Extreme newbie question, please be kind

[forestal]

Hello all, first post. I am going to be setting up my first saltwater tank and have been reading some of the guides and posts.
My tank is a 55 gallon (48 x 18 x 18) . I originally planned to use 2 emperor 400's for filtration with a powerhead for water movement. The more I read the more it seems I should use a wet/dry. Is it that important? I plan to take things very slow, just getting water quality right before adding live rock. using a couple small fish for cycling purposes.

The amount of info to read seems daunting right now, and I am reading as much as I can. I currently keep cichlids, this is very different but I am excited about learning.

Thanks for any advice

 

[Anonymous]

Alot of people would agree with me that cycling the tank with fish isnt the best way to go. It puts un needed stress on the fish and you get the same if not better results if you use live rock. Your filtration seems fine but I must ask is this going to be a reef setup or a fish only w/live rock.?? Either way a wet dry would be ok but most people jsut run a Deep sand bed and Live rock for biological filtration and a protein skimmer. Another question for you would be what are in the emporers??? Bio wheels??

 

[Anonymous]

Ohh if you choose to go with a wet/dry run it without bio balls or any other bio filtration, that is what your live rock will be for.

 

[danmhippo]

Do you want to keep the tank as Fish Only, or as Reef in the future? This will influence if Wet Dry is suitable for your application.

Wetdry is very efficient in converting ammonia to nitrite and to nitrate. For a FO tank, fish can tolerate higher level of nitrate, but for corals and other invertibrates, Nitrate can seriously hinder their growth and even fatalities.

Wet Dry's end product is nitrate, where as if you skip the wet dry, but only rely on LR and deep sand bed (sugarfine sand of at least 3-4" deep), the anaerobic zone (lack of oxygen) harbors bacteria that can break down NO3 into NO and O2.

From my experiences, most hobbyist will convert their FO setup to Reef some time down the road. If I were you, I would startup the tank as FOWLR (Fish Only with Live Rock) and setup the DSB from day one. This way, your tank will be ready to migrate up to stocking corals when you feel comfortable.

 

[danmhippo]

double post

 

[forestal]

My plan is for a reef setup. I would prefer to not use a wet/dry. I wanted to use the emperors and yes they have biowheels. If I use them should i take out the biowheels, use only for mechanical filtration?
I do want to use live rock/invertabrates for biologic filtration, but wasnt sure the best way to cycle the tank.

If I get the water parameters right for 1-3 weeks, Ok to add live rock? then wait for algae bloom for a week or two before adding detritous eaters (?right term) ?

thanks all

 

[Lostmind]

Why not cure the liverock first (or mostly cured) and then setup your tank with the live rock to start your cycle?

Thats what I did, seems to work so far

I hear some people semi cure the rock in a rubbermaid with a powerhead and a skimmer for a couple weeks and then setup their tank with that rock.

There would be some die-off, causing the ammonia cycle to start but it wouldnt be a very harsh cycle as most of the curing is done in the rubbermaid beforehand. IF I ever setup a tank again, thats what I would do.

But what I did, was just throw the rock in my tank fill it with saltwater, hookup everything and let it run for a few weeks...

 

[danmhippo]

Either way is fine.

The advantage of cycling in garbage can first is you would not have to risk contaminating tank water with high nitrate. Also if there are hitch hikers in the LR, by cycling out side, you will not have the trouble of breaking the tank apart to catch those PITAs.

If you decided to cycle LR in the trash bin, I would suggest you freshwater bath the LR first to flush out mantis shrimps and small crabs.

 

[Anonymous]

Fill the tank. Toss in the Live rock run all power heads, wait a few weeks, test weekly and when water params are right add first fish (only like one or two) then wait another few weeks and see you water params. If they are ok continue to add more livestock until you are satisfied (keep in mind the bio load limit of your tank)

 

[Anonymous]

No, cycle the live rock in a trash can. Believe me, the headaches saved are endless. Do LARGE, frequent water changes to preserve as much life in situ as possible.

Then, when it's cycled and you're sure you don't have unwanted denizens (as those Danm mentioned), set up the tank with the live rock, toss in a bit of raw shrimp, and start a new cycle that way.

In my opinion, if what you want is reef, the BEST method for filtration is going to be a refugium with a deep sand bed. It doesn't have to be sugar fine, I've both seen and communicated with folks who use a small, small grained coral (<1mm-2mm), they just make the bed deeper. Just remember, it will take a few months for the DSB to really kick in and start denitrification.

 

[ChrisRD]

I agree with the advantages of cycling in a separate container as mentioned above. There are two potential downsides to cycling in a trash can, however, IMO...

First, it can be hard to control ammonia and other water quality parameters in a small water volume. Some of this can be offset with frequent, large water changes, but it's more work than curing in a larger water volume IMO.

The second downside, IMO, is that if you want to light the rock while curing (to preserve photosynthetic hitchhikers) it's awkward to impossible considering typical trash can shapes.

JMO