The salinity is a little high at just over 1.026 i was thinking about doing a 10% water change then slowly add salt untill its at about 1.022. I got a Fluval Underwater Filter (265gph) last night and now i have that on the left side pointing on a diagonal toward the front of the tank and the two powerheads on the right side set up so the water crosses (<). I plan got purchasing about 60lbs of live rock tomorrow. Its slowly coming along.
The salinity is a little high at just over 1.026 i was thinking about doing a 10% water change then slowly add salt untill its at about 1.022. I got a Fluval Underwater Filter (265gph) last night and now i have that on the left side pointing on a diagonal toward the front of the tank and the two powerheads on the right side set up so the water crosses (<). I plan got purchasing about 60lbs of live rock tomorrow. Its slowly coming along.
if you do a 10% water change with freshwater, your salt levels will probably even out somewhere between 1.021 to 1.025. You might not need more premixed saltwater.
you are def coming along. good job.
just a reminder to make sure the temp, salinity, and pH are at acceptable levels for your live rock. you don't want to kill off any critters in the rock or bacteria deep in the rock.
Thanks man. I should of been more specific and said water change without premixing then add salt if needed. You guys are helping me out a lot and i appreciate it. Ill keep you guys updated.
So last night I went out and bought 56lbs of Fiji live rock for $5.56 a pound (the lady said it was pretty close to being cured and it didnt smell to bad). I Put everything in place then i washed out the sand and put about 30lbs around the rock. I tryed not to get any sand on the rock but some did and when i waved my hand over to get it off, some went in the crevices but most went off and this morning, it pretty much all cleared up. It clouded up a little bit when i put my hand in the tank this morning to wave some grains of sand off. But anyways, should I have the lights on a timer? I heard somewhere that when algea grows it means the rocks cured or something like that???
So last night I went out and bought 56lbs of Fiji live rock for $5.56 a pound (the lady said it was pretty close to being cured and it didnt smell to bad). I Put everything in place then i washed out the sand and put about 30lbs around the rock. I tryed not to get any sand on the rock but some did and when i waved my hand over to get it off, some went in the crevices but most went off and this morning, it pretty much all cleared up. It clouded up a little bit when i put my hand in the tank this morning to wave some grains of sand off. But anyways, should I have the lights on a timer? I heard somewhere that when algea grows it means the rocks cured or something like that???
awesome. putting together a new tank is alot of fun.
yeah, eventually you'll want the lights on a timer. For right now, as the tank cycles you don't need a light. Best to just wait until the cycle is complete.
Here's a tip I learned to help speed up the cycle. Get a single cocktail shrimp. Put the raw shrimp into a pair of cheap panty hose. put the shrimp into the tank. The shrimp will decompose and add ammonia to the tank. the pantyhose will prevent the shrimp from breaking apart all over your tank. this will kickstart the good bacteria in your live rock. check your ammonia, nitrite readings every day or so. after about 5-7 days you should be able to remove the decomposed disgusting shrimp (and it will be!). If your rock is not cured fully, it could take a little longer. once your ammonia levels rise, you should see your nitrite levels rise as well. the ammonia levels will start to drop off after a few days and you should start testing for NitrATE. when both ammonia and nitrite drop off to zero and you should only have Nitrate readings... it is almost done cycling. The best thing to do at this point is attempt a 50% water change. (i didn't have enough buckets for a 50% change so I changed 15% daily for 3 days... best I could do!!!) This will get rid of alot of those nitrates. Then you're cycled! You want to get those nitrate under 10 ppm.
warning: the shrimp will stink. it sucks I know. mine smells so freakin bad. but on the bright side. my tank cycled in 6 days!
I heard u say that in another post and was going to ask you about that but you pretty much cover it right there! Would it be ok if i did that shrimp method thing in about 4 days?? Im out of town for a few nights and wont be able to check on the tank so when i return ill be able to check the levels and all that everyday.
