King Htut's 75 Gallon Tomb

[King_Htut]

Hi my name is Daicean I am 13 years old and I am starting my very own 75 gallon tank. (Using my moms hand me downs lol)
Total water volume is 50 Gallon to allow air space between water and light. My moms is making me completely responsible for this so any help will be great!
Current Equipment
75 gallon standard tank
Rio 2500 pump to circulate water
30 lbs of dry live rock
Bare bottom
Light is an Aquatic Life T5HO
4 bulbs
2 10,000k
2 Actinic
With led moonlights
Light schedule is
Actinics on at 8am off at 8pm
Whites on at 9am off at 5pm
Moonlight on at 8pm off at 6am

Just filled with water today waiting for salinity to stabilize what would be my next recommended step?

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Welcome! Good luck with your setup!

The next step would be to wait and let it cycle. You can add a piece of raw shrimp or fish food. Then, you will need to test your water parameters to watch for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

 

[King_Htut]

Thanks for advice would a piece of raw squid also work to cycle the tank done we don't have raw shrimp

 

[Reef_in_Denver]

Thanks for advice would a piece of raw squid also work to cycle the tank done we don't have raw shrimp

Technically that should work, although I don't know if squid has any chemicals in it that would be adverse to the tank. You are trying to get the carbon cycle to start. People have been known to do this in a multitude of ways.

I have heard of some of the crazier reefers that have peed in the tanks to start the cycle(I don't recommend this). Fish Food(large amounts in a 75G) can also be used to start the cycle.

 

[Iamonlyme]

I have heard of some of the crazier reefers that have peed in the tanks to start the cycle(I don't recommend this). Fish Food(large amounts in a 75G) can also be used to start the cycle.[/QUOTE]

He would try this lol

 

[King_Htut]

Could sliver slides or flake fish food work ?

 

[Iamonlyme]

I will pick you up shrimp tonight after wotk

 

[Reef_in_Denver]

I will pick you up shrimp tonight after wotk

If you go to the produce counter at the grocery store they will usually give you one for free if you ask. I've done it multiple times. Make sure it's raw.

 

[King_Htut]

Do I need to add the shrimp because I used dried live rock and here are my readings today
Ammonia 5.0
Nitrate 10
Nitrite 0.50

 

[Reef_in_Denver]

Do I need to add the shrimp because I used dried live rock and here are my readings today
Ammonia 5.0
Nitrate 10
Nitrite 0.50

You aren't going to like my response but here it is. Stop everything and remove the dry live rock from your system. The fact that it is starting your cycle lets me know that you didn't first clean the rock in any way or at least an effective one.

I too did this same thing nearly a year ago,and never prepped my dry live rock. Today - the dry live rock is still leaching phosphates like MAD into my system. It has caused so many headaches and heartaches with algae blooms - it's ugly and can harm corals in larger amounts. If I didn't have coral all over I would take all the rocks out and do what I am recommending you to do. There are a handful of ways to clean your dry live rock. I hear the most effective is a hydrochloric acid bath(stick it in a trash can with some ratio of acid/water and let the acid eat up all the impurities). You will need to do research on this. You may think oh no big deal, I will deal with it. Please Please Please trust me and just spend the extra week of time to save over a years worth of potential headache.

Once you clean the dry rock then place it back in and restart your cycle.

Someone else please back me up on this so he doesn't fall into the same trap I did.

 

[King_Htut]

Thanks for the info, I will do research on it, meanwhile I would like more advice from other people

 

[Iamonlyme]

Bump

 

[Iamonlyme]

Bump hoping someone else will chime in with some input for him

 

[Reef_in_Denver]

Since nobody else is commenting - Look at these past threads on the issue:

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/re.../72663-added-dry-live-rock-what-happened.html

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/re...n/73127-dry-rock-risks-curing-techniques.html

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/ne...069-live-rock-dry-rock-do-you-prefer-why.html

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/re...n/135368-what-do-dry-rock-live-rock-help.html

The evidence is everywhere.

 

[King_Htut]

Thanks for the links I'll check those out

 

[King_Htut]

These are my readings today

Ammonia 1.0

Nitrate 5.0

Nitrite 0.50

My mom will will pick up a phosphate test kit. What else should I get for testing

 

[Iamonlyme]

Ok so I have a question the rock in his tank is live rock that was pulled from my system when we transferred tanks it was in my system for over a 1year when we pulled it we than placed in tubs and it dried out)
My understanding from these articles is that the "dry rock" is the cheap dry stuff bought at LFS not actual live rock is that correct?
Also if he is using the old live rock from my tank to start his I would expect a cycle due to the dead organic matter on the rock and the possible worms or items that might have been hiding in the holes and died so if we continues testing and waits patiently can't the cycle continue?

 

[Paul B]

I think you will be fine with the old dead rock. It is true the pollutants are coming from the dead stuff on the rock. Hopefully there is no insecticides on the rock as I guess you stored it in a safe place. Add the squid, shrimp, clam, fih oraything else youhave lying around, it doesn't matter as it is just there t rot. Use maybe one shrimp or a 1" piece of squid. The water will get milky, that is great ad what it is supposed do. Just let it rot. After a number of days, it will begin to clear. Then I would add another shrimp and let it rot. At this point you are just growing bacteria and that is what you want. The bacteria will also rot the dead organisms on your rock. After it clears again start testing the water for ammonia. Then you need to read all you can about cycling a tank. Good luck, you are off to a good start. It takes a good three or four months before the tank can support life and process the wastes from one or two fish.

 

[Iamonlyme]

Thank you Paul B and I will say thank you for him too [emoji4] he is adding I believe squid right now

 

[TJ's Reef]

I'm mostly with Paul on this as being another 'Old salt' and is a very tried and true method. However there is certainly some more modernized techniques nowadays using bottled bacteria cultures which would/could greatly speed up the Cycle time. Either way PATIENCE is a key ingredient to success in Reefkeeping like no other. I would also suggest filling tank to top for maximum volume and adding a decent power head for oxygenation. Good start and will be following along from now on.


Cheers, Todd