65 gal transferred complete with 75 lb Live Rocks. Some questions

[godzen]

Bought live rocks/fish from a seller on craigslist. I completed the transfer of livestock from his matured red sea max 250 tank to my exact same tank a few days ago. The rocks had purple coralline agae covered throughout. Obviously, after 3 days, I saw some die off as patches on the rocks became white. I guess this is normal and the coralline will come back? The two fishes that were included are doing well. My nitrate is current at 0, nitrite at 0.1, nitrate 0, dKa alkalinity 2.4, phosphate 0. Sand is completely new, about 2" depth. I want to transition this to a simple reef tank as it is FOWLR right now. Just a couple of questions.

1. Currently house a blueface angel and a blue/green chromis. I want at least a tang and two clown and maybe a foxface. Is this okay?
2. Do I need a cuc and should I buy some now? Rocks does have some green hair algae. Basically I want to keep the sand clean and waste exported.
3. I'm using ro/di water. How long should I leave my lights on with this current setup?
4. What should I monitor for daily?
5. What is the recommended food for the fishes I currently have and planned on having? Barrier reef has some mini algae grazers that may work?
6. What type of corals should I start out with and the earliest timeframe that I can begin to add slowly?

Thanks

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-ffBa6q4SrQ0/T25DmAtN0_I/AAAAAAAAAuQ/RkgTYwkUbUQ/s800/DSC_0121.JPG

 

[Krish]

I'd let things settle a bit before adding any corals. The fact that you are reading nitrites means you are probably experiencing a mini cycle which could be due to either some die off or the fact that the other tank had a sandbed, but instead of using it, you went with a new sandbed losing some of the beneficial bacteria that was in it that the tank relied on. Was this the case with the sandbed (ie you didn't use the sandbed that was originally in the tank the transfer came from)? If so, give the tank time to stabilize and become re-populated with the beneficial bacteria it may have lost. The algae on the rocks is a sign of excess nutrients in the tank (nitrates, phosphates etc). The fact that the tests are coming back zero doesn't mean it is not present, but rather, the algae has it bound up using it for it's growth. This is what causes false readings sometimes.

With that said, I'd say give the tank some time to stabilize from the transfer. You could add in a cuc, but I'd wait until you aren't reading nitrites first.

Just a few thoughts for starters. Good luck!


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[godzen]

Thanks

1. Yes, I didn't use the old sandbed. I wanted to go with new sand. Also, I only bought 30lb of sand for this 65 gal tank, the online calculator calculate it out to be 0.5" However, because I put in the rock first and fill in later with sand, some area in the back probably have much less sand.

2. I will wait and monitor for the expected cycle. My plan is to continue to do weekly 10% WC but can increase if need be. If there is a spike in the test readings, I can do more WC. What will likely spike? Nitrite first and then nitrate? Anything else I should be looking out for?

3. At this point, the lights are not really important right? I can have them on for just viewing pleasure correct? Want to get rid of those remaining green hair alge.

4. I have 25lb of pukani being cured of phosphate right now. Plan on taking out everything, even up the sand, then lay down the pukani and other rocks securely. I really dread this thought as it will sound like I'm starting over again but when it comes time to do this, I will drain out all the tank water and place the rock in there immediately. Then, I can take my time to aquascape the pukani as base rocks. Anything thoughts or opinion on this plan?

 

[Krish]

Well to be honest, sand isn't needed at all. My last few tanks were bare bottom and full blown reefs. The reason you are having a "cycle" is because the tank you got everything from used sand and if it was a mature system all balanced out, then the system as a "whole" would be relying on the bacteria in the sand and the rock for biological filtration as one unit where a tank like mine, only relied on the rock. So say, just an example to make a point, 70% of the tank's bacteria was in the rock and the other 30% came from the sand, by subtracting the sand from the equation (which was in the old tank all full of bacteria) leaves you with an un-balanced system where there is no longer enough bacteria to biologically filter the tank and handle it's bioload as it was able to before. So now, with the new sand, it will now have to become populated with enough bacteria to make up for what was lost or...If say you didn't use sand, then your liverock would have to increase it's bacterial colonies. It's all about finding the balance where you have the right amount of bacteria to support the bioload so this is where you probably are at. Just monitor ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Once ammonia and nitrite all fall off to zero and remain there then you would have gotten over that little hump of a cycle.

As for the lights, I'd still run them otherwise some of the cool beneficial stuff in your rock may die off so seeing this isn't a newly setup tank, I'd give it some light each day.


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[godzen]

Well to be honest, sand isn't needed at all. My last few tanks were bare bottom and full blown reefs. The reason you are having a "cycle" is because the tank you got everything from used sand and if it was a mature system all balanced out, then the system as a "whole" would be relying on the bacteria in the sand and the rock for biological filtration as one unit where a tank like mine, only relied on the rock. So say, just an example to make a point, 70% of the tank's bacteria was in the rock and the other 30% came from the sand, by subtracting the sand from the equation (which was in the old tank all full of bacteria) leaves you with an un-balanced system where there is no longer enough bacteria to biologically filter the tank and handle it's bioload as it was able to before. So now, with the new sand, it will now have to become populated with enough bacteria to make up for what was lost or...If say you didn't use sand, then your liverock would have to increase it's bacterial colonies. It's all about finding the balance where you have the right amount of bacteria to support the bioload so this is where you probably are at. Just monitor ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Once ammonia and nitrite all fall off to zero and remain there then you would have gotten over that little hump of a cycle.

As for the lights, I'd still run them otherwise some of the cool beneficial stuff in your rock may die off so seeing this isn't a newly setup tank, I'd give it some light each day.


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nice
would six hours of lighting a day be sufficient for this current FOWLR setup?

 

[Krish]

Definitely. It will help keep things going as well as the coralline.


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[Red C Aquarium]

Good meeting you today.

Congrats on your first baby, I hope you can handle too beautifull babies in one house!

Good luck on this venture.

Red C

 

[godzen]

Nice meeting you too. Did not know about the place until I got into the hobby. I lived in the area for over 10 years until I moved down south a couple of years ago

Good meeting you today.

Congrats on your first baby, I hope you can handle too beautiful babies in one house!

Good luck on this venture.

Red C

 

[godzen]

I replaced all the old dirty rocks with 55 lbs of live cured rocks from indoor reef along with 20 lbs of pukani from BRS. Tank has been cycling the last two weeks with fishes. I know it's not ideal but I have no other place to put them. I'm taking readings everyday and is keeping a close eye on the numbers. nitrite is down to 0.1. Nitrate is at 5. Lights on for 8-10 hours/day. Rocks is starting to form green algae. Sand is turning brown but I understand this will come to pass? I also currently have two turbos and five astrea snails in there. They appear to be doing fine since the start of the tank. Just a couple of questions.

1. Should I continue to leave the lights on for that long? I have the rsm 250 and I'm following their calender from day 1 to day 30
2. I do about 2 WC/week, 15%. Should I continue with this? I just didn't want the nitrite and ammonia to get too high but at the same time, I read that this basically elongates the cycling process
3. Should I get some nassarius cuc now or wait until nitrite is at 0? also thinking of cerith

 

[jrgilles]

2.4 on the dKH seems extremely low. Makes me doubt the test kit