Tank set up

[intruder]

Just starting up. My 55G tank is equipped with an Emperor 400 & a RamoraC Skimmer. Tank has plenty of sand (80LB = 4-5 inches), 45LB LR & 50LB base rock. Several questions for now:

1. Should I remove the Bio wheels from the E-400?

2. With the depth of sand that I have, should I utilize PVC supports to provide more sand surface?

3. Should I be running the lights & skimmer at this stage?

4. Should I be adding any chems for the LR's?

5. Should I wait until the end of the cycle to add snells & crabs.

LR has been in the tank for 1 week and through a 50% water change. All readings are still high. Recommendations welcome, please.

Intruder

 

[ChrisRD]

1. Should I remove the Bio wheels from the E-400?

I doubt it will make any difference, but I would remove them. You definitely don't need them with all that rock/sand in there.

2. With the depth of sand that I have, should I utilize PVC supports to provide more sand surface?

I would say the jury is out on this one. Some people like to use PVC supports for their rockwork for various reasons, but it's not required. Sortof a preference thing IMO.

3. Should I be running the lights & skimmer at this stage?

Definitely run the skimmer. There are two schools of thought on the running the lighting during rock curing. One is that if you run the lights, you could potentially keep some of the photosynthetic hitchhikers alive. If you're having problems controlling nutrients during cycling, however, having the lights on could possibly lead to an algae bloom. OTOH, if you leave the lights off, most (if not all) of the photosynthetic hitchhikers will perish (but no algae blooms). FWIW I've always cured with the lights on and never had a problem so that's what I would recommend.

4. Should I be adding any chems for the LR's?

I would recommend avoiding additives in general. I would recommend never adding anything you're not testing for. Once things are under way you'll need to supplement Ca/Alk which you can do with kalkwasser or a 2-part additive like B-Ionic.

5. Should I wait until the end of the cycle to add snells & crabs.

Definitely. Don't add any livestock until your ammonia/nitrite levels have dropped back to 0. When you do add snails/crabs, don't follow the vendor recommendations for stocking levels. They usually suggest way to many animals per gallon of aquarium size IME.

HTH

 

[LauraH]

I'll put my 2 cent in:

1. I would. They are not really necessary with the rock and sand in place.

2. Personally, I don't thinks it's necessary. You may decide to add a sump or refugium later on where more sand could be added if you wanted to, but I think you'll probaby have enough sand as long as you've left a fair amount of open sand area on the bottom.

3. I have always run my lights on my tanks during curing/cycling. I never had a major algae bloom, not that it couldn't happen though. If you are worried about an algae bloom, but still want to preserve photosynthetic animals, try running your lights for just 6 - 8 hours a day for awhile and see how it works out.

4. You shouldn't need to worry about adding anything until the tank has finished cycling. After that, you can start testing for/monitoring calcium, alkalinity, and pH. These tests will tell you when and how much to start dosing. I only supplement for calcium and alkalinity generally with additives designed to provide both in equal balance. Two part additives such as B-ionic, C-Balance, etc. and Kalkwasser work well for this.

5. Absolutely. No sense wasting animals and money because they likely would not survive the cycle. Wait until ammonia and nitrites and completely undetectable.