Newbie setup - 29 gal Biocube and 90 gallon bowfront

[saltwaterwannabe]

In my travels to buy live rock for my 90 gallon newbie tank today, I ended up with 190 lbs of mostly dry rock, dead corals (very few visible holes/pores in most of the corals), and a 29 gallon biocube. I am now planning to cure most of the rock and corals in the 90 gallon bowfront and delay setting it up for fish/coral while I "train" on the smaller 29 gallon biocube.

I put some of the dead rock and coral in the biocube along with rodi saltwater mix and the rest of it in the 90 gallon with just a very small circulation pump. I am guessing I am in for a long cycle time on the biocube since I started with dead rock. I am fine with a lengthy cycle time, I just want to get it right.

To add to the equation I have what looks to be about 10 to 15 pounds of live rock that I picked up with my 90 gallon tank. I was told the live rock was top notch; however, The live rock has been sitting in a 5 gallon bucket of rodi saltwater for about 2 weeks now without circulation, aeration, or food source, so I do not know if it is still "live." If you have made it this far through the thread, the info above leads to a few questions:

1) Should the rock that has been sitting in a bucket still be live?

2) Is it worth taking out the dead rock to replace it with the live rock?

3) If I do change the rock out in the biocube, should flush the tank and start with new rodi saltwater?

4) I added media to the biocube filter but have not added ammonia, shrimp, or other starter bacteria. Should I add some food to get the process going?

I am also unsure about how best to take care of the dead rock that is brewing in my 90 gallon, along with a host of other questions that I may answer by continuing to read the forums.... but four questions is likely enough for now. Any assistance would be appreciated.

 

[jbdreefs]

I am sleepy and headed to bed. If your dry rock was used previously, I would guess there is enough organic material in/on the rock to cause a cycle.

Some people throw a raw shrimp in the tank. Some buy pure ammonia and dose it. I typically see the ammonia dosers when using bare rock with no life what's so ever (like the mined limestone... Such as the BRS reef saver rock).

But it sounds like your rock is used. I'd just wait a couple days to see if ammonia starts to register on your test kit. You have one right? If not, go buy the API test kits. They are cheap and easy: perfect for monitoring the cycle IMHO.

 

[saltwaterwannabe]

Thanks for the response John, I assume there is no harm in adding some food to be sure.. I have some frozen brine shrimp that I tried using to feed my freshwater moray. I just tossed half a tab of it in the first chamber ahead of the cartridge filter to ensure there is enough to get the process going. I figure the cartridge will catch the shrimp and can be tossed along with the shrimp after the tank cycles.

I have some outdated test kits from my cichlid tank setup. I plan to use the outdated kits until I see the cycle break then buy a new kit to be sure.

Next question for someone....Is there anything special I need to do with the other rock I have sitting in a partially full 90 gallon tank to ensure it cures?

 

[iifeainteasy]

is your 29g gonna be anywhere near the 90g tank?

 

[saltwaterwannabe]

iifeainteasy;1064890 wrote: is your 29g gonna be anywhere near the 90g tank?

In the long term yes. Until I break it back down to move after just holding rock in the 90 without fish, they are on the same floor but about 40 feet away. Atm the 29 is next to my 55 freshwater that will later become a refugium in the basement

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[snotdoc]

I just did something similar by setting up a 43g and a 20gallon. I wish I would have just done the one larger aquarium. Testing and tuning everything x 2 is rough and the extras (Apex, Dosing, ETC) add up fast when you need two of everything.

 

[saltwaterwannabe]

Snotdoc;1065057 wrote: I just did something similar by setting up a 43g and a 20gallon. I wish I would have just done the one larger aquarium. Testing and tuning everything x 2 is rough and the extras (Apex, Dosing, ETC) add up fast when you need two of everything.

I plan to wait a bit to get the 90 going and will move the 29 stuff to the 90. The plan is for the 29 to be a qt. If I manage to pickup an apex it will go straight to the 90, maybe I will try it on the 29 for a while. I am guessing keeping 2 up would be a huge amount of work.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[saltwaterwannabe]

Does it seem reasonable to move everything from my 29 to the 90

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[saltwaterwannabe]

SaltWaterWannabe;1065074 wrote: Does it seem reasonable to move everything from my 29 to the 90

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

In about 5 to 6 months....sorry for the cryptic responses. I am planning to not setup the 90 for fish for around 5 to 6 months to see how I do with the new 29 first and to spread out my costs for entering the hobby. I have even thought about selling the 90 and going larger if the 29 looks great in 5 or 6 months.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[genesis]

Ace hardware pure janitorial strength ammonia and seachem stability work like a charm for a fishless cycle

 

[saltwaterwannabe]

 

[saltwaterwannabe]

Genesis;1065112 wrote: Ace hardware pure janitorial strength ammonia and seachem stability work like a charm for a fishless cycle

When I finaly picked up the test kit, I had 1 ppm ammonia, zero nitrites, zero nitrates. Next day 0.5, 0, 0. Following day all zeroes so I picked up some ammonia from dollar tree and spiked it to 4 ppm. 10 hours later was at 2 ppm ammonia, 10 ppm nitrites, and 0.5 ppm nitrites, so the tank is certainly doing something. I will wait 24 hours after first spiking it then dose it back up to 4 ppm ammonia to see what happens. I am not ready for fish yet.....

Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk

 

[saltwaterwannabe]

SaltWaterWannabe;1065755 wrote: When I finaly picked up the test kit, I had 1 ppm ammonia, zero nitrites, zero nitrates. Next day 0.5, 0, 0. Following day all zeroes so I picked up some ammonia from dollar tree and spiked it to 4 ppm. 10 hours later was at 2 ppm ammonia, 10 ppm nitrites, and 0.5 ppm nitrites, so the tank is certainly doing something. I will wait 24 hours after first spiking it then dose it back up to 4 ppm ammonia to see what happens. I am not ready for fish yet.....

Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk

I found that the dollar tree ammonia had no surfactants, dyes, fragramces, etc....but it did not state the ammonia strength. I found that every 1 ml raises 10 gals of water by approximately 1 ppm

Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk

 

[saltwaterwannabe]

While I am waiting for my tank to clear nitrates in the cycle, I have continued reading a couple of hours every day. I understand the basic concept of a refugium, but have seen what I think to be a critical flaw or my misunderstanding in how refugium flows are calculated. In my limitted experience with municipal water treatment design (yes, drinking and waste) anytime there is a product requiring contact time to work properly, the flow is expressed more in terms of velocity accross the contact material instead of flow - in most cases. (Velocity as in ft per sec....flow as in gallons per hour....velocity equals volume flow rate divided by flow area) There are different cases where the velocity does not matter, but in the case of a refugium, it would seem velocity should matter greatly to prevent a continual washing of the refugium media. I have yet to find anything expressing desirable refugium flow rate in terms of velocity. For example, if the refugium is 100 gallons but is only 2.5 inches in diameter, (yes, this would be an extremely bad case, but gets the point accross) then the flow speed accross the refugium media would seem far too fast to be effective and may actually break up the cheeto or simply cause the cheeto to be washed.

Am I over thinking this or is there a desired velocity through a refugium so that the water contacts various sections of the refugium media long enough without simply washing bacteria and related elements off of the media?

Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk

 

[saltwaterwannabe]

SaltWaterWannabe;1066226 wrote: While I am waiting for my tank to clear nitrates in the cycle, I have continued reading a couple of hours every day. I understand the basic concept of a refugium, but have seen what I think to be a critical flaw or my misunderstanding in how refugium flows are calculated. In my limitted experience with municipal water treatment design (yes, drinking and waste) anytime there is a product requiring contact time to work properly, the flow is expressed more in terms of velocity accross the contact material instead of flow - in most cases. (Velocity as in ft per sec....flow as in gallons per hour....velocity equals volume flow rate divided by flow area) There are different cases where the velocity does not matter, but in the case of a refugium, it would seem velocity should matter greatly to prevent a continual washing of the refugium media. I have yet to find anything expressing desirable refugium flow rate in terms of velocity. For example, if the refugium is 100 gallons but is only 2.5 inches in diameter, (yes, this would be an extremely bad case, but gets the point accross) then the flow speed accross the refugium media would seem far too fast to be effective and may actually break up the cheeto or simply cause the cheeto to be washed.

Am I over thinking this or is there a desired velocity through a refugium so that the water contacts various sections of the refugium media long enough without simply washing bacteria and related elements off of the media?

Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk

To firther clarify, everyone says the flow should be slow accross a refugium, but I have not found an acceptable range of speed

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[saltwaterwannabe]

And once again...i run accross totalky contracicting information. Now i have found a plethera of ing citing fast refugium flows....maybe someday i will experiment down the line

Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk

 

[saltwaterwannabe]

All zeroes tonight Respiked to 4 ppm for a check. I have the light to mid brown algae on the tops of the rock. Hope to see zeroes again soon

Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk

 

[saltwaterwannabe]

SaltWaterWannabe;1066408 wrote: All zeroes tonight Respiked to 4 ppm for a check. I have the light to mid brown algae on the tops of the rock. Hope to see zeroes again soon

Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk

3 times dosed and zeroed, so I picked up some snails, hermits, and a small $10 zoanthid frag. The frag openned up fine and so far so good Picking up clowns later this week

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[jbdreefs]

How would one measure velocity?

Contact time is certainly the key. Personally, I think low flow through the fuge and high flow in the fudge (via a power head of some sort) would win my vote. I have never run a fuge.... just my thoughts.

 

[saltwaterwannabe]

JBDreefs;1066626 wrote: How would one measure velocity?

Contact time is certainly the key. Personally, I think low flow through the fuge and high flow in the fudge (via a power head of some sort) would win my vote. I have never run a fuge.... just my thoughts.

The velocity is the flow volume divided by the area of the flow. Ie...748 gph (100 cu ft per hour) through a fuge 1 foot wide by 1 foot deep would be flowing at a velocity of 100 ft per hour. After calculating a couple scenarios, I am convinced that I am overthinking this since it would take an extreme case to generate the velocities I would be concerned about. Only at the openings between bays in a fuge where the flow area is small would belocities be high, within the bays the velocities would be slow. Thanks for responding, sorry for wasting your time

Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk