I am Brand New to Reefing!

[TwinTurboSnail]

Hello!

My name is Bruce, and I just set up my first saltwater/reef tank, specific gravity finally reached 35ppm.
I have a RedSea Max E 260 with the sump (that was a learning curve! We don’t have those in freshwater!)

I am currently creating my aquascape (NSA with Marco Rocks/their putty to hold it all together also)

Guess these are my questions for you all if you got time to answer

1) Can you please give me unsolicited advice?

2) I added Carribsea Arag alive sand when I filled with RoDI water, then mixed RedSea Blue Bucket in to 35ppm, this took 48 hours to accomplish. Did the live sand die? (I have a feeling it did)

3) I want to start the cycle before I put my scape in or start it after?

4) I plan on using two Red Sea Reef Mature Pro kits to start this, is this advisable? (Reason for two is one pack only treats 50 gallons and I believe with the sump volume I am closer to 100 as this tank is 69 gallons and I think the sumps operating water level is 12, but I think it could hold 20+ (math is hard )

I have watched BRSTV religiously for the last couple years to prepare, but I need more resources. I also feel, I may be researching too much?

Glad to finally be here

Bruce

 

[Peace River]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!!

 

[vetteguy53081]

 

[Miami Reef]

Welcome Bruce!

 

[G Santana]

Welcome aboard, my advice is the same for everyone, go slow, you stand a better chance of success.
Build your tank scape and then start your cycle, the bacteria will populate the rock surface.
How I did it, I used dry rock, two bottles of Fritzyme 9, added two tangs and never looked back.

Good luck with your build. Don't be afraid to ask your questions.

 

[Projects with Sam]

 

[Kristopher Conlin]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!

Definitely cycle with the rock scape in the tank. You want bacteria to populate the rock and create a nice stable environment. It will cycle as long as there is an ammonia source. A lot of people will add a raw shrimp to decay and feed the cycle. Bacteria additives will speed it up.

 

[Karen00]

Welcome to the salty side and the community Bruce! If you don't get all of your questions answered in this thread then repost them in the new to saltwater section.

I will answer #2 and #3 but you might get other replies.

#2 You're not supposed to rinse live sand. If you do you effectively rinse away all the good stuff. You add the sand to the tank and add your saltwater. In your case, depending on how long you had it sitting in freshwater before you added your salt mix, yes you might've killed it. The sand is still fine to use but all the stuff that makes it alive might be dead. Also, live sand already has all the bacteria you need so you don't need to add bottled bacteria although, as mentioned you might need the bottled bacteria if your sand died.
#3 Definitely cycle the tank with the rocks in place. The idea of cycling is to start your good bacteria production and bacteria needs stuff to colonize and in a saltwater tank the biggest place for the bacteria to colonize is the rock. If you use dry rock, dry sand use bottled bacteria. If you use live sand and dry rock you don't need bottled bacteria. If you use live rock and dry sand you don't need bottled bacteria and of course live rock and live sand doesn't need bottled bacteria.

I have never used Red Sea products so hopefully others can reply to that.

This community is the place to ask questions and seek advice. The best place to ask questions as a newbie is the new to saltwater section.

I look forward to seeing your setup!

 

[Big Smelly fish]

 

[Jeffcb]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!!

 

[TwinTurboSnail]

Man, you all know how to make someone feel welcome!

 

[atomos]

Greetz and welcome!
Like what's been mentioned----we started off nice and slow. We aquascaped our rocks while the fresh RODI SW was mixing and etc.. Once the SW was ready, added the rockscape according to how we staged it outside the tank, added the live sand and the included clarifier packet, added Biospira and let the tank start up. We opted out of the shrimp and fish for the ammonia cycle and went with Dr. Tim's ammonium. Tested and followed the process. We welcomed the ugly stages of the tank as it came up......once the tank was stable and all we introduced our fish...we didn't add coral until further down.

 

[tharbin]

Welcome to R2R!

1) Can you please give me unsolicited advice?

Go slow, building a stable reef takes many many months.

2) I added Carribsea Arag alive sand when I filled with RoDI water, then mixed RedSea Blue Bucket in to 35ppm, this took 48 hours to accomplish. Did the live sand die? (I have a feeling it did)

The AragAlive product has bacterial spores infused into it. It is not quite the same thing as 'live' bacteria (they are dormant). Their 'Ocean Direct' line has actual live seawater in it containing live bacteria. Likely some of the bacteria are still encysted. In my opinion the Arag Alive doesn't really help very much usually so I would not worry about it.

3) I want to start the cycle before I put my scape in or start it after?

After.

4) I plan on using two Red Sea Reef Mature Pro kits to start this, is this advisable? (Reason for two is one pack only treats 50 gallons and I believe with the sump volume I am closer to 100 as this tank is 69 gallons and I think the sumps operating water level is 12, but I think it could hold 20+ (math is hard )

No idea on the Red Sea Reef Mature products. I'm sure others may help there.

I have watched BRSTV religiously for the last couple years to prepare, but I need more resources. I also feel, I may be researching too much?

Just remember that BRS is also basically hobbyists so take their, and everyone else's--including my, opinions with a grain of sodium chloride.

 

[youcallmenny1]

Welcome to the club!

 

[Reef and Dive]

Welcome to the best reefing forum in the world!

 

[Just John]

 

[Jimbhoy13]

Welcome to R2R and the salty world Bruce. I’ll echo the good advice that’s been given. Take things slowly. Lots of knowledgeable and helpful people here who will support and advise you when needed.

 

[Sean Clark]

Welcome to the salty side Bruce.

 

[rmorris_14]

 

[FreshCoastReef]

Great username @TwinTurboSnail

Regarding the cycling process I learned a whole lot from this MACNA talk delivered by Dr Tim.

When setting up my 20g AIO I chose to use his product, followed the guidelines exactly, and completed the cycle promptly in 13 days.

Other than that, so far in my reefing journey I'm learning the importance of patience, observation, and research!