It's a start

[overflow]

After almost a year of planning and research, i actually have something in my aquarium. I am currently at day 5 of my initial cycle. I bought 44lbs of live rock from premium aquatics, and also 10lbs of the substrate from their rock vats. There have been signs of life in the display and in the fuge.

The tank is a 40g breeder, 36x18x18. I think its a pretty cool size and shape. The water exits the display via a CPR overflow down into a converted 29g tank that is now my sump/fuge. in the first section of the sump is my oceanic systems skimmer. it has definately been earning its keep so far. then its to the fuge, nothing much right now but soon i will seed macro algae here. the water gets pushed back into the tank thru a dolphin dp560. Circulation inside the tank is maintained with a couple maxi jets and a zoo med power sweep. The power sweep is a cute idea, but its already jamming in the salt water. every thing is lit up by a coralife 36" 2x96w PC with 10k and actinic bulbs. i also fit my own custom LED moonlight into this housing.

I plan on getting more rock soon, get it all cycled before i get any other livestock, except maybe a crew.

opinions, comments and criticism welcome.

Day 5

 

[JWallace]

Looks great, how much more rock are you going to get?

 

[overflow]

not sure yet...thinking another 15 lbs oughta do it...even it out a little. I am also considering going heavy on the rock, like another 25lbs, but i haven't decided yet. I want to keep a lot of room for expansion.

i added another 40 lbs of sand today. makes a total of 60lbs of arag-alive. How long before adding a cleaner crew and other detrivores? should i wait for the cycle to be done or would less time suffice?

 

[Scooterman]

I keep forgetting How clean tanks are when they are new. Nice looking thank there, glad you took the dive and decided to reef, even more so proud that you've spent time to learn before jumping in wide open. A big Congrats!

15lbs to 34lbs would be about the right amount of LR, depending on the rock itself. The sooner you get what you plan on having for LR, the sooner you get life into it but take your time.

 

[NaH2O]

Hey Donnie! Looks good - I love the LR piece on the far right. I'm a live rock kind of girl, so I'd definately add some more (although I realize that sometimes budget constraints limit an all at once purchase ).

As far as adding a clean-up crew - I'd wait until your cycle is over....less chance of death due to ammonia, etc.

How long is your current photoperiod? (if you have your lights on at all during cycling)

 

[overflow]

I'm running the actinics from 1 to 6 and the 10k from 2 till 5. then the moonlights after dark till around 10. i was going to leave them off all together, but the grape caulerpa that came on my live rock started turning grey. since running the lights for a few hours a day the last 3 days i have seen improvement in it. its green again and seems bigger than ever, probably just not "wilted" anymore. i have also noticed the color in the rock seems a little more defined since running the lights. thats why i want to get the cleaners in asap, algae is immenent with the lights from what i'm told. i'll take the trade if the caulerpa and the corals on the rock survive.

 

[mojoreef]

Hey Donnie the tank looks great congrates. I wouldnt worry about cleaners until the cycle goes all the way through, they will most likely just die if you put them in to soon. I would also just let that calurpa die now, it can be a big nuisence problem in the main tank as time goes by (it will over run the tank).
The cycle you are going to go through is basically just the buildin up of the various bacterias you need to process waste and so on ( I have never known why they call it a cycle). The first bacteria to popluate is the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrite, so when you see the ammonia go down and nitrite go up, you know you have reached a population of that ammonia reducing bacteria that will handle your load, thier byproduct is Nitrities, BUT thier is another bacteria that loves that stuff, so as your nitrite level reduces you know that bacterias popluation is increasing. Anyway you will go through this until you have no more ammonia/nitrite/nitrate, at this point you bacteria popluations are good enough to handle bioload.......but, lol..thier is always a bacterial dieoff that follows the this population rise, basically the bacteria arent recieving the food they did when the tank first started..they respond by dieing off to a level that the tank can feed consistantly. the result is that the nutrients that the bacteria bound up inside them is released as they die...usuallly algae is johnny on the spot..so the tank goes through a bit of an alge bloom.

So long story short wait for the cycle to go all the way through and then add some cleaners to help with the bloom.


good luck


Mike

 

[overflow]

If i pluck that caulerpa from the rock and put it in the fuge, is there any chance it would survive?

 

[Ray Pollett]

If i pluck that caulerpa from the rock and put it in the fuge, is there any chance it would survive?

Yes agood chance if you have light on the fuge.

Ray

 

[Montanarocknreefer]

Mojoreef writes: usuallly algae is johnny on the spot..

Yeah Mike I have a tendency to grow on people but not algae unless your refering to-------------Well will leave that alone!

Send out that form I gave ya yet Mike?

Very nice looking reef system you got going there Donnie! It's going to be sweet when your well established!

 

[jks1]

nice going johnny, you will have a tough time killin off that calerpa- in the fuge is fine and it should transit well assuming you have light.

That grape calerpa is a particularly fast grower so be prepared to harvest often....