Getting Antsy!

[simpleman]

Hey guys,
Finally got myself around to getting a more respectable sized tank (55 gal) and I was wondering if you can help me out. I don' t want to go all crazy and fill it up before it's ready. I've got all the test kits and everything. I was just wondering if you could throw me some insight as to how long you think I'll have to wait for a cycle. I bought this setup from a guy who claimed it had been running for 5 years, only thing is was broken down for a few days before I got it. It has about 75Lbs of live sand and 75lbs of live rock. Pics will be upcoming.
Thanks

 

[dustin_P74]

mine has been cycling for almost 3 weeks now but cycling takes different amounts of time for every tank. just keep toping off the water and testing the water every couple of days

 

[daugherty]

did you set everything ups soon as you got it? if you did you will probably will not have a cycle. as for cycles it could take a month you just never know.

 

[Doc]

does it have the same water as before? did you use tap water to fill it up or new salt water? that will make a huge difference.

If you have his old water and old sand and old rock, you have an old tank and are ready to get your own cleaning crew to start with an one small fish.

If not, wait out your cycle, typically 3-4 weeks (each tank is different) and they try

what lighting to you have? filtration? what is your plan for it?

-Doc

 

[simpleman]

The water is RO. I had to make up my own new SW mix being he threw the old out, although I did add about 5 gals from my old tank. The lighting came with the tank. It's a Hamilton dual 175w metal halide with 2 VHO actinics. For the moment all I have for filtration is a skimmer. I'm working on getting the sump set up. I need to get a bigger circ pump. I was thinking of throwing a couple of sacrificial ugly brown zoo's I've got in the tank and seeing what happens. What do you think.

 

[simpleman]

Oh and my plans for it are a little uncertain. I'll move over my inhabitants from my lil tank, from there on I'm uncertain. A certain better half of mine is trying to talk me into Sea horses, I'm not so sure that's the way to go.

 

[daugherty]

just test the water. i do not like to kill any living creature just to test my water. i would just test the water

 

[daugherty]

you have good light for a reef what is the wattage of you vho's

 

[dustin_P74]

if your gonna do seahorses you can only put seahorse in the tank.

 

[Doc]

If you added all new water, I would wait a week before adding any livestock. It is likely that you will have a mini-cycle since the mature water is as important as the substrate and LR. After a week, test the water and see how things measure out before adding any livestock

-Doc

 

[Doc]

Oh and my plans for it are a little uncertain. I'll move over my inhabitants from my lil tank, from there on I'm uncertain. A certain better half of mine is trying to talk me into Sea horses, I'm not so sure that's the way to go.

Sea horses are cool. They are really slow eaters and need to have amazingly passive tankmates. Ones that show zero aggression: red firefish, certain blennies or gobies, maybe even a mandarin goby - in the future. It can be done, but really tough. they get sick easy and just aren't really hardy

-Doc

 

[simpleman]

Yea i know I've been doing a lot research on the Seahorses. Personally I don't care much for fish. The ones I like don't seem to be all that reef safe (angels, great white sharks, octopus, you know the usual). I was thinking that if I do go with the Seahorse I would end up with a mandarin and a couple crocea clams (all this assuming the tank is well established)

 

[simpleman]

I believe the VHO's are 40w. It's a really nice light setup and I got it for a steal ($200 bucks). The guy I bought from said he was keeping sps in it.

 

[Doc]

great buy!!! You could keep a few pygmy angels in that 55 if you like and skip the sea horses altogether! I love me some angelfish!

-Doc

 

[yote]

Sounds like you got a pretty good deal.
Was the rock and sand kept wet?If not,then you'll probably have a full out cycle.If it was kept good and wet in saltwater,then probably not much of one.

 

[reeffreak]

Congratulation on your new setup.That light fixture will allow you to be unlimited when it comes to corals and clams.Just so you don't go off buying the wrong bulbs-a 48'' VHO bulb is 110w not 40w.

 

[simpleman]

Thanks for the tip reef! Being you are the resident lighting expert where do you recommend I pick up new VHO bulbs? One or both of the bulbs needs replacement. One has a red/purple hue to it and the other is white. I think if the red one is still good (not sure?) but I want to get rid of the white one and get a full actinic. Any thoughts?

 

[simpleman]

Yea Yote the sand and rock was kept wet, I actually bought it off the owner of my LFS, he upgraded his tank and gave me a hell of a deal! Whole setup rock and all was $400!
The reason I'm confused here with the cycle is that I've always bought tanks second hand and have never actually seen a cycle. I just want to be sure that I can put my couple hundred bucks worth of critters in the tank without killing them.

 

[Doc]

I would still wait a week. Lack of patience has killed more critters than anything. Your water needs time to adjust to the rock and sand nutrients since it was pure salt water, etc (that is how I think of it).

Most people have a combo of white (10,000k) lights and actynic lights (6700 K). It is up to you and the colors you want to bring out of your fish and coral. I don't like the purple hue on my tank as much as the true boue (6700K)

-Doc

 

[reeffreak]

Thanks for the tip reef! Being you are the resident lighting expert where do you recommend I pick up new VHO bulbs? One or both of the bulbs needs replacement. One has a red/purple hue to it and the other is white. I think if the red one is still good (not sure?) but I want to get rid of the white one and get a full actinic. Any thoughts?

First,make sure the supplementals are VHO and not normal output bulbs.Hamilton makes both VHO and NO bulbs with their metal hallide systems.You can buy VHO bulbs cheap at Dr. Foster and Smith or Premium Aquatics for around $20 each.You can also buy VHO bulbs directly through Hamilton if you prefer-Hamiltontechnology.com.