About to start my 75g Fowlr - Aquarium Advice

prissysmom · 10-06-2009, 12:43 PM

Hi all,

Well I'm about to start my tank. Please let me know if I am on track....

1. I will put in my skimmer, powerheads and heater (leave light turned off)
2. Add water from my RO/DI unit
3. Add salt. Get the salinity to 1.024 and temperature at 75
4. Rinse with salt water and add 75 pounds of cured live rock (on 2" PVC pipe). I read that it is best to have the rock up from the bottom. Is this necessary?
5. Add 2 raw shrimp (Do I need this if I am using cured live rock?)
6. Test with kits every few days

Do I have everything right?

match55 · 10-06-2009, 12:49 PM

temp 75, IMO its a little too low

the PVC pipe is a good choice to raise the rock so they don't all touch the sand; the other way is you can make bridges with the rocks to advoid them sitting right on the sand, you can go look at my 46gal tank thread.
I change my rock work from using PVC to no PVC.

shrimps won't hurt the cycle
so you r doing great^^

oh actually if u wanna save money, I would go for some uncured LR, since you will use the rock to cycle anyway, so the uncured will become cured in no time.

prissysmom · 10-06-2009, 01:21 PM

Thanks so much. I'll forget the PVC and just build bridges like you. I am going to have PVC in the tank anyway for my eel so I don't want my tank to look funny with a lot of PVC.

My LFS only has cured at 3.99 a pound (Fiji). But I don't think I can trust this store because the person said (oh, I've had a SWT for 13 years!, but then told me "You don't need a skimmer!"
Problem is in my area there aren't any other stores besides Petco and Petsmart

So my trust is with you all here.

match55 · 10-06-2009, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prissysmom

Thanks so much. I'll forget the PVC and just build bridges like you. I am going to have PVC in the tank anyway for my eel so I don't want my tank to look funny with a lot of PVC.

My LFS only has cured at 3.99 a pound (Fiji). But I don't think I can trust this store because the person said (oh, I've had a SWT for 13 years!, but then told me "You don't need a skimmer!"
Problem is in my area there aren't any other stores besides Petco and Petsmart

So my trust is with you all here.

3.99 is a good price~the LFS in my area sell them for 8.99 ToT

that person might be correct in some point tho, since he had SWT for 13years, he might had a lot of marco algae, or even some matured mangroves to help control the nitrate. as some point, mangroves can knock out the skimmer, thats what some people want, use as less equipment as they can, and go for more natural system. (the progress take a long time tho.)

who knows why he suggest you not use a skimmer and not telling you about mangoves and marco algae LOL

if you don't wanna show the PVC, you can hide the big PVC which is for your eel under the sand, make a really deep sea bed on one side.
something like mine, I put 2 pipes on each side, but after I redo the rock work, I totally forgot to cover them up with sand LOL, and now I am too lazy to do it. maybe when I feel like it, I will cover them. XD

oh here is a online store that have some really good reef rocks that I use.
http://reefcleaners.org/index.php?pa...mart&Itemid=34 free shipping over 30lbs, and takes about 5days from florida to california.
they shipped me some BIG one, so I break them to smaller pieces and made bridges with them, you can see in my tank that the left side big piece is gone and became smaller ones.

prissysmom · 10-06-2009, 02:07 PM

Thank so much!

One other thing. If I am using cured LR do I still need the raw shrimp too?
If so how many?

goisles1 · 10-06-2009, 02:26 PM

Sounds like a good plan!!!

$3.99 is quite a decent price for LR from any LFS.. The closest LFS to me is $14.99/lb. I bought mine online.

I was going to recommend getting some Dry rock but at $3.99/lb you might as well go all Live.

Anyway.. to answer your last Q.. Adding the shrimp is still a good idea. As it decomposes, you will be testing the bacteria colonies that should be established already in your "cycled" LR. If you see an Ammonia Spike with the shrimp added, you will know that you didn't have enough Bacteria to handle the fish's bioload you would have added.

If the Ammonia stays at Zero, then you know your a Ready to add you livestock!

match55 · 10-06-2009, 02:55 PM

omg 14.99/lb!!! OoO
and go ahead and add the shrimps, 75gal, I remember one of the pro in here said add about 3 raw shrimps.

after that you just need to test your water every other/few days to see if your ammon n nitrite hit 0. When they both hit 0, do a PWC to lower the nitrate, and you r ready for fish.
but don't add all the fishes you like at once, one every 2~3weeks, you wanna make sure your bacteria can handle the bioload from the first fish before you add the second.

goisles1 · 10-06-2009, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by match55

omg 14.99/lb!!! OoO
and go ahead and add the shrimps, 75gal, I remember one of the pro in here said add about 3 raw shrimps.

after that you just need to test your water every other/few days to see if your ammon n nitrite hit 0. When they both hit 0, do a PWC to lower the nitrate, and you r ready for fish.
but don't add all the fishes you like at once, one every 2~3weeks, you wanna make sure your bacteria can handle the bioload from the first fish before you add the second.

Also.. Try to have a plan regarding livestock.. Say you have 4 or 5 fish in mind.. It's better to add the least aggressive ones first. Of course, this is not always possible.. Just something to keep in mind when buying..

prissysmom · 10-06-2009, 05:00 PM

I'm gonna post about which fish I am thinking about adding when I finish this cycling.

Oh about the sand. I bought live sand but I'm thinking being in a bag how live can it be?

I need to rinse it with sw from the tank correct? or just dump and wait till it clears?

thominil · 10-06-2009, 05:28 PM

You are right on thinking that the live sand is not live. IMO, it is not live. Make sure you are VERY careful stacking on pvc if you go that route so rocks don't fall and break the glass. I would just use base rock as goisles suggested, 1 shrimp for every 30g is good IMO, so 2-3 would be plenty. Stick them in a ziploc bag and poke small holes into the bag so removal is easy. I would rinse, but I suppose you could just toss the sand into the tank and just throw a filter with some filter floss onto the tank too. HTH.