Please help to see if I'm on the right track etc.

poisonmywell

poisonmywell

Member
Okay, heres my situation. About a year ago, I set up my 50 gal. tank. I was new at this stuff (guess I still am). Everything went pretty normal for about 6 months, then things started going downhill. Fish started dying left and right etc. Well, since then I really haven't done much with the tanks. About 2 weeks ago I tore down and drained my 29 gal. I cleaned it out and Its up an running now with nothing in it. In my 50 gal, I have about 20lbs. of live rock. Soon (probably tommorrow) Im going to move that to my 29 gal. so I can drain my 50 like the 29. Basically, Im starting over. Im also doing away with the crushed coral as substrate and going with the sand. So I guess what Im looking for is some advice or suggestions. Is there anything I should do to the live rock when moving it? I also plan to add a little more LR since I plan to do a few more things with the tanks rather than just fish. How long should I let the tanks set before trying to add anything? and what are some good things to add first? Im going to try and be as patient as possible with this since I think thats what got me in trouble in the first place, any advice would be great.
Thanks!
 
fshhub

fshhub

Active Member
moving the lr, a couple of feet? just move it, don't let it dry, but wear gloves, you never know where a bristle worm is hiding
as for suggestions, get the water set up and runnign, then add your dsba nd the rest of your lr, cycle it with dead shrimp(dinner type), then move the lr that you will then have in your 29, and walla, your about ready for fish, just make sure it is complete with it's cycle, and stable for a week or 2, and if you want to get a detrivore kit, do this after teh cycle, and before any fish for about 2 weeks
good luck and HTH
and
WELCOME ABOARD
OH, AND AS FOR how lond, watch your cycle, agter it is complete, this can be monitored through water testing, first you ammonia will spike, then fall, then while that is coming down your nitrites will peak and fall, then your nitrates,
all tanks are different, could be weeks or months, the lr will help this, especially if it is well cured and boutght locally(less die off in transportation)
 
poisonmywell

poisonmywell

Member
Thanks for the help and welcome. :D I've never heard about the cycling using dead shrimp, how exactly do I go about doing it? And yeah, the LR is only moving a few feet to the other tank. Thanks again for the help!
 
fshhub

fshhub

Active Member
no prob,and i won't be calling you by name, LOL
where'd you come up with that one?
ah, never mind, it's probably got a long story involved
 
poisonmywell

poisonmywell

Member
Originally posted by fshhub:
<STRONG>no prob,and i won't be calling you by name, LOL
where'd you come up with that one?
ah, never mind, it's probably got a long story involved</STRONG>

Well, theres a band called Poison the well..they're great. I used to have AOL and used it as my SN. I just use it everywhere now. eh, not that long. :D
 
broomer5

broomer5

Active Member
Poisonmywell
When moving the live rock from one tank to the other - you may want consider giving each piece a good shake in the saltwater before you remove it. When I changed over my 55 to a 75 a couple weeks ago, I found that there was some detritus and small particles of sand and such, that had apparently collected over time in a lot of the small pockets and holes of the live rock. It makes a cloudy mess in the tank, but if you are in the process of tearing that tank down - then no big deal.
Just a suggestion on your moving the live rock question :)
Brian
 
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