DLeAnnM Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 No water or rock yet. Will be ordering my live rock tomorrow night and should get it by Thursday. I am wondering though about my aruba shell substrate. I wanted a mix of aruba shells and sand. I havent added my sand yet though, waiting for live rock and water ...lol. Will these shells eventually all clump together? I have about an inch in there, should I take out at least half? Also during the cycle, should I run the AC 500 with anything? Or just leave it off? I have one 50 watt heater will I need to add another one? Any advice on live rock...I am planning on either 30lbs Lalofrom live aquaria or 40lbs Caribbean from etropicals. I can get both for the same price with shipping. Tank specs 20L coralife 2x65 15lbs aruba shells maxijet 4040 and microjet AC 500 soon to be refugium Link to comment
Withers Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 Hi Dawn, Your setup looks good, but I'd like to add a word of caution. Those shells have a huge surface area (by the looks of it), and may trap detritus much like crushed coral would. My recommendation would be to use all sand. As for live rock, that seems like a lot of rock for a 20 gallon tank, but i don't know how light they are compared to fiji per lb. maybe you could go with 20 lbs of either of those rocks, and then if you need more buy some from an LFS to top it off? i dunno, but it would suck to get 40 lbs of rock, and then only be able to use 20, know what i mean? will your ac500 have any media in it? if not, i don't see why you couldn't have it running during the cycle. hope this helps a little, Jason Link to comment
DLeAnnM Posted August 30, 2004 Author Share Posted August 30, 2004 Yeah I am a little concerned about the amount of shells I have, I have talked myself into removing at least half of it. I dont have any good LFS and the closest one is somwhere around $9 a lb but I think if I go with 40lbs, I could store in my tank and then offer to anyone that wanted to add some to their tank. I am goin to turn to Ac to refugium with macro, sand and lr. Should I run carbon or any media in while cycling or just add sand and live rock to begin with? Link to comment
Withers Posted August 31, 2004 Share Posted August 31, 2004 i wouldn't run any carbon or media during the cycle, it would probably just prolong it. Link to comment
DLeAnnM Posted September 1, 2004 Author Share Posted September 1, 2004 I have finally ordered my live rock. I ordered 30lbs Lalo from liveaquaria.com I should receive it on Thursday- cant wait. Link to comment
imsuperjp Posted September 1, 2004 Share Posted September 1, 2004 forget sand. go bare bottom. Link to comment
bubble_gum Posted September 1, 2004 Share Posted September 1, 2004 Originally posted by imsuperjp forget sand. go bare bottom. thats a gd isea... went bare bottom and can easily syphon out all the derritus build up:) but i went back to a thin layer of sand cos some corals really need to be on the sand bed to do well;) Link to comment
DLeAnnM Posted September 2, 2004 Author Share Posted September 2, 2004 Well bad news! My overnighted live rock did not arrive today! It was too foggy in Duluth to land the plane my rock was on -so have to wait til tomorrow. Link to comment
DLeAnnM Posted September 4, 2004 Author Share Posted September 4, 2004 30 lbs Lalo live rock Link to comment
badmatt Posted September 5, 2004 Share Posted September 5, 2004 i would just go with a sheet of while poly on the bottom would look alot better Link to comment
sumyungviet Posted September 5, 2004 Share Posted September 5, 2004 wow... lookin pretty good... man its like degiavu... i have the same tank, with same stand... haha... you can see my tank in my gallery Link to comment
sumyungviet Posted September 5, 2004 Share Posted September 5, 2004 i had a ten gallon sump that fits right into the stand, but changed to a 20 gallon that sits next to the stand now Link to comment
DLeAnnM Posted September 6, 2004 Author Share Posted September 6, 2004 Had to try my hand at aquascaping. Not sure if I am totally happy with the look yet. Link to comment
sumyungviet Posted September 6, 2004 Share Posted September 6, 2004 lookin good... once you get more life growing, it really starts to look nice... and i found that having smaller rocks really enhances the look of the large ones.... Link to comment
DLeAnnM Posted September 6, 2004 Author Share Posted September 6, 2004 Yeah of the 30 pounds I got -3 huge pieces ( around 10-11") and 2 smaller ones (around 6-7"). It is very difficult to arrange them- but I am not complaining, I really like the looks of it. The 3 rocks on the bottom are all individual pieces and the 2 on top are the smaller pieces. Link to comment
SaltCreep Posted September 6, 2004 Share Posted September 6, 2004 I had the same issue with rocks in my 20long. They were just to big to work together in such a small tank. Dont be afraid to take out a screw driver and a hammer. Drive the screw driver down into the rock with the hammer and break em into smaller pieces. I would suggest doing this outside on concrete. Also put a towl down beneath the rock and wrap it around your work space creating a baracade for any flying debris. I did it and have been mucho happier. Link to comment
DLeAnnM Posted September 7, 2004 Author Share Posted September 7, 2004 Since I have started testing 2 days ago, my ammonia has been off the charts. The compare colors are green and my water sample turns bright blue. Is this normal? Also, my ph has stayed the same at 7.8. My nitrites went from .2 to nothing. Link to comment
Withers Posted September 8, 2004 Share Posted September 8, 2004 thats perfectly normal. at some point the ammonia will peak, and then you will see a steady rise of nitrites as your ammonia goes back down. after that your nitrites will peak, and you'll see a rise in nitrates if you want to know why that actually happens just ask, but i'm too tired to type it all out right now your pH will eventually rise, just give it a couple of days. Link to comment
DLeAnnM Posted September 9, 2004 Author Share Posted September 9, 2004 Thanks Vic! I guess I dont need to know exactly why- I suppose I have the basic idea why. Just wanted to know what to expect. I have had the rock in 4 days and no water changes. I am planning on adding my refugium tomorrow which will include new saltwater. Would this slow down my cycle? Link to comment
mattie Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 looks like a great start Link to comment
DLeAnnM Posted September 24, 2004 Author Share Posted September 24, 2004 I have had the live rock in for 3 weeks. My ammonia still tests very high, nitrites are high and nitrates are at 100. I havent done any water changes as there were no animals with the live rock. Should I do a water change or continue to let it cycle as is? My water is staying clear and has only been cloudy once for a few hours before adding more water movement with the aC 500. The Ac 500 currently only has live rock rubble in- should I add the macroalgae or wait til end of the cycle? Link to comment
DLeAnnM Posted October 18, 2004 Author Share Posted October 18, 2004 New addition to the tank- Link to comment
SethWolf Posted October 20, 2004 Share Posted October 20, 2004 WOW! I am going to get the same tank and the same lighting fixture! I am also going to run a refugium as a filter. Looks Great! Link to comment
ghostbear29 Posted October 29, 2004 Share Posted October 29, 2004 I hope you are doing water changes now. As it's been a while. You will notice the smell in your room. ha ha. Also, great job aquascaping. next should be your diatom,algae blooms. Not to worry, they will clear up real fast. Like one week for mine. Be sure to use R/O water or algae will last forever. Good start. That 20 looks bigger that I would think. I guess it's the rock. Link to comment
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