My first tank!!

[BL1]

Got some pics!

Just a shot before I added the salt

Added salt

TBS! The rest were in my garage

And here's where I'm at right now, waiting for everything to settle

I really thought that getting a small shipment from TBS, there wouldn't be much going on ... But wow! There's so many little critters running around a ton of snails, some crabs (I'll have to take pics tomorrow to see if I should keep them out), and even an urchin. I can't wait till everything clears up and I can see what's going on in the tank.
I'll definitely have more pics tomorrow when it does.

 

[BL1]

So, couple more pics today ... I moved the rocks around a little but, it'll change when I get the rest of the rock later anyway. I've managed to count about 15 or so snails so far, had 6 Stone Crabs that I managed to get off the rock (I know there's a few more too that I haven't been able to get), and an urchin. ]
Temp. steady at 82*
Salinity 1.025
Amm >.025 (first water change in about an hour)

I do have a few questions though. Should the tank have cleared up by now (the LR/LS was put in about 18 hours ago)? Should my power heads be running while the debris trying to settle (TBS only said to shut skimmer down during the process)? And also, I'm curious now that everything is in there if I have enough flow. I've got 266 gph out of the two pump and 425 from the Koralia for a total of 957 gph.

What is the thing in the second pic? My rocks are covered in them and it looks like their sticking their tongue out at me.
The third pic is a really cool looking red sponge but, the camera didn't take it very well.

 

[reeffreak]

Congrats,it looks awesome.

Is that what the sand looks like from TBS?I'm not sure I like it,so many shells and big pieces.

Those are barnacles.Harmless filter feeders....and don't worry about the foggy water.It still can take another day or two before it clears.

 

[BL1]

Yea, when I first opened the package with the sand, it looked like it was half really fine sand and half with larger rocks, shells, and broken bits of coral. Once I put it in the tank all the fine sand went right to the bottom and the top layer is all the thicker sand now.

 

[BL1]

So far so good, nothing on my rock has died during transport or since it's been in the tank. Checked my ammonia, it's been constant at 0.50 yesterday and today.

Here's a pic of the cool hitchhiker that came with my LS, he loves hanging out to the glass all day long

 

[Leslee]

Cool Urchin! That was a great hitchiker!

 

[rwynn]

That is normal cloudiness, the initial cloud takes a bit to settle completely. 957gph in 29g system is a 33x turnover rate...should be like looking into raging torrent.

 

[BL1]

Thanks Leslee, he's definitely cool to watch eating off the glass.
Thanks rwynn, It turns out it wasn't actually cloudiness after the 3rd or 4th hour ... it was a stupid newb mistake. the water level in my sump was low and it was causing the return pumps to blow micro bubbles like crazy. I filled more water in the sump tonight and the tank looks great now.

I wasn't really sure about the flow because from the outside it doesn't look like much. I remember reading somewhere but I can't remember, what is the optimal flow rate? Should I take out my Koralia? If I do I'll have about 532 gph of flow.

 

[andysgirl8800]

BL, has the tank cycled yet? If not, you may lose that urchin unless someone else can hold onto him for a little while.

 

[BL1]

No, the tank hasn't cycled yet. It's only 2 days old. I'm hoping for a "soft cycle" as my ammonia hasn't gone above .50 in the time it's been setup, and I had/have no die off on any of the rocks either. Is it possible for him to die from a cycle? Almost everyone I've read getting their rock from TBS gets an urchin with their first shipment, and they don't lose it.
If thats the case, I have a 10g that was my FW hospital tank, would you guys recommend putting him in there? I have used melafix in it too, so would I have to do something special to clean it out?
And thanks for the heads up AG

 

[andysgirl8800]

Only reason I mentioned it is most invertebrates are pretty intolerant to ammonia and nitrites, both of which will spike during a normal cycle. Just didn't want you to lose the little fella.

 

[BL1]

I'm glad you did though because I thought they were more tolerant since they were being sent with my package. I definitely don't want to lose him either, he's the first cool thing in my tank, and I wouldn't ming having him around for a bit. Richard's instructions with the LR were do to water changes to keep the ammonia levels below 1.0 so as not to stress any of the inverts out. As I said, it's been steady at 0.50 is that still too much for them?

 

[andysgirl8800]

People tend to do cycles differently. My understanding and experience has been to avoid water changes during a cycle because you WANT to hit max ammonia levels so that you then hit max nitrite levels, and then hit max nitrate levels. This ensures that you have a nice large population of good bacteria in your tank to handle the upcoming wastes of livestock. If you minimize the ammonia with water changes, you will minimize all the rest of it too and end up with a smaller bacteria population that will take longer to adjust (grow) to accommodate your future livestock. You may have to add things much slower and watch for mini cycles that could occur. This is just my experience and my 2c worth. :)

 

[BL1]

I really appreciate your and everyone else's opinion on here, I've only officially been doing this for three days now so everyone's advise here means a lot to me (it's the reason I became a VIP so soon, to try and show that support). Almost everything I've read about cycling for SW and FW have said not to do water changes during ... but since my rock came from TBS (and from what I've read they haven't had any negative feedback to date) I want to do what they have said. But, if I can't be assured that they won't die/starve in my 10g I have no problem moving them over. as long as I can get some advise for cleaning it up since I'm sure it has copper in it from medications.

On a side note, where in CO are you from I just moved from CO in July ... and I'm really hoping to move back there next year

 

[andysgirl8800]

I am in the Springs, ~70 miles south of Denver. The inverts should do fine in the 10g, but if it has ever had copper in it, I would not put them in there. 10g tanks are pretty cheap, if you wanted to get a new one. In terms of feeding, you can put seaweed sheets in there for the urchin. Pick him up and set him back down right on top of the sheet. He'll park it for a while and eat.

 

[BL1]

oh ok, I lived on the backside of Red Rocks, right next to the Bear Creek Dog Park. I'll have to buy a new 10g tomorrow then, I'm pretty sure the medicine I put in there had copper in it. Thanks again AG!

 

[andysgirl8800]

No worries! Good luck with the urchin, he's a beauty!

 

[rwynn]

BL1, you might ask D2mini about his experience, he just put together a 130 cube using the package from TBSW, he would know really well what to expect.

 

[rwynn]

Oh, and the general consensus I've seen here and otherwise has been 10x+ turnover...as long as your sand isn't getting blown all over you should be fine.

 

[Bifferwine]

There are two ways you can handle the cycle.

1. Do no water changes. The ammonia and nitrites will get high quickly, and tend to drop quickly too. This way will speed up the cycling process and is usually what people do.

2. Do water changes to keep ammonia and nitrites low. This will drag the cycle out and prolong it. But, this is the way you need to do it if you have any animals in the tank.

So if you want to keep the little urchin around (and why wouldn't you?) you are better off sticking with method number two.