AquaTricia 40 gal FOWLR

[AquaTricia]

Glad for the interest. Lights are due in today. Have begun aquascaping. Hopefully will have that done by tomorrow or Wednesday. Lid will be here then. Going to add a little warmed saltwater and add the sand. Figured the little water would keep the sand from swirling around too much. Then will fill the tank, put in the heaters, add the shrimp, and begin the cycling. If nothing major happens (and it usually does in my family), all this should be done by the weekend. Can't wait, although all the prep work has, and will be, fun. So, that's the scoop.

 

[AquaTricia]

Oh, I forgot. Knew I would. Will install the powerhead when the tank is full, and am waiting on the skimmer which is on backorder. That's OK, as I don't need it yet. Don't need the lights on the tank yet, but I can play with them!

 

[markodeniro]

That's wicked I have a t5 on my 20G but I want to upgrade to a 85G when we move home.


Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

 

[AquaTricia]

An 85 would be sweet. Thought about T5's but I'm addicted to LED's which my husband built to go over the reef. So these will also be LED's with a controller. A 40b was all that would fit in the last remaining space I have in the house. I already have 4 fresh and the reef. Wish we could build onto the house. Hey, that's an idea!

 

[AquaTricia]

Update on the 40b build. Rocks are in and epoxied together. Left a place for the Remora S with pre-skimmer box to hang. The pre-skimmer will be here tomorrow or the next day, and the Remora just shipped. The Orbits came yesterday, and we're playing with them now. We love them! Have 40 lbs of live sand, CaribSea Ocean Direct, and have 25 gallons of water prepared. Have yet to get the energy to go get the tank background, but will do it in the next day or so. Water and sand have to be helped along by the husband, so have to wait until he's available. Going to use pre-warmed salt water to maybe kickstart the live sand (maybe?). Then going to buy a cocktail shrimp, clothe it in panty hose, add BioSpira, and off we go! I might be able to juggle my reef tank around a little to pull out one live rock with no coral on it. I just hope I don't introduce nasties, as I went with dry live rock to prevent that. Had a lot of trouble with the reef tank with this.
So, it seems we're on the way!

 

[mr_X]

You don't need a single rock from your reef and you'll be just fine. If you don't want any unwelcome hitch hikers, then I would leave the rock be.

 

[AquaTricia]

Okey dokey. Trust your advice, Doug. Beats tearing the reef apart, anyway. Trying to seed the dry rock faster. Most of my fish selections indicate that they must be added only to an established tank. Guess I'm like everyone else and trying to rush it along. And I'm unsure as to what order to put the fish in. Contradictory Info again from several websites. Oh well, fish are a long way off away.

 

[mr_X]

Seed it with what? Bacteria? You are seeding it with bacteria when you pour in the bottle of bacteria. Feeding the bacteria is done by tossing in the ammonia, like your shrimp.

 

[AquaTricia]

OK. I'm embarrased. Read somewhere that would speed things up. Guess I'd just better be patient.

 

[mr_X]

It can, if you add a substantial amount of live rock, but One piece per a tank full and you aren't going to see a difference. Meanwhile, the piece you add is going to be subjected to an ammonia spike so any critters living on it are certainly in harms way.

 

[markodeniro]

What are you using for the bacteria?


Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

 

[AquaTricia]

Well, that's true. I guess there's still a lot of things I haven't thought of. Just hope I remember to ask them before I really blow it! Thanks, Doug.

 

[AquaTricia]

I am using a cocktail shrimp to start the cycle and BioSpira and live sand for bacteria. Sorry I didn't see your post at first.

 

[AquaTricia]

An update:40 pounds of sand is in and 1/2 tank of pre-mixed saltwater. Having to make more, and have another 5 gallons mixed for tomorrow. Then I will make more. At the moment, my tank looks like it's half full of chocolate milk with marshmallows. The problem is, by only adding 5 gallons of water at a time, I will keep the sand stirred up for a week. Best I can do unless I were to trust an LFS to have changed their filters for some good ro/di saltwater, which I don't. Think I'll go ahead and pump the 5gallons that just needs to "mellow" a while longer into one of my jugs, and go ahead and start making five more gallons tonight. Sounds like a plan!!

 

[mr_X]

Ugh...that reminds me of the old Heinz ketchup commercial....."anticipation....is making me wait...."

 

[AquaTricia]

I remember that one, Doug. It may have worked for ketchup, but I can gaurantee my anticipation will be greater. I was up til 1:00 making salt water and my husband got up at 2:00 sick. He can't get sick. He's got surgery on Wednesday. So, I'll be taking care of him and filling my tank. Gotta handle the inmportant stuff you know.

 

[AquaTricia]

40lbs of rock in, 40lbs sand is in temp is 79 (trying to adjust to 76. Specific gravity 1.024. Powerhead is in. Bio-Spira is in. Very cloudy tank, can barely see rocks. Question: which direction should the powerhead be pointed? Finished all this at 4pm yesterday. Expected a clearer tank this morning.
Also have a considerable amount of foam around the top of the glass and being swirled by the powerhead. What to do? Will go get my shrimp as soon as it quits raining. Probably this afternoon.
Can anyone give me a few pointers? Thanks.

 

[markodeniro]

Did you clean the sand before you put it in? As I had that problem with mine


Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

 

[AquaTricia]

No I didn't because it was live sand in water. It happened the same with my reef tank and I washed that sand for 2 hours. Took 4 days for it to settle. I wasn't using a powerhead then, so I have no idea whether to put it pointing in the middle at the rocks or at the surface. I did get my shrimp, though. Now I wait. Patiently.

 

[markodeniro]

Aim at the surface to get more rippling mixed at surface


Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice