12_egg_Omelette Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Hi everyone, I wanted to take a moment and introduce myself, I've been lurking for a couple days now and decided to join in on the conversation and this forum is just so beautiful as well. After a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium my wife fell in love with reef systems and she decided she wanted to start it up. Which leads me to where I am today. I recently brought my 12 gallon nano cube that I had in storage for 8 years back to Texas. I had maybe about 6 pounds of dry rock. There is no local fist store for over an hour in each direction, Austin and Houston are the closest to where I'm at. So I decided on a whim to stop by PetCo, as luck would have it they were going to be redoing all their tanks. In the next 3 days they needed everything gone so they were having a 50% off sale. We went home and cleaned the tank got everything set up, keep in mind we just got back about 2 days before. The next morning I went and bought 20 pounds of live sand and my wife picked out 2 Large pieces, 2 medium pieces and 2 small pieces. With the hope that it would help seed the old dry rock that we have. I also picked up the natural filtered ocean water they had because we were going to be out of town and only had about an hour to get everything set up. The tank already had an upgraded pump from when I had it last, plus an extra I had. So my wife put the live rock in we put the sand it added water threw both pumps in and turned the heater on and went away for the weekend letting the cycle start in the dark. It hasn't even been a week yet and everything seems to be in great shape parameter wise. But still letting it cycle, I just ordered a new 50/50 bulb because it popped the other day when It on to check out tank, I was expecting it I mean the bulb was about 8 years old at this point. I'm expecting the new bulb and also a Jebao WP-10 wave maker with controller tomorrow. Once the bulb comes in I plan on starting to leave the tank light on for a couple hours a day. My question is this, should I let everything cycle more to get a bloom going or should I add a CUC or a first fish or even a small frog spawn or hammer coral at this point. Link to comment
12_egg_Omelette Posted January 8, 2015 Author Share Posted January 8, 2015 I love omlettes. I had an amazing steak omelette the other day with salsa, it was wonderful. Link to comment
cju84 Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Welcome to NR! I like your rockscape! In regards to your question, you should wait until you are fully cycled before adding CUC/coral/fish. This typically takes about a month if you are starting fresh, but if you are using already established live rock/sand from an existing aquarium, you probably won't see a cycle. If you do put a CUC in when they have nothing to eat, they will most likely die. Probably better to wait a few weeks/month and recheck your levels. Link to comment
12_egg_Omelette Posted January 8, 2015 Author Share Posted January 8, 2015 Welcome to NR! I like your rockscape! In regards to your question, you should wait until you are fully cycled before adding CUC/coral/fish. This typically takes about a month if you are starting fresh, but if you are using already established live rock/sand from an existing aquarium, you probably won't see a cycle. If you do put a CUC in when they have nothing to eat, they will most likely die. Probably better to wait a few weeks/month and recheck your levels. That's what I was wonder if I was going to see a change because of the water, substrate and rock. Is there a way to check to see if everything is fully cycled other than checking N02, N03, and NH3? Link to comment
12_egg_Omelette Posted January 9, 2015 Author Share Posted January 9, 2015 1/5/15; GH 180, KH 120-180, pH 8, NO2 0-0.5, N03 0-20 1/6/15; GH 180, KH 180, pH 8, N02 1, N03 20 1/8/15 GH 180, KH 120-180, pH 8, NO2 0.5, N03 0 Link to comment
reefernanoman Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 I live in TX too! But it sure doesn't feel like Texas when its 26 degrees outside! Nice start! You might have too much rock to start with. I would do a little less. Good luck. Link to comment
R1sky_Biz Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Welcome!! This place is packed with info and there are some very knowledgeable users on here. Enjoy! Link to comment
12_egg_Omelette Posted January 9, 2015 Author Share Posted January 9, 2015 Thanks for the warm welcome. Yeah Texas has been cold. During Christmas I was in California and it was colder there. Now it's colder here. Link to comment
cju84 Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 That's what I was wonder if I was going to see a change because of the water, substrate and rock. Is there a way to check to see if everything is fully cycled other than checking N02, N03, and NH3? Not that I'm aware of. Link to comment
ghostgr Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Welcome! Im located in Mckinney myself. Try to find any local groups on fb. Link to comment
tess&ellie Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Welcome ...a sea world of information on here great group of people Link to comment
Veng Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Welcome to the addiction, and our appoligizes to the money you'll be wasting in college on this hobby instead beer. Can't say it'll be worth it, as beer is pretty damn good, but we'll be here to pick you up when you realize that. Link to comment
Texag12 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Houston checking in. Welcome! Link to comment
12_egg_Omelette Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 Ghost gr- I was in Mckinney not that long ago for the Christmas thing they have. Tess- my wife is never surprised when she sees me reading on here, her go to response is I should have figured. Veng- what a great response. I completely agree with you about not realizing how much money goes into this. I try not to keep s running total. I also don't drink that much anymore at all. TexasAg - whoop! Link to comment
amphipod Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Welcome, to my experience Petco is notorious for aiptasia. That's were I got mine. I wonder what species are you planning on in your tank? Link to comment
12_egg_Omelette Posted January 16, 2015 Author Share Posted January 16, 2015 Thanks everyone, got my light in and here is an updated picture. I also removed some dry rock. http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/12_egg_omelette/media/IMG_7853_zps5ff3f932.jpg.html'> Link to comment
BluCrab Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Looking good! Nice aquascape too If you're looking to learn more about the hobby , this conference in Houston is going to have some great speakers and sweet corals. If you need any help just shoot me a PM. I'm on the west side of Houston . Salty Sonny Link to comment
Roshan8768 Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Howdy! I have some hardy coral frags for you later on if you are interested... I am currently in CStat. Good start so far! Link to comment
12_egg_Omelette Posted January 16, 2015 Author Share Posted January 16, 2015 BlueCrab, I was talking to my wife about going she didn't seem interested but was interested in maybe going to the vendor area with me. It's a start, a happy wife equals a happy husband and a beautiful tank. Roshan8768 sounds great, are you on campus by any chance? I have an office on main campus. I'll love to grab some coral frags. I'm about 3 weeks into my cycle. Link to comment
vlangel Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Welcome to NR and I like your scape. It shows depth which will really be cool when your coral start to grow. Link to comment
12_egg_Omelette Posted January 16, 2015 Author Share Posted January 16, 2015 Thanks, now thinking about what coral would be great. I'd love to have a clam but I don't think there is enough room. I'm thinking about some hammer coral or frog spawn, I really like zoa and leathers, etc. I'm super open to suggestions. I think I have enough lighting to pretty much do anything, but I might be wrong. Link to comment
BluCrab Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 If you want to keep it simple and easy, I would go with Zoanthids and Hammers . I've found them to be hardy ,they look amazing and they grow great in a small tank. Link to comment
12_egg_Omelette Posted January 16, 2015 Author Share Posted January 16, 2015 sweet deal, I really do like Zoanthids, how do these frag out and how do you place them? I have this perception they you peel them like a sticker. Link to comment
12_egg_Omelette Posted January 21, 2015 Author Share Posted January 21, 2015 Updated progress picture Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.