new guy who is stuck

[dhuv]

Hello everyone. I bought my tank in August. Its a 54 gallon corner tank with a bio filter. I am not totally sure of the lights that I have but will try to give a good description. They are twin tube lights made by GE and have aqua rays written on them. I have put in 25 lbs of base rock from Florida. I have a few questions that I am not sure of and hoping someone here can help.

When I bought the tank, the guy gave me a big bag of the aragnite rocks for the bottom, which I currently have everything sitting on. After about a couple of weeks I got 2 damsels (to help cycle the tank) which are still alive and doing well. Its been quite a while now I am still gettin brown algae growing on the base rocks and the aragnite rock on the bottom. The guy at the pet store said that from lookin at my water sample my tank still has not cycled yet. He suggested that the aragnite rock should be replaced with live sand. What do the people on this forum think about this? Would it also be wise to put in some live rock right now or should I wait? What do you think about live rock from Florida as opposed to the Fiji rock the local petstore has?

Any ideas on how I can find out where in the cycle my tank is? And how I can help move it along?

Thanks,
dhuv

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Dhuv...I don't think I'm qualified to officially welcome you, but WELCOME TO RDO.

First, if you want to keep a marine system you should get the following test kits: Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH...you can later get alkalinity, clacium, and phosphate tests too.

To tell if your tank is cycled test for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. If ammonia and nitrite read zero, then your tank is cycled. If ammonia reads zero, but there is nitrite, then you are two weeks from cycled. And if you read some ammonia, then you are a long way away from cycled.

Having said that, you want to add live rock, right? Fiji and Florida rock are both great. Fiji is lighter with more holes, so you need less actaul pounds of it than Florida rock, which is made from heavy limestone so you need more pounds to get the same surface area.

You should set up your rockscape BEFORE you add sand because rock on sand can become unstable over time. Use the aragonite rocks you have now as a base...in time they will become live rock also. The rock you buy will cycle the tank for you.

Once you add all that live rock, the die off of life on it will cause ammonia and nitrite to spike and lead to a pretty quick cycle...it also might kill the damsels, but that's good because they get pretty evil when they get bigger and they will mess with any small fish you want later. :twisted:

After your rock is set up and you read zero ammonia and nitrite, then you can our in some sand around the rocks and start stocking the tank.

Good luck

 

[dhuv]

Wow this is great. I dont have to totally remove the aragonite rock like the guy wasa suggesting. My ammonia is still high, I take my water sample to the pet store ever so often to have to checked by them. I guess that means that I am not cycling yet. So things probably will get worse before they get better.

My question is, should I have live sand in my tank now or wait until the water has cycled?

I will pickup the live rock as soon as possible and get some in there.

Thanks for your advice. Does anyone else have anything to add. I would love to hear a few opinions on what I am doing wrong.

Thanks,
Dhaval

 

[dhuv]

I have also noticed that my skimmer creates a lot of tiny air bubbles in the water. I have a wet/dry and my skimmer is a hangon, the return water creates bubbles (i have modded it so its not as bad anymore) when it falls into the sump, which then gets pumped into the tank. Has anyone had this problem before? What have you seen or done to solve this problem?

By the way I have the Clean UP ventauri driven protine skimmer CU-75. As you can see from this image http://www.wonbrothers.com/images/SKIMMER2.jpg the return is ver high compared to the where the water level is in the sump. This was really meant to go the tank rather then the filter.

Thanks,
Dhaval

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry I'm still the only one to reply. If your skimmer is spitting out bubbles, try putting a sponge under the return...when the water hits the sponge, the bubbles will pop before they get back up to the tank.

Another idea is to cut holes in the bottom of a large plastic cup or small plastic bucket and let the skimmer water pour into it in the sump. THe water will go through the holes in the bottom, while the bubbles will rise to the surface of the container.

 

[greenb]

Well if you still have Ammonia then you are still a ways away from completing the cycle. So yes it will get worse before it gets better.

Just curious, when you are saying "aragnite rocks" are you referring to crushed coral that covers the entire bottom of the tank???

If it is, your in for some fun reading on one of the many big debates in this hobby. Do a search on DSB (Deep Sand Beds) and crushed coral to see the different opions.

Good Luck,
Bob

 

[dhuv]

I have read that. Some people want only sand, some people want nothing, some want gravel and sand. ahhhhhhhh. anyway, I just want to make sure it wont hurt anything to have it be like this. I am thinking of taking some rock out and replacing it with sand. so the base will still be rock but have a coat of live sand on top. Will putting the live sand in now help the tank or should I just wait?

Thanks,
Dhaval

 

[ice77]

Hi dhuv, HTH from a junior member:

If you dont have an idea yet who to believe in, what technique actually works, then you still have to do a lot of reading. And if still it doesnt help, that's when your common sense comes in.

I really HTH

 

[ChrisRD]

Does anyone else have anything to add. I would love to hear a few opinions on what I am doing wrong.

OK, well, you asked for it...

Personally, I would remove the damsels - they're going to be a problem in the future and they're not necessary to cycle the tank. I would also ditch any bioballs (you mentioned having a wet/dry) or biofilters.

Next, I would get the crushed coral out of the tank. It can work fine in tanks that have just a dusting with lots of circulation, or when it is cleaned regularly, but IMO it's easier to not have to deal with it. Personally, I'd put a DSB in the main tank, or a decorative layer of sand in the main tank with a DSB in the sump.

I would also suggest getting more live rock. Get the aquascaping the way you want it, and let things sit for at least a month (running the skimmer and the lights). As for the bubbles with the skimmer - if you can, move it down to the sump (wet/dry) where it won't be as much of an issue. In time it should produce less bubbles in the effluent.

Also, check out the library resources here at RDO. For example, the Beginner's Guide is a good starting point.

HTH

 

[dhuv]

Awesome article. I read it and found a lot of useful info. While reading I realized that U have 2 tubes of flouracent lighting (NO). I have aragnite crushed corel on the bottom. I am going to be picking up live rock asap. I am debating if I should also get a little bit of live sand and have a layer on top of the crushed corel, or take out the crushed corel and put in a bed of live sand. I will also be redoing my sump soon if things go well. I am not in a hurry to redo the sump though.

I do want to put my heater in the sump rather then have it hang in the tank. My only worry is that the heater is very long and the wather level in the tank will not even submerge it half way. I feel that I will be wasting a lot of enery heating the water if it is not fully submerged.

I am also starting to wonder if all the little white things that are all over my tank when the skimmer is on are really bubbles. Would they not all go to the top quickly if they were bubbles? They seem to be suspended in the water and just move along with the flow.

Oh one more question. The article said that the turnover should be 10-20x turnover/hour. I have a 54 gallon tank and a Rio 2100 which should be pumping about 400 gallons/hour at the height of 4ft. That works out to about 7-8x turnover. Would that be OK? What are other people expreiences?

I would love to hear more comments about what you guys think about my plans.

Thanks again for the help. I really appreciate it.

Dhaval

 

[Anonymous]

Here is my tank


http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=30414

When I first set it up, I had Crushed Coral for the bed.

It is a much happier tank now.

Bryan