Finally Got Started

[shiks]

Hey Guys ....I know it aint much but finally have my tank started...waiting for balance of LR to arrive, but have been up and running for abt 1 week now..... I got tired of staring at water so I took a chance and decieded to get 2 soft corals and man...what a difference...is so exciting

 

[shiks]

Side view pic...hope this works

 

[Mekaeel]

nice man.what are your water parameters?bit early to stock a tank.are you perhaps using anything other than LR to boost the cycle?

 

[shiks]

Have been seeing some wired this come out of this rock.....little worm lice thingies and a centipede type thingy....will give the correct names once i Masapedia it .....

 

[shiks]

Not yet...been running plain LR for abt 3 days then got too excited and bought the corals...this one is awesome when the little critters come out....BTW i read up abt ur sytem Meka and u like an inspiration

 

[Mekaeel]

Thanks Shiks
by the way,i wouldnt advise you to put anything else into the system until the cycle is over

 

[Tobes]

Welcome to Masa, nice little setup, but way too early to introduce live stock. Your tank should at least cycle for a month - those corals will probably die...

 

[shiks]

oohhhh forgot also put in this organic aqua thing .LFS recommeded it.....I know its early to stock but coral have taken well to water and look happy when i switch the light on.....was told a hermit crab and some snails might speed up cycle?????

Am not too concerned abt fish yet .....mostly want to concentrate on getting corals to survive for a while first ....I have been told i might be going abt it backwards but am still learning

 

[Mekaeel]

i found the Organic Aqua stuff to work,i stocked my tank in 1.5 weeks using it

 

[shiks]

opps well theres money down the toilet....am hoping it wont ....but hey live and learn
lol so will is a fish or two be the only way to speed up the cycle ...LFS said they would check water on tues for me and were confident i could stock fish abt week after balance of LR arrived and was placed in tank???

also was wondering if anyone could answer this one ....i am getting LR from LFS assuming its not cured ...dosnt it have to cure for a period before i stock anything else in it ????

 

[jacquesb]

Congrats Shiks! At last man! Awesome start! How about some pics of your tank's sump, etc?

 

[shiks]

is A Juwel system...so no sump.....only the in box filter with carbon sponge and nitrate removal sponge....been questioning the filteration method myself and have put in a second powerhead but gonna try it the LFS s way for a while and see how that pans out ...thanks Jacquesb

 

[Matt]

Bud if you go and put a whole bunch of uncured liverock in your tank, you will get a HUGE ammonia spike from the die off and definitely kill those corals.

Hermits and snails are NO way to cycle a tank either.

What are you in such a rush abou? Half the fun is the anticipation!

 

[shiks]

any thoughts of leaving the LR in the LFS for a week or two??

 

[gaboon]

LR takes alot longer than a week or 2 to cure. Sit back and have a coke and a smile. Rome wasn't built in a day

 

[jacquesb]

Shiks - I too have a Jewel Rio 300 (I think that I have the exact same tank as you - my 2nd tank). I placed a WeiPro SA-2013 skimmer INSIDE the tank (at the in-tank filter), and removed ALL the filtration material.

You are guaranteed to end up with VERY high nitrates with the sponges in the tank filtration box....

BTW: That Organic Aqua stuff does indeed seem to work. Ask DarrenCon - he ONLY runs his tank on this stuff... I don't even think that he has a skimmer...

 

[shiks]

I saw the weipro online and they arnt expensive....I assumed it was cos it was inferior, defective or prone to trouble....was saving for an expensive skimmer but not sure what difference its gonna make if they both last for abt 2 years???? Is the Weipro worth investing a couple of hunderd in for the mileage it get u .....I was hoping to just run it in addtion to in box filter ...just to help cleaning up a bit ...have also read this organic aqua stuff is good....want to carry on with it as well.....fairly inexpensive water maintanance

 

[jacquesb]

Shiks - depending what you want to do. I have 2 x ReefTek TS2 skimmers in my 2 metre tank. In my 1.2 metre Jewel tank, I would not be able to fit anything else.

The WeiPro skimmer is not bad, and in my case it is pulling out some decent crap. BUT, it is clearly not as good as the ReefTek range (mostly due to the pump - the ReefTek's have needle wheel pumps, where-as the WeiPro usually uses a "standard" LifeTech pump.... If you can fit a needle wheel pump to the WeiPro, you will have a decent skimmer as well....