Sapper,
Your stand and canopy are beautiful, keep up the good work!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BTLDreef http:///forum/thread/383452/back-in-the-hobby-55-gallon-pics#post_3355592
I've had almost all my tanks up and running with fish in under 72hours, so I believe it. I would just never recommend it openly, but it can be done.
What do you do?
BTLDreef, I use a product that I found a few years ago. I have been in the saltwater hobby for probably 15 years now. I have tried EVERYTHING there is to cycle a tank quicker than the traditional 4 - 6 weeks. Nothing worked until I found the product. I have used it successfully every time for the last 3 tanks I have had and some on friends. After adding the product, the tank is cycled in 24 - 48 hours. Hogwash you say? It's ok, some cannot understand that to achieve total cycle does not take 6 weeks.
Most listen to LFS, friends, and books that say you MUST wait X amount of weeks to add fish. Well, it simply is not true. I plan to have a few people on the board give this product a shot, which I will ship to them free of charge, and let us know the results. I am posting more pics at the end of the thread to show you how the tank looks as of this morning. I did a 7 gallon RO/DI water change very late last night (did not need it, just swapping tap water). My algae problem is about resolved after 24 hours of the 18w UV. The water is crystal clear and the inhabitants are great.
BTL, if you would like to give it a shot, let me know. I can assure you it is risk free, as it works.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flower http:///forum/thread/383452/back-in-the-hobby-55-gallon-pics#post_3355634
Welcome to the site. Please don’t think I’m flaming you for the following things I say, butI I really think you jumped too soon to add critters.
Not trying to be mean...I know it can be done with live sand, the real good kind with critters and such, live rock and plenty of it, not the little bit I see in that tank. If you put un-cycled rock in that tank it’s doomed.
If all the rock and sand are established, you MIGHT get it to live. I know when you posted your pictures and it looks all clean and pretty that you expected a pat on the back....
t-family: arial,sans-serif;">Even so
It amazes me you were willing to go slow on adding rocks and then put all those fish and coral in at once. In an established tank I wouldn’t put all that in at once.
You said you had a tank before...$3000.00 in a week and you have no patients. A fool and his money I guess. I personally think you will be scrambling to keep alive what you have, trying to hold off a crash.
If you are smart and able to take advice...make up a batch of new saltwater
just in case you have to do an emergency water change.
Hi Flower
,
No I don't expect a pat on the back, all I ask for is open minds. Don't be repressed to what you think you know. I used what I listed above, unless you failed to read it. I used the live sand that you could get at any saltwater store, the Caribsea. I used rock that was cured from my LFS. Although it was cured, it lacked the algae growth it has now. As you can see in some of the pics below, it is growing some nice coraline as I am using Purple Up occasionally.
There is no "might" get it to live, it will live and live long. There are a few tricks I have learned over the years that will keep my bacteria established and working great from day one. All water parameters are perfect, calcium levels, etc.
If you have cycled many tanks you will know that if you run a skimmer on a new tank all you will get is white foam and clear liquid. Just saltwater coming up in the form of foam and settling in the catcher. Now, a cycled tank, the skimmer should be full of dark waste. Observe the picture below of this 2 week old tank.
Now Flower, you hurt my feelings when you said "a fool and his money"
. I now have $5000 in the tank, only because I went out and bought an APC 1500 battery backup just so if the power goes out nothing will stop. I also went to Lowe's and bought a Generac 5000w generator and have it wired through the breaker box with a transfer switch. So IF my power goes out, the fish will never know it. I just go down in the garage, fire up the generator outside, throw the switch and we are back in business for however long it takes to get the power back on.
Flower, I have lost a lot of money in this hobby early on like we all do. I had a couple of years to think about how I was going to do all this. I didn't really save for it, I just thought it was time. I appreciate all your concerns and comments too! I take no offense and I hope you have taken none either. We are all friends here.
Without further delay, here are some pics from this morning and also a video I took just a minute ago. Forgive the noise in the background, it is an Oreck air cleaner. Noisy little thing. Also the reason the overflow box is so clean is that I took it off and cleaned the algae off it last night. I spend about 3 hours a night on maintenance on the tank. I enjoy it, gives me a break from a stressful day at work.
Now for the Video!
Click the little arrow at the bottom right to make full screen, it is full 1080p!
