Moving from Brackish to SW

[goisles1]

Off and Running!!!

OK.. LR arrived Today.. Looked really nice (thats coming from someone who's never seen it in a box..he he)

I ordered 50lbs and received 8-9 nice sized pieces. There was also ALOT of rubble on the bottom of the box.

So, Tank is officially Cycling. Here's how I did it:

1st I syphoned about 3 gallons of tank water into a 5gal pail.
Then I syphoned maybe 10 more gals into a rubbermain container.
I took each piece out of the box and shook/rinsed them inside the 5gal pail to get any junk off them. Since I'm cycling the tank with the LR, I figured some of the die off would aid in my cycle. So, I didn't scrub them.

I placed each rock in the tank and stacked them quite nicely. We'll see if this is true once the tank clears up.

I then took ALL the rubble and filled the resevoir of my old Aquaclear 500 HOT filter.

I then pushed the water from the rubbermaid container back up into the tank using a PH.

Fired up the Skimmer, 2 PH's, and AQ500. I also Topped off the Tank and it only needed 1gal.

Tank Temp is now 78deg and just took a gravity reading of 1.022.

I took some pics of the LR in the Box and will post them later when the kiddies are asleep

 

[melosu58]

Looks like you are good to go. Cant wait for the pics.

 

[goisles1]

melosu58.. Thanks.. After reading you previous post about overflows, I spent many hours online reading about DIY Overflows for sumps. I realize now I can build one for under $20 using PVC.

I just need to get another pump for the return and I'll set that up too. I plan to move the Rock Rubble down to the sump and get rid of the AC500.

 

[melosu58]

melosu58.. Thanks.. After reading you previous post about overflows, I spent many hours online reading about DIY Overflows for sumps. I realize now I can build one for under $20 using PVC.

I just need to get another pump for the return and I'll set that up too. I plan to move the Rock Rubble down to the sump and get rid of the AC500.

 

[goisles1]

My Tank is already 100% clearer.. Amazing..

BUT - The Remora Pro Skimmer has dumped about 5gallons of Smelly brown water out the drain hose of the collection cup.

Thankfully, I had connected a hose and put the other end into an empty 10gal tank.

I just topped off the tank with 5gals of new SW and emptied the smelly water in the 10g tank. I hear this skimmer needs some time to "break in" and it will stop collecting water and just the skinmate?

Anyway.. I don;t want to keep adding new water to the tank as I want it to cycle.. Should I turn off the Skimmer?

 

[melosu58]

Yes you really dont need it on in the front end of the cycle. I would say cut it back on so it can be breaking in about a week from the end of the cycle.

 

[goisles1]

ok..thanks..

OK..dumb Q... What's Clearing my tank right now?? I assume the skimmer.. so.. if I shut it down, the tank will not clear up until after the cycle?

 

[goisles1]

UPDATE:

Cycle seems to have taken off... I just tested my water and here are my results:

Ammonia - 1.0ppm
Nitrite - 5.0ppm
Nitrate - 5.0ppm
PH - 7.8
Water Temp - 81deg
SG - 1.023

I see the SG has gone UP.. I assume that's due to evaporation? I just added 1gal FW.

Temp is too high, I will adjust the thermo

Nitrites AND Nitrates present.. I assume that's a good sign.

I will get some pics up

 

[goisles1]

OK.. not that I'm impatient or anything.. but waiting for this tank to be ready is killing me. It's only been 11days since I added the LR and started the cycle. I know I could have a couple more weeks to go.

I've plumbed my sump and it's been running for a few days.Tank is nicer without the Skimmer, heater and filter showing. All I have now is my pvc overflow, return, and a PH.

I've noticed a whitish film covering all the LR. At first, I thought the colors were fading, but it appears that the purple is hidden under the white film. I cleaned a couple spots on one of the rocks to confirm this. Is this normal and will my cleanup crew take care of this when they are added?

Or, when it comes time to aquascape and add livestock, should I remove each rock and scrub them a bit?

Lastly, Here are a couple pics of progress:

This is how the LR looked when it arrived from Underwateroulets:

This is the Tank right now:
Ammonia and Nitrite seem to be dropping but the Nitrate is still at 5ppm. PH is rising and is up to 8.4, Sump is whows as well:

 

[buddha_red]

your cycling, nitrates will be there. when your tank is cycled, you will do a pwc and that will remove some nitrates. ammonia and nitrites are your magic numbers. keep watching them drop, your well on your way. i know its hard to wait, but you could aquascape any time you like. i didnt wait for my cycle to be over.

 

[cofano32]

nice set up man what livestock you gonna put in that bad boy?

 

[goisles1]

not 100% sure yet.. I'll def go with clowns as I have little kids (3yr, 2yr, and 10mo old). Need I say more?
I def want some form of inverts and maybe one of those guys that sift the sand (blenny?)
But knowing me, I'll be sure to upgrade my lighting and turn this into a Reef tank. But, I hope I can hold out until 2010 for that.

 

[cofano32]

i totally understand, and your looking to get a gobie to sift your sand. what lighting do you have no may i ask not sure if you told us already

 

[goisles1]

It's a standard Perfecto conopy/light combo. I bought the setup in 1995 and it's still got the original 20W bulb in it. Talking to my LFS and what I;ve read here, it's fine for FOWLR. But I KNOW I'm not going to be happy with my lighting once my livestock is in there.

 

[cofano32]

yeah i understand maybe you could just buy a good bulb for it

 

[goisles1]

Tank is ready~!

Tank has been cycling for almost a month now.

Ammonia = 0
Nitrites = 0
Nitrates = 0
PH = 8.3
Temp = 79
SG = 1.022

Yesterday I performed a large water change and used the water I removed to clean some more of the waste off the LR. I then Aquascaped to the best of my ability

I noticed that alot/most of my purple turned white on my LR during the cycle. I'm also noticing ALOT of GREEN now on the LR. There is also a new spot that is turning a yellowish/orange color.

Anyway.. been doing alot of searches on this topic and I see that ALOT of people experience Die off when they cycle with LR and I believe it should all come back eventually.

I will be adding Livestock this week as well as another overflow for the other side of the tank.

Here are some pics just taken.. Apologies for the reflection but it's quite sunny today here. I may replace these photos with new ones tonight when the sun is down.

Here is the newly scaped tank waiting for me to add fish:

Here is a close up of one of the LR pieces (showing the Yellow/orange spot):

 

[goisles1]

LIVESTOCK added 7days ago. 2 False clowns and 10 Margaritas snails.

I really think I did a nice job on my fishless cycle as I took readings each day after adding livestock. On the second day, I noticed my ammonia went from 0 to .25. Nitrates and Nitrites stayed the same. Next morning Ammonia was back at Zero and has remained there. Gonna mix up 5gals of Saltwater tonight and do a WC tomorrow night.

Some Observations:

Pretty much lost ALL my Purple Coraline that came with my LR. It all turned white. I do notice alot of other colors coming back (greens, yellows, and oranges) but Purple is GONE! I'm waiting for my new T5 lighting to arrive and I hope that will help bring it back!

Margaritas Snails Die easily if they fall off the rock. I've lost 3or4 snails this week. I watched one fall off the LR and land on it's back. I just assumed it would turn itself over. Next morning, snail was in the exact same place and dead. I've turned over a few that were stuck on their backs since, and they seem fine. They immediatly start moving.

SW is awesome!

Pics will follow tonight as I re-aquascaped this past weekend.

 

[roka64]

Nice looking rock work! How are you acclimating your inverts?

 

[goisles1]

Thanks.. I rescaped and I like it even better now. More compacted and a bit higher. My thinking was to make it more "REEF" friendly in the event I want to move to corals in the coming months or years I plan to add more Base Rock around what I've got now.

I do NOT have a QT, so I acclumated the inverst by floating the bag in the tank for 30mins. Then I transfered the contents of the bag into a 1gal plastic fishbowl. The bowl fit perfectly into my tank wedged into my canopy opening. So, I think I was able to keep the temps the same. Then, over the coarse of the next hour or so, I poured small amounts (1oz) of water from my tank into the bowl every 10mins or so.Then Finally, I took each snail out of the bowl by hand and placed them on my LR in differnt places.
Some have stayed and work on the actual rock I placed them on while others have since moved to the Glass, powerheads, Skimmer wire, etc.

FYI.. pretty much did the same thing with my clowns. Only difference is the Hand placing of course. With the fish, I just poured the water through my net into a bucket to catch the fish. Then Dropped them into the Tank.

 

[goisles1]

Update:

Added my new T5 lighting last week. Yesterday, my diatom Bloom started. The tank is still REALLY young so I will see what happens. I hope it will Burn itself out over time (1month??)

Anyway.. Here is are my details:

2 - F P Clowns
1 - Coral Beauty
6 - Margarita Snails

Amm = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = .10
PH = 8.3
Temp = 77
SG - 1.023

Here are some pics with the NEW lighting and the Diatom algae Bloom that is occuring. I swear, if I stare at the tank, I can see it grow!!

And I realize I have to clean my glass!

TANK and SUMP :My Wife is just about done making a Nice Black Curtain for the stand to hide it's UGLINESS. FYI - Electric will be re-wired more safely tonight.. Just testing my timers today!):

AquaScaping:

CLOWNS:

Coral Beauty:

Comments/Suggestions Welcomed