Start up

[fbh1120]

I've been a fresh water geek for 15yrs and now starting a reef tank. When starting, which is the best route? Should I use live sand or not? I have an aqua clear trickle filter pump and skimmer. Common sense tells me start with my water quality before adding anything, but my concern is how long should I wait before adding substrate (live rock) and building my reef? Please help

 

[david s]

the first part you need to figure out is if you want a fish only or a fish only with live rock or a reef
fish only would have mechanical filter and maybe a skimmer with ho or vho lights nothing expensive for lights
fish only with live rock would have a deep sand bed and live rock for a filter and a skimmer IMO a must lights the same as fish only
a reef would have same as fish only with live rock with good lighting
as far as starting a tank it is totaly differnt you have to cycle the tank and build up bactiria to do so I would sugest do a search for tank cycle and do some reading

 

[michaeltx]

you build your LR stuctures and get the tank substrate in from the get go I personally would use 3 to 4 " of dead(dry)sand and then a couple of inches of Live sand this will give you a good start to for a DSB to start going. the rock is usually put in from the start to get the cycle going. then you wait and do research until all your readings are at 0. to me its one of the best parts of starting a new tank to see all the new life that shows up on the rock.
you need to have some sort of plan to what you want to keep in the tank for what lighting requirments that particular thing needs. if not you will probably throw a lot of money away on mistakes and dying creatures because of wrong or improper lighting.
as far as your equipment I am not familiar with it so I cant help there. what size tank are these going on?
and welcome to the board!
Mike

 

[fbh1120]

I going with fish and live rock. 55gal to start and if I get the hang of it, I will go larger. Most of the reading I've done, pretty much focused on filtration, and fish carnot much concerning lighting. Any suggestions? Also...are you saying that the day I decide to get the ball rolling to have my rock on hand? My other concern is, with fresh water, you just put what you want in the tank and fill with water. With salt how does it work?
I really appreciate the assistance.
Tony

 

[david s]

I would get tank leveld on the stand put sand and live sand plus salt water in tank (mesure salt with a hydromiter) if you are ordering rock online clean all dead stuff of then place in tank this should start your cycle If you get rock local use a shrimp put it in tank for 2 days then mesure for amonia get 3 test kits nitrate nitrite and amonia
ok the way a cycle works is the rock or the shrimp decay causing amonia you will get a high reading. as the amonia goes down you should see nitrite level go up.then as the nitrite level goes down you will see nitrate level go up. then gradualy go down when all reading are at zero you are ready for fish( nitrate may not hit zero post readings) test once a day so you can watch the readings post if you have any questions people will be glad to help also a partial water change at the end of cycle may help too

 

[fbh1120]

Dave
Thanks, you've been a big help

 

[nm reef]

Check out this link (reefkeeping 101) for a bunch of detailed information on setting up a new system. Covers pretty much everything ... personally I would first set up the water and bring the specific gravity to 1.023-1.025 then I would add my sand and LR. At that point I would start the sump/circulation/filtration and monitor the progress of the nitrogen cycle(may need some means of introducing ammonia)...from there it is a long continious path .
Welcome to the board and best of luck developing your system.