blondinkaya
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2006
- Messages
- 17
Hi. I know I'm incredibly long-winded, so please be patient with me!
I have a 75 gal aquarium that my hubby and I started setting up last weekend. We went to our LFS and bought the substrate, presalted water (the store gave it to us for free, so why not?), and 23lbs of LR. The LR is uncured, and the guy told hubby that it can cure in our tank, so that's where it is. I have a couple of questions (and, while I did read the suggested articles mentioned at the top of this forum, I do tend to be a little on the slow side sometimes):
We definitely need more live rock in the tank, that I know (isn't it supposed to be a pound of rock per gallon?). Am I supposed to put it in all at once or a little at a time? If I do it a little at a time, will it really cure (or will the goodies on the new rock just move over to the older rock--would this be a bad thing)? And is the aquarium light supposed to be on or off?
I've read the article about how to cycle a tank w/out a fish. Is this something I do after my LR is cured? Or am I cycling while I'm curing?
As far as equipment goes, I have two power heads and a Via Aqua multi-skimmer (protein skimmer, mechanical and chemical filter, and biological filter in one). Does this replace the sump? I have the option of putting a UV sterilizer in the system, too; is this something I should do?
Also, right now I have one flourescent light strip (40W). If I want to get some anemones, coral, and such, I'm going to need a better light source, I'm sure. I've seen a 240W system for sale; it comes with lunar lights. Would this be a good option for an upgrade?
I know I probably sound really dumb right now, but I want to make sure I have a happy and healthy tank when it comes time to actually start putting stuff in it. Believe it or not, we had our tank set up before, but it's been sitting in our living room empty for the past four years. Hubby is military, and we've been so afraid of getting orders to move that we never set it back up after our last move. I finally got tired of looking across the room at an empty tank, so we've decided to get back into the hobby. But a lot of our equipment magically disappeared during the move that we're having to start from scratch (our skimmer, sump, and power heads were never to be seen again). Oh, and the last time it was set up, we had used cured rock, and we let it sit empty for a few months, then slowly added crabs and snails, and then the fish (we had 3: damsel, Hawaiian hawkfish, and sailfin tang). So, the process of doing everything is different from last time, in addition to me forgetting a lot of important stuff.
Any advice/tips/suggestions? I really appreciate it! Oh, and thanks for getting through my novella!
I have a 75 gal aquarium that my hubby and I started setting up last weekend. We went to our LFS and bought the substrate, presalted water (the store gave it to us for free, so why not?), and 23lbs of LR. The LR is uncured, and the guy told hubby that it can cure in our tank, so that's where it is. I have a couple of questions (and, while I did read the suggested articles mentioned at the top of this forum, I do tend to be a little on the slow side sometimes):
We definitely need more live rock in the tank, that I know (isn't it supposed to be a pound of rock per gallon?). Am I supposed to put it in all at once or a little at a time? If I do it a little at a time, will it really cure (or will the goodies on the new rock just move over to the older rock--would this be a bad thing)? And is the aquarium light supposed to be on or off?
I've read the article about how to cycle a tank w/out a fish. Is this something I do after my LR is cured? Or am I cycling while I'm curing?
As far as equipment goes, I have two power heads and a Via Aqua multi-skimmer (protein skimmer, mechanical and chemical filter, and biological filter in one). Does this replace the sump? I have the option of putting a UV sterilizer in the system, too; is this something I should do?
Also, right now I have one flourescent light strip (40W). If I want to get some anemones, coral, and such, I'm going to need a better light source, I'm sure. I've seen a 240W system for sale; it comes with lunar lights. Would this be a good option for an upgrade?
I know I probably sound really dumb right now, but I want to make sure I have a happy and healthy tank when it comes time to actually start putting stuff in it. Believe it or not, we had our tank set up before, but it's been sitting in our living room empty for the past four years. Hubby is military, and we've been so afraid of getting orders to move that we never set it back up after our last move. I finally got tired of looking across the room at an empty tank, so we've decided to get back into the hobby. But a lot of our equipment magically disappeared during the move that we're having to start from scratch (our skimmer, sump, and power heads were never to be seen again). Oh, and the last time it was set up, we had used cured rock, and we let it sit empty for a few months, then slowly added crabs and snails, and then the fish (we had 3: damsel, Hawaiian hawkfish, and sailfin tang). So, the process of doing everything is different from last time, in addition to me forgetting a lot of important stuff.
Any advice/tips/suggestions? I really appreciate it! Oh, and thanks for getting through my novella!