Cycling Question?

dale serbousek

dale serbousek

Member
My tank is 6 weeks into cycle. The amonia is reading 0, as well at the Nitrite. Nitrates are around 5. I have 20# of live sand and about 3# of live rock right now. I have 30# ($112 shipping included) of caribbean live rock that will be here friday, but I have a feeling that it will have a lot of die off from its 4 day travel! Don't ask...I think I got ripped from the seller of this rock (http://aquarium-live-rock-saltwater-reef-tank-supplies.com).
Here is my question:
I ordered 20-25# more of fuji rock from swf.com that will be here on friday also. If the other caribbean rock needs to go through a cure cycle, will it hurt the better quality fuji rock that only took 2 days to get here if I put them in the tank at the same time?
Question 2:
Would it hurt to go ahead and put some cleaner inverts in the tank even if there is a second amonia spike from the live rock I add on friday?
 
dale serbousek

dale serbousek

Member
Yes, against the recommendations of just about everyone....I have a 4" bed of sand. It is a mixture of 40# of non-cc substrate and 20# of live sand from a prepackaged sealed "wet" bag. It has been in there for over a months now and the water looks great, even with only 2-3# of LR...which supports your theory of the importance of the DSB. When can I put some cleaners in...and what and how many would you recommend?
 
ren

ren

Member
you might want to consider 'curing' the LR ordered outside the tank - just use a rubber trashcan or the likes and a powerhead for circulation. Just an alternate to re-cycling the tank. This would allow the addition of some inverts now.
 
nss11110

nss11110

Member
when i did my tank i put the rock in and some hermits in at the same time. the hermits servived but i was probably lucky. they also ate the dying material off the rock. but like i said i was lucky. first time i did a sw tank. wouldnt do it again
 
twicklund

twicklund

Member
My lfs also told me to use only 1 inch of sand for the same reason...I no longer take advice from him...Everything he has told me goes against what everybody else on this board is doing...
Guess there's many different ways to have a tank...
tw
 
m1rodrig

m1rodrig

Member
Dale how did you add the skimmer to the eclipse?The purpose of the 4-6" dsb is for oxygenless area where the bacteria that break down
nitrate can thrive.You are doing good.You can do like Ren says you can cure the lr in a seperate container so you can add the shrimp now or just hold off on getting the shrimp and add the rock to the tank.Monitor your water and see if you have another spike and wait for it to lower.Also check your nitrates also after the spike will cause your trates to go up.
 
enut

enut

New Member
Just a quick question, how long does it usually take to cure rock bought from an online source?
 
dale serbousek

dale serbousek

Member
Dale how did you add the skimmer to the eclipse? <hr></blockquote>
I have a Red Sea Berlin Airlift 60 Skimmer. It is designed to fit in the tank...with the collection cup and about 3/4" of the tube to be above the water line. If you look at the Eclipse 3 hood while the back lid is open, you will notice that there is a sqaure shaped opening on the back right that extends down to the water. There is a piece of plastic that extends from the inside right side of the hood and meets up with the box that holds the bio-wheel. I removed (Dremeled) this piece completely out; thus, opening and enlarging that square hole into the main water access area. Then, the skimmer is attached to the right tank side and the collection cut fits perfectly in the area where the plastic section was. It works great and adds to the awsomeness of the Eclipse (stealth) hood. No bulky tubes or things hanging off the back.
Hope this helps.
 
m1rodrig

m1rodrig

Member
sounds good I will try something along the lines of doing something similar.How does your tank hold up without the bio wheel?
 
dale serbousek

dale serbousek

Member
NOOOO! I did not remove the bio-wheel box. I only removed the flat plastic piece that extends from the front-left corner of the bio-wheel box across to the right inside of the hood. Maybe if you have one of the smaller Eclipse hoods you do not have the extra space to the right of the bio-wheel box like the biggest Eclipse hood has.
Let me know.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top