The Girlfriends 60 gal mini reef/Marine tank....

[ZAPCOnj]

Hello, So i finally got around to getting the girlfriends mini reef/marine tank going... or should i say.. she finally reached my limit of nagging to get her tank started for her.... being a beginner myself i've been trying to read up and learn as much as i could before i got started...

In her 60 gal tank so far we have the following

31 lbs of live rock
roughly 30lbs of live sand
Eheim 22171 canister
Coralife 54065 Light
and... that background the she absolutely had to have.

we've had the tank up since Wed Night and i have not taken water readings yet but I will start taking readings tomorrow.

I wanted to put more LR in the tank but the GF wants to have more of an open look and would rather have more fish vs reef.... We'll see if more LR doesn't suddenly appear....

on a side note.. i do believe i will be starting a 29 Biocube reef soon.. i'll post up info on that soon.

[ZAPCOnj]

Here are some close ups of the two critters we found on the LR.

[ZAPCOnj]

Hello all, not much new to report on the tank yet. just waiting for the cycle. Been taking readings every day and they are usually around the same

no2 - 0ppm
no3 - 2.5
ph 7.8
ammonia 0

no real change since sunday. things have gone up and down a hair but not much to jump around about. I brought some water samples in the Tropiquarium (my lfs) and had them test the water as well and they had the same results. we had talked about adding a bottle of live bacteria to the tank... what do you guys think?

i did notice some little white snails about the size of a . as well as a large one roaming around the tank this past weekend. I counted roughly 10 or so of the small snails.

There are some little shrimp looking things fluttering around the rock as well.

I ordered this thing called the scwd (squid) flow/wave maker device. It was like $50 and comes with all the parts to add 2 alternating "flow jets" to the tank (connected to the main pump) so we'll see how that works. a few people on this board have them and have reported no problems and good results. I figured it would be just one or two less sets of cords and things to plug in. if they work great! if not i'll break down and buy some power heads.

[BigAl07]

Just some advice... if it's going to be REEF at all you may want to go ahead and ADD the Live Rock now. The "Canister Filter" will eventually end up adding large amounts of Nitrates into the tank if it's not maintained impeccably.

As a general rule of thumb (depends on quality and porosity of LR) you want 1 - 1 1/2 lbs of LR per gallon of water. The Live Rock is a VERY important part of your Reef Tanks "Biological Filtration" system and is much more than "Just for looks".

As this juncture it's either a reef or not a reef and now's the time to make that determination. If you try to add a significant amount of Live Rock after the cycle you're likely to kick off another cycle which is NOT a very good idea once any live-stock is added. Now's the time to sit down and make some long term plans for the tank and start working towards it.

One idea is if she insists on keeping the Display Tank open (not a bad idea but few people keep it that way long term) you can add a large Sump/Fuge system and keep some of the Live Rock in that tank. Regardless you NEED the Live Rock in your system for it's colonization of the beneficial bacteria in order to maintain long term HIGH water parameters.

Good luck and keep us posted

Allen

PS I see you've "Reserved" space for pics.. you can only go back and add/edit your post for a few days then it's locked and your thread/chronicle will look "off". Just a heads up for ya

[ZAPCOnj]

She's pretty instant on it being more of a marine tank I would really like to see a little more rock in there but it would be a battle that i'm not sure i would win. She's more of a "LOOK AT THE FISHIES" person vs Look at all the cool corals and colors and critters, and oh. there goes a fish type.

I put in the bid to her yesterday to get another 20lbs tomorrow but we'll see if she goes for it.

since she's going "marine" on this tank.. is the 31 lbs of LR enough?

ahh.. thanks for the heads up on the photos.. I didn't realize it worked that way on this forum. Can you go and kill the second "Reserved" post for me.

Thanks

[BigAl07]

Done deal on the "post"


If she's going FOWLR (Fish Only With Live Rock) she's fine with that amount of Rock and the canister filter. Just don't want to go REEF at all. Corals and inverts can't tolerate elevated levels of Nitrates. I like the look of a FOWLR tank and plan on turning my current 90g into that for our bedroom when we build a new house.

[lcstorc]

You also need something to kick off the cycle. This would be some source of amonia that will feed the bacteria that is on the LR so it grows and provides the biological filtration you need. Many people use a piece of shrimp from the grocery store in a net. As it decomposes it creates amonia which starts the cycle. Then monitor your tests and when they get to 0 you can slowly add livestock.

[rmlevasseur]

I'm sure many would disagree, but I feel that is a totally infufficient amount of rock, even for a FOWLR. Not only for the nitrate reasons, but also as places of cover for the fish. Most fish need periods of hiding to minimize stress and fighting, and most chose a place to bed down at night.

[BigAl07]

Originally Posted by rmlevasseur

I'm sure many would disagree, but I feel that is a totally infufficient amount of rock, even for a FOWLR. Not only for the nitrate reasons, but also as places of cover for the fish. Most fish need periods of hiding to minimize stress and fighting, and most chose a place to bed down at night.

Ditto

[brandon]

On average you want at least 1-1 1/2 pounds of lr per gallon

[ZAPCOnj]

Originally Posted by BigAl07

Done deal on the "post"


If she's going FOWLR (Fish Only With Live Rock) she's fine with that amount of Rock and the canister filter. Just don't want to go REEF at all. Corals and inverts can't tolerate elevated levels of Nitrates. I like the look of a FOWLR tank and plan on turning my current 90g into that for our bedroom when we build a new house.

Originally Posted by BigAl07

Ditto

ok.. i'm confused... do you think i'm ok with the rock i have in there for the FOWLR tank or do you think i need to add more?

[chrome91]

Originally Posted by ZAPCOnj

ok.. i'm confused... do you think i'm ok with the rock i have in there for the FOWLR tank or do you think i need to add more?

definitely add more, you want hidey caves, not a few chunks in the sand. aim for another 20+lbs of rock, and stack it on your current rock

[ZAPCOnj]

todays reading

No2 0.5
No3 0
Ph 7.8
Ammonia - 0.5

[ZAPCOnj]

Todays readings

No2 - 0
No3 - 0
Ph - 7.8
Ammonia - .25
Temp 79.2

I'll be adding roughly 20 lbs of LR tomorrow night when i'm down at the GF's and do a little playing with the scape while i'm at it...... The GF will be out with her aunt at some family thing so i'll move things around while she's out >

[ZAPCOnj]

No2 - 0
No3 - 0
Ph - 7.8
Amo - .25
Temp 79.2