[blue]

I got 70lbs of cured rock today to start my 80 gallon tank. IM going to get my skimmer and light up and going tomorow. What is my next step to do? It shouldnt take long for the tank to cycle with cure live rock. How often do i need to do water changes? Were should i place my power heads? Sorry for all the questions but you think you have it all figured out and when the day comes you have a ton more questions.
Thanks,
Blue

[fishguy_8]

never know how long it'll take for your tank to cycle....just let it do what its gotta do give it time for the pods to really boom in there. for a new tank i'd say take a ph and point it straight up this will keep the surface aggitated(sp?) and will prevent the "protein slick" which can arise after a while....if you still get the protein coat after having a ph pointed up point another one up.....when i pointed mine up in less than a day it was gone.....but thats in a much smaller system. i'd point one of the ph's and point it at the front glass that'll help to keep the algae from building up there....thats where you are looking in at so you deffinitely want to keep that clean, if you ever get algae on the glass just get some turbo snails they are miracle workers!!! i dont know how many powerheads you have but the other ones i'd position them so your soon to be corals that need more circulation have enough room to fully grow and have the circulation in which they need.....on my 20g tank i am running 2 ph's and on my 10g i am running 1 ph. its all personal preference. once you know you've had your ammonia/nitrates in check for a month at the least then you can buy your clean up crew. if i were you i'd start working on that now. i'd do your research figure out what fish you plan on keeping, if any, and decide how many snails/shrimp etc....you will need. if i were you i'd kind of keep away from hermits. some people really like 'em and thats great but they do tend to be a little on the troublesome side....a) hermits arent found in a natural reef in the wild. b) when hermits feel like it they will pry off a snail from the glass and kill the snail for its shell even when it has no intention of using its shell. i had 2 hermits hitch their way into my tank and im too much of an animal lover to a) give them to the lfs or b) do the old euthenasia method on them. have fun preparing ask if you have any questions.
Jon

[chromis]

One of the things I have been reading in TRA V 1 is that your powerheads should be positioned so they direct water to your overflow. I have one of mine doing this and also blowing across the rock and my other is just blowing across the rock. I really want to add some more powerheads as this is going to be a SPS tank.

HTH
Andrew

[SPasse]

Blue,

Here are some additional thoughts about the "cycle"

No cycle?

Regards,

Scott Passe

[blue]

Thanks for all the help. Chromis i dont have an overflow but thanks for the tip. I have three CAP 660 powerheads now ill get three more soon. I have 1 powerhead on the back wall and 1 on each side i was going to add one to the back wall and another to each side. Will this be enough flow for a SPS tank? I am also going to put an extra mag 5 i have on a closed loop so that will help with water curculation. Thanks all i guess i kinda turned this in to a water circulationpos
Blue

[blue]

BUMP^^^^^

[chromis]

I dont know much about those powerheads but 6 sounds like plenty. I only have 2 Hagen 802s now, though I am only going to keep fish in my tank for the first couple of months.

HTH
Andrew