Some questions about cycling my tank

so, when I do move my tank (yes, I realize I am totally hi-jacking this thread), do I leave the sand in the tank with an inch of water or do I clean out my sand and put into a plastic tub?

-Dr Marco :sfish:
 
Dr Marco said:
so, when I do move my tank (yes, I realize I am totally hi-jacking this thread), do I leave the sand in the tank with an inch of water or do I clean out my sand and put into a plastic tub?

-Dr Marco :sfish:
Click to expand...


I well if you can move it with the sand (just keep it wet) that would be easier but you risk your tank starting to leak. I would remove the sand, use a new dust pan, and rubbermaid.
 
Don't worry about hi-jacking, im learning here too... I was wondering that, about moving the tank with the media in the bottom... but when I was cleaning my tank when I got it, with like 1/2 inch of water in the bottom it was pretty heavy already... had to strugle to get it up to the sink to dump it... I really want a HUGE tank now though. That is for sure, I'm completely addicted already after about a week, went into the fish store today and stared at his 180 full of coral and fun stuff! I'm in the process of getting my girlfriend addicted right now, but she doesnt have anywhere to put a tank because we dont live together yet, once im done with schooling here and we move on we've decided were going to have a nice array of saltwater all over the house...
 
Recent news:
I forked out some more money and got 7 more lbs. of live rock today... god this is going to be the downfall of me... Ive spent like money was going out of style before while being a college student... but damn this is getting nuts, I might as well pick up a crack addiction i think.. it would be cheaper. But on the bright side, im up to about 32 lbs of live rock.. only about 18 to go before im done for now...
 
Congrats on the rock! Doing it slowly is the way to do it if you don't have the cash upfront. Also, that lets you pick a nice variety of pieces that the store gets in over time.

How about some pictures, hmmmmm????

In case your tank addiction ends up ruining your life -- you go broke, you end up homeless, your girlfriend leaves you because she doesn't want to be with some scrub that sold his car to pay for rocks, we do have a resident shrink on board to help. Dr. Marco is our in-house therapist for when our tanks take over our lives and we lose perspective of everything else in the world. Except he's a pretty bad example himself ;).
 
Hey now, I resemble that remark!!! just kidding. I tend to have things in my life in order, although, with my tank, I tend to be a bit more of a mess. I am going to go slow with my new 90 gallon set up, there, Biff. Like you are one to talk, little miss....."let me set up a 200,000 gallon tank in 12 hours and brag about it for 68 pages..." (yes, I am still jealous)

-Dr Marco :sfish:
 
Whats your guys takes on the tanga branches (sp?) that I could get at the pet shop? It looks cool, but does it serve the same purpose as the live rock? does it filter the same or is it more of an ornament, and to put corals on? I kinda wanted to get a decent piece in the end after all my rock is in place just to add something different looking...
 
Here is the amount of rock I have now... Once im finished buying Ill organize it in a decent fashion, until then it can chill the way it is...
Aquarium033.jpg

My blue velvet backed into a little hole under a rock, I can imagine how bad it would be having to net one of these buggers with any amount of rock at all...
Aquarium031.jpg

Aquarium029.jpg
 
ohhh, and my nitrate is finally starting to go up, just tested and its around 20 ppm, that is the first step in the cycle isnt it? spiking nitrate, nitrite still doesnt register..
 
The tonga branch is just another kind of live rock. If you like the way it looks, by all means, use it. It certainly adds some different elements to aquascaping. I have four or five pieces of it in my tank, I find it's good to put underneath and behind the other rocks since you can stack stuff on it and it still allows for a lot of flow and circulation through the rocks.

Once your ammonia and nitrites hit zero, and your nitrates start rising, that's when your cycle is complete and you can do a water change.
 
I have some tonga in my 850 also It adds to the look of the tank I think. I see that you have a devil damsel....? he is going to get very aggressive.
 
kill it now. take s syringe full of salt / RO paste and shoot a load of that mixture at him - it will shock him and you can net him out or, if prefer, watch his gills burn with the intensity of the salt mixture - not very pretty, but easy to do if you can't catch them. He will be a big problem for you when you look to add other fish.

-Dr Marco :sfish:
 
I have no patience for irritating fish. If it means my tank looks better, I will kill just about anything.

-Dr Marco :sfish:
 
not a bad idea, but you still have to fart around with trying to catch the damn thing. I loved feeding my shark damsels (and the occasional coral beauty) but i would just rather kill the little bastards in the tank. Call it my base animal instinct.

-Dr Marco :sfish:
 
Hey, quick question, I found a pet store about an hour from here thats actually open today, and I happen to be really bored... If I drive my ass over there what do you guys think I could get? Is there any inverts I could add to my tank after a week? The LFS doesnt have any cleaners at all... not like a set cleaner crew youd see online for sale. Is there any cool little shrimp that will get along with my "devil damsels"? I really wanna see a cute little shrimp run around and eat poop and food off the bottom... ill test my water again quick and see what its at now... Nitrate is at about 20 ppm and ammonia is at .25... will any crustaceans be good for my tank right now or should I wait longer and just make this trip to look at what this stores got?
 
No. Do not add anything while you still have ammonia or nitrites. Especially inverts. Shrimps ESPECIALLY need extremely stable water parameters and will usually die quickly (if not immediately) if put into a tank that doesn't have excellent water conditions. And if you are showing ANY ammonia or nitrite, you should not add ANY animals. You should ideally wait a week or two after ammonia and nitrites have hit zero before even thinking about adding inverts.

If you make the trip just to see what the store has got, I'm afraid you will end up buying something anyways -- it's just too tempting.
 
AWWW.. they have such cute clownfish... how about a moray eel? they have way more stuff than my LFS... if nothing else im gunna grab some live rock from them, they have a lot smaller pieces than the store in my town... I had to stop at bestbuy to post reply because my treo wouldnt let me log in for some reason, but I could read the the forums, not not sign in.
 

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