a few questions...

A

arpy

AC Members
Jun 2, 2007
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Chesterton, IN
Hello... I have a 2 day old 75g tank (yes, VERY new to this!). A friend suggested crushed coral base with living sand over it and allowing about a month and a half to cycle (testing the water of course). So on to the questions...

I had not read about the crushed coral being a potential problem until I read the sticky threads here.
1) Is the cc really going to be that big of a problem?
2) If so, is there an suggested method for removing two bags of cc from under four bags of living sand?

I have read quite a bit about cycling and got myself a bit confused. After a little over a day, my water had cleared up from the sand/cc so I did my first water test.
pH: 8.4
Ammonia: 0.5
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
1) Since I used living sand, is it safe to add a critter or two to the tank or should I still give it time to cycle?
My confusion comes from the bacteria...
2) Will the bacteria die off if there are no life forms in the tank to feed it or do I let it work off the ammonia in the tank before adding anything?

Thanks for any info!
 
In my opinion, you best bet is to replace it all with reef grade aragonite sand and get rid of the cc now while you can. As there is not thing in the tank, you could buy yourself a fine meshed plastic cooking sieve and sieve the cc out and you will be left with all the finer sand which would be fine. and then maybe top it up with more sand if needed...CC causes lots of problem as detrius and food particles will get trapped in it which usually lead to elevated nitrates and phosphates which then causes water parameter issues and could lead on to nuccence algae growth...

Your cycle is obviously just starting as your experiencing a rise in ammonia. You dont want to be putting any living thing into the tank unitll the cycle has completed.

Bacteria normally gets produced in a couple of ways...either from the die-off from the live rock, or by adding a raw shrimp or prawn wrapped up in pantyhoes...What your trying to achieve is to generate an ammonia source which will kick start the cycle and get bacteria producing and growing
My advice to you would be to recitfy the CC issue first, then get a medium sized raw shrimp/prawn in the tank and then get the cycle started off..

on your last question....No, the bacteria will not die off, it will be fine...Some people leave their tanks months and months after the cycle has completed before adding stock..

Hope this helps a little

Niko
 
thanks

Thanks for clearing all of that up. The CC is on the way out...

I will be left with only live sand. Should I also get some live rock now or wait for cycle to complete so any "good" hitchhikers will have a better chance of surviving?
 
i read somewhere (i think it was on reef central or something, maybe it was here i have no idea.....) that someone found a rusty aluminum can in their bag of live sand. So they probably harvest there sand in a place close to shore, so who knows what pollutants are in that sand...
 
musho3210 said:
i read somewhere (i think it was on reef central or something, maybe it was here i have no idea.....) that someone found a rusty aluminum can in their bag of live sand. So they probably harvest there sand in a place close to shore, so who knows what pollutants are in that sand...
Click to expand...

I would seriously like to see what thread your refering to there as i dont believe that companies such as Caribsea will harvest thier live sand in places that empty cans can get into it and pollutants. If there was a risk of a pollutant getting into a product, they would be shut down.
 
well...

I got most of the crushed coral out... I will say, the sand does look like reef sand (in my uneducated opinion). I'll have to check the garbage before it's taken away to be sure! :) I will be sure to get that to replace the cc... I'll have to trust the sand I already have too I suppose. Thanks for the tips.
 
atnixon said:
I would seriously like to see what thread your refering to there as i dont believe that companies such as Caribsea will harvest thier live sand in places that empty cans can get into it and pollutants. If there was a risk of a pollutant getting into a product, they would be shut down.
Click to expand...

looking for it right now, it was either on nano reef forums or reef central. Hopefully nano reef forum, easier to find....
 
musho3210 said:
i read somewhere (i think it was on reef central or something, maybe it was here i have no idea.....) that someone found a rusty aluminum can in their bag of live sand. So they probably harvest there sand in a place close to shore, so who knows what pollutants are in that sand...
Click to expand...

atnixon said:
I would seriously like to see what thread your refering to there as i dont believe that companies such as Caribsea will harvest thier live sand in places that empty cans can get into it and pollutants. If there was a risk of a pollutant getting into a product, they would be shut down.
Click to expand...

Well... if you read these articles http://www.latimes.com/news/local/oceans/la-oceans-series,0,7842752.special

Specifically part four, you will find that there is a rotating mass of plastic the size of texas of the coast of hawai... So, do you think it would be so impossible for a can or something to get into the sand, even in an area thought to be clean?
 
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