Need a little advice on a new 120

[skiutah]

Hi, I just wanted to quickly introduce myself. I am from Salt Lake City, Utah and I am putting a brand new 120 gallon tank in my living room. I am building this as a reef tank. I am putting about 150 pounds of live rock in it and I have hired a professional to help me do all the plumbing and set up the tank. I don't know much about these tanks and this is a brand new hobby I am trying to get into. I bought my equipment from the owner of the largest distributer in Utah. He told me I am getting the best set up money can buy for a 120 reef tank. Since I don't know much about the equipment I bought, all I can do is trust the guy. My equipment is being delivered tomorrow and they are going to set up the tank, run water through it, flush it out and come back in 3-4 days to check up on it. After it gets all set up and going, they are telling me to run the tank for about 30-45 days without the light on. What is the purpose of that? Can I put anything in my tank, fish, corals, anything that moves???? While I'm waiting? I would greatly appreciate any advice on my new 120!

 

[acrylic51]

What's the equipment list being used on the tank???? I guess they are talking about cycling the tank, but need more infor as to what they sold you and the process they describe to you........

 

[fishntx]

the 30-45 days is for cycling the tank, and no dont put any fish corals or inverts in during this time because they will most likely die. congrats on the new tank

 

[jdragunas]

you need to purchase a book called "the conscientious marine aquarist" by michael fenner. This book tells you everything you'll need to know about setting-up, and maintaining a salwater tank.
The 30-45 day period your professional is talking about is most likely the "cycling" period. This is the time when your tank will go through a process called the "nitrogen process". The point of this is to establish certain aerobic bacteria in your system. This bacteria is necessary to process the waste your fish produce. If you add fish before your "cycle" is complete, you'll most likely kill them, or torture them a whole lot. Unfortunately, this is something that must be done before you can add anything living to your tank.
Welcome to the boards! Glad you found us. You'll find so much useful information on this website, it's ridiculous! lol.
Remember, this is one of the most rewarding hobbies, but it also requires an abundant amount of PATIENCE.

 

[skiutah]

My system has 2 overflows,
Lights-2-250 watt HQI M/H and 2-54 watt high output T-5 Actineic Flourescent,
36X16X16 sump,
Pump, Dolpin DP2100,
ASM G-2 Protein skimmer,
RODI Water filter,
2-1" sea swirls,
2-fans in light canopy
Solid Oak Stand
Don't ask me what any of that means... hopefully it's good.
Thanks for the advice guys! I can't even put crabs and snails in????

 

[seahorse11]

Skiuta,
I have read and and also have seen posted that you can add damsels to your tank while it is cycling. Some people will say that this is cruel to the fish, and I guess it really is. But if your desperate and impatient (like me), then at least the damsels will be there for you to look at while the cycling process happens.
Another excellent book is "The Simple Guide to Marine Aquariums" by Jeff Kurtz or "Saltwater Aquariums for Dummies." I liked both these books and very easy reading.
Good luck with the setup and welcome.

 

[aquapro_1]

A reef tank, huh. Then you'll need live rock & some live sand. This will help the tank mature faster. Buy pre-cured becuse your tank hasn't cycled. Fullt cured & you've wasted money. You'll kill it & it's inhabitants.

 

[acrylic51]

Equipment list looks pretty good.....Possibly the only things I would change and not really change would be the skimmer, ASM are good skimmers just as Euro's but I would upgrade to the next size instead of the G2. The pump choice I would opt for something other than the Dolphin.......I'd use a Sequence before the Dolphin.......much better pump IMO, but list does look good!!!!!!!! Patience is a key

 

[jdragunas]

no, you can't put any crabs in at all. They will die during the cycle. Inverts (such as crabs, shrimp, snails, etc.) are not tolerant to high amounts of ammonia, nitrates, or nitrites, and since all of those spike out of control during a cycle, it's pretty near impossible to keep inverts alive during it.
I would not add any fish or anything living during the cycle, as this is similar to sticking your head in a big bucket of ammonia, and taking a deep breath. It is very cruel to make fish live like that for an entire month. It burns their gills, and can cause long term damage. Also, you probably don't want to have damsels afterwards, as this is a very territorial and agressive type of fish. They'll pick on anything they can.

 

[skiutah]

I finally got my new tank all set up.

I bought cured rock and live sand. I put about 160 pounds of live rock in and 70 pounds of live sand. I had some issues with the slurping in the back of the 2 overflows, but was simply solved thanks to Home Depot and the Durso Stands. Everything has been running for about 2 days and my temp has stayed - 77F and my salinity is 1.024. I'm going to do the ammonia, nitrate, nitrate tests tomorrow. I can't figure out how to make the protein skimmer stop all the bubbles that get pumped into the tank. I've never done this before, what can I do

? PS I'll post some pics of the tank later!

 

[lubeck]

Did you put additives in the tank like stress coat. if so, your protein skimmer will have bubbles, plus the protien skimmer has a break-in period of a week or two.

 

[acrylic51]

Protein skimmer needs to break in and I'm pretty sure that if you go to the ASMskimmer website they would have advised running the skimmer in fresh water for at least 24hrs......Does require breakin to get the oils from manufacturing off of it.....I think what he is talking about is the bubbles from the output of the skimmer being pumped into the sump and sucked up by the pump....Again I would assume that the skimmer is stock and hasn't had either the gate valve mod (which eliminates the foam on the riser tube and makes adjusting easier) or the recirc mod....I would check out the site and if your not sure what the site is email me at shwncbb@verizon.net and I tell you. I'm pretty sure they can solve your issues there....They are pretty quick to respond to questions.......
I don't think your going to see much at this point on your water tests, but you can test it gets you use to it at least......HTH

 

[jokerj]

I would cut the skimmer off for now. The perpose of the skimmer is to remove material before it could cause hamful amonia, nitrites, & nitrates. You actually for a cycle want those levels to spike to promote benificial bacteria growth. The skimmer will basically fight this process. I would shut off the skimmer until the cycle is over but that is just my $.02. By the way concrats on getting your tank started. Sometimes it may help to kickstart the cycle by buying a coctail shrip from the grocery store and drop that in. Let it rot for a couple days then pull it out. This will do a heavy hard cycle and spike up amonia fast. :joy:

 

[skiutah]

hmmm... so you suggest I take the protein skimmer out for the cycling period? How do I break it in for the 2-3 weeks then?

 

[jokerj]

Sorry it took so long to get back with you. The way most people acomplish this is after the cycle start the skimmer up. The first couple of weeks after the cycle is introduction of the clean up crew ( snails, crabs, shrimp, ect.) and they do not produce nearly as much waste as fish do. usally most wait until they have them for a couple weeks before they add their first fish or at least the way I did. Durring this time the skimmer will break in. I hope this helps.

Now I don't say this is the way everyone does this but the way I have done and has worked for me so check arround and see what others think!

 

[skiutah]

Should I run my lights while I'm cycling the tank with the LV, LS and the clean up crew?

 

[jokerj]

Really I would not put in clean up crew until the cycle is complete! the purpose of the cycle is to spike amonia which bacteria grow to convert to nitrite then a second sorce of bacteria grow to convert that to nitrates. The clean up crew durring the cycle can be killed off by the spike of these levels. Now that being said the lights at this point is personal prefrence. I don't think they are needed now until the cycle is complete but some people like to run them just to get in the habbit. If you do run them durring the cycle their may be more alage growth due to levels shooting up especially nitrates but clean up crew after cycle is complete will most of the time take care of that. The cycle is to build the bacteria up so that bacterial that breaks down the amonia and nitrites will be none existent for fish because these even in small ammounts will burn their gills because it is toxic to them. Nitrates are removed by water changes but a good refuge with micro alage will absorb them as well. Nitrates which is the final part of the cycle if it gets too high is usally not harmful to fish but can kill your clean up crew (inverts). I hope this will help some.