Just added water, what's next?????

excalibur

excalibur

Member
I just filled my first SW tank last Sat. (3 days ago). I mixed the salt in the tank made sure it was 75degrees and added 30lbs of sand and 20 lbs of live sand, I have my filter and power heads going and heater, Skimmer is off,
I was planning on putting in cured LR this week maybe 15-20lbs. maybe some base rock, 7 days after fill. but I'm hearing conflicting things, Like I should NOT get fully cured rock because it will not help the tank cycle, i was figureing adding rock this week, then start check water parameters, wait a week or two add a clean up crew then in another week or so a couple of fish,
I really want a porkupine puffer, Clowns, golby, shripms, some low light corals do you see anything wrong with my outline? What do you think I should add first? Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to write, I was on another board and questions get answered few and far in between
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
First off, welcome to the board!

Now, I see a few problems with your tank. First off, you need to decide which is more important, corals or a porcupine puffer, because you cannot do both. The puffer will most likely eat any coral and invert you put in that tank. They are eating machines (I have two puffers myself).
Next, like you heard elsewhere, cured rock will do nothing to move your cycle along. It will help your tank down the road, but it won't do anything for you right now. There really is no reason for you to get cured rock. You have nothing in the tank right now, thus, uncured rock will not hurt anything. In fact, it is just going to add more beneficial bacteria into the tank, which is what you want. The more bacteria that gets in your tank, the faster the cycle will be. That is why some people like to use Turbo Start or Cycle, because those products dump loads of beneficial bacteria into newly established tanks. You can also do this naturally though by adding uncured live rock. And with the live rock in your tank, you will have an investment as well, because this will become a wonderful natural filtration method.
Also, you are moving a little too fast with everything going into your tank. You may add the clean-up crew in a few weeks, but I would not put the first fish into the tank until it's been at least a month since it's been running. You want to make sure that you don't put a fish into the tank until both your ammonia and nitrites are at 0, and your nitrates have come down a bit as well.
Lastly, did you check to make sure the salinity was correct (about 1.023 is what you would like in a reef tank)? Also, I would bump the temperature up a little bit as well, if I were you. 75 degrees is a little low. You have to remember, most reefs are found in nature around the equator, because that is where the ocean is warmest. You do not want to put warm water inhabitants into a cooler tank. I would slowly adjust the temperature up to about 78 degrees.
Good luck with everything, keep in touch! And if you have any other questions, feel free to post them!
 
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