Freshy girl wants a FOWLR Tank

[huma-huma]

Actually the sand really isn't gonna do all that much, if you are trying to seed a new tank to speed up cycling, you'd want either the filter media itself or truly live rock, both coming from a well established tank. Yes the sand does hold some bb but not anywhere near the amount that the filter media and/or live rock hold. Plus when you dig deep into a well establiahed sand bed, you run the risk of releasing harmful chems into the water....all in all I'd look at getting ahold of some decent filter media to seed it with

 

[thatfishguy]

The skimmer is going to be pulling impurities that would convert to ammonia and so on, and so forth. You're prolonging the cycle. And as for filter media, that isn't going to sustain a SW tank, nor will it cycle. The filter media will turn into a nitrate factory.

What you want to cycle the tank is some good live rock. I'd do a 60/50 combo, if it's a 45 gallon tank, 25lbs live rock, 15lbs base rock.

 

[huma-huma]

I'm sorry but how do you figure filter media wouldn't sustain a sw tank?? That what a majority of people use to seed their tanks to avoid a cycle.

 

[TraceyB4602]

We have 30 pounds of live rock in there now and the other 40 pounds is base because we had to break it down before so it's all dead. We also have live sand.

I know of many people that use HOB filters on saltwater tanks we don't have the time or money to make a sump right now. Yes I have heard they are nitrate factories and we will watch that. It is a 100g tank. Not a 45. We will be getting more live rock this week and hopefully powerheads.

 

[Hondatek]

Your off to a great start. A sump helps but I don't have one on my tank so it isn't nessesary.

 

[huma-huma]

Great start sumps and/or refugiums are not 100% necessary to run a sw tank, they do offer a more natural filtration setup, then say a canister filter full of man made materials. Plus if you do it correctly, you could sustain your 100g tank with nothing more than a sump/refugium and your pwc's...just depends on individual circumstances

 

[reefster]

from experience the best way to speed up a cycle is just let it go on its own. the more flow in the tank usually releases bacteria from the rock and help out a bit. on the skimmer it really wont make a difference on the cycle. a skimmer picks up waste out of the water and you have no bioload so no waste. a skimmer during cycle really wont hurt or help. it would just help break in your skimmer that way its ready when you start adding fish.

 

[reefster]

i have a 100 gallon reef tank with a 30 gallon sump/ refugium full of chaeto and about 300 lbs of live rock and a skimmer. no other filters besides the filter that is on my return pump. i do monthly water changes and my water test come out perfectly. its all in jow you set up the tank

 

[TraceyB4602]

We are getting 2 power-heads tomorrow and some more live rock. It's good to know were off to a good start.

Can anyone tell me what red like growth could be on my rocks it's growing on my base rock too, letting me know my tank is living : ). I included a photo to help.

I also included a photo of our new tank setup. The cave is in the making for possibly a lion fish.

 

[TraceyB4602]

We did an API test after a week of being up and running, 4 days with the live rock.

The test results are:

PH- 82
NH3- 0ppm
No2- 5.0ppm
No3- 160
Temp- 86F

Is this a good start? The live rock is extremely good. There are things growing everywhere. Should we do a water change or just wait till there are no nitrites.

 

[Ricksreef]

We have 30 pounds of live rock in there now and the other 40 pounds is base because we had to break it down before so it's all dead. We also have live sand.

I know of many people that use HOB filters on saltwater tanks we don't have the time or money to make a sump right now. Yes I have heard they are nitrate factories and we will watch that. It is a 100g tank. Not a 45. We will be getting more live rock this week and hopefully powerheads.

HOB filters will work ok on SW tanks.Just make sure you get biggest one you can and clean the floss and change the carbon at least once a month.

 

[TraceyB4602]

Well that's good to hear we were worried

 

[TraceyB4602]

So we put some clams in from work ( were chefs lol) and they seem to be doing good. One burrowed in the sad and the other two are open and eating things from the water ....

 

[ShadoeFox]

So we put some clams in from work ( were chefs lol) and they seem to be doing good. One burrowed in the sad and the other two are open and eating things from the water ....

That's funny! better not show that to my wife. She keeps teasing me that she's going to buy a lobster from the grocery store...heh.

 

[abdhalim2]

We did an API test after a week of being up and running, 4 days with the live rock.

The test results are:

PH- 82
NH3- 0ppm
No2- 5.0ppm
No3- 160
Temp- 86F

Is this a good start? The live rock is extremely good. There are things growing everywhere. Should we do a water change or just wait till there are no nitrites.

hye Tracey...
your reading for No3 was totally high and at alarming situation....im not sure how your clams will adapt to this...the red thing on your live rock is either red algae or coralline algae...but i think it was more to red algae...try to bring your water to LFS for testing....stop adding new corals....JMO

 

[TraceyB4602]

We are not trying to add corals lol we are just adding live rock and if the coral came with it then it did.

We bought more live rock today now our total is 100 pounds of rock and at least 75 of that is live.

Just wanted to know if those levels are normal for a starting tank. And how long it usually takes to go down.

I just tested again and our numbers are:

Ph- 8.2
Nh3-.25ppm
No2- 2.0ppm
No3- 40ppm

I'm not sure if he did the test wrong the other day but if he didn't is there any other way besides a water change to lower nitrate in a SW tank? I know in FW there isn't. Just wondering because of the massive difference in nitrate. ( from 160ppm to 40ppm in 2 days)

 

[Hondatek]

The last test looks good. Might be a good idea to test again since your unsure about your accuracy of the last two tests. Its probably better to just wait until the ammo and nitrites are 0 before doing a water change to get your nitrates down.that's the good thing of fishless cycle.its looking real good though.

 

[huma-huma]

If you have pure ammonia, you could dose back up to 4 ppm and watch to see how long it takes. To come down. as in terms of replacing carbon in your filter, I wouldn't do it. There's really no need to, I have followed the "keep it till its falling apart" guideline and its never done me wrong, also have crystal clear water in my tanks. My 20g fw is crystal-clear and the filter cartridges are every bit of 8 months old, I simply rinse them in outgoing tank water during pwc's......

 

[TraceyB4602]

I haven't used carbon in 45g FW and my water has always been clear and healthy. So I was just going to replace the carbon with another sponge.
Would this be recommended for a SW tank? I know that HOB's can be a nitrate factory.

 

[scottayy]

edit| my reply was from like page 3 lol
my bad