New 100g Tank Here

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ryno368

Guest
ok so now that i officially have my tank on the start of the cycle i have a few questions
1. I have read a couple places that adding a piece of shrimp will jump start the cycle, is this true?
2. If i move the rocks a around during the cycle will the cycle start over? or am i just paranoid, and i kno if i add rock that is not cured it will restart the cycle correct?
3. When should i start testing for amonia i have my own kits?
 
ibanez

ibanez

Member
Shrimp will, so will dieing stuff on your liverock that you added if it is not cured, if it is cured then run it for a week or so and ghost feed a bit of flake food and check your water regularly, like every day or every other day. Start testing for ammonia tomorrow. If you move rocks, you are mostly pretty much ok and should have problems, if you stir up too much sand you could end up with problems.
Also, right, all rock must be cured once the tank is going. So you may want to add another 50 pounds or so if you can afford it otherwise you wont be able to add many fish.
 
R

ryno368

Guest
ya i got like 60 LBS in it right now and 10 more in the mail probly tomorrow so i should have a total of about 70 lbs but for my size tank you are syaing i need like 100 - 125 lbs?
 
ibanez

ibanez

Member
Yes, it usually works out to be about 1lb per gallon to 1.5lb per gallon depending on the density of the rock. Some of it comes down to your personal opinion of what you want it to look like and what you want to do with it but, the more surface area of rock, the more room for bacteria, on the other hand, the more volume of rock, the less volume of water, and dilution of waste is also a positive, that is why rock that is branching coral skeleton is good because it takes up less volume for more surface space, and often weighs less, more large dense chunks of rock are heavy, have less surface area and take up more water volume. The heavy rock is good to build the base of your reef out of because it is sturdy and often more easily stack-able. Hope this helps. I think you are entering one of the funner stages of this hobby, stacking your rock and making your reef is a lot of fun, just make sure you take the time to get it the way you want it now because it is harder to do once you get livestock in there.
 
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ryno368

Guest
ya thats what i have been thinking. i might go buy a little more rock tomorrow. i got one issue tho i have to valves on the bottom pipework one coming from the outlet of the tank and one going up from the pump to the tank but i can not get my water in my sump to stop rising and falling when i adjust my valves. it either rises slowly or falls slowly any way i can fix this im afraid to have it run when i cannot watch it.
 
ibanez

ibanez

Member
You should be able to run your pump wide open with out throttling it back. It will be hard on your pump unless you got one designed specifically for back pressure. With your pump wide open you should have your drain wide open and and your pump shouldn't be able to keep up with your drain. In other words, your drain should drain more gallons per hour than your pump, pumps. What is your pump? What gph is it rated for, what is the maximum head, How many feet plus 90 degree angles are from your return pipe to the spout. And how big is the pipe that your using as a drain. Are there any 90's in it? Do you have a stand pipe or a tube that allows air into the drain as the water drains?
 
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ryno368

Guest
i dont have 90s i have 45s and i think the problem is the standpipe because it is just a pvc pipe that comes up to about 1-2 inches below the DT water level and my pump is rated for 600 gph. i have it to where my pump is wide open but my drain is about 75% to cut down on the toliet sound hehe but i wtill here it a little bit. the system has about 2-3 feet from standpip to bottom. and all the pipe is 1 1/4 pvc except where i had to shrink it for the fitting in the bottom of the tank
 
ibanez

ibanez

Member
It is a big tank, it may take a while. Also check nitrite and nitrate when you do your test. You could add a shrimp or flake food if you like.
 
R

ryno368

Guest
nitrite = 0 ppm
nitrate = 5-10 ppm if i am reading it correctly its hard to tell
 
ibanez

ibanez

Member
I would throw some flake food and watch it for a week and see what you end up with. Your rock may already be cured. Where did you get it from? If your 10 lbs is coming by shipment, you will probably have some die off in it.
 
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ryno368

Guest
ya the rock i bought was in the LFS and was in a fish tank with only rock in it and submerged in 74 degree flowing water. i added a piece of raw shrimp and API's Stress Zyme product. the only thing i was worried about was when i got home from being out all day i added bio balls and checked the temp and salinity
salinity was 1.024 - 1.025 which is up from when i first added the water
temp was 80.5 so i turned off the lamp i had on the sump and took out one of my 300w heaters ( the other heater is set to 74 degrees)
the tank is clearing up some but not as much as i would like it too should i do like a 15- 20 g water change and also i plan to go buy about 30 lbs of more rock which will bring me up to
90 lbs live rock ( not counting the 10 lbs that has not got here)
10 lbs rubble rock in the sump
 
ibanez

ibanez

Member
Don't do any water changes yet. It will clear up. The salinity will raise as water evaporates. In that large of a tank evaporation won't be as noticable so you will need to make a mark in your sump where you want your water level and watch that mark. Until you get the hang of it watch your salinity closely. You probably will have to top off with at least a gallon of water a day, maybe more. Make sure your topping off your tank with straight R/O or distilled water, in other words, no salt. I have heard of tanks having to top off with as much as 5 gallons a day. You may want to invest in an auto top-off set up. I forget, do you have a R/O D/I unit?
 
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ryno368

Guest
no ro/di unit but i can get 5 gallons of culligan water for 1.85 at the 24 hour walmart and i got salt haha. so i will have that much evaporation? and when i added new water to compensate should i make the water i put in with less salinity?
 
ibanez

ibanez

Member
The water you add in as top off water, is straight water, no salt at all, or your salinity will raise. It is hard to tell what your evaporation will be but in my ten gallon has been as much as .5 gallon per day. I am sure your tank will evaporate more than that. Check by making a mark on your sump and watch what happens over the next 24 hours or so. then when you add a gallon, watch how far that raises the level so you can get an idea of how many gallons per day you will go through. That water is cheap, but with that size tank, sooner or later you will end up with an ro di unit. May as well be sooner so your 1.84 per day can go towards that and you would have it payed for in a year.
 
R

ryno368

Guest
oh ok i got ya like a water softner lol but anyways here are the readings for today
salinity = 1.025
temp = 78 F
amonia = 0ppm
nitrite = 0ppm
nitrate = 5-10 ppm (these tests are kinda odd because that would mean it is ready)
and the tank has just about full cleared up although i need to get a turkey baster and maybe move the rocks a little more when i buy that extra 30 lbs today
 
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