Plans for my new setup

war = debate = learning, so dont be sorry

im in joliet where in chicago are you?

 

Your an hour away from me, I live on the west side of chicago near loop.

 

sHi everyone,

I am updating everyone as to where I am currently with my new setup. I've had my live rock for a week already, so in another week I should have cured all of the 60 lbs of live Rock that I ordered,.. which is a mix of different types i.e. Vanuatu, kailini, Va'vau, Eva. Hoping to get alot of diverse forms of life as my tank matures. Anyway I am going to start the cycling process by filling up my tank with Saltwater at 1.026 salinity, and kicking it off by adding some fish food. I am going wait for the cycle to complete then,...after the cycling is done I will remove 50% of water, and add my live rock and refill with new water at same salt level. Then I will turn on my T5's for 8 hour periods(daily) for the next few months.

I would like to ask one question, and the reason I ask is because a friend of mines and I differ on one thing regarding my steps. The difference of opinion is regarding the cycling portion.

1. Once the rock is cured can I put it in the tank with freshly salted water? if so, will my tank go through a cycle?

2. If not, does that mean I have to kick off the cycling process by putting in something that creates ammonia i.e fish food, shrimp?

3. Does that defeat the purpose of curing the rock seperatly?

4. Will that also kill off anything I attempted to save during the curing of the live rock?

 

more update:

I have filled up my tank with Freshly salted Ro\DI water with a salinity of 1.026. I added some fish food to start the cycling. My rock is still curing, ammonia is at 0, now my nitrites are off the charts, hopefully in a week or so my nitrites will be 0, then I can begin on some aquascaping ideas for the tank. Everything is running smoothly. No replies from my last post, so I will continue with my plans and see what issues arise, so far none have, thanks again for everyones advise and input regarging my 90 gal tank setup. Opinions are always appreciated, thanks.

 

Be patient.
Once the NITRITE (that's with an "i") level drops, then the NITRATE (with an "a") level will rise.
Once the nitrate level drops below 20ppm (and many on 3Reef will say even lower) then you can start adding creatures. If you're just aquascaping -- adding rocks and such -- you can do that at any time.

 

Thanks Saw,

At this point I have added my Live rocks and my tank is cycled at least at this point. I am going to leave it alone of another month. Mean while I have done some water tests and have gotten these results.

Ammonia - 0
nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
PH - 8.2
Phosphate - 0
Mag - 1200
Calc - 380
Alk/dkh - 8.4
Salinity - 1.026
Temp - 74

I am trying to bring up my calcium to 420 to even out with my alk. I have used turbo calcium for the last 2 days and brought it up from 360 to 380. It should be at least 400 by now. I mistakenly added way too much RO\DI water for evaporation in my sump this morning before I went to work. When I got back I did a calc test and it was at 380 still. My 2 questions are.

1. Can some tell me why my calcium, based on the fact that I added turbo calcium, a full TSP a day,.. for the last 2 days has not gotten passed 400ppm? and can you give me some advise on getting it passed 400?

2. By me adding extra RO\DI water by accident and increasing my tank volume of water will that delude my calcium and other elements in my tank?

Any info and advise is appreciated, thanks again.

 

cant say why it wont go above 400 but adding more water will dilute your elements...

 

Thnxs Godbert,

Can anyone else give me some opinions? and thoughts?

 

Hello all,

Another update, my tank is 3 weeks old and all parameters are stable but some are fluxtuating. My Calcium and Ph keeps on going up and down every 4 days or so. My temp is also going up and down a bit. Calcium rises up to 480 then down to 420 to go back up again 4 days later to 480. I stopped adding any supplements 2 weeks ago. My ph also goes up from 8.2 to 8.4 at the same time as my calc rises. finally my temp fluxes from 74 to 78 along with the 2 other parameters that I just mentioned. Outside of that my diatom phase has kicked in along with some hair algae, I added 6 turbos, 10 blue leg hermits and 6 scarlet crabs and they cleaned everything up very quickly. I am going to wait another month before I add anything to the tank.

Can someone share with me as to why my calc and ph goes up then back down? has anyone ever seen something like this happen? is it part of getting my tank to a mature stage?

Here are some pics of my tank let me know what you think, thanks guys and happy reefing to all.

 

I like you aquascaping, looks nice and open