Andrea's 29 Gallon Reef

[Jkeating8]

I think aqua traders sells halides for about $100. I can't comment on the quality of them, though. FishNeedIt does, too.

[AndI3kAY]

If the halides get warm enough that i would need a chiller, i might as well buy the leds right? So i think for now i will be getting the t5s.

[Genski84]

+1 on the T5's

[Saltwaterfish56]

I have medal halides , they are good , but t 5s is actually what I am going to try and do

[LKemp712]

I have had excellent luck with scrubbing the rock with hydrogen peroxide and bleach rather than soaking and wasting time so you could try that too. If you are putting in sand, you should let your tank sit after putting in the freshly cleaned rock before adding any fish or coral, the chemicals take a while to go away.

[AndI3kAY]

Got some more rock today, 1 more piece of live and 1 piece of base. Not sure how i like the arrangement, but i guess it will do for now, the water is still a little cloudy from moving everything, pic anyway!

[carey]

Looks like some good spots for some frags.

[AndI3kAY]

Should i add more rock? I think i have about 20 lbs

[carey]

I'm a fan of alot of rock typically. If it were me i would add another 10lbs probably. Not live, just base dry rock. You can even bust up some of the rock into smaller pieces if you wanted to, it wont hurt anything. I've also found that dry rock always seems to be more porous, which in saltwater is a good thing,more surface area for the beneficial bacteria to adhere to. And the more live rock, the better the filtration.

[AndI3kAY]

I'd like to be able to build it up more, but i'm afraid that it will get knocked over, any way to avoid this?

[AndI3kAY]

I need to get a refractometer, i found one on ebay for about $22 or there are the ones on BRS for around $30 something. Are these basically all the same? Is there a reason I should buy from BRS over ebay? Any input is appreciated.

[AndI3kAY]

Just ordered a refractometer from BRS, wanted to wait for a group buy, but the 10x points today seemed like it was a good deal too.

[AndI3kAY]

Alright, its been almost a month and i feel like my cycle is going nowhere:
Ph 7.6
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Does anyone have any ideas?

[Sniperhank]

What is your ammonia source?

[AndI3kAY]

I was going to do the dead shrimp method, but when i bought my live rock they said i would not need the shrimp, that the live rock would cycle the tank.

[Sniperhank]

Did you buy it from a LFS and was it kept submersed in water the entire trip?

[AndI3kAY]

I did buy it from 2 different lfs, one place just puts it in a plastic bag, the other wraps it in wet paper towel and then puts it in a bag

[Sniperhank]

Well, you easily had die off. This can be seen from the traces of ammonia you are reading. The die off from the rock is starting the "cycle"...the unfortunate part to this is that once the nitrification cycle finishes from this, it wouldn't be able to support a fish! Fish food and waste create much more ammonia than what the die off from your rock will. Toss the shrimp in to get some real fuel to your cycle so you can support livestock.

[AndI3kAY]

Wish i would have known that weeks ago! Thanks for your help!

[AndI3kAY]

Sorry one more question, I can just add the shrimp at anytime? Will this basically restart the cycle?