New to the hobby

jaxteller007 · Apr 11, 2018

So I'm new to the hobby and just now discovered this part of these forums lol. I live in the Nashville area. Right now I have a 75g setup that is currently cycling due to a couple rookie mistakes when buying a used setup. Hope to have fish back in it soon though.

So what do I need to know about the middle TN reef club?

jonneyb · Apr 11, 2018

Welcome
Be sure to check out the club at the 2018 MTRC Music City Coral and Reef Expo next month.

MikeyTN · Apr 11, 2018

It's a club for you to share, learn, and enjoy. So what happened with purchasing a used tank?

jaxteller007 · Apr 12, 2018

jonneyb said:
Welcome
Be sure to check out the club at the 2018 MTRC Music City Coral and Reef Expo next month.

I'm definitely going to check that out.

jaxteller007 · Apr 12, 2018

MikeyTN said:
It's a club for you to share, learn, and enjoy. So what happened with purchasing a used tank?

Kept the same sand even after we drained the water out of it, rookie mistake of treating it as a well established tank (it did not have enough live rock in when I got it) and overloaded it with livestock, etc. Then ordered live rock from the gulf and didn't cure it. Quite a few mistakes in a row. Live and learn.

MikeyTN · Apr 12, 2018

I kept the sand from a tank that we've purchased from previous owner to set it back up then add new water. But I've had saltwater in the past so I tested many times before adding new livestock. Then did a full transfer to new tank with new live sand and added more live rock that's cured. But we all live and learn.

jaxteller007 · Apr 12, 2018

MikeyTN said:
I kept the sand from a tank that we've purchased from previous owner to set it back up then add new water. But I've had saltwater in the past so I tested many times before adding new livestock. Then did a full transfer to new tank with new live sand and added more live rock that's cured. But we all live and learn.

Yup, live and learn. We managed to save 4 fish and some inverts. Inverts are in a 10g tank, fish at the LFS until we are ready to add them back. Now I just have to read on how to tell when the tank has cycled lol.

MikeyTN · Apr 12, 2018

You gonna have to let everything set for a month or so since you have some uncured live rock. Did you use live sand or still existing sand?

jaxteller007 · Apr 12, 2018

MikeyTN said:
You gonna have to let everything set for a month or so since you have some uncured live rock. Did you use live sand or still existing sand?

Live sand and we don't have the uncured live rock in there anymore. Only rock in the tank now is what was in there when we bought it (was up and running for 6 months or longer) and the real reef type stuff out of the tanks at the LFS. All of the live rock I ordered is in tubs of saltwater in the garage with heaters and powerheads and I've been doing weekly water changes on them.

We broke it down and started with new live sand (Caribsea Agra Live or whatever it's called), new filter (didn't like the canister filter), and added a new protein skimmer.

MikeyTN · Apr 12, 2018

Do you have a sump? If you have live sand and existing rocks you'd be fine with the inverts and fish in there right now.

jaxteller007 · Apr 12, 2018

MikeyTN said:
Do you have a sump? If you have live sand and existing rocks you'd be fine with the inverts and fish in there right now.

No we're in an apartment right now so unfortunately don't have room for a sump. We really didn't have room for this 75 but it was too good of a deal to pass up.

We have a couple hermit crabs and snails in there now and then in our little quarantine 10g we have a sand sifter star, fire shrimp, 2 peppermint shrimp and a emerald crab. So you think those guys would be fine in the big tank now?

Just tested the water and ammonia is just slightly high, nitrites at 0, nitrates just slightly above 0

MikeyTN · Apr 12, 2018

No since your ammonia is high. Was there a die off of something in the tank to cause ammonia to go up? Personally I would eliminate the sand sifting star as they eat all the good stuffs in your sand bed.

jaxteller007 · Apr 12, 2018

When I say high i mean slightly above 0.. not high like "oh **** they are going to die". It's lower than the ammonia in the small tank. I was under the impression you needed ammonia to rise in order to give the bacteria something to feed on and cycle your tank. At least that's how I understood everything I read. Then as your tank cycles your ammonia and nitrite levels should lower to 0.

Chrisfish · Apr 12, 2018

Welcome to R2R, you’ve come to the right place

MikeyTN · Apr 12, 2018

jaxteller007 said:
When I say high i mean slightly above 0.. not high like "oh **** they are going to die". It's lower than the ammonia in the small tank. I was under the impression you needed ammonia to rise in order to give the bacteria something to feed on and cycle your tank. At least that's how I understood everything I read. Then as your tank cycles your ammonia and nitrite levels should lower to 0.

Yes that's right. But if you use existing rocks with live sand you should only go through a small cycle. It goes from ammonia, nitrite then nitrate. Have you taken your water to have it retested? Once ammonia is down to zero then that's when you can add them back in. How long has the uncured rocks been in the bucket? How long since you updated the sand?

Crystal Reef Aquatics · Apr 12, 2018

Welcome!

jaxteller007 · Apr 13, 2018

MikeyTN said:
Yes that's right. But if you use existing rocks with live sand you should only go through a small cycle. It goes from ammonia, nitrite then nitrate. Have you taken your water to have it retested? Once ammonia is down to zero then that's when you can add them back in. How long has the uncured rocks been in the bucket? How long since you updated the sand?

Just over 2 weeks now for all. I took the fish to our LFS and emptied the water, put the live rock and real reef rock in separate buckets of saltwater (with powerheads and heaters), changed the live sand, added new water 2 Weds ago. Then 2 Fridays ago I put the real reef rock into the tank.

MikeyTN · Apr 13, 2018

So the real reef rock uncured, which is still live rock, they're in a separate bucket correct? In existing setup in the 75 was the existing live rock plus new live sand correct? When you were switching the filters did you keep the existing running at the same time as the new one?

jaxteller007 · Apr 13, 2018

MikeyTN said:
So the real reef rock uncured, which is still live rock, they're in a separate bucket correct? In existing setup in the 75 was the existing live rock plus new live sand correct? When you were switching the filters did you keep the existing running at the same time as the new one?

Yea I think I'm confusing myself here lol. I'll start from beginning.

Bought 75g setup from someone online. Tank came with canister filter, existing sand, about 30 pounds of rock, 4 fish etc. It had been up running for at least 6 months. We saved emptied all the water out when we moved it and saved about 25 gallons. Got the tank home, added that water back and then the next day we went to the LFS and bought water from them to fill the tank. Tank was up and running fine even after we added a few too many fish too quick. I bought about 25 pounds of real reef rock from our LFS. This stuff is cured and ready to go in your tank when you buy it (at least it seems that way to me). It comes straight out of their tanks at the store.

About 3 weeks ago I received 10 pounds of live gulf rock I ordered online. I didn't really pay attention to the smell (plus my sinuses were jacked up that day and I couldn't really smell anything anyways). Put this stuff in a bucket of water for a day then added it to our big tank on Saturday. By Monday morning we noticed our ammonia spike and stuff. Got the remaining livestock out that morning and into our little 10g tank. That afternoon we took them to the LFS for foster care. Monday night I emptied out the tank completely. Water, sand everything. The rock that came with the tank and the real reef I had picked up from LFS went into buckets of new saltwater with all heaters and power heads (all new). The gulf rock went into it's own bucket (and is still in there).

Over the next couple days I got new live sand (BAHAMAS OOLITE ARAG-ALIVE! LIVE REEF SAND), added new water and put the real reef rock back in. The new filter was installed during all of this. So for about 2 weeks it's been new water, new live sand, new filter, and the cured real reef rock. We've also added some of that kick starter stuff you can buy.

Ammonia was slightly above 0 yesterday when we tested and that was down from 2 days ago.