Newbie 14 gallon Bio cube

Discussion in 'Tank Showcase Comments' started by liquidattitude, Jun 3, 2012.

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  1. liquidattitude

    liquidattitude

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    Hello all,
    I was told i need to start a thread on our tank and our progress as we learn what we are doing and how we set the tank up.
    Here is picture of our tank. All that is in the tank is 20lbs of sand and 14lbs of Live rock. A friend with an established tank just brought us some live sand to add to ours and a sponge full of live bacteria to help us along.
    Thanks in advance for suggestions and assistance.
     

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    liquidattitude, Jun 3, 2012
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  2. liquidattitude

    dixiegirl21191 Reef Junkie

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    Very nice!
     
    dixiegirl21191, Jun 3, 2012
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  3. liquidattitude

    Smitty

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    Nice looking start up.
     
    Smitty, Jun 3, 2012
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  4. liquidattitude

    little_fish Moderator

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    looks good! Did you toss in some uncooked shrimp to get the cycle going?
     
    little_fish, Jun 3, 2012
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  5. liquidattitude

    liquidattitude

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    Little fish, do I still need to do that with the live rock and the donated live sand? I must of misunderstood something.
    thanks
    Kat
     
    liquidattitude, Jun 3, 2012
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  6. liquidattitude

    little_fish Moderator

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    yep! the live rock and live sand have bacteria on them, but you need to make sure you have enough to support fish. If you are lucky and already have lots of bacteria on your rocks and sand, you should have a short cycle.
     
    little_fish, Jun 3, 2012
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  7. liquidattitude

    liquidattitude

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    Gottcha! Somewhere I got the idea that the live rock was enough...I will get that going.
    Thanks again,
    Kat
     
    liquidattitude, Jun 4, 2012
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  8. liquidattitude

    dixiegirl21191 Reef Junkie

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    Little fish, I went to the lfs to get some lr the other day and I asked the guy about the shrimp thing and he said don't do that because it will throw my phosphates out of whack. Now I don't know what to do.
     
    dixiegirl21191, Jun 4, 2012
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  9. liquidattitude

    little_fish Moderator

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    No, your phosphates will be fine, and even if they did get a little out of whack, do water change and fix them.
     
    little_fish, Jun 4, 2012
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  10. liquidattitude

    slwedge71 reef enthusiast

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    Looks like a good start. Nice deep sand bed too. Good place for a pistol shrimp and goby :D
     
    slwedge71, Jun 4, 2012
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  11. liquidattitude

    liquidattitude

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    ok- Little fish....raw, shrimp away.... so do i leave it there until it disintegrates? I only put one fatty shrimp in for 13.2 gallons. Is that enough to kick it into high gear? Hope so I would like to be at a point to add a fish sometime mid July.
    The adventure begins...
    Kat
     
    liquidattitude, Jun 7, 2012
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  12. liquidattitude

    Kelz88 Got Reef?

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    Just take the shrimp out when your ammonia spikes. One shrimp should be enough.
     
    Kelz88, Jun 7, 2012
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  13. liquidattitude

    liquidattitude

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    Thanks Kelz88. Should i be concerned at all about the number of the (white -5 legs-dot for a body) creatures that i am seeing? I turned on the light this morning and the rocks had about 20 of them. They scurried off into holes. I think little fish said they may be some kind of star(brittle?). Also i see something on the back of one of the rocks that i hope is something good. I will send pictures. Have a great day!
     
    liquidattitude, Jun 7, 2012
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  14. liquidattitude

    liquidattitude

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    little over 10 hours ago
    Pre shrimp readings:
    Temp:77
    Ammonia:0
    Nitrite:0
    Nitrate:20ppm

    Current readings:
    Temp 77
    Ammonia:.50
    Nitrite:0
    Nitrate:.40 are we cycling? do i remove the shrimp now? or wait? till when?
    Sorry for all the ?? first time for all this....really excited
     

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    liquidattitude, Jun 7, 2012
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  15. liquidattitude

    liquidattitude

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    is this something good? just spotted it today, also i have a plethora of star ?? somethings
     

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    liquidattitude, Jun 7, 2012
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  16. liquidattitude

    little_fish Moderator

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    and we are cycling!!!

    And it looks like a sponge and perhaps a micro brittle star? Do they move around?
     
    little_fish, Jun 7, 2012
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  17. liquidattitude

    liquidattitude

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    There too many of those star things to count. They are quite active.
     
    liquidattitude, Jun 7, 2012
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  18. liquidattitude

    little_fish Moderator

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    then they are micro brittle stars, which are good guys! A great member of your CUC
     
    little_fish, Jun 7, 2012
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  19. liquidattitude

    liquidattitude

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    A sponge? I gotta go look that up.
     
    liquidattitude, Jun 7, 2012
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  20. liquidattitude

    little_fish Moderator

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    just a harmless filter feeder
     
    little_fish, Jun 7, 2012
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