Finally, getting my 75 gallon started

[ladypheesh]

I don't think it will get moved around too much since he had to put it exactly where i told him to... hehe.

Thanks for all the compliments! I've spent most of the evening watching our emerald crab that hitchiked! (the comment from my mother was "wow not only did you get crabs but you picked up hitchhikers too.... what a day!!")

 

[Pheeshes]

well, the rock has been in the tank for 1 and half days so we figured it was time to test.

Temp 78.5
Salinity 1.024
ph 8.1
Alkalinity 1.6
Nitrite 0.05
Nitrate 0
Ammonia 0.25

How does this look for the first day. our current plan is to let the tank cycle until we get back from france(we are leaving the end of march and we'll be there for a week). right before we go i'm planning a 30% water change. then when we get back the tank should be ready to go.

other than that we do have some hair algea and 3-5 little balls of bubble aglea scattered around the tank. hopefully the emeral crab that hitched will take care of it, but who knows.

i'm kind of thinking the rock we got was cured enough that we aren't really going to see a cycle, but we'll keep testing it every other day or so and see how the params change. should we do anything to start the cycle or just let nature take it course?

thanks everyone for all of your help and compliments.

 

[yote]

I'm thinking that y'all picked y'alls rock up from a LFS?
If so and if the store already cured it,You may not have a cycle at all.
I'm betting that your cycle will be finished with in the next 2 weeks.

It'd also be a good idea to look closer at that hitch hiking crab.Just to be double sure of the ID on it.Theres a lot of crabs that can hitch hike in that are pure predators.

On a side note:What y'all gonna get me from France?:mrgreen:

J/K Hope y'all have a great trip and a good time.Because after you've been reefers for a year.You aint gonna want to leave your tank that long.:shock:

 

[Pheeshes]

well, we got the rock from reef systems Reef Systems Coral Farm, Inc also the place we got the tank drilled. todd and his wife are so nice and helpful. if anyone is in central ohio check them out.

the pieces that are mostly covered in coraline were their premium fiji and the stuff that isn't purple is their aquacultured stuff.

I'm not 100% sure it's an emerald, but it's pretty small. todd seemed to think the only crabs in his tank were emeralds, but i'll try to get a pic of him next time he is out an about. it was actually luck that we even noticed we had him. all the rock was out of the bags and we heard the bag rustling and thought the cat was getting in there. when we saw she wasn't near them we went in for a closer look and i just scooped him up in my had and dropped him on the rock. he was pretty green. claws were also green.

 

[yote]

From what I've heard of that place,I'd say that you wont have much of a cycle if any at all.

The crab probably is an emerald,But just to be on the safe side.Try to make 100% ID on it.Catching problem critters out of a stocked reef is a pain in the butt.

 

[Pheeshes]

is not having a cycle anything to worry about? should we do something to cause a cycle?

 

[yote]

I wouldnt worry about it.
We set up tanks at the LFS I help at all the time and stock them the same day.But using all live sand and cured live rock that we sale.I have yet to see of those tanks have any spikes at all.
However I wouldnt reccommend that.Its better to watch it for a couple of weeks just in case.

 

[fishbait]

there's nothing worse than getting crabs from a hitch hiker :shock:

If you are allready seing hair algae, I would suggest limiting or leaving off the lights for the next few weeks. the nitrates and nutrients from the cycle (if you have one) will fuel that algae like you wouldn't believe. it's one of the hardest algaes to get rid of once it gets a foot hold in you're tank.

 

[Pheeshes]

yeah, we've been keeping the lights off as much as possible. i'd guess we've only had then on maybe 20 minutes the last 2 days. if we get a clean up crew going before our trip should i worry about them starving? there isn't a whole lot of clean up to do.

 

[Pheeshes]

well, we're going to test again tonight and if there isn't going to be a cycle at all we are going to start looking into clean up crews.

how does this sound to start off.

2 more emerald crabs (total of 3)
20 astrea snails
5 turbo snails
and 15 blue leg hermits?

 

[reeffreak]

Your choices is fine for the most part.Remember hermit crabs may kill snails for their shells.The dwarf-blue legged are the safest around snails but there's no guarantee though.I would probably go with 2-3 Mexican Turbo snails instead of 5.IME,they make quick work out of hair algae.Once its gone they will starve if diatoms are the only algae left.If thats the case then you may have to supplement with algae sheets.

 

[Bifferwine]

I only have 4 turbos in my 240. They eat a lot so you only need a couple of them, really.

 

[Pheeshes]

ok, thanks.
so the clean up will start out like

3 emerald crabs
20 astrea snails
1 or 2 turbo snails
15 blue leg hermits
and 2 peppermint shrimp

that look better?

 

[reeffreak]

I would wait one more month for the Peppermint Shrimps.They are more sensitive to water quality.

 

[Bifferwine]

Yeah wait at least a month for any shrimp.

 

[Pheeshes]

ok, i think we're going to wait a little while yet for anything. we had a little ammonia last night so i think there is going to be a small cycle at least. we'll though. we'll probably test again thursday or friday

 

[Pheeshes]

well, we havent posted in awhile and it's a slow day at work so i'll fill everyone in. we got our clean up crew at aquarium adventures 50% off all live stock sale so it ended up being really cheap. we got basically enough to take care of the cleaning untill we get fish(we'll probably need more once there are fish) there are 15 blue leg hermits, 10 cerith snails and 4 emerald crabs for now. when we add more i'll probably look into some astrea snails and maybe some other guys to help out as needed.

we had everything set up with rock and sand for about 2 and half weeks with no ammonia or nitrates at all. the day after we added the clean up crew it slowly started climbing and is now at .5 i think and nitrates are coming up now also and the nitrites finally started climbing the last two tests.

right now we are working on setting up an ATO for while we are in france, so my wifes mother doesn't have to come to our house everyday. i'm planing on using an aqualifter pump and some sort of controller (we're looking at them now) and using a rubbermaid that was supposed to be for wrapping paper so it is tall and thin and will easily fit behind the stand.

we're going to start with two clowns when we get back and go from there as far as live stock.
and that's the update.

 

[ccCapt]

Is the skimmer working like you have it set up? I really don't see how it could possibly work like that with the crappy stock pump. That skimmer isn't really made to be run externally....at least not like that.

 

[Pheeshes]

it's actually working really well, i'll get a picture when i get home if i can, but i've skimmed about 2-3 inches of pretty dark gross stuff in 4 days of running it with just my clean up crew. i thought since the only things producing waste were the cleaners that was pretty good. i had some trouble at first getting the water level set, but once i figured out i had it way too high it's been running perfectly.

 

[Bifferwine]

The cleaners aren't producing that much waste, it's probably die off from your live rock. And the fact that you are seeing just a very small cycle shows that the skimmer is doing its job and taking out a lot of the bad gunk.