Cycle Question

[fresco136]

Hello everyone

I have a new 46g set up going on a week now.


You Guy's seem to be the only ones that truly care about helping all of us newbies,and after I gain any exp. I will continue to "pay it forward"

I have been lurking on several forums lately and I read some where that some people are watching snails,pods, and even clams after only 3 days after adding live rock.

I added 40#'s of live sand after 24 hours of every thing running then added 50#'s of live uncured rock 48 hours later. I have only observed 1 pod a couple of days ago but have not seen any since. Should I be worried? I have also observed several brown husks floating at the top of the tank. Has anybody ever seen these before?

My salinity has been at a constant 1.025, temp At 79 degrees
my ammonia did spike (quite a bit) but is now starting to come down,and my PH Has been between 8.3 and 8.6 the whole time. I am fully comitted to waiting out my cycle but could it be possible that my live rock has no life on or in ot other than algae?

If any one can help me through my rookie questions I would really appreciate it.

Thank you all again for being the most helpfull Forum I have ever visited and the first one I have ever joined!!

Once I figure out how to get pictures posted I will add them from start to finish(if ther ever is a finished product!!)

[sir_dudeguy]

[welcome]

I have only observed 1 pod a couple of days ago but have not seen any since. Should I be worried?

if you got one, you got thousands :) No need to be worried, specially at this point. Even if you were to keep complete duds out of your rocks and end up with no pods whatsoever, you can always either buy a bottle of them for like 15-20 bucks and jump start your system from there, or you can get a scoop of Live sand from some other local reefer which would also help your pods out.

but could it be possible that my live rock has no life on or in ot other than algae?


could be....thats how my local fish store (LFS for short, just so you know) rock is....basically nothin but algae. But like i said just before, you can always just get some from other places.

hope this helps, and again, welcome to reefcentral :)

[reefshadow]

Hey, [welcome]

You will see more life after the cycle ends. You will probably be suprised at how much makes it through. I've had very mixed experiences with fresh LR, depending on origin and the conditions it was subjected to after collection, shipping and holding.

Swapping some rubble, sand and actual critters with other reefers will tremendously improve the diversity. You should be able to find a huge contingent of reefers in your area willing to help.

HTH

[fresco136]

Thanks for the quick response!

All I know about the rock is when I purchased it they had already had it for a week and it was sitting in three huge tanks submurged in sw which looked kike it was running. I picked the most unique looking ones and some with this very nice red and purple looking color on them. My salesman assured me that this color was good and anything that was bad would eventually die off. He was the third sw store I had visited and the only one willing to share any info.

[fresco136]

Sorry about the mispelling?!

[reefshadow]

No problem, lol.

Sounds like you have some nice coralline algae started on your rock, that's very good.

Hopefully you have found a LFS that is up to date, and won't try to sell you alot of unnecessary stuff or give you bad info. It sounds like you are making a good start.

The best advice I can give you is to look at alot of different tanks, decide what you like, and then do tons of research so you can reach your goal with a minimum of fuss. Always feel free to ask questions here, I probably wouldn't have lasted without all the great info on various boards.

Based on your post it seems like you are headed in the right direction, if you detail your entire 'kit' and eventual goal for us we can give you a whole slew of unsolicited advice, lol.

Hope you're having fun

[fresco136]

I guess only time can tell if he is on the straight and narrow. What I can say is he did listen to me and then proceede to help me with my rock and did not push any other things on me.

My current set up is: 46g Bow front with Florescent lighting, 50 lbs of live rock, 40lbs of live sand (about 2 inches from the bottom),1 Aqua Clear powerhead, 1 aquaclear canister filter,Kent marine starter kit, Marine Lab 5 in 1 master test kit. on glass thermometer, and in tank hydrometer with a thermometer also.

I keep filter,powerhead always on and heater as needed,and test water quality daily.

Right now I am going for FOWLR but eventually want to end up with reef set up.

Thanks

[kass03]

Did you look at night with a flashlight for the pods? Usually you can see them at night when the lights are out.

I'm sure more will show up as time goes on and the tank finishes cycling and wouldnt worry about it.

kass

[reefshadow]

Sounds like a good start. The main change I would make as finances allow would be a refractometer to read specific gravity, or a swing arm hydrometer calibrated against a refractometer. If your lfs is good they should have a refractometer you can calibrate against. In any case those floating type are soooo hard to accurately read and can be wildly inaccurate. Coralife makes a cool little digital thermometer with probe that's battery powered for about 10 bucks.

Your test kit is probaly sufficient for now, if you switch to reef I would recommend a step up and some additional kits. Ditto with the lights though i'm sure you know this.

A protein skimmer is very nice but for your size tank unnecessary IMO even if you switch to reef.

What media are you using in the cannister? Running passive media like bioballs or filter floss can eventually lead to elevated nitrates as the media traps detritus and colonises bacteria. I use one for carbon, phos remover or occasional poly, but don't run it 24/7 for this reason. They can also be used empty, just for additional flow.

Source water can never be underestimated. The cleaner the better, so if you aren't using reverse osmosis or deionized, I would recommend you look into that for sure.

Sounds like you are making a good start!

[fresco136]

I have been looking at night with a small flashlight but I just can't seem to find any. I will just be patient I'm sure they will show up eventually.

In my filter I have what aqua clear calls three stage. It has a foam block on the bottom a bag of carbon in the middle and a Bio max insert. Is this ok to run all the time or should I alternate the filters use?


Happy New Year!!!