newby question

[mphelps]

Being new to the hobby, (christmas present to me). The store where I purchased everything from suggested I cycle my tank w/damsels.
IN my tank now I have damsels and just a substrate.
IN the past two months I have been doing much reading on this site and many books recommended by this site.
I now want live sand and live rock in my tank.
What procedures should I go thru???
Looking to purchase this new stuff over the weekend.
Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[indydirk]

Originally Posted by mphelps
Being new to the hobby, (christmas present to me). The store where I purchased everything from suggested I cycle my tank w/damsels.
IN my tank now I have damsels and just a substrate.
IN the past two months I have been doing much reading on this site and many books recommended by this site.
I now want live sand and live rock in my tank.
What procedures should I go thru???
Looking to purchase this new stuff over the weekend.
Any advice would be appreciated.
:notsure: what type of substrate do you have in it now ???? You should have sand and some live rock in it while it's cycling (at least that's what I've always been told - could be wrong about that). Sand and then the rock, that water will be cloudy for a day or so because of the really fine particles (dust) of sand the filter will clear that up for you. A day or two later add the rock. Hope this helps, maybe somebody can verify or deny this. Good luck and welcome to the hobby (addiction for most of us). :joy:

 

[bill109]

hello and welcom to the boards!
well you shuld never cyclt with damsels cus it hurts the fish and it burns their gills.
most ppl here will tel you the same so if you want to start over with live sand then take the damsels back to the lfs and get some live sand
if you are located near ct then let me know and i can hook you up with some for a small charge compareed to what you buy it at.
anyways. after buying ls yes your water will be cloudt but wit it out a day if you want to
then add lr when ii aquascape with lr i like to make caves and such :cheer:
i cant wait to see some pics of the tank when you get it up and going with your lr and ls.
this is a addicting hobby
btw if you plan on having fish tht like to burrom then add the rock FIRST then the sand
if it is a nano cube or a tank tht has thin glass then go to home depot and buy egg cratr and put your lr on tht then you sand on in after the rock
just my .02 cents
-bill109

 

[mphelps]

do i need to take out all of the aragonite(sp?) that is in there now?

 

[hot883]

Originally Posted by mphelps
do i need to take out all of the aragonite(sp?) that is in there now?
Is it considered sand or crushed coral?

 

[bill109]

Originally Posted by mphelps
do i need to take out all of the aragonite(sp?) that is in there now?
is it argonite sand or crushed coral?
if it is sand but it "dead" then buy a lb or 2 or live sand and put it on top and resed the sand to ls
thought i posted this but hit the message bord button?

 

[mphelps]

it is sand. I can add live sand right to the top of this? What a mess I have.
I also want to put live rock in. The problem being is that the lfs is 1 hour away so trying to do all of this in one trip
Any suggestions about adding live sand and live rock???

 

[bill109]

Originally Posted by mphelps
it is sand. I can add live sand right to the top of this? What a mess I have.
I also want to put live rock in. The problem being is that the lfs is 1 hour away so trying to do all of this in one trip
Any suggestions about adding live sand and live rock???
order your suplies from here, swf.com
i hear it is ALWAYS good and no one had had any real problems with them

 

[trigger11]

Here is how I would proceed if I were in your place. I am by no means an expert but I have been doing a lot of reading on these boards.
1. I would take the Damsels back to the LFS. For several reasons actually. It is not needed any longer to have them to cycle your tank. The ammonia levels will get really high and that does hurt their gills. Also, once you get your tank cycled you will want to put other fish in there and Damsels can be quite aggressive. Especially to smaller fish than themselves. I found this out the hard way and I had to remove every piece of LR I had in the tank to get them out.
2. Purchase all of the LR and LS you will want to get at one time and put it all in there. Since you live an hour away from the store I would take some kind of bucket along to see if they could keep the LR nice and wet. That way hopefully you wouldnt have too much die off.
3. Use the method of placing a dead shrimp in the tank as is often suggested on this site. It will kickstart your cycle. This way you do not have to put any fishes through torture. The downside is you have to stare at an empty tank with no fishes for a while.
4. Have patience. That is the number one virtue I have learned from this site and my experiences with having a SW hobby.
Good luck to you.

 

[sepulatian]

If you buy uncured rock (which is cheaper) it will cycle your tank for you. Be sure to have a liquid master test kit on hand and some saltwater already pre mixed to do a few water changes. I 100% agree that you should bring the damsels back. They are mean when they get a little older. Why torture the heck out of them first? I know the LFS pushed them on you. Too many lfs's do that. If you buy your rock uncured you can cycle with that. Keep your ammonia below 1ppm and you will reap so many benefits from the ocean (if it is quality rock).