New Reefer :)

[idoc]

I just purchased a preowned 55 gallon reef setup. The previous owner had it broken down for approx 1 week. Came with "live" rock and wet sand. sump still had some water in it. It has been set up for 4 days now and I have not seen any algae bloom or cloudiness except when first mixing the water. Testing of the water reveals a pH of 8.2, nitrates and nitrites at fairly low levels (can't remember actual values), temp= 77 deg, salinity at 1.023. Water is crystal clear. Have great (IMO) circulation in the tank. Protein skimmer is up and running (removing gunk) as is UV sterilizer. Have trid to leave the lighting (2 actinic, 2 white) running as much as possible.

Is it possible the cycling is shorter/less noticable? I placed 5 tiny "reef safe" hermit crabs in yesterday that seem happy and are feeding on something. I don't want to kill anything I add to the tank, but am anxious to get things rolling.

[Seige]

First off, be patient. Don't think in hours or days. Think in weeks and months...

What type of water did you use? What brand of salt mix did you use? Did you test ammonia? If your going to add corals you want amonia and nitrites at 0, nitrates at or near 0, temp 80, salinity at 1.026. Do you have tests for KH, Calcium, Phosphates, Magnesium, or Iodine?

Lighting should be on for 12 hours. If you have actinics on seperate timer, run them for 12 and daylights for 10 with the actinics turning on 1 hour before the daylights (simulating dawn) and shuting off 1 hour after the daylights (simulating dusk).

How deeps your sand bed? Live Rock (LR) means it has live critters on it. Good stuff hopefully. Do you know how many pounds of LR you have? You should have around 55 pounds. If he kept the LR and sand wet your cycle will probably go faster then a new setup.

How bigs your sump? Do you have a sand bed in your sump? What are you planning to put in the tank? What type of corals, fish, etc.

Don't get any more hermits. They will kill your snails for shells. They even kill snails just to try on their shells. You can scatter a bunch of shells in various sizes around your tank to reduce the number of kills.

It's probably ok to add snails. Get about 8 Nassarius, and 6 each of Turbo and Ceriths to start with. Nassarius are the fun ones and will entertain you a bit until your tanks ready for new additions. Don't forget to add extra shells though.

Do you have a quarantine tank set up?

[idoc]

Thanks for your reply. I have had salt water setups many years ago, so I feel I have a minute amount of knowlege (I think).

What type of water did you use? What brand of salt mix did you use? Did you test ammonia? If your going to add corals you want amonia and nitrites at 0, nitrates at or near 0, temp 80, salinity at 1.026. Do you have tests for KH, Calcium, Phosphates, Magnesium, or Iodine?

Fro the inital fill, I used regular tap water with decholinator/deaminator. have used deionized drinking water for top-off's- I live in the sticks- no RO water available here. Temp= approx 79 deg- will raise it. Salinity WAS 1.026 until I changed some water out to reduce it to 1.023- DRAT! Guess I need to get some more testing supplies!

Lighting should be on for 12 hours. If you have actinics on seperate timer, run them for 12 and daylights for 10 with the actinics turning on 1 hour before the daylights (simulating dawn) and shuting off 1 hour after the daylights (simulating dusk).

Don't have the lights on timers yet. Have timers- will set up ASAP.

How deeps your sand bed? Live Rock (LR) means it has live critters on it. Good stuff hopefully. Do you know how many pounds of LR you have? You should have around 55 pounds. If he kept the LR and sand wet your cycle will probably go faster then a new setup.

Sand bed betw 1-2 inches. LR seems pretty dead to me- maybe a small amount of algae on it. Only have about 15-20 lbs right now. Thought I should wait to put more in until established (?) Chicken or egg idiom here.

How bigs your sump? Do you have a sand bed in your sump? What are you planning to put in the tank? What type of corals, fish, etc.

Sump seems about 10 gallon-sized- obviously not filled to that amount. NO sand in the sump- should there be? Currently wet part of the filter is some type of rock. "dry" part is high surface area plastic "balls" Sorry I don't know the lingo very well; I am truly a noob at this. I wish to have a couple of anemones- have kept them before with clownfish. Also would like corals, (not sure what types, yet), shrimps, crabs, maybe a brittle star or two. I like clams; not interested in chonchs. Will certainly have a few fish, but this is not the objective- I like invertebrates.

Don't get any more hermits. They will kill your snails for shells. They even kill snails just to try on their shells. You can scatter a bunch of shells in various sizes around your tank to reduce the number of kills.

My hermits are almost microscopic-sized. I won't get anymore per your recc. You said to get extra shells with snails. To my recollection, snails don't change shells; did you mean this for the hermits?

Do you have a quarantine tank set up?

No q-tank set up; none planned. I had a difficult enough time getting authorization from the boss for this one. If I put anything else up, she'll soon be quarantining me!

[Seige]

Thanks for your reply. I have had salt water setups many years ago, so I feel I have a minute amount of knowlege (I think).

Good that should help.

Fro the inital fill, I used regular tap water with decholinator/deaminator. have used deionized drinking water for top-off's- I live in the sticks- no RO water available here. Temp= approx 79 deg- will raise it. Salinity WAS 1.026 until I changed some water out to reduce it to 1.023- DRAT! Guess I need to get some more testing supplies!

You could buy an RO/DI and make your own water. I use a Typhoon 5.

Don't have the lights on timers yet. Have timers- will set up ASAP.

Good.

Sand bed betw 1-2 inches. LR seems pretty dead to me- maybe a small amount of algae on it. Only have about 15-20 lbs right now. Thought I should wait to put more in until established (?) Chicken or egg idiom here.

You may want to add an inch or so to your sand bed but don't have to. It'll help with filtration. LR will likely liven up over time. Mine was terribly dead. 3 months in and it's showing some signs of life. You don't want to add new LR directly to the system. You need to place it in some water taken from the tank with lights and pumps then wait a few weeks to make sure the water tests ok and smells ok. I just learned that. Lee just mentioned that on another thread.

Sump seems about 10 gallon-sized- obviously not filled to that amount. NO sand in the sump- should there be? Currently wet part of the filter is some type of rock. "dry" part is high surface area plastic "balls" Sorry I don't know the lingo very well; I am truly a noob at this. I wish to have a couple of anemones- have kept them before with clownfish. Also would like corals, (not sure what types, yet), shrimps, crabs, maybe a brittle star or two. I like clams; not interested in chonchs. Will certainly have a few fish, but this is not the objective- I like invertebrates.

You don't have to have sand in the sump. It helps with filtration. The rock in the filter is probably broken reef rock.

The bio-balls may cause your nitrates to spike. If it does remove them slowly every few days checking amonia and nitrite levels to make sure they don't rise.

Your lighting requirements will depend on the corals you choose.

Invertebrates tend to be more interesting then fish except maybe for the sand sifting goby. Each pair of shrimp needs about 2 sq ft of space so geting multiple pairs in your tank could be tough. I did for a while. One of my 2nd pair attacked the pump. The 2nd one of that pair disappeared 2 days ago. Might be my fault I knocked over a rock where it lives while cleaning. Poor Captain Jack... He was doing a lil dance the night before up on the highest peak. Up til then both the skunk pair and blood were doing fine. They seam to set up base camp near the first rock they land on when added so place them at opposite ends of the tank if you decide to try it.

My hermits are almost microscopic-sized. I won't get anymore per your recc. You said to get extra shells with snails. To my recollection, snails don't change shells; did you mean this for the hermits?

Yes. for the hermits. You can get more hermits if you choose. Just be prepared to replace killed snails. I don't find hermits very interesting anyway except when they go hunting for a new shell. Too difficult to figure out which ones are snails and which are the hermits.

You could try a sally lightfoot crab and a purple lobster.

Green emerald crabs may disrupt your tank and pick at corals to get at algae. Up to you if you think it's worth the risk. I did. Most people don't.

No q-tank set up; none planned. I had a difficult enough time getting authorization from the boss for this one. If I put anything else up, she'll soon be quarantining me!

ahhh.... the boss... known to be very territorial...

one little trick. When you buy a new fish or something interesting, announce it as a gift for her and let her name it.