Just looking for some good advice

ellio

ellio

New Member
So i recently moved across the country with a SW tank that i had running for about 18 months, I let the rock dry out as well as the substrate packed it all up and moved. Now that I am settled I have started to set the tank back up, and I had some basic questions that i hope someone can answer. First the live rock that I once had is void of all life correct? Is a 10x per hour turn over rate good flow to the sump/refugium. Top tank is 30g and the sump is a 10 but runs at like 4.5 to 5g the safe operating level. 192 Watt PC with lunar lights gonna work for some softies? How much light should i have on my sump? Should I leave the lights running while it is cycling?
I kinda rushed the first time I set this tank up........... Thanks for the advice
 
chrisb430

chrisb430

Member
Originally Posted by Ellio
http:///forum/post/3095213
So i recently moved across the country with a SW tank that i had running for about 18 months, I let the rock dry out as well as the substrate packed it all up and moved. Now that I am settled I have started to set the tank back up, and I had some basic questions that i hope someone can answer. First the live rock that I once had is void of all life correct? Is a 10x per hour turn over rate good flow to the sump/refugium. Top tank is 30g and the sump is a 10 but runs at like 4.5 to 5g the safe operating level. 192 Watt PC with lunar lights gonna work for some softies? How much light should i have on my sump? Should I leave the lights running while it is cycling?
I kinda rushed the first time I set this tank up........... Thanks for the advice
All the life on the rock is dead. I would give it a freshwater bath so that your nitrates dont send your take through the roof. The lighting would do fine for softies. as for the sump if you wanted to add light to it then i would use like a 15watt 50/50. Light will help cycle your tank but make sure you start off with a few hours a day so you don’t get a ton of algae IMO
 
ellio

ellio

New Member
Should I have the light in my sump come on at night. I thought that i heard somewhere that it will help stabilize my ph?
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by Chrisb430
http:///forum/post/3095223
All the life on the rock is dead. I would give it a freshwater bath so that your nitrates dont send your take through the roof.

The live rock will only be dead if you give it a freshwater bath! The rock critters lay eggs and those eggs are still alive but dormant. When you put your rock back into saltwater the dead will of course fall away...but the rock critters will spring to life in a few weeks.
You have to cycle anyway...so just put your rock in there...You can even buy reef pods (copepods) and reseed the tank with them after the cycle.
 
ellio

ellio

New Member
The rock has been cycling with the tank for almost two weeks now. I hope that there is still some life on it! I have a couple more questions as well. How deep should my sand bed be? and should I be using bioballs with over 30lbs of hopefully live rock? I also wanted to know more about what kind of flow i should have in the tank? I have a 10x turnover rate per hour. Is that enough? Or should I also have a couple of powerheads pointing towards the front glass in get more movement on the rocks?
 
ellio

ellio

New Member
The sump is broken into three parts the return where the skimmer/heater is, the fug, and then the pump back to the tank. There is retaining walls on both sides of the fug so that the water flow goes over the top of the fug.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by Ellio
http:///forum/post/3095250
The rock has been cycling with the tank for almost two weeks now. I hope that there is still some life on it! I have a couple more questions as well. How deep should my sand bed be? and should I be using bioballs with over 30lbs of hopefully live rock? I also wanted to know more about what kind of flow i should have in the tank? I have a 10x turnover rate per hour. Is that enough? Or should I also have a couple of powerheads pointing towards the front glass in get more movement on the rocks?

There is...just wait and you will see. I am not sure what you want in your tank as to the sand depth. I like a deep sand bed (3 inches) in my 90g, I have a wrasse..somewhere and I used to keep an anemone that liked deep sand beds.
 
deejeff442

deejeff442

Active Member
you dont need a light in the fuge with sand and rubble.
i only keep 2 inch sand bed maybe not even that.
like flower said depends on what fish you want,some like a sand bed to burrow.
i would go buy a 5 lb piece of lr from a lfs to seed the rock you have.
the tank wont start a cycle with dry rock you need to add a raw shrimp for a few days ,then take it out.
you need to see some ammonia then the nitrite levels raise then lower to know it is cycled.
 
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