Progress is made
- Thread starter Captain Nemo
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RacingTiger03
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nice job! Its taken me about a week just to do the next phase, lol. Got all my rock cleaned up Saturday and in the tank, salt and sand and settling Sunday. Check my salinity and temp a couple more days then I get to start adding critters if I don't add more sand. LOL. (15lbs in a 30gallon) I know I don't have enough, but it looks like if I add more it'll be TOO much. Maybe because I put the rock work in FIRST this time since I know I'll have a goby or some sort of jawfish going in at some point as a sand stirrer.
RacingTiger03
Active Member
I used rock from my tank from 4 years ago. The thing is, I don't know if it would qualify as dry or live. It was stored in a refugium of sorts, and still had living algae when I got it out. How in those conditions I will NEVER understand. Anyhow, I've seen different methods from cycling it in a kiddie pool to just bleaching it. I went somewhere in between. Vinegar mixed 1:4 with dechlorinated water with a pump out in the sun. filled up slowly until mixed, then blasted full pressure with a high air content setting on the hose (firehose type) for skimming affect (LOTS of microbubbles blasting that vinegar around). Left that for 30 minutes to soak, came back out and pressure washed each piece individually making sure to leave no algae or dead organisms on the rock (except skeletal remains of a few encrusting corals :( ). Finally I left that out in the sun to dry for 7 hours, and then arranged in tank with just freshwater. I let that sit for a day with the skimmer on to ensure I didn't miss anything (keep in mind this skimmer is long since broken in) With almost no accumulation of organic matter, I mixed up the salt and set off on the journey from there. Seems to be doing well so far with no nitrate or phos spikes, and salinity and PH (the one I was worried about due to vinegar) are staying stable. Temp is fluxing a bit, but I'm running heaters I never ran in the 30 before... overkill for it really (dual 150w).
Happy to be taking this journey together! LOL. Let me know if there is anything you need along the way and I'll be happy to help if I'm able (I still have quite a bit of base "dry" rock as well) :D I need to go pickup some live rock to seed with and a CuC soon
Happy to be taking this journey together! LOL. Let me know if there is anything you need along the way and I'll be happy to help if I'm able (I still have quite a bit of base "dry" rock as well) :D I need to go pickup some live rock to seed with and a CuC soon
OP
OP
Captain Nemo
Look Ma, it's Nemo!!
My rock has sat out in the sun for 6 months so I think it should all be dead. Lol! I am going to wash it off and I guess bathe with some vinegar. I am clueless with the rock really....
RacingTiger03
Active Member
hah, definitely dead and dry! The main thing is you want as little bio matter left as possible, so a good vinegar dip and scrub should take care of that. I found I had left a few bits of dead algae from not scrubbing thoroughly enough, but it didn't cause any major problems. Interestingly, several of my high quality rocks I had from the start are already getting a few areas of purple back (just a slight tint yet). I was quite shocked by that. I thought the vinegar bath would've killed anything that remained off, lol. I may add some more live rock soon, but I'm not in a rush on this tank. Mainly waiting on it to cycle right now and add a couple clowns to make the kids (and me) happy, lol.
OP
OP
Captain Nemo
Look Ma, it's Nemo!!
So I have finally put the tank in its final place, and I have water in it. I had made RODI water for it and had something fall into one of the cans and cause some algae. So only have about 30 gallons in the tank. More to come!
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Awesome news!
RacingTiger03
Active Member
nice to hear! I'm battling out algae myself right now... part of the startup woes though. I was beginning to think you disappeared on us, LOL.
RacingTiger03
Active Member
I do not envy you. I remember those days with working on my tank, finishing up my bachelor's degree and working 40 hours a week.. all the while starting a family at the same time O.o... all I can say is, good luck. My tank crashed in those settings, and it was 4 years before I got back to it :P
RacingTiger03
Active Member
wow.. really looking in a mirror it sounds like! LOL. I had just found out I had one on the way when I started the first tank, and he was about a year old when everything crashed. Moving a couple times in between had a lot to do with it too though.. I had lost several of my favorite things in moves, so the last move probably had a lot do with it finally crashing (and my lack of interest at the time). So, good luck xinfinity and beyond, LOL. I've got a 4 year old and a 2 year old that will be another year older in April/March. Fortunately they're both old enough to share interest... it's when they're TOO interested that there is a problem, haha.. keep those chemical tests way out of reach! :P
RacingTiger03
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err
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