What I want to do here is, put my water in the tank, bring it up to say 80 dregees, then add my live rock then add my sand, wait for the water to clear, then clean off the live rock ( remove any sand that maybe on it, from the process of putting sand in the tank), then wait from about 2 to 4 weeks and check the water, when it has cycled I can then start adding my cleanup crew. Right or Wrong, am I forgetting anything?
Cycleing my tank ?
- Thread starter strout
- Start date
I added my sand first, put plastic on top of it and added the water. I avoided a sand storm that way. If you are gettting the rock cured locally and you keep it wet while transporting to your tank it will probably cycle in a week. When you see brown diatoms starting grow your tank will be at the end of the cycle. 10% a week is what I do for water changes.
It sounds about right. I don't think it really makes a difference in which order you put the sand/water/rock in. Don't forget that the rock will displace quite a bit of water, so it might be better to fill the tank halfway, add the rock, then add the rest of the water. However, 80 degrees is a little high; 78-79 is better.
Also, make sure you thoroughly test your plumbing with fresh water before you add the salt. It's a major pain to drain all that saltwater if you find a leak/problem in the plumbing.
Also, make sure you thoroughly test your plumbing with fresh water before you add the salt. It's a major pain to drain all that saltwater if you find a leak/problem in the plumbing.
I would do as Lotus suggests......put the water about 1/2 to 2/3 full of water (heat and add salt in the tank if you want as there isn't anything else in there at this point)....then the rock and the sand, (a hint here is to us a 2-3 " pvc tube and pour the sand down the tube it will help with the sandstorm......once that is in then fill the rest slowly. Let this all settle and as the rock is cured it will definitely shorten the sand settlement time....as the bacteria in the rock will populate the sand and weigh it down...(My sandstorm settle virtually overnight once I added rock) As you are using cured rock it will cycle really fast.....just measure for ammonia, then nitrites then nitrates.....I personally keep my tanks at 80 degrees, I don't think there is a perfect temp but anywhere between 78 to 80 are good. Natural seawater ranges in temps up as high as 82 though I wouldn't personally go that high. I find my tank ranges from 79 at night to 80 during the day......as long as it is stable and doesn't have huge fluctuations you will be fine.
When i set up my tank I put the sand in first and just put a dinner plate on top of the sand to pour the water onto the plate.. I don't think i had any sand floating really at all, it worked better than I thought.. My temp is 80-84, like they said above don't forget to check your water every day while your cycling just to make sure you don't miss anything! If you can get rock out of someones tank that's being taken down that would be the way to go..
The reason I said LR first was because, I read somewhere that the base live rock needed to be placed on the tank bottom not on the sand, or does it matter? I went to the other LFS in my area today, lol , just around the corner from the house, I didnt find it till after I bought the tank, not complaining, the other store is good and I got a good deal. Anyway, I was talking to him about ordering alittle more LR, I told him I already had 100 lbs ordered and that I didn't know how far that would go in my 125g tank, I told him I didn't know what 100lbs of LR looked like. He told me,lol lol, that 100lbs will cover one corner of the tank, so I ordered 40lbs more of Figi cured LR and 30lbs of something he called, Vanuatu LR, told him I didn't know what that kind was, he said its nice, Ill take his word for it, lol , probley get the shaft, again. Anyway, both orders from the two stores will come in next Thursday.
Vanuatu is another island they collect live rock from. It looks the same as Fiji to me. 170 lbs will let you set up a nice reef for sure. I've read a lot saying you should set the rock up first. I've never done it always have started with sand, filled about 2/3 with water, added salt, heated up, added rock, and filled the rest of the way up.
seriously I wouldn't add the sand first then water then salt......I think even if you add sand first you should add the water already mixed and circulated......I still think you should place the rock on the glass or starboard then add the sand....the sand will help stabilize the rock especially if you want to add any sand sifters later that could move sand out from the rock if it is placed on the sand.....then you could have a rock fall with disasterous results especially that much rock. Fiji, Vanuatu along with what you ordered from the other store will give you great diversity.....these should really cycle fairly quickly depending on the amount of cure that has already happened. If your lfs doesn't have the rock sitting in his tank in his store it will definitely need further curing which is good for you as the process of final cure will cycle your tank for you.....sounds great so far!