New 125 Gal tank being set-up

[USCavalry19d]

Just thought i would throw up some pics of the beginning stages of me setting up the new 125 gal tank. Currently it is still sitting in my Garage, will be showing some pics as time goes by with it (I.E. from the start to when i get everything moved from the 55 gal into the new 125 gal tank to being stocked and basically completed. INCLUDING THE STEPS OF THE DEAD ROCK IN THE PICS BEING SEEDED INTO LIVE ROCK INCLUDING DATES AND TIME FRAME.)

Last night i finally got around to painting the back of the tank. The light is the Coralife Aqualight Pro HQI/Compact Fluorescent/Lunar Light Fixture 72" strip with 1134 watts. The thing basically had to be rebuilt when i got it in the mail. All the glass was broken and most of the wires were ripped from the connections. I re-wired it replaced the glass and it works fine now so im happy. The rock shown in the pics is Carib-seas Reef rock. You can get the stuff from www.petsolutions.com or if lucky can find it on ebay for about 5-10 bucks less. Im also using Fiji pink sand again from Carib-sea. The dead sand you see in the pics will be mixed with the live sand i have in my 55 gal tank. I have a 1/4 HP Arctica Chiller on its way in the mail as well to help keep the tank cool from the light. Think thats about all i have for now like i said i will be adding to this as time goes by to show the process.

 

[skateroffallen]

love the lights!

 

[Rbishop]

Great start.

 

[jojo22]

Looks sweet!!!

What do you consider the end result of base rock being seeded, caraline, pods, (neiter of which are the deciding factor) bacteria, micro fauna that you can't see?? You do realise that without a way to measure the nitrifying and denitrifying properties of the rock as well as the amount of micro fauna it will be almost impossible to tell when it is truly LIVE.

But as I said looks sweet!!!

 

[H3D]

Looks great! :thm:

 

[USCavalry19d]

Looks sweet!!!

What do you consider the end result of base rock being seeded, caraline, pods, (neiter of which are the deciding factor) bacteria, micro fauna that you can't see?? You do realise that without a way to measure the nitrifying and denitrifying properties of the rock as well as the amount of micro fauna it will be almost impossible to tell when it is truly LIVE.

But as I said looks sweet!!!

Well JoJo if you look at the pics of my 55 gal tank all the rock that's in there was once dead, but like 3-4 larger pieces, now it is all live. Individuals (micro organisms, algae’s, etc. etc.) spread from one rock to another, establishing new colonies or populations. This is known as "seeding". I am simply taking all the rock and sand out of the 55 gal tank and adding it to the 125 gal tank. In other words all the coralline algae’s and other micro organisms on my "live rock" from the 55 gal tank will spread to the dead reef rock in my 125 gal tank. Reef rock is much more desirable because it cycles more quickly and stabilizes a tank much faster. I understand this is a lengthy process; I am simply trying to show Alternatives to buying hundreds of pounds of “live rock.”

 

[jojo22]

Cool, wasn't trying to be mean, just didn't want any new guys to think this was a quick thing if your pics show coraline and what not very quickly, a good rule of thumb is at a 50/50 mixture of base to live rock it will take about 12 months for the base to be as live as the LR, thus it is then LR.

 

[USCavalry19d]

correct, however I feel that time frame is somewhat not accurate. I took about 50-60 lbs of dead rock and 20-30 lbs of live rock and within 6 maybe 7 months it all looked the same. We will see how this new project will do since I'm mixing 130 lbs of dead reef rock with around 90 lbs of live rock.

 

[mee-mee]

the rocks look great under the lights:dance2:

 

[jojo22]

correct, however I feel that time frame is somewhat not accurate. I took about 50-60 lbs of dead rock and 20-30 lbs of live rock and within 6 maybe 7 months it all looked the same. We will see how this new project will do since I'm mixing 130 lbs of dead reef rock with around 90 lbs of live rock.

Looking the same and being the same are totally different, I could stuff a corvet body over a chevett frame and make them look the same, but there will be a BIG difference in performance, Same as my previous statement, LR is not live because of how it looks, it takes months to work out the oxygen in the deeper pores of the base rock just so anaerobic areas can form let alone start to grow the proper bacteria for denitrification. Plus there is no way for the home aquarist to guage the micro fauna and bacteria colony coverage or a number of other things happening deep inside the rock which is an important part of making it live. Just because rock looks live does not mean that it is Live Rock, if you get what I am saying.