So you got a new fish tank Newbie

[kendog261]

Thanks Waterkeeper the info in this thread has been great. This will be my first reef tank. Its a 30g tank with a 10-15g sump. 110 watts of pc lighting. So far I bought 30lbs of Caribsea aragonite and 20lbs of arag-alive sand. Still need proably another 20-30lbs.

Know if I have this correct I should put sand in tank, add water and a shrimp to start the cycle. How long do I need to have the lights on during this and should I have the skimmer on at first?

After ammonia and nitrite get close to zero I can add a clean up crew and 30-40lbs of cured live rock. Does this sound correct so far?

 

[reverendmaynard]

WK-

I assumed he was worried about microbubbles from having the water flowing through the sump too fast, with no time to settle.

I got 5.5 (rounded a bit from 5.68, because I don't believe capacity is exactly 125gals), using the 22" height. That's the AGA height, so I assumed this one was.

 

[WaterKeeper]

Thanks Rev- you usually can use baffles to control the microbubbles in a small sump. I think Marc has some designs with baffles Marc's Reef. And right about the height influencing that calculation. Take the tank capacity and divide by the height to get gals/inch for any height tank.

Ken

Once you get the bed up to height add the LR. You don't need to wait. If it will be awhile before you get the rock then add the shrimp, otherwise it really isn't needed. You don't need lights until you add rock. After adding the rock is when you need to start checking ammonia and nitrite. Die off form LS is usually minimal. When they are zero, or very close to it, then go with the clean-up crew. Again, once rock is added I would start up the old skimmer. It may not do too much if the rock is cured but it breaks it in for when there is a load.

 

[lucedillo]

DSB

DSB

In Mexico I cannot find anywhere that sells Argonite sand, or if they do, its not on the label, so my question, would the washed sand fron the beach will work

 

[Zaphod]

IMO no it can have lots of polutants one way to check if it argonite pur some vinigar on it and if it fizes it is argonite. You may be able to use silica based stuff as a last resort.

 

[lucedillo]

OK.... but the guys from homedepot are going to suspect something, cause i'll try any sand with my little,bottle with strange smell, or what kind of sand i'm going to find thereÃ"šÃ‚¡Ã"šÃ‚¡Ã"šÃ‚¡Ã"šÃ‚¡ Newbie in Mexico

 

[WaterKeeper]

:lol:

Hi Lucedillo
<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central</b></i></big></big>

Anyone who vinegar tests sand at the local hardware store has the making of a real reefer.

How about that beach sand? Does it pass the vinegar test? If so, you probably can use it. After collecting what you need take a big bottle of vinegar and mix it into about just enough water to cover the sand. When it starts to fizz mix it well. After about 5 minutes pour out the sand and rinse it well. The vinegar will dissolve the sand's outer layer and give it a really good cleaning. After rinsing almost anything that was on it will pretty much be gone.

Then, if it is a big beach and you get 50 posts, I expect to see you on the vendors Forum selling "Doc Lucedillio's, Acid Washed Aragonite"

 

[lucedillo]

Aragonite

Aragonite

What a great thread, and though it is long, your sense of humor got me thru it! Amazing that someone is willing to take the time, and answer questions that have probably been asked hundred's of times before, and put them in one easy place for reference. . I have been planning a tank for a while now, and hoped to do it the correct way...., research, research, research. While your thread has given me a lot to sort thru, make sense of, and remember, it is leading me to believe I wil a tank set-up the right way.
For the sand not a bad idea to try. But why aragonite is the better to put as a substract, Aragonite is a common carbonate mineral.. But whatââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s the importance on it. Beach sand is a blend of about two-thirds quartz and other material, whatââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s the importance of aragonite. Heres are some links.
http://mineral.galleries.com/minerals/carbonat/aragonit/aragonit.htm
http://webmineral.com/data/Aragonite.shtml:lol:

 

[lucedillo]

sorry about the smilie, it's not in the right place, i'm learning that too

 

[WaterKeeper]

Re: Aragonite

Re: Aragonite

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6896023#post6896023 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lucedillo
But why aragonite is the better to put as a substract, Aragonite is a common carbonate mineral.. But whatââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s the importance on it.

And that my friend is a question that can create wide spread debate. My own opinion focuses on the chemistry of deep sand beds. Anaerobic areas in the bed are not usually permanent as the bed is stirred which means they seldom go past the stage where acid formation is the primary means of anaerobic activity. This means that organic acids are produced in the bed that will react with a carbonate based substrate. The net effect is the release of calcium into the water column while alkalinity is preserved.

The other argument in aragonite's favor is that it is less abrasive to sand dwellers than sharper edged silicates but that that is someone else's often debated theory so I'll stick with my original premise.

 

[lucedillo]

Ok if I want to maintain the correct homestasis in the tank, I'll get my bottle with vinegar, to tests sand at the local hardware store, that`s easy. So you agree with DSB at least 4 to 6 inch.

 

[kendog261]

Thanks Waterkeeper,

A couple more newbie questions

After I add the live rock do I use my lights at full power or would it be better to use the cheap light that came with the tank? Also how long should they be on per day at this point?

 

[deeppitt]

My tank (with sand only, at present) has mostly cleared. It has reached a level where the water is slightly cloudy and I don't see it clearing any more. A friend told me that without a bunch of rock I lack filtration.

Does rock accomplish the same thing as a mechanical filter?

I am considering adding a pentair AF filter to the setup since anytime I disturb the sand in any way I am clouded up for several days. But if the rock will do the same thing then I don't want to waste my money.

Any opinions?

 

[thewuf]

deeppitt - Rock It!

 

[reverendmaynard]

deeppit - You don't necessarily want to filter out the sand from the water, you want to let it settle. Once the sand has been in there long enough to aquire a good coating of bacteria (2-3 weeks or so), it will not fly around and cloud the water anywhere near as much.

TBS, just sand is not enough filtration. You will need to add either a large quantity of live rock (recommended) or a filter of some type to get the required bio-filtration needed to house animals in the tank.

 

[WaterKeeper]

As the Reverend said, the biological population on the sand secrets proteins and polysaccharides that tend to cement the sand together and aid in it settling. If it is just plain base sand the LR will help seed it and get things going.

Ken,

Coralline is a low light algae and does fine even under normal output daylight fluorescent. It does better under a stronger, wider spectrum lamps and will retain more diverse color but it will be fine if you are trying to save your more expensive lighting until you get inverts. I'd give it at least 8 hours a day right now.

Lucedillo,

Four inches or more is great for a DSB.

 

[kendog261]

Waterkeeper

Thanks again for the help. Its not that im trying to save my good lights, I just figured that if I didnt use such strong light that I might not have as bad of a algae outbreak. LOL

 

[WaterKeeper]

Ken,

The initial algae outbreak is unavoidable and is more a result of excess nutrients in the water column than lighting. Water changes will do more to correct it than photoperiod.

 

[kendog261]

Okay that works for me.

What is your opinion of using a UV sterilizer? A friend of mine has one, he would give me at no charge.

 

[WaterKeeper]

For free-then what the heck. There main benefit is when you run multiple tanks off a common sump. There they prohibit cross infections among the tanks. For single tank use quarantine is far surer in preventing disease and a good polishing power filter disinfects more water faster. For free though-hook her on up.