Here I go.

[Reefplus1]

Hi all. I am very new to the hobby and became very intrigued with reef tanks . been on a mission for almost a year.
The pieces are all finally coming together and I am psyched. Only problem is I dont't really know all that much and jumped in to this project no holds barred.
Here is what I have right now which leads me to my first ? bout cycling.

I have a 72 g reef ready bowfront tank. I was lucky enough to get a Kent Maximma Ro unit 65 lbs LR from my stepbrothers established tank for a decent price.
So I added three 40 lb bags or Caribsea aragonite to the RO water. I only filled the tank a little below the top, have 3 maxi jet 1200's in. Salinity is 1.23. Tank is very Hot here in NYC. Today tank hit 88. has been steady 80-83. ???Cant afford chiller..
But tank looks good so far. Water is clear and rocks look ok. I got 1 piece LR from lfs and threw it in also. that one is a lil' green. So it has been 3.5 weeks. I figure I am amost at end of cycle. Problem is I tested for amm/nitites tonite w/ Ocean Master test and vial did not change color at all. Amm was a lighter pink then chart and nitrite was clear. Supposed to turn green for test. I read instructions but it didn,t seem to work for me.

Well I hope this makes some sense. I guess I will get sump running in a few days and wait another week or two before i do water change and add critters.
I have alot of stuff but still no skimmer. I'm hoping to get it soon.
I would like the ASM G2 but I don't think it will fit in my sump. I have an Amiracle SL series 350 i think.
Keep in mind I had never heard of any of this stuff untill I purchased the tank with stand and filter on ebay for $240 bucks. SCORE!!
any suggestions would be awesome.

I am kind of stuck as what to do next. Any suggestions is appreciated. I am only worried that my tank is that high temp during cycle.

[cwegescheide]

Umm.... Cycling? If I were you I'd just get your live rock and set it in your tank and filler up with RO (Get a TDS meter to make sure your RO is good. Membranes don't last too long) It will save you from a lot of headaches with neusance algae and the like. If I were you I'd just throw a frozen shrimp in your new tank and let it decay with your rocks and stuff in there and wait a couple weeks. After that you should be able to add a couple fish. If I were you if you want a coupl e tangs get all the same species at the same time and introduce them all at once. Same with any other species. I've learned the hard way. Most species of fish get territorial towards their own kind. I've lost SEVERAL fish because of my ignorance on this. The best way is all at the same time for success.

Good luck. After you get all this stuff done check back in! Oh yeah get a good skimmer and if your planning on corals get the good lights now and don't have a few lights collecting dust in your closet. ;)

Chris

[bertoni]

I wouldn't add dead shrimp to a tank with live rock. I don't think it serves any purpose. Just get the SG and temperature in shape, and work from there.

[Reefplus1]

Cool. I will hold on a lil longer and get the sump up and figure out the skimmer situation. This weekend will try to lower tank temp with a fan and move from there. I will be back. Thank's for your input.

[cwegescheide]

No Bertoni? I've always heard thats the way most people start the cycle with their tanks. My thinking is you need a little something to decay in there to start the cycle and build up the bacteria levels in there so it will better support the fish eventually added. :)

[bertoni]

I suspect most people do start with raw shrimp, but I don't think it has any positive effects on live rock, since that already has microbes in place. The zero-shrimp approach has always worked for me, anyway.