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wantvws

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Jul 15, 2007
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Waynesboro, VA
Robbie, it looks amazing! I see some tunnels for the fish, and some great platforms for corals. Beautiful.

As for the live sand, I think what you have planned would be fine. I would suggest taking out your decorative shells and stuff in the front that you don't want covered in sand first, and then you can put them back in front. The large shells are great! You have some amazing coral skeletons that you can really showcase.

Great job!

Are you planning on purchasing any live rock to put in the tank?
thanks! I've seen your pics too...they're very impressive! I will probably add some live rock in the near future, but not initially. I know it's much easier to cure the stuff when nothing is in the tank, but my LFS is like $8/lb. I've put a lot of money into this tank so far, and I need to hold back for a little while. I do hope I have a good start, though...I will stock this thing VERY slowly, so there is plenty of time.
My seven year old was helping me set the rocks and shells, and he was busting to put some of the shells we collected at the Outer Banks this year in the tank, so we did. I will scoop all the little stuff up when I fill it and reset it. But, we were just having too much fun and couldn't stop throwing stuff in:).
thanks for the comments!
Robbie
 

SHK_ATK

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Nov 4, 2006
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lookin good what kind of lighting are you using? Aquascaping looks good, although it is going to prob take a while to make everything "Live" w/out having a higher LR to Rock ratio. BUT this is still a pretty sweet set up
 

wantvws

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Jul 15, 2007
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lookin good what kind of lighting are you using? Aquascaping looks good, although it is going to prob take a while to make everything "Live" w/out having a higher LR to Rock ratio. BUT this is still a pretty sweet set up
Thanks....I have an 72" Orbit compact fluorescent 4x96 fixture w/six lunar lights (I think I may have listed the wrong fixture in an earlier post). No MH for now.
I will probably add some LR at some point in the near future....I hope the live sand and the wet/dry filter will take care of the bio load.
Thanks for the comments!
BTW, everyone should prepare for an onslaught of questions from me when I am cycling this monster:help:
Robbie
 

Almondsaz

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May 26, 2007
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I hope
If I add 20-40lbs of live sand, will that be enough to seed the rest?
Thanks for looking!
Robbie
It should, my only concern would be that none of the rock is living so you are counting on the sand to really initiate the cycle. Have you decided to put the raw shrimp in to initiate the cycle then, or what are your plans?
 

wantvws

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Jul 15, 2007
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Waynesboro, VA
It should, my only concern would be that none of the rock is living so you are counting on the sand to really initiate the cycle. Have you decided to put the raw shrimp in to initiate the cycle then, or what are your plans?
hmmm....well......I don't know. Is it possible to initiate the cycle with 40lbs of live sand? I have read about using ammonia drops to jump start it...I kinda like that method as opposed to the raw shrimp method (purely on a stink to stink comparison-the room with the tank has a living room on one side and the kitchen on the other). I have read some threads on cycling, and for some reason I haven't though too much on it.
Any suggestions?
I'm not opposed to scraping out some of the dead sand and using more live sand instead...
Robbie
 

SHK_ATK

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I would use pure ammonia, works great plus you can mesure it to get exaclty what the pike you need.
 

wantvws

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Jul 15, 2007
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Waynesboro, VA
I would use pure ammonia, works great plus you can mesure it to get exaclty what the pike you need.
Thanks....I think I'll do that. I'll do a search and find out how.
Any idea on how much live sand I should buy?
Thanks!
Robbie
 

Rbishop

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Very nice.
 

clown-lover

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Looking Excellent... Loving the tank..

As far as the Live Sand goes get what you can afford.. Where I am from its like $3.00 a lb for Aragonite Sand.. I splurged and did like 80 lbs of the stuff for my 70 gal and then the rest is just regular aragonite. My cycle even with LR took almost 3 1/2 weeks, but then I had to re-cure the LR first to kill off all of the hair algae that was on it..

Then after my cycle had ended I did a large water change.. Added some chopped up shrimp just to see what would happen (to make sure I didn't get a mini cycle) and then went with cleaners..

Again Looking Great so Far.. Good Luck with the Cycle.
 
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