New Tank Setup

[ram6519]

My LFS talked me out of setting up my 28 gal as a SW tank. They said 1 mistake in a smaller tank could wipe out a tank in hours where a larger tank I could has several days to correct the mistake. So I bought a standard 55 gal setup. My question is when I set up my tank I will have 2-3 inches of sand, two powerheads, heater, protein skimmer and about 20 lbs of LR (Thats all I can afford right now). The first day when I add the water, sand, and LR will I also turn on the protein skimmer to cycle the tank or will I need to leave it turned off til the tank is cycled? I won't have any other filtration due to the LR.

 

[EL Diablo]

I just set my tank up a few weeks ago,
I've had my Protien skimmer running since the start.
As soon as the LR went in it started working. I clean it daily and cant believe how dirty the water is in the skimmer. Amazing!
Good Luck

 

[malkore]

you probably don't need to turn on the skimmer the first day, but it certainly isn't gonna hurt.
unless the rock is really uncured, you won't have a lot of gunk to skim out.
what you do skim should end up as dark, coffee looking stuff. the less you have to skim, the lighter the stuff will be.

what I"m trying to spit out is that the skimmer can only skim what is there. I merely don't want you cranking it to full output and skimming a lot of clean seawater into your collection cup. it typically takes 1-2 weeks for a skimmer to 'break in' and then you can dial it in to a good skimming rate.

 

[quarryshark]

Yup I would run it from day 1. Like malkore said it takes awhile for it to crank up and start producing, unless you get a lot of die off from the rock.

 

[darb2]

I will have 2-3 inches of sand, two powerheads, heater, protein skimmer and about 20 lbs of LR

That is not much filtration. You should have like 75 to 100 lbs of lr to use it as your main source of filtration. Substitute some base rock that is much cheaper, and stock the tank slowly and you will be fine 8)

 

[lando]

Skimming during the cyle is not neccessary, but won't hurt a thing. Go ahead and turn it one. If nothing else, it will create more flow and current. Remember...go slow and do your omework. Good luck and have fun! Lando

 

[ClamKnuckle]

That is not much filtration. You should have like 75 to 100 lbs of lr to use it as your main source of filtration. Substitute some base rock that is much cheaper, and stock the tank slowly and you will be fine

I agree there...you might want to up your sand to 4" too...no need to spend a lot of money on the sand though, get the cheap stuff from home depot http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=22188

Like stated in above posts, go ahead and run the skimmer too

 

[indy]

Agreed, go with 4 to 6" of sand and get some base rock, 1 to 1.5 pounds per gallon. Base goes for around a buck a pound or so and will be populated with bacteria same as the sand. Then get 1 or 2 good looking pieces of coraline covered LR. The coraline will spread to the base over time.