Start of a reef!

[suitcasey]

Hello there everyone :)! Just lookin for a wee bit of advice here.
Well today I went out and got some live rock for my tank. It has been set up as a FO for over 2 years now, its been amazing so far but i just wanted a change! Its a 55 imperial gallon bowfront, I'm not sure how much rock i got but its plenty for this tank, about 7 large pieces and a few medium sized ones. My final goal will be to transform this into a reef, but that wont be for a while down the line.

The guy in the shop could not have been more helpful, gave me lots of really good advice to get me started. I got some grid-like things off him to make platforms and stuff for some really nice aquascaping, im really excited and cant wait to get started!

As my tank has already been established with just fish for quite a while now, i didnt want to do anything that would harm the inhabitants. He advised me to add the rock gradually, to avoid any major shocks or stress to the fish. So tonight I put in two of the big pieces, and I have put the rest into a large container with a lid, a heater, and a powerhead for plenty of aeration and flow. Do you all agree this is a good idea? and how long should I wait before I start to add a few more in?
He said the most important thing in the hobby is to be patient, as you can imagine Im very excited to get on with aquascaping though!! but i wont do anything untill im sure im in the all clear.

I asked him about any supplements or trace elements I needed, he said with just the live rock I just needed to add strontium ions. Is this good advice? need anything else?

I think thats all for now :), I may have a few more questions tomoro. But for now I'd just like to know if i have everything I need, and when it is safest to add the rest of the rock.

Btw, I have a protein skimmer (which shall be upgraded for christmas hopefully!), an eheim canister filter, and just normal lighting (not sure what exactly, but nothing special like T5s or anythin yet :(). Also have a sump which I will soon be adding a refugium to.

Think thats everything for tonight, any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated also! I'll try and get pics up soon too if i can. thanks a lot. :)

Casey.

[aLucidDream]

Ok,
Seems like he gave you some good advice. The rule for the live rock more or less is to wait about 3-5 months before you add any fish....was the rock cured in a tank? You might be able to throw it in the tank sooner. If you plan on going with a reef tank you will have to check which fish you have in there now and see if you can have them in there.....if there is 1 or 3 that is not reef safe get them out now before you add the rest of the rock because down the line you will not get them out. You will have to also add Calcium along with the Strontium....I use Seachem products such as Reef Complete, Reef Plus, ect ect when I dose. There are a bunch of ways you can do it though.

Also with the live rock you throw that little canister filter away....use the sump and add the refuge. No need for the canister filter. You may want to actually find out how many pounds of LR you actually have...just so you know. Hope that helps some what.

[billr]

I found four used MJ-1200's on E-bay for $22.00 plus $10.00 shipping. They all work great. Might be an idea to saving you a few bucks.

[suitcasey]

Hey everyone! thankyou very much for all the advice, very helpful :)!
aLucidDream; That was quite stupid of me, i should have mentioned that yes all the live rock has been cured!! He put some of the same batch strait into his reef display tanks with no problems at all. So does that mean i can start putting the other rock in a little sooner?! :)!

Also yup I have checked all my fish, and they will apparantly thrive very well in reef conditions :)!

Oh i heard him mention the calcium! i think he said i only really need that when i add any corals, that probably wont be for quite a while yet, but would you reccomend that i start adding it now?

Is there an actual reason for not needing the canister filter anymore?? i mean, it has to be removing some debris... and its full of good bacteria stil... is there an actual benificial reason for not using it anymore?? (i have heard about doing that before, but i never really saw any sense in it!!)

thanks for all the great advice, i hope that means maybe my tank will be ready for a little more rock today :)!!

And billr, ebay is absolutely amazing! it seems to be my main retailler for most things these days. I recently bought a powerhead from there (not sure the make or anything) but i have it cleaning in a bucket right now and the flow off it is incredible. it'll be really good in the tank. gonna try and find a decent protein skimmer from there soon.

Ok well i have one more question now to add to this! Late last night, i think i may have got a nasty shock. I was absolutely not expecting to see any life for quite a while yet in these rocks. And then suddenly on one of them i spotted about five or six feather duster looking creatures. theyre about three or four mm long, have a long white/translucent stem and a head that kinda looks like a palm tree (lots of wee arm things extended). Then suddenly it dawned on me, this is probably aiptasia isnt it?? from what i can tell, it only seems to be on one of the rocks, so if need be i could isolate it. I was just wondering seeing as i dont have any reef lighting right now, will they die out cos they're not in the right conditions?? i hope so :(. any advice on this is very welcome, i was not expecting to have to tackle this problem so soon!

thanks a lot for any replies, :)

Casey.

[suitcasey]

Hey, sorry just a little bump here. dont want this thread to get lost in all the traffic! planning on maybe makin this like a tank diary type thread to show my progress, i'll get some pics of soon :)! Thanks.

Casey.

[suitcasey]

Sorry to bother you all again. I just need your opinions on this. Could someone please tell me if its safe to add my live rock to the tank? It is already completely cured, I just don't want to upset all of my fish who are happy in the tank. I've been gradually adding in pieces everyday to complete the transition from the bucket to the tank. Just wondering if i should slow down or if i could even speed up!

Also, there seems to be one rock that is quite infested with aiptasia, all the rest seem pretty spottless. If I isolated this one rock in a sump or fuge, would it still be able to spread into my display tank? This would only be temporary until I get something that could either eat them or destroy them.

thanks for any replies I might get :)!

Casey.

[billr]

I take a large medical syringe (30cc) with a 16ga needle and fill it with boiling water. I then go in and spray the little critters directly with the boiling hot water and instant death. They will spread like crazy if you just give them a few weeks or so. They can sting some things and kill them. Any way you can get the boiling water directly on them without getting it on anything else will do just fine. The syringe and needle technic just works great for me. Good luck.

[kass03]

It's hard for anyone to tell you if it's safe to add all the rock at once because it depends if it is in fact fully cured. It could have been fully cured but if it was shipped to the LFS there would be some die off which makes it not cured anymore. If it was at the LFS for a month or so then yes it's prolly cured but we never really know for sure. It could cause a mini cycle no matter what so you should be testing for ammonia and nitrite to see if it cycles.
Also alot of corals don't like nitrates over 10-20 and some even less. Alot of people try to keep 0 nitrates. You should test for those also. Fish can handle much higher nitrates.

You should have at least 55 lbs of live rock for that tank for it to filter on it's own.
I would'nt remove the canister as of yet until the rock is established and you have enough.
Some people use canisters for carbon and such. They can cause high nitrates if the media is left in them and accumulates detritis and such so that is the reason for not using it but first you need to establish your bacteria in your rock.

kass