Mont's 56 gallon reef tank!

mono19

mono19

Reefing newb
After months of buying things and planning and having to build a new stand, I finally got my tank started and wet! Hopefully I can get some pictures up soon. I have a ten gallon running right now, that I will be moving over to the other tank. I got the lights up and running and man there is a huge difference from the new tank and the little 10, so much brighter! Can't wait to get things moving over.

I do have a question though. The tank has been up for about 3 days now. I checked the parameters yesterday and everything came out perfect. Is that normal for such a new tank? Or will I see a change over the next few days? I was thinking of maybe getting a couple Chromis to get a bio load started but wasn't sure if I should just let the tank run for a few more days and keep checking the parameters before I add anything new? The tank doesn't have all the rock work right now, but the rest will hopefully be coming in next weekend. Will that switch anything up?
 
yes, adding the rocks will change things. Also be sure to put in your piece of table shrimp to start the cycle. Never ever cycle a tank with living fish, its needlessly cruel.
 
Hi and you could use live.fish to start your cycle but why kill innocent fish here what I used and it made.my tank cycle within two weeks I put in a piece of raw shrimp from market uncooked and peeled just drop it in and just be patient its a waiting game now you do have a test kit I supposed if not just look for and algae bloom and that's a good sign of a tank that has completed a cycle good luck
 
Yeah I'm using a reef master test kit. Ok I've read a lot of posts about cycling, but can someone explain it to me? I don't get what that does. With freshwater tanks I always just put water in the new tanks from the old ones and it worked just fine. I would like to do this right though. So any tips would be great.
 
cycling a tank establishes the bacteria that live in the rocks/sand that break down the ammonia (highly toxic, comes from anything that decays in the tank like fish poop or uneaten food) into nitrate which a much less toxic compound.

So when you cycle the tank you will see your ammonia spike, then the nitrites and then finally the nitrates. When you no longer have any ammonia and nitrites, your tank has cycled and is now safe for living creature.

Saltwater and freshwater tanks are very different!!!!!! Just adding old tank water to a new tank wont to anything in a saltwater tank because very little bacteria is in the water column. But if you use enough live rock you could avoid a cycle.
 
Awesome! Thanks little fish. Here is another stupid question. I've been testing my water parameters for the last couple days, cause I heard doing it every day is good? and all the numbers have been coming up at zero. Is that cause I haven't started a cycle yet? My Nitrates and Ammonia are already reading at zero. I plan on using around a 110 pounds of live rock in this tank. Right now just cause i wanted to get it started and going I only have about 30 pounds in there. So It's still got a ways to go, but next weekend it should be filled up. So will cycling the tank basically get all the bacteria and stuff in the live rock activated in a way?
 
when did you start your setup i would give it two to three weeks and test everyother day till i see a spike in amonia after thats reaches zero then a spike in nitrites and after that reaches zero then a pike in nitrate but untill you see a spike dont add any livestock to avoid casualties
 
The setup was done over the weekend, so the tank itself has only been going for 3 days. I was planning on waiting about 2 weeks before I put anything living in the tank. I was just curious as to why all my numbers are already at zero. I figured they would be high like everyone else when they start a new tank.
 
They start at 0, then the Ammonia will spike, thus starting your cycle. You are looking at a good 3 weeks of cycle time, maybe more.
 
yeah my nubers started at zero or near zero undetectable to test kit and after a week or so i started to see a rise in amonia and so forth
 
+1 everyone. And even if you use completely live rock, you may still get a mini cycle from debris on the rock getting stirred up when moving it. But to be sure, you can always cycle with a piece of raw seafood. Most people use a raw table shrimp, but I cut off a piece of mahi mahi we were having for dinner (before I cooked it, of course) and threw that in my 10 to cycle it. A cycling tank is a boring tank; everyone's agreed. But better boring than slow torture of living critters, possibly leading to death, and certainly significantly shortening their lifespans. Just use the cycling time to plan your stock list and find a rockscape that you really like.
 
Thanks everyone for the help! Erin I don't think anyone here talked about putting freshwater tank water in the tank.......Not sure why that was said...
 
Oh yep that was me haha! Sorry. Well waiting sucks, haha, but it will be for the best. Looking forward to seeing how this goes.
 
mono19 said:
Well waiting sucks, haha, but it will be for the best. Looking forward to seeing how this goes.
Click to expand...

Yes. We are all agreed that waiting sucks! No one likes staring at an empty tank! But nothing good happens quickly in this hobby. Better to take your time and do things the right way. You end up with a happier, healthier tank all the way around! So start using your wait time to get your rocks arranged just right and plan your stock list. Research and patience are the keys to success in reefing!
 
Yeah one will definitely learn patients with a hobby like this one. All the other tanks I have in my house, 2 reptile tanks and all the ones I have ever done were really easy to set up, and I could put animals in them the next day. Then I got my first saltwater last year and just for a ten gallon it took 2 months to get ready...so lame....haha. But well worth it. Question on stocking though right now I plan on moving the fish I have in the ten to the 56.

They are
Clown fish
Citrinis Clown Goby
And a Donated Fire Fish
Plus the normal snails and hermit crabs, and an emerald crab.
What else goes well with fish like these? I would like to get some that have some size, or should I just stick with smaller fish in this tank? I know I want a six line, but other than that I have no clue what to put in there. Any help would be great! Thank you for all the help so far. I will try and get some pics up when I get a chance to breathe from work and life ha.
 

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