the 200-300 GPH range. A couple of Maxi-Jet 900 or Penguin 660 are great choices IMO.

Please follow up on your previous post also.
 
I agree. The shrimp, raw/unseasoned, from your grocery store is a great way to cycle your tank.
Let's look at the differences between base/uncured/cured rock.
Base rock (inexpensive) is usually white, dry and generally sitting in a shelf or crate/box.
Uncured is usually more colorful, sitting in a tank with out livestock.
Cured (more expensive than base and uncured) usually full of color, full of nitrifying bacteria and in the tanks with livestock.
With that said, you can buy a shrimp, buy some base rock (maybe uncured LR, but you really don't need it), cycle your tank, buy cured LR and add to tank.
If you shoot for 1.5-2Lbs of rock per gallon, you can get rid of the filter, since you will have enough rock for proper biofiltration. I would toss the airstone as well, it's not doing any good in your SW tank.
 
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