daredevil
Member
Bang Guy posted this in another thread I found and want to know if it is necesary for a tank. Im sure it helps, but I just want to know the difference between this, and just putting in LS and LR with a raw shrimp for it to cycle. Thanks-Anthony
Posted by Bang Guy:
Mix up to 25 gallons of saltwater at a time using filtered water and add to the tank until it's 1/2 full.
Pour in either 1/2" (Shallow bed) or 4" (DSB) of dry aragonite sand and mix it up really good to make sure there are no trapped air bubbles in the sand.
Scoop off the foam on top of the water the next day and start the heater and waterflow. Waterflow should be very turbulent. Don't worry about the sand storm because there's nothing to look at yet anyway.
Add good uncured live base rock. Lay all the rock out on the floor and pull off all visible sponges and anything that looks dead or dying. Do a quick rough estimate of the aquascaping and place the rocks in the general vicinity of where they go. The water will be milky so just make sure the rocks are stable. I like using uncured aquacultured rock because it still has most of its critters alive. Sometimes you can get rock that has been out of the ocean for less than 24 hours. Remove all Mantis Shrimp and Crabs except Porcelain crabs. A seperate species tank can be set up if you want to keep them.
Start up the lights to run 8 hours a day and skimmer running 24/7 once the rock is in the water.
Check the water daily for Ammonia. If Ammonia exceeds 0.5ppm do a 25% water change to try to get it back below 0.5ppm. If Ammonia reaches a really high spike then a 50% change and a dose of AmQuel can be done. The diversity of animals in your live rock is very important to the long term health of your tank. The higher the ammonia level gets the lower the diversity of critters in your live rock.
After several days the sand will begin to settle and you can start working out the final aquascaping. Use a Turkey baster to try to keep as much silt off the rock as you can.
Once Ammonia reaches 0.0ppm I start feeding the tank a very small amount of food. I increase the food dosage a little each day until I'm feeding enough to satisfy a pair of small Clownfish. If Ammonia climbs then feed less or stop feeding. Once Ammonia is at zero I add uncured top rock (the $$ stuff) and stop feeding until the secondary ammonia cycle is finished. Same rules for the top rock as the base rock. Remove dead or dying stuff. This is usually a lot faster. Feed the tank again once Ammonia is back down to zero but don't feed enough to cause Ammonia to accumulate. Then add up to 1/2" of live sand. The more the better but a hand ful will work, just no more than 1/2".
If Ammonia stays at zero for a week or two then I add the Clownfish.
From start to finish this usually takes 4 - 8 weeks.
Posted by Bang Guy:
Mix up to 25 gallons of saltwater at a time using filtered water and add to the tank until it's 1/2 full.
Pour in either 1/2" (Shallow bed) or 4" (DSB) of dry aragonite sand and mix it up really good to make sure there are no trapped air bubbles in the sand.
Scoop off the foam on top of the water the next day and start the heater and waterflow. Waterflow should be very turbulent. Don't worry about the sand storm because there's nothing to look at yet anyway.
Add good uncured live base rock. Lay all the rock out on the floor and pull off all visible sponges and anything that looks dead or dying. Do a quick rough estimate of the aquascaping and place the rocks in the general vicinity of where they go. The water will be milky so just make sure the rocks are stable. I like using uncured aquacultured rock because it still has most of its critters alive. Sometimes you can get rock that has been out of the ocean for less than 24 hours. Remove all Mantis Shrimp and Crabs except Porcelain crabs. A seperate species tank can be set up if you want to keep them.
Start up the lights to run 8 hours a day and skimmer running 24/7 once the rock is in the water.
Check the water daily for Ammonia. If Ammonia exceeds 0.5ppm do a 25% water change to try to get it back below 0.5ppm. If Ammonia reaches a really high spike then a 50% change and a dose of AmQuel can be done. The diversity of animals in your live rock is very important to the long term health of your tank. The higher the ammonia level gets the lower the diversity of critters in your live rock.
After several days the sand will begin to settle and you can start working out the final aquascaping. Use a Turkey baster to try to keep as much silt off the rock as you can.
Once Ammonia reaches 0.0ppm I start feeding the tank a very small amount of food. I increase the food dosage a little each day until I'm feeding enough to satisfy a pair of small Clownfish. If Ammonia climbs then feed less or stop feeding. Once Ammonia is at zero I add uncured top rock (the $$ stuff) and stop feeding until the secondary ammonia cycle is finished. Same rules for the top rock as the base rock. Remove dead or dying stuff. This is usually a lot faster. Feed the tank again once Ammonia is back down to zero but don't feed enough to cause Ammonia to accumulate. Then add up to 1/2" of live sand. The more the better but a hand ful will work, just no more than 1/2".
If Ammonia stays at zero for a week or two then I add the Clownfish.
From start to finish this usually takes 4 - 8 weeks.
