2nd time around with ?'s

CrewCab

CrewCab

AC Members
Oct 6, 2004
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Tampa, FL
Hi everyone, I am new to the forum. Looks like there is alot of good advise here.

I had a 55g SW fish only tank about 10yrs ago and I am getting back into this with another 55g tank.

My original tank consisted of a UGF with crushed coral as the substrate. I never had any problems back then starting out with the UGF method. I then moved up to a Magnum 350 canister and then to a wet/dry system. I never had anything other than fish and a few anemone in that tank.

Now I have a few questions to hopefully clear up any of my confusion and how things have changed since my last time around.

My new tank I have had setup and running now about a week and had planned on a FO tank but now I am looking into a FOWLR tank. I have a Emperor 400 bio filter on the tank and 40lbs of non live sand and 20 lbs of LS (bagged). I know I need to get the cycling process started but I am a little confused about the live rock.

I was thinking of getting a hemit crab(s) and the LR to cycle the tank.

Do I need cured LR or uncured?

How soon do I need to add the LR?

Do I need a skimmer before I add it or is the filter I have sufficient?

Whats a good percentage of base and LR to use?

I think thats all for now but any help would be greatly apprieciated.

Thanks,
 
If you want to cycle the tank, get uncured live rock (the stuff that will die will decay and start the nitrogen cycle)


If you get cured LR, there might be enough bacteria to handle the ammonia, but you wont know how much of a load it can take care of, which is why adding a VERY small amount of ammonia into the aquarium just so its bearly measurable, and then wait a day to see if its gone. Then you can add clean up crew.

A skimmer isnt needed during the cycle process. 10% or 20% LR will be good enough to seed any type of base rock you use.
 
It would really just take a few lbs but, the more you add the quicker it will go. IMO adding a few lbs of uncured l.r. base rock and sand ," the bagged stuff really doesn't do anything IME." Put a cocktail shrimp or a little sea food in tank and wait until your readings reach 0. The add cured l.r. so that the critters on it don't get nuked in your cycle.
If you don't like that you could also add your base rock, sand etc. and get mostly uncured l.r. and add a little premium cured rock after the cycle. By premium I mean rock with lots of the little critters you'd like to see in your tank most of them will colonize nicely.
Or you can use mostly base rock and a little l.r. cured or uncured and cycle. That one takes the longest but saves the most $ . There are really lots of different ways to do this just depends on time, money and patience.
Hope I haven't confused you more just trying to let you know there are lots of ways with s.w.
HTH
Chris
 
Thanks again for the help. :D

I think I am going to just put in some base rock and some cocktail shrimp and do the cycle before adding any LR.

What type of rocks can be used for the base rock? I would like to keep costs down for this so I can buy more of the LR when its time. Are there different types of rock that will work better as base rock for the organisms to migrate to than others. What options do I have for this.

Sorry for the newb questions but using LR is new to me with SW. :o
 
Tufa (calcium based off white rock thats porous), Lace Rock (similar to Tufa, but smoother), or the so called "lava" rock for aquariums.
 
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