Newcomer, advice appreciated

[roka64]

I guess that was kind of my fault....you know what they say when you assume......
Good catch!

 

[FloridaNewbie]

Welcome to the "family"!!

How are you going to cycle and when are you gonna start?

Thanks for the welcome, Well i will use the Raw Shrimp method. I ordered most of my stuff online, including the test kits and all, so i can't start until i have everything. I will most likely go with the Clean White Sand look and about 20lbs of live rock and 15lbs of base rock. my goal is to have it cycled by the middle of December so i can start the new year with paired perculas. then maybe by February get a yellow Watchman with a shrimp buddy.

talking about live sand, i saw this on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/WHITE-NATURAL-M...oryZ3212QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

what do you guys think ?? i was thinking about it, but leaving the free snails and CHAETOMORPHA MACROALGAE out of the deal... its all comes out to a little bit less than $30 with shipping included....

thanks again guys
Leo

 

[Sadielynn]

Its not a bad deal but I would just buy new sand . I would get the wet stuff and here is why.. I used the dry and as long as it is not sicilate based you should be fine but it is hard to sink it and can cause motors in your PH, and filters to freeze. That is what happened to me, if you are carefull and soak them well before turning it on you may be ok .A trick that i saw that may work for you is to poke some small holes in the bag and soak it for a few days or so in salt water .....That is just my experience with the sand . Also if you know any reefers they may give you a cup of sand to seed it for free.

 

[austinsdad]

Use this to calculate your sand bed. http://www.fantasyreef.com/flash/calculator.html

Decided how deep ya want it?

Never was a big fan of wet bags of "live" sand. I hear it can speed up a cycle process, but I think it's more expensive. Dry, aragonite based sand, but rinse well. I did mine in a rubbermaid tub and an outdoor water hose.

That link looks real interesting with the seeded sand and all. Never had an experience doing it that way. Just wondering how all that life you'll put in there might fare with high ammonia during the cycling. Or maybe it'll help it and with water changes during the cycle - thereby maybe extending it some you'll still do well. As you can see, I can't tell you anything about that route definitively, but it does sound interesting.

Someone'll be along shortly I'll betcha.

Another thing though, if you plan on using cured rock, you might be able to get it cycled really quickly - or maybe not even have big ammonia spikes in order to get it settled.

Cured or uncured rock in your plans?

 

[melosu58]

I got the "Live" sand also but I really did not see any "live results. I am a little skeptical if it really is live. My LFS has a tank that he has his own LS. I would get just dry araganite sand and seed from your LFS if possible.

 

[roka64]

I agree with the rest. Plus, that sand lookks like it is not very fine and has rubble or CC in it. That might be tough on your sand sifters.
Check this place:
drsfosterandsmith.com
I order a lot from them and they don't charge extra for weight. I bought 270Lbs of sand from them at no extra charge for weight.

 

[FloridaNewbie]

thanks Guys, i will go with the white sand look. I am thinking of putting a black bsckground on the tank. My lfs has all black backgrounds on the whole store and it really makes everything stand out. Anyone has/had backgrounds ??

i got some of my stuff today, and the rest will be coming soon, got my saltwater master test kit also coming. So i will have ALOT of questions when i start cycling and running the tests.

Leo

 

[Sadielynn]

I had the black back grounds then changed them to blue I felt the blue reflected more light into the tank than with the black. I think that the blue makes them brighter and the black absorbs some of the light. But it is personal prefrencence.
Once all your stuff is ther let the FUN er addiction begin ...

 

[austinsdad]

I do the blue background. Black is good too, but I just prefer the blue.

 

[melosu58]

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/article_view.php?faq=2&fldAuto=15

 

[FloridaNewbie]

thanks guys, i am going to go with the blue background. I got some more supplies today, and next week i will set up my tank and start my cycle. so i will have questions later...

In the mean time, i have another question, my girlfriend has a small 10gal tank FO with 2 perculas, the problem is that the water is always warm. She has a heater but it is off, but the temp is still like 81-82. What can we do to keep it around 78??? change lights ??? right now the lights are the original one, they have that yellowish look to it.

Thanks

 

[Sadielynn]

Just try to find a small fan to blow over it you will have some evaporation but it will lower the temps ....I will look for a pic of the ones we use but any will work , your goal is evaporative cooling