Begginner looking for some help!

[jerejohnson]

Hi everyone, i just recently got into the salt water world, i have an established tank for about 1 month everything is good. i have 25 lbs of live rock and 55 lbs of base rock, i just bought 55 lbs of live rock for 1.60 a pound. anyways i need to cure the 55 lbs of live rock and i was thinking of transferring my fish and some of the live rock and sand to a thirty gallon tank and taring down my 55 gallon tank and re sculpturing all of the live rock and some base rock. when i first set it up i put sand on the bottom and then the rock so the tank is really full looking. do you think this is a good idea or am i just crazy?
sorry first post..[/code]

 

[alarmguy66]

Welcome to Aquarium Advice! Here you will find some of the nicest and most knowledgable people on the net about fish and their care. Some of them are a little obsessive and anal (ITS TRUE!) but one thing is for sure, you will always get advice that is in the best interest of your fish.

That being said, here is what the gurus will want to know before answering any specific question. Tank size, filtration, # and type of fish, Fish only or reef, and other stuff you wouldnt normally think of posting.

IMO, I think the answer to your question lies in what you really want to do. If you want to resculpt using the new rock, you are best to move the fish to a different tank and go to town. Moving some of the existing sand and live rock is a nice move as you can minimize the new tanks cycling needs. Let the 55 cure and cycle, then add fish back.

If you like what you have and just want to add the new rock, cure it separately and add it after curing. Here is an article on how to cure the rock ( http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=6 ) that appears in the articles portion of this website.

You will receive opinions from people who have been into this much longer than me, so be patient and get several replies before charging forward.

Welcome aboard, and read read read. You will be surprised what you can find out here.

 

[steve-s]

55 lbs of LR should actually fit in the 30 gal depending on the bulk of each rock. 2 PH and a heater should be all that's needed and a few water changes to lower the DOC and help preserve the hitchikers. The link provided by alarmguy66 will help with that. I think it would be alot less hassle for you and the fish if you were to cure the rock seperately and once done, then re-aquascape the 55 gal.

If you need to remove the fish to re-aquascape, they could temporarily be housed in the 30 gal once emptied of the newly cured rock, rinsed out and filled with some water from the 55 gal. It's would be much less mess for you, less stressful on the fish and I would not recommend transfering the substrate back and forth.

What species and how many fish?

Cheers
Steve

 

[jerejohnson]

i have a 55 gallon tank, a fuval 304, 1 heater, 2 powerheads, i have a damsel and some other fish that my girl picked out, i had a cleaner shrimp but it just died the other day, all the readings are correct so i dont know how it died. i do have some brownish stuff growing on the live rock and the base rock but i figured thats the microalges spreading to the base rock. also while i was cleaning the 55 i thought i should have it drilled for later when i hook up a wet/dry.. any suggestions on that?
thanks

 

[steve-s]

Newly established tanks are still unstable and it is more than possible your tank had a spike in the water quality or some other issue that could have affected the health of the shrimp. They are not really the best animal for a newer tank. Was it slowly acclimated to the tank?

I am assuming the NH3 & NO2 are reading a steady zero, the NO3 is quite low and the ph is a stable 8.2-8.3?

If your going to drill the tank and make it "reef ready" so to speak, make sure it is done by a glass shop or other experienced place that has drilled them before. If it's acrylic, it will be much less hassle.

Cheers
Steve

 

[jerejohnson]

the shrimp was slowly acclimated to the tank, and all the readings are at zero, everything is great. i was thinking of having the local glass shop drill the tank. said it would be about $10.00 a hole but i figured it would be worth it.