Pictures of my New Tank

[stevertr]

Originally posted by copeseter
nice attitude, ITS JUST A FISH!
Yo...chill out... I was only kidding..hence the ) after my note.
On the other hand...its intriguing that when one of my peppermint shrimp died I was so incredibly bummed out...but then I grilled up 2 pounds of Shrimp for dinner. It's an odd dichtomy...don't you think?
Steve

 

[nacl-man]

Originally posted by stevertr
On the other hand...its intriguing that when one of my peppermint shrimp died I was so incredibly bummed out...but then I grilled up 2 pounds of Shrimp for dinner. It's an odd dichtomy...don't you think?
Steve [/B]
lol

 

[deeze]

Originally posted by stevertr
I started it with 40 lbs of cured live rock from my my lfs, and 36 gallons of the "prepackaged Pacific Ocean Water" and 40lbs of live sand. B]
I notice you said you bought "36 gallons of prepackaged pacific ocean water" wow, where did you get that? That would save a lot of break in time!

 

[darknes]

I notice you said you bought "36 gallons of prepackaged pacific ocean water" wow, where did you get that? That would save a lot of break in time!
Many fish stores sell it, although it's not very cheap for setting up a large tank, and I don't know if it really is any better than setting up with ro water, because you can still get a spike when you add live rock or fish since it's been packaged

 

[stevertr]

I bought the Pacific Ocean Water at ***** for about $7/gallon. It was about $40 for the water, but doesn't require any break in time according to the directions.
I'm certainly not an expert...but with the live sand, ocean water, and pre-cured live rock, there should be no "logical scientific reason" why any break-in time would be needed. The entire spectrum of bacterial flora is already present. Adding the SeaZyme bacterial culture daily for 7 days did not hurt either.
I can only observe that it has worked well for me so far. My tests have NEVER shown the slighest bit of Ammonia or Nitrite at all. I had a Nitrate level of 20 three days after I set it up and it's never gone above that.
Again...I'm not a disciple for this or any other method....just conveying my observations.
Regards
Steve

 

[deeze]

Thanks stevertr... that's something to research into...

 

[gilpil]

you paid $7 a gallon, so that means after rock and sand, you used $40 worth of water. So you only have about 6 gallons of water in the aquarium? How are your fish surviving???

 

[darknes]

Originally posted by stevertr
I'm certainly not an expert...but with the live sand, ocean water, and pre-cured live rock, there should be no "logical scientific reason" why any break-in time would be needed. The entire spectrum of bacterial flora is already present. Adding the SeaZyme bacterial culture daily for 7 days did not hurt either.

Yes, but you will still have a spike since the bacteria isn't used to having extra bioload..just like when you add a new fish to a cycled aquarium, there still might be a jump since the bioload increases and takes a while to accomodate it.
It would however, be a much smaller spike because the bacteria is already there like you suggested

 

[blitz99]

i insist that my tank never had to go through a cycle either.. i used prepacked aragalive sand and live rock in a 40 gallon.. never saw any spike whatsoever... it's been 3 months now and apart from the cyano and other algea outbreaks the tank is going well.

 

[reed x]

Originally posted by stevertr
Wow...that's wild!! Must be something toxic associated with them...or is is just the material decaying... Never heard of that happening with a fish, so it must be something anemone specific....
Steve

Anemones use tiny stinging cells in their tentalces called "nematocysts" in order to stun their prey. The nematocysts within these tentacles are also used as a defense mechanism. The nematocysts can also disturb human flesh and should be considered dangerous, especially to those that have known allergies. Anemones found in the wild usually have found a crevice to hide their foot, or base, leaving only the tentacles exposed.
^

[hr]
if its doing that bad in your tank you should probably take it out before you lose everything

 

[obarrera]

stevertr,please post pics of your tank like in 2 months I wanna see if it will still look the same.:thinking:

 

[reed x]

actually, i too would like to know how youre running that tank on $40 worth of water......6gallons of water just doesnt seem to be enough , the fish may agree :scared:

 

[stevertr]

Originally posted by Reed X
actually, i too would like to know how youre running that tank on $40 worth of water......6gallons of water just doesnt seem to be enough , the fish may agree :scared:
That was $7/box.... Each box contains 5 Gallons.

 

[stevertr]

Originally posted by Darknes
Yes, but you will still have a spike since the bacteria isn't used to having extra bioload..just like when you add a new fish to a cycled aquarium, there still might be a jump since the bioload increases and takes a while to accomodate it.
It would however, be a much smaller spike because the bacteria is already there like you suggested
The Bacteria multiply +- every 20 minutes.
Over the course of a day.... 1 Million bacteria added, become over a trillion. Since the Ammonia level in the tank when you start is, by definition, ZERO, and you just put in a couple of tiny fish or two, you would never produce ammonia fast enough to spike. In fact, to the opposite point, the ammonia becomes the "limiting factor" in the growth of the bacteria culture. It can't reproduce as fast as it would like to without the ammonia there...so it's actually being slowed down substantially. This is a good thing, of course. If you dumped in ammonia on day one, you'd produce too many bacteria, which, with the ammonia then withdrawn, would all die out.
Steve

 

[reed x]

ok you either messed up or youre a liar..... you said it was $7 a gallon now its $7 a box which contains 5gallons... Let me ask you this....why does 5gallons of saltwater only cost $7... when 5gallons of distilled water cost the same price? EH?!?!

 

[denny80688]

Distilled water at WalMart is only $0.58 so 5 gals would only be $2.90 leaving $4.10 for the other chemical addatives. Doesnt sound unreasonable to me.

 

[reed x]

damn im buying my water from the wrong place!!. Hinckley springs distilled water -$7.49/5gallons

 

[stevertr]

Originally posted by Reed X
ok you either messed up or youre a liar..... you said it was $7 a gallon now its $7 a box which contains 5gallons... Let me ask you this....why does 5gallons of saltwater only cost $7... when 5gallons of distilled water cost the same price? EH?!?!
I'd be REALLY carefully about your attitude dude...
Calling people a liar without the data to back it up is a dangerous precedent.
Anyone....for those who are interested...here's the link for the water at *****. If you catch it right, our was on sale for $7 so it looked like a good deal. Link for Pacific Ocean Water
The company that makes it is Catalina Water and they were kind enough to post the results from their tests for those who'd like to review it.
Regards
Steve

 

[stevertr]

Speaking of interesting links...
This study was done to illustrate the difference between common aquarium salt mixes and natural sea water. There's a really cool table showing the relative amounts of heavy metals. Makes me wonder whether part of normal cycling of a tank is the elimination of these metals....
Make up of Artificial Sea Water

 

[reed x]

i dont have to be careful about anything, so dont be a punk it was your fault for not being specific about the water you got..... first you said $7/gallon then you said it was for a case of it.... next time say its for a case