New to the hobby

[Jdeleon]

Hello all, wanted to introduce myself to R2R. I'm from east Houston, was given a 36 gallon bow front aquarium and decided to make it salt water. Once up and running I quickly ran out of room in it and decided. I like it but I need bigger. Got on CL purchased a used tank 125 gallon witch very shortly after I purchased it completely changed my mind. (Btw this tank came with fish water lots of rock. 2 months into the hobby and a little research I fell in love with the Red Sea. Was looking into the 450 reefer but when I went to the store and looked for one I came across the 525 xl. Ordered it and picked it up a week ago. Over 4th of July weekend I put together and brought to live my new 525 xl. Transferred the water from the 125 along with fish and rock. New sand.

I added a bottle of turbo start along with some powder the guys at ocean life gave.


So there is a yellow tang and little blue fish that are doing fine but N3 is thru the roof. Maxed out on the chart. How much of a cycle am I supposed to go thru reusing a lot of the same stuff. The fish may or may not make it I'm awear of that.


Well any input ideas or suggestions are well welcomed.

 

[Jdeleon]

Well not sure why all the pics are out of order

 

[Anirban]

Welcome.....nice setup to start with.:)

 

[twilliard]

Welcome to the R2R community!
The bacteria will need time to populate :)

 

[Jdeleon]

Welcome to the R2R community!
The bacteria will need time to populate :)

Should I turn off the protein skimmer while in cycle?

 

[Tahoe61]

Sweet set up!

As for how long you'll see a cycle is any ones guess. There could have been die off. Personally I see nothing wrong with doing a water change to preserve the fish you already have. The tank is going to cycle regardless of a water change.

 

[Jdeleon]

So the water was transferred Saturday afternoon. so its been about 3-4 days and the water is pretty cloudy with a lot of particles floating around. should I turn off the power head and let things settle but when I turn it back on things will get mixed up again. im in no hurry to get over the cycle if its going to happen but what I do want is the water to clear up as soon as possible.

 

[Prozack199]

Welcome To R2R. Great Build You Got Going!

 

[Jdeleon]

another question I have is how do you guys clean the inside of the glass at the water line to avoid water stains. or is that even possible

 

[Prozack199]

another question I have is how do you guys clean the inside of the glass at the water line to avoid water stains. or is that even possible

Glass Scrubber Or Magfloat Ect.

 

[twilliard]

You can keep the skimmer running for o2 co2 exchange also helps with PH stabilization.

 

[SantaMonicaHelp]

Awesome setup! Very impressive to be fairly new to the hobby and have such a large tank. Go big or go home I guess :cool:

-JN

 

[Robink]

Nice build. Have the same tank. Can't wait to get it wet. ;)
Too many sps in my old tank so have to have two tanks in the house till new one cycle's.
+1 on doing water changes through cycle. The bacteria multiply quickly, but you could always add another bottle or two to speed it up. Can't overdose that.

 

[Jdeleon]

thanks everyone for the complements on the tank. yes im the go big and over do stuff guy. I just check my N3 again today and its thru the roof. really has me worried, anything I can do?

 

[Salty1962]

Welcome to R2R! Nice start, keep us posted on your success.

 

[Jdeleon]

cranked up the return pump and opened up the overflow valve. tank is finally clearing up. I have 2 hydra 26's over it with stock easy set up settings. anyone have a better way to set my lights. any ideas