jgaepi Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 I thought I would start this thread for my benefit and then the benefit of others down the road. I am about T minus 8 weeks for Tank Number 2. My tank will be about 3x larger (14g -> 40g). All but my live sand will be transferred over (live rock, corals, fish, CUC). I have 30p of dry base rock and wondering if I should prep it now? A: Should i buy a piece of live rock to seed it? B: Should I just float it in saltwater with a small pump and heater w/ no live rock? C: When doing my weekly water change from Tank 1, should I add it to Tank 2? I want to minimize the shock in Tank 2. I want to avoid losing any livestock or corals. I am a super planner so I want to come up with a game plan now. 10/10/14 Day 1 of Dry Rock Cycling Link to comment
k4ndyk1ng Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Soak the dry rock for like 3 months to remove phosphates then cycle it with some seeding bits of lr Link to comment
jgaepi Posted October 9, 2014 Author Share Posted October 9, 2014 Soak the dry rock for like 3 months to remove phosphates then cycle it with some seeding bits of lr Remember, I don't have 3 months. I have 8 weeks. But I do want to soak it for that reason. Link to comment
lilmatty5dimes Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 I have 30p of dry base rock and wondering if I should prep it now? A: Should i buy a piece of live rock to seed it? B: Should I just float it in saltwater with a small pump and heater w/ no live rock? C: When doing my weekly water change from Tank 1, should I add it to Tank 2? i would grab a tank from petco $1/g sale and throw the rock in there with a powerhead and heater. i wouldn't buy any rock instead grab a piece out of your tank and seed it with that. or if you don't have a piece you can spare just get a raw(has to be raw) shrimp(i place in some pantyhose to grab it out easier) and let it decay in your tank for a few to get some ammonia or grab some janitorial strength ammonia from a hardware store and put a cap full in(just enough to read some ammonia on a test kit. there's no bacteria benefit of transferring the water. in fact wouldn't do it will the tank is cycling cause its going to prolong the cycle. stuff i bought and used for cycling my tank. Link to comment
k4ndyk1ng Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Yeah but the dry rock is full of phosphates Link to comment
lilmatty5dimes Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Yeah but the dry rock is full of phosphatesoh i never had a problem with this. i just power washed them soaked them over night power washed and then threw them in the tank. you can acid wash them. or vinegar bath. Link to comment
Eisernes Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Yeah but the dry rock is full of phosphates Depends on where you get it from. Reefcleaners treats their rock before they sell it so that we don't have to. Link to comment
hey Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 brs reefsaver does indeed leach some phosphates, but my hair issue (which was mild) only lasted between months 3 -6. Link to comment
jgaepi Posted October 10, 2014 Author Share Posted October 10, 2014 brs reefsaver does indeed leach some phosphates, but my hair issue (which was mild) only lasted between months 3 -6. Depends on where you get it from. Reefcleaners treats their rock before they sell it so that we don't have to. I bought dry rock from ReefCleaners. John says it won't leach but I am not going to chance it. i would grab a tank from petco $1/g sale and throw the rock in there with a powerhead and heater. I did one better. I found a 10g from the thrift store. I am running a little Eheim 300 in the tank. Not sure how much movement is really needed. Link to comment
D Z Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 i would grab a tank from petco $1/g sale and throw the rock in there with a powerhead and heater. i wouldn't buy any rock instead grab a piece out of your tank and seed it with that. or if you don't have a piece you can spare just get a raw(has to be raw) shrimp(i place in some pantyhose to grab it out easier) and let it decay in your tank for a few to get some ammonia or grab some janitorial strength ammonia from a hardware store and put a cap full in(just enough to read some ammonia on a test kit. there's no bacteria benefit of transferring the water. in fact wouldn't do it will the tank is cycling cause its going to prolong the cycle. stuff i bought and used for cycling my tank. Be careful using the janitorial ammonia as it is not pure ammonium. You can get pure ammonium chloride meant for seading a fish tank from Dr. Tims and it is very cheap and a safer route to take. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=24530 Depends on where you get it from. Reefcleaners treats their rock before they sell it so that we don't have to. I can personally attest that the dry rock from reef cleaners did not leach any phosphates. I soaked my dry rock in RODI for about 4 or 5 days and then tested the water for phosphates and did not detect any. I have had my system running for about 2 months now and still test 0.0 on a hanna phosphate checker, with moderate to heavy feeding. If the rock was going to leach phosphates, I believe I would have seen them by now. Link to comment
hey Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Be careful using the janitorial ammonia as it is not pure ammonium. You can get pure ammonium chloride meant for seading a fish tank from Dr. Tims and it is very cheap and a safer route to take. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=24530 I can personally attest that the dry rock from reef cleaners did not leach any phosphates. I soaked my dry rock in RODI for about 4 or 5 days and then tested the water for phosphates and did not detect any. I have had my system running for about 2 months now and still test 0.0 on a hanna phosphate checker, with moderate to heavy feeding. If the rock was going to leach phosphates, I believe I would have seen them by now. the ace brand is pure ammonia. No surfactants and is a higher concentration than dr tims. Basically dr tims is safer because its way weaker so its harder to overdose the tank but its way more expensive. Link to comment
D Z Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 the ace brand is pure ammonia. No surfactants and is a higher concentration than dr tims. Basically dr tims is safer because its way weaker so its harder to overdose the tank but its way more expensive. Really? OK well, then, I retract my statement. Good to know you can get something locally. I had heard that anything bought in a hardware store would not be good to use. How cheap is that stuff at ACE? Would be hard to beat Dr. Tim's at less that $2 for the bottle, but then I guess you have to factor in shipping.... Link to comment
hey Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Really? OK well, then, I retract my statement. Good to know you can get something locally. I had heard that anything bought in a hardware store would not be good to use. How cheap is that stuff at ACE? Would be hard to beat Dr. Tim's at less that $2 for the bottle, but then I guess you have to factor in shipping.... its like 3-4$ i forget, but basically its enough ammonia to cycle tanks for the rest of your life. Cycled mine that way worked pretty well. It'll have only ammonia on ingredients no surfactants listed, if you shake the bottle and it bubbles up it means it has surfactants aswell, as far as I know all the ace brand ammonia is fine. Link to comment
D Z Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Cool....good to know. Thanks Hey! Link to comment
jgaepi Posted October 10, 2014 Author Share Posted October 10, 2014 its like 3-4$ i forget, but basically its enough ammonia to cycle tanks for the rest of your life. Cycled mine that way worked pretty well. It'll have only ammonia on ingredients no surfactants listed, if you shake the bottle and it bubbles up it means it has surfactants aswell, as far as I know all the ace brand ammonia is fine. My question is should I force a cycle so I don't have any surprises in 8 weeks? Tank 1 is completely cycled and all that material will be the basis for Tank 2, with this new base rock as filler. Link to comment
hey Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 My question is should I force a cycle so I don't have any surprises in 8 weeks? Tank 1 is completely cycled and all that material will be the basis for Tank 2, with this new base rock as filler. I doubt it could hurt, I would dose the ammonia and add some sort of bacteria starter. I tried microbe lift special blend I think it worked pretty well. Link to comment
jgaepi Posted October 10, 2014 Author Share Posted October 10, 2014 I doubt it could hurt, I would dose the ammonia and add some sort of bacteria starter. I tried microbe lift special blend I think it worked pretty well. Thanks. I will check it out. Link to comment
hey Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Thanks. I will check it out. fair warning, if you use it your house will smell AWEFUL for like a day. Link to comment
jgaepi Posted October 10, 2014 Author Share Posted October 10, 2014 fair warning, if you use it your house will smell AWEFUL for like a day. I think I may go the Dr. Tims route then. Link to comment
lilmatty5dimes Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 the ace brand is pure ammonia. No surfactants and is a higher concentration than dr tims. Basically dr tims is safer because its way weaker so its harder to overdose the tank but its way more expensive. Exactly. The ace stuff doesn't have any surfactants like other ammonia so it's good to go. I know a few people who started there tanks like that 2 years ago and it's nothing but sps now. And had a lfs tell me the same thing. Works great. Oh and never had a smell to the house. I used 2 caps and never had smell and the ammonia test showing that purdy green up top. Link to comment
hey Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 Exactly. The ace stuff doesn't have any surfactants like other ammonia so it's good to go. I know a few people who started there tanks like that 2 years ago and it's nothing but sps now. And had a lfs tell me the same thing. Works great. Oh and never had a smell to the house. I used 2 caps and never had smell and the ammonia test showing that purdy green up top. the smell is from the bacteria additive I used not the ammonia. It was microbe lift special blend. Link to comment
jgaepi Posted October 15, 2014 Author Share Posted October 15, 2014 So next topic I want to throw around is a skimmer and media reactor for the sump. Total actual water volume should come to somewhere around 34-37g. Skimmer ideas I have been kicking around include reef octopus. Maybe the HB 8O or the internal 90? Media reactor ideas are the hopefully forthcoming Blue Life USA resinator or a reef octopus reactor. Any suggestions? I simultaneously posted a thread about daisy chaining equip together but no one responded to it. http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/352401-daisy-chain-equipment-together/#entry4854394 Link to comment
jgaepi Posted October 15, 2014 Author Share Posted October 15, 2014 Cycle Kick Start Tonight. Step 1: Step 2: Link to comment
jgaepi Posted October 15, 2014 Author Share Posted October 15, 2014 So I got a little carried away with UniqueCorals 3-day special. Now I need to create a DIY frag rack. It is hard to swallow to think the cost of the corals. But the stuff will be the bomb. And will look great in Tank 2. I just need to keep it all alive until then ... Link to comment
jgaepi Posted October 16, 2014 Author Share Posted October 16, 2014 Media Reactor was solved by BAO sumps installing a Blue Life USA resinator directly into my sump build. Sorta like this: https://www.facebook.com/442446412555787/photos/a.445857545548007.1073741827.442446412555787/534428920024202/?type=1&theater So now I just need to solve the Skimmer. Considering a CAD Lights 50 Elite or the Reef Octopus BH50. If anything is actually reading this thing (other than myself), any suggestions? Link to comment
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