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Best. Way to start? (1 Viewer)

joe651

joe651

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Maplewood Minn
I have 160lbs of rock from BRS curing in my tank, it has been in there for a couple of weeks and my ammonia levels are still high. I know I still can't start my tank yet but when I do what is the best way? I was going to get some big Tupperware containers and take the water and rocks out of the tank, then rinse out the tank. Should I get extra container to mix the saltwater or just fill the tank and mix salt in the tank and then add sand and then my rocks?
 
I wouldn't worry about taking the rocks out and cleaning them. You are building a bacteria population to convert ammonia to nitrite to nitrate.
What you will want to do is monitor the ammonia nitrite and nitrate levels. When ammonia and nitrite are gone and just nitrates remain, a big water change. (as big as possible) will lower your nitrate level and then you should be good to go.
If you see a build up of schmutz on the rocks taking a turkey baster or power head to blow them off before the water change would be good as well.
I would start with a single clownfish, and go from there.

I would add the sand ASAP too
 
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Like mentioned, add substrate now, The cycle will colonize the substrate too for better biological load.

The most common is to mix the saltwater outside the tank. That's what your going to have to do ongoing anyways so might as well get a process/system down for water changes.
 
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I can't tell if he has the rocks in freshwater or saltwater at the moment.

I read the first post a few times and I can't be sure what is going on, but man, it sounds to me like he has rocks in Freshwater in the tank, wants to pull them out and rinse the tank out and then start all over.....I know how strange that sounds, so it can't be right.

Joe, what is in the tank, water, salt and rocks? Why do you think you need to rinse the tank out?


Generally, we get rocks and clean them if they are dead/dry with either bleach/water or muriatic acid/water solution. If they are already 'live/wet' at the point of purchase then you don't need to clean them. Once clean, or live, I would lay sand in the tank, put in the rocks in the formation I want and then start adding either RO/DI Water (if everything started dry, then add salt when full) or pre mixed saltwater (if everything was wet/alive to begin with). Premixed saltwater can be added in either scenario, just depends on how you want to make water.

At that point, your tank has been 'started'.

When placing the rocks on the sand, be sure to push them all the way down to the bottom of the tank so that they cannot shift later as sand gets pulled away or moved. You also may want to put down eggcrate under the sand to keep the rocks from resting on the glass.
 
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I am curring the rock like I learned on the how to videos on BRS website, It says that curing the rock and the cycle are 2 different things. I am getting so confused. my ammonia has spiked and is slowly comming down, nitrate is rising. I think I will wait till it zeros out and then remove rock to container with water and empty tank and then put sand in and rock and slowly add the saltwater. It is 120 gallon tank so it will take awhile to mix up the saltwater and add it. Then add some raw shrimp to start the cycle.
 
I just watched the BRS video. You are on the right path, most of us are too impatient to do it the way you are doing it, what I mentioned earlier is something alluded to in the BRS Video at about the 3:40 mark (acid curing).

For those that haven't seen the video. Joe is going to run the rocks through a full cycle (nitrates quit rising) and then completely drain the tank. The idea being that anything organic on the rocks has now died and broken down into nitrates. He will then rebuild it with sand/rock/water and then add some new organic material like fish food or a deli shrimp and wait until he has seen ammonia/nitrites and then nitrates again.

Essentially, two "cycles". The first one to remove anything that is already dead/dying on the rock. The second one to repopulate the bacteria population for future inhabitants.

Joe, once you drain/rinse the tank, I'd then put in the sand and then I'd take the time to stack/glue/rod the rocks in the formation you like without water in the tank as it is easier to work with, then add the saltwater.
 
Yes rocks sre in saltwater with heaters and pumps running. Is glueing or rods nessasry to hold the rocks in place?
 
It's not required to glue but it makes the rock work much more stable verses just stacking. In my tank the rocks are just stacked together, on my next tank I am going to glue them together I think.
 
Hey Joe, keep it up! It sounds like you're off to a GREAT start. Keep it up with this slow and tactical process throughout the life of your tank and I think you're going to be set up for success in this hobby.

~Joe

edit - Feel free to reach out to me via PM if you ever want to talk through a question or problem. I know how it is to have so many great sources of info. Sometimes it's nice to have a neutral party give you some guidance (someone not looking to sell you anything or benefit from you in anyway).
 
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You can get by with less rock and more open areas. More importantly you can actually design the way you want your rockwork. Just stacking limits what you can do because they have to balance/interlock.

It's definitely an art to once you master it's a great asset for future tanks. To me, it's fun to create as well. So if you have the time, IMO it's worth the effort and practice to use rods and acylic stands to balance your structures. I personally do not try to cement them together and make permananent. Many times I've had to remove individual rocks for various reason ( fragging, reaching a stubborn aptasia, or other pests. Or just to tweak and improve after it's been up a while.
 
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The rocks cured or uncured can be out of the water for a couple of hours, just place a soaked terry cloth on top so don't dry out. I highly recommend you get a corded drill that is cheap such as the Menards house brand for under $20. I would not use a cordless as good chance you will ruin it plus some rocks drill easier than others and can't take some umph of a corded. Use nicest cement bit you can not just a typical masonary or it will take much longer more torque and more likey to break the rock in half from force.
 
Joe sounds like your off to a great start and doing it right the first time. What sized tank are you setting up?
 
good luck buddy.. hope everything works out for you. just be patient and don't think about giving up. if you do, i'll take your tank lol :)
 
Ok so its a standard 125 gallon. Im guessing its RR, what do you plan to run for equipment, and livestock stocking for the future.
 
I have 2 1300gph powerhead pump and 1 750gph power head pump and 3 heaters in tank now. I am going to get a reef octopus hang on the back protien skimmer and am still trying to figure out a sump. I want to go to some club meeting so I can see how they work. Today I think I am going to start looking at what type of lights to get. I have a nice oak canopy for the tank that I would like to keep using so I have to measure it up and see what lights fit ( need to make it easy to feed fish). I will start with a FOWLR tank till I know more about corals. But main goal is to slowly build a reef tank. These are what Im thinking of slowly getting.
False Perula Clowns -2
Royal Gramma-1
Spotted Cardinal-1
Blue spoted goby=1
Diamond Watchman-1
Halloween hermit crab=4
Scarlet hermit crab-4
Skunk shrimp=6
Bubble bee snails=10
0
 
I wouldn't buy a hang on skimmer if you don't already own it. There isn't going to be any reasonably priced models that would work very well for a 125g tank. Just do larger water changes until you can get the sump going. Buy it now and I guarantee you will be re-purchasing an in-sump model again sooner rather than later.
 
Agree with David. Also, with your livestock plan so far, you won't need a skimmer for quite a while as that load won't require much feeding.

If the tank isn't drilled with overflows already, I recommend you do that when you remove the rocks after curing. Find a Fish store that will drill it and install the overflows and talk you through the plumbing. I know Jay at Discovery Aquatics used to do such things, call other sponsors until you find one that can help you out. Maybe Advanced Aquarium.
 
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