New tank lighting question....

[carlsbl]

Helllo,

14 days ago I moved 100 pounds of LR from a friends 90 tank to mine which is also a 90. The LR was out of water maybe 15 minutes. Included was about a dozen snails including a single turbo snail. Also there was 3 small brown mushrooms and about a dozen small polyps. I purchased 40 more pounds of curedLR from my LFS to use as a base for the good coraline covered stuff from my buddy. I added 40 lbs of live sand. The first week I have the LR in the tank with a couple of powerheads moving the water aound the tank. Meanwhile I was setting up the sump. (By the way, I need to add that this project was planned for later this year but my friends tank was failing and we needed to do this ASAP if I wanted to take advanatage of 100 lbs of free LR. So this was a rush job, the worse way to do something like this.) Week 2 I was pumping I am guessing about 500-600+ GPH from my basement up to the pump and back. I have a skimmer running in the sump. Here are some pics:

http://static.flickr.com/66/191370434_1042489b2c_o.jpg

This is my sump and skimmer.

http://static.flickr.com/65/191370459_f570a7ca19_o.jpg

This is my tank, the height from the pump is 11 feet. I have great water flow!

http://static.flickr.com/55/191370446_6ba8fde40f_o.jpg

Overflow and return.

I have never done this before so please don't laugh.

Since the tank has been on-line it has never shown any nitrites at all. No ammonia either

The shrooms, most of the snails, the turbo have survived in the tank since it was set up. 24 hours ago I added 2 green chromies and they look ok, so far. The water shows a trace of nitrates so I accept that it has not fully cycled. My question is, should a start running lights at all? I don't want to lose all the life I have on the LR but I don't want to create algae soup either. Opnion? Advice?

[bertoni]

[welcome]

I would probably go ahead and start lighting the tank, but there's always some risk of algae soup.

[sir_dudeguy]

yes you should...the tank is already cycled because the water isnt what the bacteria that cycles grows on...its the rock and sand..the rock has already been cycled if your friend had if for a while, and you said the 40 that you added was already cycled.

so basically, i'd give it about a week before you start adding anything that you wanna keep (are you planning on keeping the chromis? they're related to damsels and damsels are VERY hard to catch lol..but idk if chromis are the same way...) And if you arent keeping them, they're unneaded right now, because the rock will cycle the tank because its live..oh, one more thing..you actually might see some slight amonia/nitrite/nitrates because you had the rock out for 15 minutes so there will have been minimal die off.

by the way, thats nothing to laugh at what you got there! thats awsome looking! the rock and everything. For a rush job and a first time, that is awsome! post pics of when you get corals in there and growing to fill in everything for sure.

and the overflow...i'm hoping you just have it angled like that just to get a picture of it lol?

oh, and what kinda lighting do you have?

[Dubbin1]

Hey where did you get that custom sump stand :)

[Earl45]

I'm new at the hobby, so I may not know what I'm talking about - but Heaven forbid your sump overflows or leaks and that salt water drips right on your power stip - that could be a bad situation. :) I'd probalby move that power stip from directly underneath the sump.

[carlsbl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7756492#post7756492 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Earl45
I'm new at the hobby, so I may not know what I'm talking about - but Heaven forbid your sump overflows or leaks and that salt water drips right on your power stip - that could be a bad situation. :) I'd probalby move that power stip from directly underneath the sump.

I knew that when I took that photo someone might bust me for that strip! That is why it was under the sump, it was on the floor in front of the sump and I kicked it under the sump before I shot that photo. It is destined for the wall behind the sump. ;)

Brian

[carlsbl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7756445#post7756445 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dubbin1
Hey where did you get that custom sump stand :)

I was sitting in the kitchen drawing up plans for a table, trying to decide where to get wood, how to fasten it together when I had the thought of using the blocks. I was pretty proud of myself until I spoke with my son and said, hey, bet you can't guess what I put the sump on! He replied cinder blocks? I guess I was not the first to think of it. Just like being back in college again.

[carlsbl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7756127#post7756127 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sir_dudeguy
yes you should...the tank is already cycled because the water isnt what the bacteria that cycles grows on...its the rock and sand..the rock has already been cycled if your friend had if for a while, and you said the 40 that you added was already cycled.

so basically, i'd give it about a week before you start adding anything that you wanna keep (are you planning on keeping the chromis? they're related to damsels and damsels are VERY hard to catch lol..but idk if chromis are the same way...) And if you arent keeping them, they're unneaded right now, because the rock will cycle the tank because its live..oh, one more thing..you actually might see some slight amonia/nitrite/nitrates because you had the rock out for 15 minutes so there will have been minimal die off.

by the way, thats nothing to laugh at what you got there! thats awsome looking! the rock and everything. For a rush job and a first time, that is awsome! post pics of when you get corals in there and growing to fill in everything for sure.

and the overflow...i'm hoping you just have it angled like that just to get a picture of it lol?

oh, and what kinda lighting do you have?

I have a Current Outer Orbit which consists of 2 140 watt dual actinics and 2 150 watt 10,000k MH's.