Up and running

[ATinPGH]

I never thought aquascaping would be so challenging. After three hours of trying to create a mini-atoll look I was finally satisfied. Next in was the bio-activ black sand and then the saltwater I had prepared two days prior.

Initially it was very cloudy but I woke this morning to a crystal clear tank. My ever-supportive wife (who first saw the tank at 3 am on her way to get the 2 month old) commented that the lunar lights looked absolutely fantastic.

So here it is...my first foray into saltwater aquariums:

and one with the lunar lights:

So my first question is...should i put a piece of raw shrimp in to help kick start the cycle process or should I let the sand do its work?

Thanks in advance.

Aaron

 

[acer]

I like the black sand... as far as proceeding- depends on your patients. Getting diversity= other sand from people is good- but it will mess up that neat look. You could get one cheap fish to start up the cycle as well = damsel. Cant tell - but do you have any filtraion/skimmer ,etc.

 

[ATinPGH]

Yes I have an Emperor 400. Its got two of their stock filters that have carbon and two filters that I put in a polyfill type mesh.

I am certainly in no hurry. I think I'll give it a week or two so I can be sure the temperature and salinity remain stable before I add any type of fish to the tank.

Thanks for your help.

Aaron

 

[ATinPGH]

double tap :hammer:

 

[cloakerpoked]

I guess we would really need to know what your goals are for this tank before we can give advice as to what your next step should be. I would suggest NOT using any kind of damsel or any other fish for that matter just because it's not really the MOST ethical thing to throw a poor guy in there and let him pollute himself almost to death and hope he makes it. Damsels are also nasty little devils to deal with later. They like to swish around your sand, pick on other fish, and run away from you when you try to catch them (although that last one is not specific to just damsels, just tends to make their removal difficult). The shrimp would definitely work to kickstart your cycle, but unless you want to kick-start an algae bloom as well, I would keep the lights off while you do that.

 

[ATinPGH]

Goals are LPS/SPS with a few (2 or 3) fish.

 

[bmiller1234]

Are you planning on a skimmer? sps is going to be hard in a non drilled tank with a hob filter. Are you planning on a auto top off system. In a smaller tank salinity swings are harsh due to evaporation and topping off manually with freshwater. Ideally once your waters clear remove the poly filters as they trap a lot of nitrate producing materials and will cause you problems. Occasional mechanical filtration is ok but floss will start to hold decomposing materials after a few days.

If you can find someone with enough live rock rubble to fill your filter I would do that and get biological filtration started. Or a nice piece of pest free live rock in tank and let it seed your new rock. Then you can pee in it or add another source shrimp frozen food etc and let the beauty of the ocean unfold before your eyes.

 

[ATinPGH]

I'm not planning on a skimmer so if that rules out SPS then so be it. I want to start small to prove that I can maintain a system before I upgrade to a bigger tank with a sump.

I think I am going to pick up a piece of live rock to put into the tank to start the cycle.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Yinzer]

Live rock rubble in a HOB filter is interesting. It looks like some kind of Penguin filter so what you do it take out the filters and just fill it up with LR rubble? That seems like an economical way to run a small QT. Am I correct?

 

[bmiller1234]

It doesn't totally rule out sps. it can and has been done and surely you will see people saying they kept sps in a half gallon betta tank in their kitchen. It just take a lot more work to keep things stable. Start slow and keep an eye on things once your up and running. You may find your parameters stay spot on afer cycle and all is well.

If possible keep your eyes open for a decent hob skimmer. you can usually find something uses in good condition from 50 to 100 and will help once you add livestock.

 

[Yinzer]

Whatever you do, don't buy a cheap HOB skimmer from Ebay. I made that mistake once. Biggest POS waste of $$ I ever spent. For the same amount ($80ish) I got a nice one from Dr Foster & Smith online. That is probably your best bet.

 

[cloakerpoked]

Kimberly has kept her SPS in her 20g with no skimmer or supplimentation/testing. Her trick is to keep up on water changes very faithfully. If you're doing a 25% water change a week, that will be a lot more effective at nutrient export than most skimmers you could find. The trick is to try to match your new water with the old as far as alk, mag, salinity, temp, etc as a drastic swing quickly can create serious issues.

 

[Spyder_78]

I have never heard of matching Alk and Mag, just salinity, temp, besides if you matched your alk and mag it would drop with every water change wouldn't it? With good salt you shouldn't have any trouble other than salinity and temp.

 

[cloakerpoked]

You don't need to match them exactly, but you would like to try to see them somewhat close. You should never raise alk by more than 1 dKh per day or magnesium by more than 50ppm per day just to be on the safe side. In a larger tank, it isn't an issue, but when 5 gallons constitutes a significant portion of your total water volume, you should at least be aware of what it is and what the end result will be.