pelochas's startup questions, tank, log

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pelochas

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Aug 16, 2005
Messages
140
Location
Pasadena, TX
*** i edited my subject title from "cleaning live rock" to that above simply because i can keep up with the answers and question i have and stop from going back and forth to other posts i made.***

ever since i added my Live Sand to my tank and then the LR, my LR looks dirty and muddy. In areas where i can move my power head to blow the area off i have had success in getting the rock cleaner and have some nice purple color coraline show now. I should have waited for the tank to clear after i added the sand.

Is it bad for the LR to be covered up with sand?

How would you clean this off?

Is there a specific brush to clean?
 
If its just sand then use the power head or turkey baster. This is a new tank? If it is then wait for the cycle to end and then get a clean up crew, snails and crabs will clean the LR for you.
 
yeah a new tank. my tank's readings are near normal. I dont remember them off my head but i wonder if i will have a minimal cycle because of the LR and LS. It has been three weeks and the all the readings are near normal. The LS did come with a few small snails and they are crawling around leaving their tracks all around the LS and on the glass.

One thing that does have me wondering is that there were a few more snails and a couple or larger snails about the size of a dime. They have both died i beleive, the shell is there upside down, not move at all for a few days. The other smaller snails, size of a eraser from a pencil, are still cleaning but i see fewer now.

Is something killing them and what should i test for? I have a master saltwater test kit but i know im missing another test.

Some of the LR is covered in sand but some of it looks furry.
 
It sounds like you have not had a cycle, What is near normal? We need numbers here on the site to help you out. How much LR and where did you get it, was it cured?
You might have to add a cocktail shrimp from the supermarket to get the cycle going it you don't have enough LR or any die off.
Tell us about the tank, size, lights, salinity etc...
Snails may be dead because they were not acclimated, some types of snails if flipped on there backs can not right themselves. I use a pair of tongs and flip them back over all the time.
Don't add any other critters or fish till you are sure the tank is cycled.
 
90 lbs of Live Rock
Purchase from a local hobbyist who was moving out of the US due to job relocation.
She had the live rock approximately 3 months in a tub with the LS, protein skimmer, PC light, and a pump. She was going to start her SW but had to relocated.Dont know if was cured. Forgot to ask.

I have a 75 gal tank, 48" long.
4x65w CF Coralife lights = 10,000k and Atnic

Salinity is bit high, 1.023~1.022

readings on 9/18/05, my first readings, i could not really see which color match best
Nitrate NO3 = 0~0.5
Nitrite NO2 = 0
High Range pH = 8.0
Ammonia NH3/NH4= 0.25~0.5

reading on 9/26/05, better color match readings
Nitrate NO3 = 10
Nitrite NO2 = 0
High Range pH = 8.2
Ammonia NH3/NH4= 0

Tank was filled with RO/DI water from my Kent Maxxima filter, added salt.
Added the LS and LR. Snails were all added later after few hours of acclimation. Not much life on the LR except the coraline. All the snails were removed from the LS before adding them to the main tank. All the snails were doing fine for the past two weeks until recently. Only thing that was change was the addition of more RO/DI water to fill the tank up. About 7 gallons of RO/DI was added in two days. I havent done a water change yet.

im not planning for any fish for at least a couple of months. should i add the shrimp or wait a few more weeks?

thanks for the help,
 
should i add the shrimp or wait a few more weeks?

I currently have a 1 Maxi Jet 1200. I also have a Quite One 4000 ((1017 gph) with about 5 feet of overhead so rougly 700 gph now)in the sump for my return. More tank details are above.

New question. I am going to buy 1 more Maxi Jet 1200. All my output from my return from my sump is shooting straight down the very center of the tank. Sand is slowly being pushed out and created a pit. Many areas of the LR has sand and needs good water circulation. Mainly down below and behind. Im really looking at something to push water thru every crack and hole of the "wall" of LR i created.

so whats is best,
a SCWD with a couple of U tubes inline with the return sump pump?
a wavemaster pro with another MaxiJet?
a power head with self rotating output?
a wavemaster pro, maxi jets and a SCWD?
i dont want to spend too much but ebay has many options.

this is not for a reef tank. im not even close to that level yet. please comment on the previous post also. thanks,
 
I think your tank did cycle. If you had some dead snails then those foul things would cycle the tank on their own. If you added cured rock from a local store it already had bacteria on it, as well as the sand. Personally I would do a WC to lower the nitrates. Is the skimmer working? If your tank cycles and you do not feed the tank or add a fish then your bacteria population will die back down. Why are you waiting so long to add a fish? You need to add a fish or feed the tank once the cycle has completed. Are you still having cloudiness issues?
 
Brenden said:
Is the skimmer working? Why are you waiting so long to add a fish? Are you still having cloudiness issues?

the skimmer is not working. i will start this now. i did do a test and see water come out but notice nothing on the cup.

my cloudiness issue is gone. i even removed the LR becuase i did not like how i prevousily arrange them at first, while doing this the cloudiness issue was minimal and cleared withing a couple of hours.

i have more of a micro bubble issue now. all the microbubbles are coming from my sump. i dont have baffles, what can i do to stop the bubbles?

TIA
 
It will take a few days for the skimmer to start working properly. It needs a layer of slime to produce foam like it should. With the cloudiness issue settling in a few hours after rearranging your rock I would say your cycle is complete. Bacteria on the "dust" causes it to settle. You can try some filter material to stop the bubbles. I have never had a bubble issue in my setup, someone else could help you more on that. I would add a fish or keep feeding your tank to keep the bacteria population up. Once you get the skimmer set it will help with your nitrate levels.
Salinity is bit high, 1.023~1.022
Most people including myself keep SG at 1.025
 
going back to a previous question

so whats is best,
a SCWD with a couple of U tubes inline with the return sump pump?
a wavemaster pro with another MaxiJet?
a power head with self rotating output?
a wavemaster pro, maxi jets and a SCWD?
i dont want to spend too much but ebay has many options.
 
I would pass on the self-rotating powerheads, I had a couple and they would only work for a couple of weeks before I had to break them down. I personally use two sea swirls off of my sump return pump with a powerhead behind my rock and a high flow/low force pump flowing across the tank. This causes alot of disturbed water flow and constantly moves the sand without clouding the water. Looks very natural to me.
 
is a sea swirl a power head or pump?
how does it work with a sump pump feeding another power head /pump?
or am i way off.
sea swirls are costly though. SCWD are cheap but i dont know if it will do the job right.

TIA
 
today was a first sign of algea growth, i have brown algea stuff growing on my sand bed and almost the entire piece of one large flat LR that sits on the very top in the middle of the tank. im guessing this is diatoms?

i have only like 4 large snails, size of a nickle with a pointy shell. they are all over the LR and cleaning it very noticably. but i beleive i need to get much more snails. what type of snails are these? how many should i need?

i also have maybe about 12 of the smaller pea size snails with a more ball shape shell. they are more in the sand bed and buried during the day. they are all over the brown growth on the sand bed. are theses nausarus snails? how many should i need?

and one lonely hermit crab. he has the exact shell and the larger snails. he is working the LR mostly and has small red pinchers. he is small and cant get a good look at him.

i took a new set of reading to see what is going on with the growth. im guessing that the growth is due to the CP light that i have installed last week. most growth is where the light is, and not where its shaded under the LR.

readings on 10/4/05, this color match water test is not very good. is there a better way to get a more reliable reading. to me, the nitrate reading is hardest becuase the yellow coloring is almost the same for 0, 5.0, and 10

Nitrate NO3 = 0
Nitrite NO2 = 0
High Range pH = 8.2
Ammonia NH3/NH4= 0

im still confused about my tank cycling is fisnished. what other tests do i need to purchase?

any help of the water circulation with the previous posts?

i know i have a lot of questions so i appreciate any and all of your responses,

TIA
pelochas
 
pelochas said:
going back to a previous question

so whats is best,
a SCWD with a couple of U tubes inline with the return sump pump?

Once I get my sump set up I plan on getting the SCWD as it seems the most cost effective way of moving water and having little dead spots. Currently I use two PH running 295 gph each and a Magnum 350 pro.

I plan to use two SCWD units running high and low on each side of the tank.

Below are links to reviews of the SCWD and from what I’ve read most are very happy with it.

http://reefcentral.com/modules.php?...699d9e4ffa2&name=Reviews&rop=showcontent&id=9
http://www.reefonline.com.au/shop/product_reviews.php?cPath=35_36&products_id=150
http://www.saltcorner.com/sections/reviews/productreviews/scwd.html
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...4RS&ref=3312&subref=AA&GCID=C12188x003&ctt=60
 
well now i guess i cant go wrong with a SCWD. if it doesnt work with the sump pump i guess i can always buy another buy and do the closed loop SCWD.

any help on the

brown algea on sand and LR?
microbubbles?
snails needed or recommended for my tank?
 
I have a combination of astrea, nassarius, cerith, mexican turbo snails, queen conchs, and scarlet hermits in my tank to clean algae. I just did not want all of the same thing. I purhased from this ebayer twice (jean_pool) and have been happy. Also has good prices.
 
Live rock cleaning

I have been told to use a turkey baster once a day for a similar problem and it seems to be working fine.
 
i need to buy something to get the sand blown off the LR, a turkey baster is a cheap and quick fix. thanks for tip hollywood

im still procrastinating on how i want my water movement in my tank to be. i have seen videos of the SCWD in action. very promising but i dont want the surface water breaking. its just too much salt spray in my canopy. already with the microbubbles my new retrofit coralife 260 PC lights and covered in salt. i have to wipe that off everyday or it will build up quick.

also i have seen the videos of Ocean Motion pumps and its great, but price is really high plus i need to get an external pump with more gph

also i have seen the Wave2K video but its big and also creates a lot of surface water break

and at last the Red Sea Wave Maker Pro. very simple but many PH s in the tank
 
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