more live rock (hows it look?)

fishguy83

fishguy83

Member
Alright, So I now have about 22lbs of LR in my tank - was worried about how to aquascape it (being a tall tank, and not seeing many examples) - but...
I think it looks alright. I did it once, and then didn't really touch it, but I think I like it. One large piece of rock and some smaller pieces --- let me know what you think
Tank is finally cycled, trAtes are a little high still though, doing water changes daily.
Hopefully will drop in a cleaning crew in a week or so, and a week after 2 Pclowns - that sound alright?
sorry bad pics - cell phone is all i have

 
halo_frk03

halo_frk03

Member
hey! where did my first post go!? ok well ot looks good... is it cycling? i would suggest getting some mor live rock
 
fishguy83

fishguy83

Member
I may pick up some tonga eventually
It is cycling - haven't noticed a spike since adding more live rock though, maybe it'll be too small to tell - just as I said above, nitrates are quite high, nitrates still there too.
last test - (last night)
pH - 8.0
Ammonia - 0 (yay! my first 0 reading since the spike)
NitrAtes - 40 (doing water changes daily now, about 10%, can I do one larger one?)
NitrItes - 10.0
Alk - 180 KH ppm
Salinity - 1.022 (trying to slowly raise it some..)
I think when I move to adding corals, I will add more LR - but am getting a little maxed out ($$ wise - but that is normal, I guess
in this hobby)
 
fishguy83

fishguy83

Member
hey everyone --
have one more question - after I do water changes, will nitrates drop immediately, or do I need to let it go for awhile before I test the trates? I realize i should let it run through the filter to get water mixed up probably, but how long? Like 2 hours?
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
Originally Posted by steve24
i told to wait 24hrs after the water change...worked for me !!!
Yep, exactly.
Very nice looking so far!
 
seannmelly

seannmelly

Active Member
Just have to say nice tank, because we had the same exact tank. Finding pieces of live rock that were huge pieces was a pain, try putting more rock left and right. Looks like its the same stand too.
 
bbb

bbb

Member
Originally Posted by TeresaQ
looks nice so far, what size tank. looks like the cube i have been eyeing for a seahorse tank.
Profile says 37
Looks good
 
ejensen

ejensen

Member
Why do water changes? Leave it alone until your nitrites go to zero then do a large water change to lower your nitrates. You have to let it spike. Don't try to rush things.
 
nicole05

nicole05

Member
your tank is lokking good little by little you can add more a piece here and there shouldnt cause a spike and everything will look so diffrent when you do get to put fish in GOOD LUCK!!!
 
ktsdad

ktsdad

Member
Originally Posted by ejensen
Why do water changes? Leave it alone until your nitrites go to zero then do a large water change to lower your nitrates. You have to let it spike. Don't try to rush things.
This is good advice!

Tank looks good!
 
sly

sly

Active Member
Is your rockwork stable? The last thing you want is for a rock to come tumbling down and break the bottom of your tank.
 
fishguy83

fishguy83

Member
thanks for all the replies - sorry haven't been on in awhile --
The rock work is pretty stable, when I was adding some water after a small water change I poured it kind of heavy on purpose to test it... The shape of the rock has it pretty stable I think.
I think I will add some as I go along, eventually moving to reef tank - and yes, will upgrade lights. Just moving slowly - mostly to be safe and do it the correct way, and also, $$$.
It is a Perfecto Glass, 37g tall w/ stand- didn't really want that one, but couldn't pass up the price, a LFS store had it as a "sale" and putting off buying one, kind of made an impulse buy - which I guess is OK in this hobby, as long as it's not live, right? It also worked for my small apartment.
Taking the advice and holding off on some water changes - letting nitrites lower.

RE: the LR - I kind of lucked out and got the one large piece, that has natural little caves in it and the open bottom (shaped like a letter C ) - I like it.. It is stable now, hopefully adding more will keep the stability.
Thanks for all the positive comments too - nice to hear when you are waiting patiently to add some life to it - thinking, "why did I get myself into this?" -- haha not really, but I am being patient yet getting excited. I even was excited that I've noticed diatoms! (and it looks like every day I see more corraline on the LR - could this be happening already?)
 
S

sinner's girl

Guest
why daily? and yes you can do more than 10%, 25% is fine.
but yeah, no more water changes till nitrites are zero, then you can do 25% do lower nitrates, wait, test water, you can fish/inverts once nitrates under 20 (closer to zero)
Hopefully will drop in a cleaning crew in a week or so, and a week after 2 Pclowns - that sound alright?
Once am and nitrites are zero and nirtrates are under 20, and all your other levels are good. If you don't have life, you don't need to slowly rasie the sg, use salt water as top off and mix the water for your next water change at a higher sg. Make sure your sg is higher 1.024ish before adding inverts.
Good luck
 
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