Diving back into the hobby

[sebeast]

Hello everyone,

 

My name is Sebastian and I am starting a new tank build. I got rid of my beautiful 100G reef about two years ago and have come to realize that I love this hobby too much to let it go.

This time I'm going with the IM 30L.

 

I have ordered 30lbs. of drive rock from BRS

30lbs of live sand.

All testing kits suggested by Mr. Saltwatertank

RO/DI unit

vortech mp10wQD

Kessil A360w-e Tuna blue wide angle

luckily I kept my old refractometer.

100watt neo therm submersible heater

one bucket of instant ocean sea salt

and although i heard mixed reviews, I purchased bio spira, I don't plan on adding fish right away. I want to cycle the tank properly but i read that it helps to speed it up quite a bit.

Last is the IM midsize protein skimmer.

 

equipment will be arriving this week, will update then.

 

In the meantime any suggestions on equipment, tip on cycling, (shrimp, no shrimp) will be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you

Located in Sausalito, CA Marin county

 

 

[Veng]

That's a lot of rock for that size of tank. If you like rock heavy scapes you'll be in good shape, personal I prefer much more negative space in a scape.

 

As far as cycling, you can't have a cycle unless you have nitrogen (ammonia). There are a lot of options for where to get that, but if you take a sterile tank and sterile water, unshockingly nothing happens.

[sebeast]

i just followed the rule of 1-1.5lbs or rock per gallon. I don't want it to look crammed so if it is indeed too much I won't be using it all.

I think i will be using shrimp to get the ammonia going.

[kzv]

I also bought Bio-Spira to cycle my tank as well once it gets here. LMK how it goes for you! As far as the source of ammonia, I'm using Dr. Tim's ammonium chloride, that way I can 100% control how much ammonia goes in.

Either way you should be ready to roll in 7 days or so. Good luck!

[sebeast]

sounds good, ill keep you guys updated.

[Clown79]

You can do less rock. The 1-1.5 lbs is a guideline but not really used by many anymore.

 

1-1.5 inches of sand is best as well.

 

I wouldn't cycle with the shrimp. It will cause nutrient issues from the start which can lead to issues later.

 

If using dry rock, the best method for cycling is ammonia and bacteria dosing.

[sebeast]

Ok. I will most likely be returning or selling some of the rock.

As far as ammonia dosing, I will have to look into that since I don't know anything.

Any other tips? Do you guys think the kessil will be enough light?

[blizzardscout2]

The Kessil is an outstanding light. It will be more than enough light for you. It is a beautiful light that I believe does the best at mimicking metal halides the best. Plus the control you have is really nice. I would suggest either buying the Kessil controller or if you considered buying a controller I highly recommend the Neptune Apex and with the right cable you can program the light to ramp up and down at whatever intensity that you want. You can do the same using the Kessil controller too.

[sebeast]

Thank you. I did look at the kessil controller and the apex controller. I do want the apex but they are so expensive!

[sebeast]

Hey guys,

 

I received my shipment from BRS. Dry rock and live sand along with testing kits, salt, and such.

 

When it comes to cycling the tank, what is the best approach? Do i need to do anything to the rock? or will the sand and source of ammonia and cycle get the rock "going"?

 

I will post pictures of goodies tomorrow

[spectra]

Good luck and glad to see you dive back in.......I was out for a while and came back also and well now have 3 tanks

 

One of them is a IM 30L and I just don't see how the 360 will cover it. I had a 360 on a IM20 Fusion and it had shadows on the sides. The 30 is 12" wider. I started with a Corona on mine and that was not even enough spread. I am running a Nanobox Quad now.

 

Also look into a Sicce 2.0 pump the factory IM one is noisy.......I also have the mid size ghost skimmer and it works well but not the best.

 

Looking forward to the pics.

[sebeast]

thank you for your input, I will look into the pump. I bought the kessil 360 wide angle. I thought it would work. I had two of those before over a 100 gallon reef. I loved them. Hopefully it works.

[dandelion]

What kind of rocks did you get? I know a lot of people "cook" their rocks before using them. BRS claims their reef-save rocks are free of organics. I'm still debating whether to "cook" them for my new build.

[sebeast]

I purchased my rocks from BRS as well. Dry. They do come with sand and I will be rinsing them throughly with RO/DI water to remove as much of the sand and dirt as I can. I am also still on sure of what to do with the rocks other than cleaning them. I bought live sand and the bio spira which contains bacteria. I wonder if its enough to seed the live rock. Any input will be greatly appreciated.

[Clown79]

As far as I know, when using dry rock ammonia dosing is required to start the cycle.

 

I'd search cycling with dry rock and do some thorough research on the method.

[dandelion]

Yea ammonia dosing would be the way to go. Dose it to 3ppm and wait for the bacteria to grow.

[sebeast]

Hey guys,

Update

I've set up my tank on Friday the 13th maybe not the best idea but I didn't about it.

Added my live sand 20lbs

Drive rock which i rises and let soak for a few hours.

Filled the aquarium with RO/DI water. Let the temp get to 78.

After reading and researching I decided to add a shrimp as the source of ammonia since I couldn't find ammonia without some sort of soap added to it. It has been 6 days and my readings are as follows;

Ammonia 1.5

Nitrite l 3

Nitrate 70mg/L

Salinity is at 1.027

Temp 78

I added a large shrimp and since a piece got sucked into the mp10 I removed that small piece.

Any suggestions as to what I should do?

Thank you

Ps how do I add pictures?

[Clown79]

Your salinity is high. Are you topping up with fresh ro/di every day?

[sebeast]

Yes, I'm using ro/di

What should I drop it to?

Thanks

[RIP Sebastian]

Yes, I'm using ro/di

What should I drop it to?

Thanks

 

1.026. You clearly need to do some research.

[sebeast]

Wow I was wayyyyyy off. Thanks for your super insightful comment!

[sebeast]

So I added a large prawn when I first started. Probly 3 inches.

After a few days it got stuck in the mp10 so I took a piece out about 1inch or less. Now my ammonia is pretty much zero.

What do I do?

Thanks

[Muraki]

What are all your reading at? If you are 0 for ammonia and Nitirite, and only read nitrates, add some more ammonia to get a reading on your test kit and see how long it takes to read 0 again. Having liquid ammonia would makes this easier. You are only 2 weeks into your cycle. So it is very unlikely that it is complete. Specially since you began with dry rock.

 

Order some Dr. Tim's ammonium chloride which was recommended originally by KZV. That way you can control the amount of ammonia you add to the tank. Others have suggested adding enough to get a reading of 2-3ppm and than let it drop. If you are partially cycled, dose enough to get around 1-2ppm and see it it reads 0 in 12-24 hours than repeat a few more times.

 

If you are not up for going this route, than I suggest carefully feeding the tank some more food or shrimp, but this can lead to algae problems from the get go, and often takes longer to cycle. This was also mentioned earlier.

[Nart]

You can also use 100% Ammonia from a hardware store, just make sure you shake the bottle really good to see if it bubbles. If it bubbles, then it's no good, because of other additives. If it does not bubble you are good to go to use.

Also, you can order Fretz Ammonium Chloride powder off Amazon as well. I have never done the shrimp method just because it's hard for me to control the amount of ammonia going into the tank.

[sebeast]

i have zero ammonia and some nitrite and nitrates appear to be high.

i will try to find liquid ammonia with no additives, but so far no luck around here.

thanks for taking the time to reply