Question about live rock........

[yote]

Personally,I wouldnt run the lights at all untill the rock cured and the cycle was complete.That way you shouldnt end with a bunch of green water to start with.
Too,Some folks have both the whites and actinics come on at the same time,some have the actinics come on first.I like for the actinics to come on first and run for 3 or 4 hours before the whites,then the whites go off a couple of hours before the actinics.

 

[Bifferwine]

I run my actinics and whites for the same amount of time.

 

[mennazeher04]

hey for some reason my tanks is cloudy again and ive been running carbon to try to clear it up.....is that normal or do i need to do something before putting in my rock?

 

[mennazeher04]

oh just to add to that it was like almost clear than all of sudden it got cloudy so i dont know why....i havent done anything with the sand or nothing so...........

 

[dustin_P74]

most likely its a bacteria bloom

 

[daugherty]

put the rock in it will help to stablize the tank

 

[mennazeher04]

i was told not to put in the protein skimmer until i put the live rock in....is that correct?

 

[Bifferwine]

No, you can start up the protein skimmer whenever you want. Without live rock and stuff in the tank, it's not going to pull much crap out, but it does usually take a couple weeks to break in a new skimmer, so might as well start it now.

 

[dustin_P74]

+1 biffy

 

[IraqVeteran]

with the lights he has it will be about only 3watts per gallon. He would not be able to successfully keep much more than softies right?

 

[lockkeeper69]

I hope I can tag onto the question and reply with a follow-up question?

I am setting up a 120 gal tank as well. If I follow the 90-100 base and 20-30 Live rule how long before it all becomes real? What do I want to add or not add to prevent the base rock from becoming live rock durring the process?

 

[dustin_P74]

well its all real rock, but the base rock will take a couple months to become live rock, you dont need to add anything besides the live rock to seed it with and just wait

 

[mennazeher04]

with the lights he has it will be about only 3watts per gallon. He would not be able to successfully keep much more than softies right?

refering to this question.......with the light system that i have what will i be able to keep in the tank? Also how many watts do i want or should have per gallon to have like anemone's, LPS, SPS, etc........? (just a reminder about my light system....i have 2 blue actinic 96w and 2 10k's 96w)......should i have more or is this enough?

 

[dustin_P74]

your going to be limited to mushrooms, and ricordea. if you want clams anemones or SPS your going to need to up your light to atleast a nova extreme pro lighting system

 

[reeffreak]

You would need to replace the fixture altogether if you want to keep SPS corals,anemones and clams.Metal halides or T5-HO/T5-VHO with individual reflectors is what you would need.I don't really quote ''watts per gallon'' because its way more complicated then that.You can add more watts and it will help you keep more LPS corals but it wouldn't help SPS corals.PC's are nowhere intense enough for those corals.

Your fixture now is good enough for soft corals and maybe some LPS corals if kept in the top half of the tank.

 

[mennazeher04]

ok.......so if anyone can or wants to answer this for me. basically what can i keep with the lights i have now......because ill have to save up money for lil bit to probaly get the lights yall are talking about. so any info would help to let me know what i can get.....thanks

 

[IraqVeteran]

The watts per gallon thing is more or less an initial guideline to go by or a somewhat "rule of thumb". Like others have stated currently you could keep some low light animals such as some mushrooms, christmas tree coral. You might be able to keep some candy cane coral, frogspawn or hammer if they are kept higher up in the tank. Some people will tell you different things. I kept LPS in my 75gal for about 14 months under 260 watts of PC lights and they thrived and thats about 3.5watts per gallon or so. I know have a total of 692watts of MH and PC over my 75gal which is over 9watts per gallon. So you might be able to get away with some LPS corals with the lights you have.

 

[Bifferwine]

With your current lighting, I would stick to zoanthids, mushrooms and leathers.

 

[mennazeher04]

just another question about lights......would it be pointless to add metal halides to what i already have to cut down on cost, or is that just not worth it? Also is there any way that you can make metal halide lights........sorry about the questions, but im trying to absorb all knowledge so i can learn this wonderful hobby.

 

[daugherty]

you can put them together if you know what you are doing. i would just get a good fixture because it has a warrenty