looking for some advice

[tgriffin]

I will be setting my tank up this next weekend and was wanting to get some different opinions on some things. I have some live rock from the tank when I bought it setting in a large cooler with a powerhead in it. I have noticed several blue mushrooms starting to pop up on a few of the rocks. This is good because I was wanting some of these anyhow.

When I start putting everything in this coming weekend I was wondering if these will be killed in the cycling of the tank?

I washed the sand and have it in a large tote with no water. It is still kinda wet from washing though.I'm planning on a 4" sandbed. I will be putting about 25-30 gals from previous set up and the rest (30-35 gal) will be fresh saltwater. I was told to let the tank stay in the dark for about 2-3 weeks and then turn the lights on. I really would like to keep the mushrooms alive if at all possible.

Anyone have any suggestions

Thanks in advance

Tyson

 

[ducklabdad]

Is the rock "uncured" ? If it hasnot been cured then I would cut the mushrooms off and put them in a QT tank.

If it has been cured at all do not worry about it or keep some light on them and just check your perameters and the "smell".

If you read on RC here there are several different methods depending on how long you are willing to "wait" The main thing is just making sure that all the "stuff" that has died during the trip to your home has had time to be processed and the perameters have stabalized. You can tell with your testing but your nose will tell you in most cases.

Now if the rock has a bunch of other "stuff" on it you want to get rid of that is different altogather and in order to kill off all the bad,the good will also and you would need to remove what you want to keep.

If it was from a tank that was up and running you should not have to do much of a cure you will just need to let the tank cycle.

I hope that makes some sense.

 

[tgriffin]

the rock went from an existing tank into the cooler right away. It has had a powerhead in it since moving it. The rock was probably out of the water for less than 5 mins. If the rock has been in an established tank for 3 years should I kill it off. There is no smell and looks good. Actually starting to get some coralline algae growing on it.

The sand on the other hand was pretty nasty so I decided to wash it with a garden hose. It is sitting in a tote with no water, atlthough it is still damp.

 

[OneReef]

If you want to keep things alive on the rock as it cycles, you could 'soft cycle' it. That is doing water changes with the cycling rock. Takes a bit longer to cure and cycle, but will make a better chance on keeping things alive if you want that.

 

[tgriffin]

so this next week I was planning on putting my sand, rock and water in the tank and turning on my return pump.

Do you do a soft cycle in the actual aquarium, or in the cooler?

How about lights?? I am hoping since I am using rock from a previous set up an water from that set up that it will help me out. Will it??????

Thanks again

 

[OneReef]

If the rock is from an existing tank and nothing has died off on it since you put it in a cooler with water immediately, there should not be much if any die off. If you put your water, sand and rock into your tank, then test it and ammonia and nitrites/nitrates come up 0, you probably won't even go through a cycle. You should be good to go pretty quickly, but I would test the water first. As far as lights, they are not necessary right now, but they can help keep the coralline colored up, as it will fade out without light.

 

[Zann]

im also getting a tank to set in about a week and a half
was wondering what to do with the sand bed i think im going to save enough to seed a new sand bed.
the move i hope will be fairly quick. so i can set it up as soon as i get it to my house. the reason i have to set it up fast is because of the fish and shrooms and other things in the tank.

 

[tgriffin]

I am assuming the black stuff on the rock in the pic is a sponge. I have taken that rock out of the water for a few hours a couple of times. I have read somewhere that they can' t last very long out of the water. I'm hoping he kicked the bucket. How can I know if it's dead, and what can I do to completely remove it from the rock

 

[tgriffin]

anyone???

 

[Mako Shark II]

Is it macro-algae?

And yes, where are the Lights? You'll want to continue to light this.

 

[tgriffin]

I originally thought that there wasn't anything growing on the rocks, so I didn't put a light on them. I noticed about a week ago that there were about 7 little blue mushrooms blooming up. I have kept the temp anywhere between 74-78. I'll be putting the rock in tank along with the sand on monday. I'm hoping it doesn't have too long of a cycle since the rock doesn't have anything dead on them and I'm using about half of the water that came out of the aquarium when it was set up.

So you guys think I should turn the lights on right away?? Yes or No

Tyson