Logistics Question

[BHRay]

I live in a small town, but received a gift certificate for a not-so-LFS which is about 2 hours away. I've been doing the FW thing for awhile and want to try a 10g reef. I have a couple questions:

 

1) I want to bring the 10g, PH, heater, and about 10lb. of LR home on saturday (a friend gave me a half bag each of sand and aragonite for substrate). How long will the rock survive. Do I need to carry it in a thermal cooler? It will take me some time to get the salinity and temperature right once I get home. Should I hit a Walmart on friday, pick up a 5g or so container, and get some water going instead? I don't have a PH, but I think that I have a airstone that I could rig up.

 

2) A friend of mine with a nice 125g SW says that I can have 5g or whatever I need of his tank water to use to start my tank. Is this a good or bad idea?

 

3) Can I put any "critters" in on saturday? Or do I just throw in a piece of shrimp as another thread had suggested? I usually fishless cycle my FW tanks. Does anyone in the SW hobby do that?

[ross76053]

When you take your rock out of the water, you'll have some die-off, period - there's no preventing it. Take a cooler with you & wrap the live rock in wet newspaper.

 

You should already have your water salinity adjusted and running with a powerhead 24 hours before you head to the not-so-close LFS.

 

A 10g tank at Walmart will cost you around $8 - it's where I got mine. I 5g tank will probably cost you around $6, so I'd spring for the extra $2 and get a 10g.

 

You need a powerhead, period, before adding live rock/sand to your tank. Don't buy one at the LFS - you'll pay four times as much as ordering off the Internet. The airstone won't do you any good.

 

As far as using your friend's established water, I don't think it'll help OR hurt. I wouldn't do it, because it sounds like a pain, and it won't make your cycle go any quicker. You can expect your cycle to last anywhere from two to four weeks - maybe longer.

 

Please don't throw in a piece of shrimp. It's really not necessary, and your house will reak. If you're married, you'll be sleeping on the couch. Your tank will cycle just fine. Don't add fish, either, during your cycle. Wait until it's done.

 

And I wouldn't add any critters until your nitrate, nitrite & ammonia levels are getting close to nothing. Should be 10 days to two weeks (hopefully).

 

HTH

[Satchmo]

If you pick up a cheapo syrofoam cooler, you can put some of the LFS's system water in with the rock to keep die off down. But really 2 hours is no big deal. LR is commonly shipped dry for much longer periods than that, just keep it damp & you'll be OK.

 

I'm with Ross. Get this stuff and set 'er up at least a day or two before getting the rock: tank, heater, PH, hydrometer, bag o' salt, good water.

 

Using your friend's tank water has no benefit. If he's offering a handout, get some of his system's sand instead. The die off from the rock will cycle your tank. The shrimp thing is unneccessary. Resist the urge to come home with anything alive except the rock, or you'll be off to a bad start. Happy reefin'

[gobies]

Save the gift cert for stuff you can't or don't want to order online. Stuff like fish, inverts, etc. For a Tronic 50w heater, for example, your LFS retail cost is about 2x to 3x as online cost.

 

A 5g bucket will be helpful for mixing sw. You can mix up 4g at a time, so you only have to do it once a month, and just keep a powerhead in there to keep the temp up and the water aerated.

 

Quick shopping list -- what I'd get for a 10g:

- 10g tank

- 50w heater

- three Minijet 404s or Microjets (maybe four?...keep one as a backup)

- one Maxijet 900 for water mixing and pumping mixed water from the water bucket to the tank

- tank thermometer

- hydrometer

- test kits for ammonia, nitr*te, pH, alkalinity (get the Seachem Reef Special aka starter kit for this)

 

You can wait for your tank to settle before you get the lighting.

 

RE fishless cycling: most people on the boards I'm on try to do this. Generally, live rock is sufficient to get the cycle going.