125g saltwater startup
- Thread starter Lotus
- Start date
Sounds great Lotus!
In my experience cycling with LR it definitely can happen very quickly...but (putting on the Wayne hat here) you are really much much better waiting a couple months before adding anything, even a cleanup crew. I know that can be tough, but it gives the LR a chance to really establish and develop all sorts of goodies that snails/crabs/etc. would wipe out if not allowed to develop some numbers. You really will start to see a lot of crazy cool stuff popping out of the LR if you wait it out!
Either way ~ Have FUN!
In my experience cycling with LR it definitely can happen very quickly...but (putting on the Wayne hat here) you are really much much better waiting a couple months before adding anything, even a cleanup crew. I know that can be tough, but it gives the LR a chance to really establish and develop all sorts of goodies that snails/crabs/etc. would wipe out if not allowed to develop some numbers. You really will start to see a lot of crazy cool stuff popping out of the LR if you wait it out!
Either way ~ Have FUN!
Hmmm... that's gonna be hard to do! We'll see if we can wait. I know with the holidays coming up money is tight, so we'll have to see if we can afford anything anyway! To be honest, I wasn't planning on the cycle going this fast. I was planning on four to six weeks before it would be ready for anything.
I haven't seen Wayne in a while. I guess he's busy these days.
By the way, when would be a good time to start putting stuff in the refugium? It's set up, but empty. The plan is to put some mud and some macroalgaes in there. I'm just not sure when in the process it should get populated.
I haven't seen Wayne in a while. I guess he's busy these days.
By the way, when would be a good time to start putting stuff in the refugium? It's set up, but empty. The plan is to put some mud and some macroalgaes in there. I'm just not sure when in the process it should get populated.
I agree with camaro, it is amazing what sort of stuff will come out of a tank if left on its own for awhile, for example, when I moved I moved my whole tank, did not add anything at all, and as it is going to be a sps tank I have been letting it sit for the last 4 months, and even though I didn't add anything I have got some goodies and baddies, goodies include lots more feather dusters, some really nice colored ones, a boosted pod population, and other little things, some weird worms....the baddies include aiptasia...don't know where they came from but they are starting to take over...I have a few bottles of joe's juice on order.
I would start the refugium when ever it is convenient to you, I would add the algae and anything like that after the brunt of the cycle is over though.
I would start the refugium when ever it is convenient to you, I would add the algae and anything like that after the brunt of the cycle is over though.
What a convenient arrangement, eh?
You get to boss him around as he does the work for you!
Hmm...
Too bad my wife's not taller than I am.
Of course I'm only kidding.
I rarely take a glance over at the SW section, but whenever I do, I'm fascinated by something...be it Limi's green crabs, or camaro's description of all the neat critters that will pop out of the live rock...and the list goes on...
Someday I'll give it a shot.
Until then, I'll keep entertained from the 'peanut gallery' where you can catch me over on the freshwater side.
Big Vine
You get to boss him around as he does the work for you!
Hmm...
Too bad my wife's not taller than I am.
Of course I'm only kidding.
I rarely take a glance over at the SW section, but whenever I do, I'm fascinated by something...be it Limi's green crabs, or camaro's description of all the neat critters that will pop out of the live rock...and the list goes on...
Someday I'll give it a shot.
Until then, I'll keep entertained from the 'peanut gallery' where you can catch me over on the freshwater side.
Big Vine
The good news is that the cycle is done already. This weekend we added substrate, about 1/2" of fine aragonite and a little live sand. We also set up the refugium with some mud and macroalgae. The rockwork was rearranged by Ecotank, and we added 4 snails. The diatoms were starting to get a little out of hand, so the snails seemed like a good idea. We got three astreas and one black foot (?) snail.
I'll try to post some pics soon. The tank is cloudy after adding the substrate and mud.
I'll try to post some pics soon. The tank is cloudy after adding the substrate and mud.
Unfortunately, my photography skills haven't improved much
Here are some new pics:
Full tank shot:
Another fulll tank shot, slightly closer in:
Left side:
Right side:
Sump:
Macroalgaes. I think one is Caulerpa "grape" but I have no idea what the other one is, it's something that appeared in the display tank at the LFS (the dark green stuff on the right). There is some white sand dust on the sides of the refugium, so the photo doesn't look good:
Here are some new pics:
Full tank shot:
Another fulll tank shot, slightly closer in:
Left side:
Right side:
Sump:
Macroalgaes. I think one is Caulerpa "grape" but I have no idea what the other one is, it's something that appeared in the display tank at the LFS (the dark green stuff on the right). There is some white sand dust on the sides of the refugium, so the photo doesn't look good:
I know the heater looks terrible in there. The problem is that it's the only place where there's a convenient hole in the acrylic tank for a heater. We have another heater in the sump, but we really wanted to have two heaters in there.
It's possible we could put the heater over by the overflow, I'll have to look into it.
It's possible we could put the heater over by the overflow, I'll have to look into it.
Good and bad going on.
The bad is an outbreak of diatoms. It's been there for a while. I'm going to mostly sit back and wait. The snails are making a small dent in it, though. Nitrates are still a little high. I'm hoping the macroalgaes, sand and time will reduce them.
The good is that I saw a pod in the refugium today! The macroalgaes seem to be doing OK, too.
I got an alkalinity test, too. It's coming out at 3.5, which seems to be on the high side of normal.
The bad is an outbreak of diatoms. It's been there for a while. I'm going to mostly sit back and wait. The snails are making a small dent in it, though. Nitrates are still a little high. I'm hoping the macroalgaes, sand and time will reduce them.
The good is that I saw a pod in the refugium today! The macroalgaes seem to be doing OK, too.
I got an alkalinity test, too. It's coming out at 3.5, which seems to be on the high side of normal.
the snail you were sold as "blackfoot" is likely an astrea (does it have a sort of low pyramid shell with red and white stripes?). I have a few of those myself and they seem to do a good job, but the 4 snails aren't likely to put a huge dent in the diatoms in a tank of this size...
is there any possibility of putting the heater in the overflow box?
is there any possibility of putting the heater in the overflow box?
The snail is mostly black with a rounded, flat cone-shaped shell that has a little "pearl" patch on the underside. Its body (foot) is black. I haven't been able to find a picture of anything exactly like it. I thought at one point it might be a margarita snail, but it doesn't seem to be the "common" type. The LFS owner isn't a margarita fan anyway (at least not the snaily kind of margarita).
I know four snails is really not much of a help. I don't really want to overload the tank and have snails strip the live rock. I may get some more this weekend, and possibly some hermits, too.
Luckily, nitrates are dropping. I don't know if that's due to the diatom outbreak, or whether the macroalgaes are using them all up. They dropped from 20 to 10 ppm this week.
I know four snails is really not much of a help. I don't really want to overload the tank and have snails strip the live rock. I may get some more this weekend, and possibly some hermits, too.
Luckily, nitrates are dropping. I don't know if that's due to the diatom outbreak, or whether the macroalgaes are using them all up. They dropped from 20 to 10 ppm this week.
Apparently, it's a black turbo snail. Mystery solved
This weekend we got 6 blue-leg hermits, 5 more astrea snails and 3 giant turbo snails.
We also set up a 10g quarantine tank with a piece of live rock and an Emperor filter. We won't be getting any fish for at least another three weeks, but we wanted to get the filtration up and seeded.
The refugium is doing well. We now have it on a reverse cylce with the main tank. The macroalgaes are growing almost as you watch them, and nitrates are dropping ... woohoo! Water change on the tank is in progress, then I'll get some of the smaller pieces of live rock to add to the few in the refugium and form a better pile for pods.
This weekend we got 6 blue-leg hermits, 5 more astrea snails and 3 giant turbo snails.
We also set up a 10g quarantine tank with a piece of live rock and an Emperor filter. We won't be getting any fish for at least another three weeks, but we wanted to get the filtration up and seeded.
The refugium is doing well. We now have it on a reverse cylce with the main tank. The macroalgaes are growing almost as you watch them, and nitrates are dropping ... woohoo! Water change on the tank is in progress, then I'll get some of the smaller pieces of live rock to add to the few in the refugium and form a better pile for pods.