Cycling a new 80G rimless tank - with Live rock and Sand

[Borntovin]

I acquired a rimless 80G tank.Dimensions are 40" X 24 X 18. Currently I filled it up with almost 2 full 5G buckets of live sand from old tank, 100 lb of live rock from the old tank. I have 3 wave makers in the tank and two filters without carbon filters to move the water. It has been running for a week. Temperature is steady at 78. There is no live stock in it. I have small skimmer, did not get to set it up yet.

Made saltwater with my BRS Plus 5-stage RO/DI and used the instaocean salt. Salinity is around 1.025/26. I have light fixture with two T5 light, one blue and one 10K light. Also I have one 14K Skkye 18X1 Watt LED light on top of the tank.

I see some green algae growing on one of the rocks, so how long do you guys think it will take to cycle? I was hoping the live rock and sand would help cycle the tank within a week or two. Ideally I am hoping to start by end of this month, that would be 3 weeks.

Should I add any fish to help cycle? I want to make this tank fish only with aggressive fish. I have a volitan lion fish, can I put him in there?

I will keep posting with new pics and updates for the next few weeks.

 

[thegrun]

I suspect you will not have a cycle at all unless your live sand had a lot of detritus in it. I would give it one more week and if you don't see any ammonia you are good to go m(slowly).

 

[Borntovin]

Thank, I will test for parameters and get back to the group.

 

[Its.Evannn]

I must admit, a tank that size is kind of a dream of mine. Big enough for some bigger fish(angels and POSSIBLY tang) but not so big that's it's out of control. Good luck with build!

 

[SwampyBill]

Do NOT add fish to help cycle the tank...You need to be testing water daily. Since the live rock & sand came from an existing tank, you may not have much of a cycle. Drop a raw peeled shrimp in the tank & monitor ammonia levels. If ammonia spikes & disappears within 24 hrs, your tank has probly cycled. When ammonia & nitrites have spiked then dropped to 0, nitrates will spike...Then do about a 25% water change to lower nitrates & you're good to add part of the CUC. Wait about a week & do another water change, then you're good to add a fish & more CUC. btw, you should've be running lights during cycle. That will only cause more algae.

 

[Borntovin]

Here are the pics of the small green algae on top of some of the rocks. I am going to switch off the lights. One of the rocks had some yellow sponges and I am not sure of they are good or bad

Here are my params as of now

Calcium > 540
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
Ph 7.8 to7.4. So added some PH Buffer Up. Will test it tomorrow.
Kh between 9 and 10

 

[Borntovin]

Here are the pics of the small green algae on top of some of the rocks. I am going to switch off the lights. One of the rocks had some yellow sponges and I am not sure of they are good or bad

Here are my params as of now

Calcium > 540
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
Ph 7.8 to7.4. So added some PH Buffer Up. Will test it tomorrow.
Kh between 9 and 10

After adding some PH buffer, my Ph is between 8.2 and 8.4. KH is around 12. I added some freshwater as well to decrease the salinity to 1.025, so my Calcium is down to 480.

 

[Borntovin]

I have the Innovative marine Skkye light Actinic - 456nm and 18 x 1Watt Daylight - 14K models 6415 and 6411 available. I also got 2 tube T5 fixture with one blue and now white light. Are these sufficient to run a 80g rimless tank with soft corals like Xenia, palys, hammer head frog spawn, mushrooms, leathers, devils hand?

What is the main purpose of actinic - 456nm light? I left it on for few hours last night and I think it burned my small frag of pulsating Xenia. Is it possible?

What's is the best way to use these lights? Should I need to invest in more lighs?

http://innovative-marine.com/skkye-light/single-strip.html

 

[Mcgeezer]

Soft corals are not demanding at all. Your light is likely sufficient. Xenia grows like a weed and in the future you'll probably be glad if some of them get light bleached, eaten, etc LOL

 

[Borntovin]

You right about Xenia, one large Xenia split itself and is one 4 different rocks now. My question though, will 456 nam 46" led light too strong for me yo use for soft corals?

 

[Borntovin]

My tank is ready and all the params have checked out. I put a lionfish in it, that I had QT for 10 days. Here is the happy big guy in the new tank, he is the only one in there. I will take my own time before I add a second fish. More pics to follow.

 

[Borntovin]

I just tried a new set of LED lights, I believe they are Reefbrite 50/50. First two pics are old setup qith 2 T5 and Skkye 14K led lights. They I re-arranged the LR and lit up with Reefbrite 50/50 only. I might add additional lights to it. Below is the album.

This sill be FOWLR rank.

http://imgur.com/a/N0YbE