New Setup...New Hobby!

[bmshehan]

Originally Posted by Jokko453

Ok awesome, thanks a lot. I have the bottom rocks on the glass and then put the sand in over it. I'm going to add some more rocks on the bottom and the maybe towards the middle on the left hand side, help prop that big on up more......this is an addicting hobby....its all I think about and I just started.

Your preaching to the choir bro!!! My tank is cycling and I find it fun to plan my next steps while my tank cycles... not much else I can do! I find it is best to concentrate on hardware because if you concentrate too much on livestock then you will dump a bunch in when the tank cycles and only bad things can happen. Like Otty says this is not a race!
I am currently planning/buying my MH setup and getting my skimmer ready. I am also in the planning stages for my wet/dry and fuge. I figure once I cycle I can run my skimmer, get the lights up and going, add some livestock, work on my wet/dry, add some livestock, work on my fuge... kinda spreads everything out (the listed stuff will be a year long project). Plus it helps on spreading out the cost rather than trying to dump a couple g's on it at once!!
Just one man's opinion!!!
Good luck with everything!!

[reef_guru]

this is an addicting hobby....its all I think about and I just started.

wait, ive been doing it for 20+ years

[missionsix66]

Aquascape? Isn't that what makes this hobby so fun (unique). I struggle with it everyday. Such a pain in the %$#. No one has a tank that looks like mine nor, willl they have one that looks like yours.

[Bruce]

Welcome to 3Reef, boy do I wish I was starting a new tank! Its looking awesome. After reading previous posts...I think all the bases are covered. Ha, Welcome Anyways!

[Jokko453]

Well I was checking the stability of the rocks and decided that I wasnt happy with it....they wobble too much. My supervisor, who I found out has been into the hobby for a few years now, came over to take a look at it and agreed. He helped me break the back of the really big rock (keeping the really sweet arch/cave thing), and then brought me a couple pieces of rock from his tank to help with re stacking an he said it would help seed the dead rock...not sure what that means but anyways. Now for some bad news. Today I found out that I cant renew my lease in my apartment, so my roommate and I need to move in a couple months.

So....that sucks. Right now I kinda have the rock thrown in the tank right now...I didnt really worry about re stacking it how I wanted it, at the time I was more worried about the apartment thing. Now for the questions.. I'm just going to let the tank cycle for a couple months without putting anything in it...like was advised anyways. But since Im going to have to take everything down in a couple months anyways to move it, I dont really want to aquascape it. Would it effect anything like algae growth or what not just to leave the rocks randomly stacked in there for a while? Also, there is a TON of gunk on the sand from moving the rock. Should I try to clean it out now or just worry about that when I move too? Thanks in advance!

[omard]

Good idea to just let tank cycle for now. Then resetup after move...

Will be allot less stress on livestock.

Going to be allot more gunk on sand during/after cycle. Not to worry about. Can cleanup or replace later.

[Jokko453]

So in the chamber to the far left, which holds the biological filtration and the carbon filter thing, the two pumps keep picking up the the carbon back and it restricts flow a lot. The booklet that came with the tank said to put the carbon on top of the bio, but I was wondering if it would hurt anything the put the bio on top, to stop the carbon from getting in the pumps?

And thank you very much for the help so far!

[glblguy]

Welcome! Fairly new here myself, but these folks are a wonderful resource. Have learned a great deal from them!

Feel your pain on gunk...added about 40lbs of LR to my tank about 5 days ago...gunk everywhere. Skimmer is working OT.

Clean up crew arrives today, so hoping that will help things out a bit and as soon as my new RO/DI unit makes enough water, will do a water change too.

BIG point of advice that I learned from these guys, don't use tap water! Make sure you are using RO/DI water and a good quality salt mixture (Instant Ocean is what I've read most seem to prefer).

[Jokko453]

so now that i know what karma is and how to give....there you guys go!

im starting to get a lot of algae...like slime and and brown stff...and some stuff that looks like dirt, I can brush it off its kinda weird....but now to the point.

on other threads i have seen some people say they add a cleaning crew at around the second week of the cycling process...would any of you recommend this? Also one thing Im worried if I did add a crew is the move...what would I do with them? would I have to go through all the rocks and try to pick them all out (the obvious answer is yes lol)...I mean some people say you need like 30 something snails and crab and stuff....thats a lot to try to find buried throughout all the rock and sand...and Im worried that I would have a lot of die off... AH!!!

[Jokko453]

bump