And another stupid question, Sorry!

nemosmama

nemosmama

New Member
Hi all, We recently set up a 55g FOWLR tank that has been up and running for 4 weeks this sunday. Our live rock (70lbs) came from a tank that had been up and running for years and is still up and running the guy just sold us his extra stuff. ANYWAY in four weeks we've tested and tested and have never seen a reading, added some snails a couple weeks ago and started feeding the tank a bit and are seeing some low nitrates but did a water change yesterday to get rid of those. The problem (and question) is that none of the rocks really have what I'd call alot of algae on them and our fish store has a couple nice pieces of algae covered rock that I could get and add to the tank....how do you add additional live rock to a tank??? Should it be soaked, cleaned, acclimated (not really the word I want but I hope you know what I mean
) etc...
Thanks for the help in advance!
 
jackri

jackri

Active Member
are you talking about coraline algae or hair algae or ??
I hope your assuming coraline. Cured live rock and be placed in your tank -- as long as it's cured.
 
nemosmama

nemosmama

New Member
Hmmm that came out wrong I think. I was told that the rocks that are in there will not support the diets of fish that "graze" so thats what I'm kind of looking for, if that makes better sense?
Although as of right now I guess I don't have any grazing fish...or any fish. But I never got any diatoms, any spikes or anything like that. So was told I had nothing to feed the snails or any fish that would graze (looking at getting a dwarf angel much later from now)
 
jackri

jackri

Active Member
Originally Posted by Nemosmama
http:///forum/post/3052320
Hmmm that came out wrong I think. I was told that the rocks that are in there will not support the diets of fish that "graze" so thats what I'm kind of looking for, if that makes better sense?
Although as of right now I guess I don't have any grazing fish...or any fish. But I never got any diatoms, any spikes or anything like that. So was told I had nothing to feed the snails or any fish that would graze (looking at getting a dwarf angel much later from now)
Run away from that place if they gave you that advice.
You do not want to introduce something like hair algae just so a clean up crew has something to eat or a fish can "graze".
You can put a clip of seaweed in for that... and theres always something for the CUC to eat after a tank is set up for a little while.
 
nemosmama

nemosmama

New Member
Ok, thanks. Knew better then to walk into petland just because my local saltwater fish store was closed, thought it sounded odd but then I don't know anything about this as we just started.
Like I said stupid question, sorry to bother
 
djcanis

djcanis

Member
What are you using for a substrate? Crushed COral, Live Sand? If the rock you got was from an established tank and wasnt out of the water for too long, you may not see any spike... The spike in ammonia and nitrites are caused by die off, which if you didnt have much wouldnt result in the normal spike...
 
nemosmama

nemosmama

New Member
The tank has 40lbs of new live sand, meaning we bought the rock from a existing tank but we bought the sand still sealed up in bags from our local saltwater fish store. I have a feeling when I tell the people at the store that the other company advised me to buy algae covered rock they are going to laugh their butts off at me
oh well they are great people and will get a kick out of it I think! As long as I didn't buy it that is if I did buy it I'm sure they would scold and send me home to get it out of my tank ASAP
 
djcanis

djcanis

Member
I recently set up a new 90 gal, put 90 of new bagged sand with 45lbs of dry base rock and close to 90 from 3 different established tanks that were torn down. I never had a real ammonia spike and cycle, but I did have a fw days of massive diatom growth before adding the cleaning crew...
Any rock you buy may have algea growth on it, which is fine, but I wouldnt buy it just to get algea... It will grow over time, and like jackri said, seaweed on a clip is a much better alternative for feeding...
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Don't be too harsh as some people like to have some macro algae in their tanks. Halimeda, Codium, Turtle Grass, Halymenia, Sargassum. This to have a more natural look to the display.
 
jackri

jackri

Active Member
Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/3052367
Don't be too harsh as some people like to have some macro algae in their tanks. Halimeda, Codium, Turtle Grass, Halymenia, Sargassum. This to have a more natural look to the display.
Macro algae is much different than Pet in the Box is offering I'm sure.
I run it in my sump... but not a fan of it in my main tank
 
nemosmama

nemosmama

New Member
After four weeks with nothing I'm pretty sure we're going to get no spike. If nothing in another two weeks we're going to have to go buy a fish, the rocks and snails are getting lonely without fish I think...
 
djcanis

djcanis

Member
If you were gonna cycle you woudl have already. Bring some water to the LFS, have them test it, if its good to go, I would say go ahead, just dont add to much at once. A fish or 2, wait, test, see if you get any water level change from the livestock. Give it a week or 2 and then add another... I'm on week 7 and just finished the cleaning crew - I think, first fish might be tomorrow...
 
nemosmama

nemosmama

New Member
We test the water every three days at home and log it and then our local mom and pop saltwater fish store (NOT the one that advised hairy rocks) checks it once a week for us, nothing so far either place so far
. We've used all this extra time to figure stock list and read up on best foods for the fish we want and compatibilty and such so it hasn't been to bad of a wait
 
djcanis

djcanis

Member
What are you looking at in terms of a stock list? Are you going fish only or a reef tank? What do you have for a clean up crew?
 
nemosmama

nemosmama

New Member
Most likely only fish. At first it was a definite only fish but as we've had time to look and read we may do some corals very far down the road (talking after the summer at the earliest).
Stock list:
2-Perc Clowns
1-Royal Gramma
1-Sixline Wrasse
1-Bicolor Angel (if we get corals he'll have to be watched and possibly returned)
CUC:
2-Turbo Snails
6-Nass Snails/Astrea Snails (3 each)
Very small crew because we recieved no diatom bloom or algae growth so we started very small untill fish are added then we can see what else we may need. And the plan is to add the 2 clowns together then 1 additional fish every three weeks or longer to let us see what affect the fish have on the tank.
 
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