55 gallon new setup

I started the cycling process on my 55g tank last week, I just figured I would start a thread to track the process of it, so far it is just a basic set up with a hob filter.
No sand yet, no live rock yet, that should be coming soon, i wanted to give the tank some time to cycle before adding anything live... then give it more time after I add the rock to continue to cycle.

I used Instant Ocean salt mix, and I have one powerhead in the tank that puts out 270 gph. The ultimate goal is to move the clown fish into the 55g, i have three clowns, a blenny, two cleaner shrimp and starfish in a thirty gallon currently.

Time for me to start looking into a skimmer for the 55g as it used to be a freshwater tank.
I'll update the tank readings after the tank cycles another week, I know the first few weeks are wacky as far as levels go so

 

Some good quality LR will jumpstart the cycle. I honestly didn't even see the cycle (AM/NI spike) when I started up my tank. I had about 40lbs of Fiji LR and 20lbs of base rock. 6 months later and all is still well with all params.

best of luck!

 

Your tank will benefit much more if you have your LR and sand in the cycle. That way they can be populated with beneficial bacteria as well. Either way, it seems like you're patient enough to see it through all the way.

Have you made sure the tank had no copper in it?

Congrats on getting wet!

 

Congrats, love your plan

 

Sounds like you got a good setup goin! Post pics of your progress when you can. Happy reefing!

 

Maybe Ill pick up some live sand then today, the live rock i was waiting to purchase until i started the cycling process in my 90 gallon. That way i can do one bulk order of live rock. I found one place that does live rock i can get 75 lbs for 122 dollars, and then the higher up i go the less it is, and the shipping is free.....
Sounds like a good deal to me, so i figure by the time I quarantine the live rock.... ill have my live sand in the tanks and the cycling process will be about halfway over.
now i have seen that with the live sand I used in my 30g you still have to wash it otherwise the tank is super cloudy... anyone else run across that?

 

quick question. You said the tank use to be fresh water? did you ever use any kind of medicines to treat your fish in there? for example ich? if so it may have contained copper which could really harm your corals in the future.

 

Never treated the tank with anything medication wise, just the normal water conditioners. I cleaned it out really good, and then again, and another time to be sure.

I just used two 20 lbs bags of live sand, the only kind they had in stock was the black argonite reef sand, and so the tank is extremely cloudy, i had to turn off the filter because i didnt want to chance it burning up my motor.
I am going to let it settle for the next few days and if its not still cloudy ill turn the filter back on.

 

Took some readings to see where we were with the new tank cycling, Got two bags of live sand in there so far, but i dont like that its brown on the top and its black sand so i gotta figure out how to get that out of there.... even though im about to put another two bags of sand in the tank tomorrow...

Readings are
nitrate 20
nitrite 0
hardness 300
chlorine 0
alkalinity 300
pH 8.8

 

Are you using test strips? If so, you will want to get different test kits for salt water... the strips don't work great. Make sure you are testing for ammonia too.