new to l.r. ... questions..

[pufferbob]

This is my first attempt at a fowlr after a failled sand setup...bad crash..lack of knowledge...NEVER try a 2" sand bed!!!!

I have a 29g, 2 hob filters at 200gph each, 1 powerhead at 250 gph (650 gph total), 1 100 watt heater, lighting (is shared with an 18g fresh) = 1 48" 40w actinic and 1 48" "aquarium light" (white) (80w total).

Tank is freshly set up on new fishy cycle. Inhabitants = 4 damsel, 1 hermit crab, 2 blue leg crab, and 7 mini starfish. Yes I know... Fishy cycle is cruel or what have you, but I have found it to work better than fishless personally.

I currently have 15 lbs lr in, and 15 lbs on the way. I also have a new jebo 150 skimmer (with adjustable 650 gph powerhead) on the way (this large because I put some forethought into it...when one day I upgrade the size of my tank, I will allready have the skimmer I need..at least up to a 75g if not a little more).

So far the cycle is going smooth... Amonia spiked at 3.0 and is now down to 0.25, nitrite is currently spiked at 5.0 (+), nitrates 60, s.g. is 1.23, temp = 79.

I know upon adding the next (and last) load of lr will cause the cycle to restart (basically) and the skimmer will help on flow and filtration.

When I got my first 10 lbs of lr (aquiring 30 lbs from 5 different places total for diversity) shipped from an ebay seller, it got caught up in mail for a couple of extra days and had alot of die off (a little expected), but still had some good looking red and green color to it. After a couple of days, those colors faded...
A week later I added 2 lbs ruble from lfs that they were just unpacking from walt smith, had ALOT of color wich has now mostly faded. A few days later I added 3 lbs from 2 other lfs'. From 1 I got a beautiful purple 1.5 lbs wich most has now turned black. The other was 1.5 lbs of deep green covered in baby feathers (? don't know anything about them), the green is holding but I am daily loosing the numbers of feathers.
What is killing the colors of my rock? I was told that 80w lighting on a 29 would be suffice. Are my inhabitants eatting my feathers?
After the full cycle is complete (after all additions including lr and skimmer), will my colors and or feathers return?

Thank you for any help.:mixed:

 

[TekCat]

No worries, during cycle/LR curing lots of coralline dies, but some will survive to reclaim their place on rocks.

just an observation: you already have cycled your tank, instead of inducing another cycle by placing new batch of LR in tank and putting your fish in harm's way again, you could cure them outside of the tank, and add later, when fully cured.

 

[One Eyed Bunny]

Re: new to l.r. ... questions..

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6744284#post6744284 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pufferbob
Yes I know... Fishy cycle is cruel or what have you, but I have found it to work better than fishless personally.

Fish cycling doesn't work better, it merely speads up the process by increasing the bio load which in turn increases the amount of bacteria able to survive in the tank which makes your tank cycle more quickly. (This is how I understand "fish cycling.")

As for the return of any coraline or feather dusters, yes, you will have regrowth. You may not have exactly what you started with on the live rock, but you will have regrowth after a period of time. Depending on the amount of die off and the water quality of your tank it may vary, so I can't give you a specific time.

Lastly, for the featherdusters, I'm not sure myself. I really don't know enough able to them or the inverts/fish in your tank to comment.

 

[mg426]

Good advice

 

[sttroyiii]

My LR bleached almost completely white. I started my tank the first of the year, and now the coralline starts turning a little grey color at first, then turns purple, pink, whatever color its going to be. This has only been for about the last 2 weeks or so. The white is slowly changing into other colors, I'd say about 30-40% is colored now. I just put another chunk of LR in there this past weekend, so I am interested to see if it will turn white and then back purple. Since the intial cycle is long over, I think it should stay purple this time. We will see...

The featherdusters are worms, so I dont think they can come back from the dead. The spike is what would kill them. Im not sure, but I think they are a little more hardy than snails. I had a little copper poisoning, and a few snails died, but none of the featherdusters did. Just a beginner's observation.