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davePM

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Oct 2, 2011
Messages
263
Location
Lincoln
Hi, I'm new around here :p

Ive been keeping tropicals for too many years to remember :p Currently only have 1 tank, with Oscars and Plec's in.

Decided it was time to try something different and taste the salty side of life!

Managed to pick up a River Reef 94 VERY cheap ;)

So, I have a few questions:

Tank is now full of RO/salted, Live sand substrate and some live rock. Filter is some foam/wool/floss stuff and a couple carbon pads in compartment 1, heater in 2, skimmer and ceramic biomass type stuff in 3 and pumps in 4. Im thinking of changing 2 to live rock rubble,
Do i just fill the compartment with the rubble? (obviously after moving the heater!).
Do i need the wool/floss and carbon in 1?
Should i remove the biomass/ceramics? nitrate factory?
Do i need Rowaphos? Seems everyone is using it!

Thanks in advance!

Dave
 
Thought of another Q!! (sorry!)
How long after introducing the LR before I should expect to see signs of life ? And what do I look for?

Dave
 
Hi Dave, and welcome to AA!

I'll try to answer some of your questions as best i can:

Do i just fill the compartment with the rubble? (obviously after moving the heater!).
Yes, you should be fine with putting in LR rubble in the 2nd compartment. Just make sure there is a good flow. Circulation + LR = the best filtration for SW tanks.

Do i need the wool/floss and carbon in 1?
The Wool/floss should help as a mechanical filtration. This can be reused as long as you clean it out every so often as your maintenance schedule dictates.

Should i remove the biomass/ceramics? nitrate factory?
The LR rubble will be housing the most of your BB. It's up to you if you want to keep the biomass/ceramics. I would probably though them out. As for nitrate factory...i'm not so sure what this is. In a small tank, PWC will be the primary way to remove nitrates.

Do i need Rowaphos? Seems everyone is using it!
It's up to you if you want to use it. I'd monitor your phosphate levels, and if it stays high and/or your're uncomfortable with the levels; go ahead and use it. It couldn't hurt.

How long after introducing the LR before I should expect to see signs of life ? And what do I look for?
By signs of life, do you mean coraline algae? Or growth of any hitchhikers that came with your LR? In either way, it all depends on several factors including how cycled your tank it, how much circulation you have, water perameters etc.

Just to make sure, are you familiar with how to cycle a tank and what's involved? A tank should be cycled before you add any fish and corals. Take a look at this article on how to do a fishless cycle:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...guide-and-faq-to-fishless-cycling-148283.html

Hope this helps, and good luck with your tank! Feel free to ask questions so that folks can help answer them. The only dumb question is the one that doesn't get asked! Folks here are very nice and very much willing to help eachother out. :)
 
Thanks for the replies!

To clarify the "nitrate factory" comment, I should have said that i had heard that ceramics etc can act as nitrate factories and are best avoided! (sorry for the confusion!)

Im fairly confident im and cycling the tank correctly, i read a LOT as soon as i knew I was getting the tank! Ill take a look at that link though.

Its a new tank, so just has sand, base rock, live rock, salted RO and heat/light etc. Was just curious to know what the live rock should look like and how long before i should notice a change in it, no plans for any stock for a while yet, I dont mind being patient :p

Below are some pictures of some of the LR: LR - Imgur (sorry for the colors! forgot they would come out screwy with the 50/50 daylight/actinic!)


Dave
 
Yeah, i'd take the ceramics out. LR will be fine. It looks good!

well, 15 minutes ago, i caught some movement out of the corner of my eye, i have now spotted 2 crabs and what i think is a feather duster worm! yay!
 
davePM said:
well, 15 minutes ago, i caught some movement out of the corner of my eye, i have now spotted 2 crabs and what i think is a feather duster worm! yay!

Awesome. Free hitchhikers are the best....unless they're the bad kind ;)
 
Thanks for all the advice!
I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing , just needed some reassurance!

Dave
 
Update: added a few more kg's of LR, picked up the test kit (api master SW).
Results so far:
pH : 8
Ammo : 0.5
'trites : 5.0
'trates : 20
( this is after 6 days of setup)

Did a 10% pwc on day 7, then:
pH : 7.4
Ammo : 0.5
'trites : 1.0
'trates : 20

So looks like NitrItes are heading down ;) I think NitraTes are going up but the pwc obviously lowered them.

Does it look like in doing this right? I seem to be based on all the reading I did before i even started! Haven't added anything to boost ammo (shrimp, food, ammo etc).
Also pH looks a little low to me, problem?

I'm in no rush to add stock, but wouldn't mind getting some CuC in there at some point.


Thanks!
 
Yeah it looks good!. Some folks dose back up to 4ppm ammonia and then test daily just to double check that the cycle is finished.
 
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