pics of my tank in cycle

[ecoman]

Just finished gettin everything i own so far in there... I know.. I need more lr. but I feel like a crackhead buyin all this rock..... I plan to take a drive today and find another store.. But I wanted to post some pics of it so far. Alot of the ornaments glow in the dark, that will not disturb the fish too much, will it? The pinkish fake ornament and the one behind the rocks glow in the dark looks pretty neat movin around in the current glowing) and there are a few smaller plants that glow.. They probably glow for about a half an hour after the lights are out and you cannot see them after that. Also, is a moon light important to have?
The top pic - tank after everything was put in last night.
2nd pic - tank lookin good this morning! Less than 8 hours later.
3rd pic - Does this really look like lava rock? The dark burgendy spots are the growth, not a hole. It is very pourous but I seriously do not think this is lava rock. Ive seen lava rock and it has many tiny holes. Most of the holes in this rock are alot bigger.
I cant wait to get more rock in there and make a nice rockscape.
But I love how quickly the water cleared up. Was cloudy after adding the sand, actually the sand made a little foam, which is now gone too. Lookin good so far or no?

 

[dme]

Nice little tank, but that is a seaclone skimmer you have on that tank? In which case I am just glad that you not so large a tank for just maybe the seaclone will do OK, in your case, just do not over stock your bio load and why don`t you add some LR?
And after 5-7days, add some damsels for the way it is now, it will take long without and LR or fish. I do assume that you be only having fish from the looks of it? And later you might want to add two small maxi 600 pumps for water currents.
Dragon Moray Eels

 

[ecoman]

i already ordered 2 maxi 1200's.. That is lr thats in there now. im gonna get more. the ornaments will most likely become history when the tank is fully going.

 

[dme]

i already ordered 2 maxi 1200's..
Exactly what size tank is it, for it not look that large and 2x 1200 is a lot of water current if your tank is a 60-65

 

[ecoman]

a 75 gallon. the formula i heard for waterflow is that when u add all gph, from your filter, powerheads, and protein skimmer, and divide that by the gallon size of the tank (im my case 350 + 590 for the 2 maxi 1200's and i think it said 50 for the skimmer divided by 75), that should be around 15 for a fowler and 25 for a reef. Is that a correct formula for figuring the correct waterflow or not? If so, then my flow adds up to 13.2
However I do not know if said method is correct. Any help on that?

 

[chadman]

i have a 30g tank myself and have my filter plus a maxi jet 600 and a maxi jet 900 which are sufficient....i would say that with two 1200 your fish are gonna be spinning in circles

 

[celacanthr]

Originally Posted by DME
Nice little tank, but that is a seaclone skimmer you have on that tank? In which case I am just glad that you not so large a tank for just maybe the seaclone will do OK, in your case, just do not over stock your bio load and why don`t you add some LR?
And after 5-7days, add some damsels for the way it is now, it will take long without and LR or fish. I do assume that you be only having fish from the looks of it? And later you might want to add two small maxi 600 pumps for water currents.
Dragon Moray Eels
NO don't do that...definantly a bad Idea. It will harm the fish, and they are difficult to get out later when you want to add other fish.
Take 1 shrimp from the local grocery store in the seafood section, and put it in your tank...it will produce all of the ammonia that you will need for your cycle to start.

 

[chadman]

that is the right formula though....what size tank do u have??

 

[ecoman]

Yea, I am definately not in a hurry to add fish. And I have read posts about catching damsels. You end up removing most lr and ornaments and stirring up the whole environment. Should I get a biozyme? I added the proquatics bacteria starter, and the seachem prime, and buffer.. anything else i should do besides the idea on shrimp? If I try the shrimp, how long should I leave it in for and where to put it?

 

[chadman]

make sure you are using either ro water or distilled when doing water changes and topping off....as for all the additives i was told to let nature take its course not to try to speed up the cycle...

 

[dme]

NO don't do that...definantly a bad Idea
What is a bad idea :scared: For if it be the damsels, he can return them after the tank completes it cycle and is ready for his first tanks inhabitant.

 

[celacanthr]

I was saying that damsels are a bad idea to cycle a tank, at least with the amount of damsels that you had suggested to cycle with.
The point of a cycle is for you to cultivate bacteria in your tank that will turn the Ammonia, into nitrite, and then the nitrite to nitrate. So that means for you to start your cycle there will have to be ammonia in the tank, right?
Well, ammonia is produced in 3 main ways:
1)Decaying food
2)Decaying animals
3)Decaying waste (from fish, inverts, etc)
So for you to start your cycle you would have to either ghost feed your tank, put in damsels, or some other "hardy" fish, or put in something to decay such as a cocktail shrimp.
there are pros, and cons for each method of cycling a tank.
1)Ghost feeding- This is where you feed the tank as if you had fish in the tank. This method is the second most expensive, and requires you to find a medium where you aren't "feeding" so much that you cause a huge cycle, and that you aren't "feeding" so little that you are causing too small of a cycle.
2)Cycling with fish- This is where you put fish in a uncycled tank, feed them, watch em, and let the cycle start from the fish waste, and the food you feed the fish. This is the most expensive of the three methods, and is probably the worst choice, since you are harming the fish that you are cycling with. Ammonia, as most know, can kill fish. What the ammonia does is BURNS the gills of the fish, almost as if you inhaled harmful acidic gases. Now the reason why we scycle with damsels is because they will take more excruciating pain than other fish, before deing. they are in no way "immune" to the ammonia, and by putting them into a hostile environment like that, ti is like you are torturing them.
Besides the damsels bieng hurt by the cycle, there are also a couple other reasons that you don't wanna cycle w/ damsels (OR ANY OTHER FISH). As damsels grow they get big, territorial, and will lose those beautiful blues, yellows, polka-dots, or stripes, adn generally fade to an ugly grey. They are also extremely difficult to get out later.
*I have heard of ways to succesfully cycle with damsels, but I am not 100% sure of how to do it, so I won't say much on it. All I know is that involves very few damsels, a large tank volume, and use of a chemical ammonia binder. I have also hard that it takes a very long time for the cycle to finish.
3)Cycling with a shrimp- This is the easiest, cheapest, and safest (for the fish) method. [list type=decimal][*]go to the grocery store, and buy 1 or 2 cocktail shrimp, some crocery stores will give them to you for free, if not then it shold cost you less than a dollar w/ tax
[*]Place shrimp into tank
test ammonia often (You will have to do this for all of the methods anyways)
Once ammonia has reached a certain point, you can net the shrimp, and flush them, and voila your cycle has started nothing left to do but wait for all of the ammonia and nitrite to disappear
[/list type=decimal]

 

[teresaq]

I agree use the shrimp. most time is you get just one, they will give it to you. at least my grocery store does. I get them to grind for food.
two maxijet 1200 isnt too much for a 75 gal. I have them in my 55. one at the top of my tank, and one in the middle on the other end. I use a hydro flo attachment and it makes a nice flow

 

[chadman]

Originally Posted by TeresaQ
I agree use the shrimp. most time is you get just one, they will give it to you. at least my grocery store does. I get them to grind for food.
two maxijet 1200 isnt too much for a 75 gal. I have them in my 55. one at the top of my tank, and one in the middle on the other end. I use a hydro flo attachment and it makes a nice flow
is the hydro flo attachment the wave making attachment that u hook on to your powerhead?

 

[dme]

For few years now I hear it more and more people placing dead shrimp and such, but I never done anything as that and these days as well, I am with tanks with "LOTS" of LR and like in my reef tanks, I not use any fish for the cycling.
Like for a good many years I hear some start by placing flake foods, I guess it all depends on which method one like to go with. :thinking:

 

[vtfishies]

i have to agree with the raw sea food...i used 2 uncooked shrimp for my 75 gal..cycled in 9 days...good luck and the tank looks good..

 

[ecoman]

ok, so i now have 72lbs of all pourous rock. Oh yea.. and one hitchhiker that I saw so far. What is the bubble lookin algae? Its lookin much better, but I have to re-arrange some more to fit the bell back in. I'll see if I can get a clear shot on my hitchhiker.
ok i found a few more too.. lets take a look at the new rock, shall we?

 

[ecoman]

and here is a pic of some growth on a rock.. is this sponge?? are those tiny starfish or something in the last reply?

 

[spanish dancer]

Your aquarium is starting to look pretty darn sexy!
Yes, Those do look like a sort of sponge, or Tunicates (Sea Squirts), but are probably sponges. If they are dead, you will want to remove them from the rock, because if you so not, they will slowly release ammonia into the aquarium over a very long period, and you will not complete the cycle untill they completely decompose. However, In that picture they do not llok to be dead.
Those Sea Stars in the previous pictures, one seems to be a serpent star (the first one) and the other a brittle star. both are very good scavengers and sandsifters to have in your aquarium.
Best of luck with your aquarium!
-"Spanish Dancer"

 

[celacanthr]

Both of those brittle stars, are simply hitchhiker brittles, nothing to worry about, and very good for the tank.
Oh, and the first pic of a hitchhiker was an amphipod.