My Story - Please Help Options

[magic4jc]

Okay, so here is my story... about one week into SW.

I have always been amazed by the beauty of reef tanks, but always heard that they are VERY difficult. Recently, my nephew bought an established Fish Only with Live Rock tank. After a couple of months of having the tank, and keeping it healthy (as far as I can tell), he advised me that it is not as hard as I thought. So, I started doing tons of research on the internet... Not surprisingly, for every 100 sources, I got about 95 different opinions. Well, I just decided to take the advise that made the most since to me and get started. I am trying to start a Fish Only with Live Rock tank, and if all goes wee, upgrade to reef in a few years. Now, I am not rich, so i'm having to "bargain shop". So:

On 12/21/09, I bought a 90 gallon acrylic tank with a stand, homemade flourecent light canopy, and other goodies from a guy on craigslist. The tank has a built in filtration system that covers the entire back of the tank, and is about 4" front to back. It has 6 chambers for filter media. The largest chamber is full of bio-balls, 2 of the smaller chambers house 2 - 250 watt heaters, and one chamber (second chamber in line) houses a foam type filter media. the chamber right after the foam filter has an airstone at the bottom. This is about 8 inches into a 48 inch set of chambers. The guy told me that the airstone at this stage would help eliminate some amonia, but that there was so much more "filter area" after the airstone, that it would not allow the air bubbles into the main tank. Oh, it also came with an extra power-head.

The night I bought it, I set it up like this. I put abot 60 lbs of live sand in it, and filled it with salt water. I turned the filter pump, heaters, lights(on a timer to be on for 8 hrs/day), and power-head on, and left it alone for about 48 hrs.

On 12/23/09, I added 6 damsels(at the advise of my nephew) to help start the cycle. The guy at the fish store said that this wouldn't hurt, but that the damsels would be hard to catch later. I began testing the water everyday for specific gravity, ammonia, ph, nitrites, and nitrates.

Every day, the ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates have all registered zero.

On 12/28/09, I purchased several lbs of live rock from another guy on craigslist. I had been told to sniff the rock to make sure it didn't stink. I sniffed, and it didn't stink. Also, the rock all looked dark red, kind of reddish brown even. It wasn't slimey or soft to touch, and the red didn't "wipe off". I thought this was a good sign. I can't remember the source (there have been so many), but I read somewhere that a dark reddish brown algae growth on liverock was healthy. I hope I wasn't misled.

I put this live rock into my tank on 12/28/09, as soon as I got home. I did this because the fish store guy told me that adding live rock at this stage would help the tank cycle faster too.

So far, no problems, except my impatience!

Well this morning (12/30/09) When I tested the water, Ammonia has finally started to rise. It was (.25). Nitrites and nitrates still zero. I assumed that this was the beginning of my cycle, and got a little excited :)

This afternoon, however, I noticed that some of the red stuff is starting to fall off of one of the live rocks, onto my sand. Not all of it, just a little. My wife said that she has seen the damsels "pecking" at the rock that it is falling off of.

I was afraid that my live rock was dying. Now, I understand that the rock itself isnt alive, just the stuff on it. But, I was afraid that it was dying.

I talked to some guys on the dallas forum, and they mentioned that the red stuff might have been "cyano" or something like that. I had never heard of "Cyano", but they said it was a BAD algae, and that I should get it off of the sand.

DID I SCREW UP, and buy conaminated live rock? Is the dark red, brownish stuff on my live rock bad? Will my rock all die?

Also, I have been reading on the dallas forum that I should not even have the lights on at all during the cycle. Is that true? Nephew told me to put them on for 8 hrs/day, but he did not have to cycle his tank, as it was already established.

I am trying to be patient during this, and do it right, but I fear that I have already messed up. Please give your advise.


PS - after I posted pics on the dallas forum, the guys there said "yes, it is cyano".

here are a few pics.
Thanks,
Mike

Attached File(s)

 tank_shot.jpg ( 19.3K ) Number of downloads: 12
 big_rock.jpg ( 18.44K ) Number of downloads: 11
 rock_in_question.jpg ( 18.44K ) Number of downloads: 11

 

[esqu37107]

First of all Welcome to this addictive hobby, lol. The red stuff in the 3rd picture does look like cyano i can't tell from the first or second but, if you rub the rock and it comes off its cyano but, don't worry about it your live rock won't "die" from it. I would just take as much out as I could and make sure you got a good flow in the tank and just wait out the cycle.

I did my cycle lights on, the reason alot of people say lights off is because at the end of the cycle you will have alot of Nitrates which will cause an algae bloom in your tank with the lights on which will grow brown diatom algae everywhere, but that is easy cleaned up in a few days with a cleanup crew snails, hermits, ect. at the end of the cycle. I have tried lights off and it just seems to delay the algae and kill some of the life on the rock, I would say go with the 5-6 hour light cycle then increase to 8-9 after.

Well, hope that helps .

[Siberman]

Don't worry. You aren't in any danger of killing your live rock................yet.

I'll get back to you after New Year's.

[BHornsby]

Welcome to the board...... You don't have anything to worry about. As Eli said, a nice cleanup crew will do wonders once you make it through the cycle. Also, the live rock as well as the damsels will help you get the cycle over with. To my knowledge, live rock will not die unless you actually take it out of the water and let it dry out. Even then, you simply let them cure and then they become "live" once again.

The ammonia spike is probably because the live rock had some junk on it that died off. Things like sponges will die as soon as they hit the air. Of course, they will decompose and then your ammonia will spike and the cycle will begin.

Keep us posted!

[Pool Man]

Mike,
Congrates on the new baby! Like all newborns.. we buy the expensive diapers, constantly check on them.. only the find they are sleeping comfortably...and those first few moans make us jump to see what wrong! Cheaper diapers will still do the trick. Saltwater tanks are alot hardier than most people believe. Everyones "Reef" is a little different and yours WILL grow and evolve to what you will enjoy. Patience IS the hardest part... If your in Longview, you have an open invitation to stop by.

Good sound info Eli

Jason

[magic4jc]

Thank you all for the wonderful welcomes and advice. I am planning on taking one of my small live rocks to the Exotic Fish store in Tyler tomorrow morning to let them look at it in person. When they have seen it in real life, hopefully they can diagnose exactly what it is, and if/how I should treat it.

I live in Grand Saline,TX. I would love to get to know some of you in person, and see your tanks. When is the next time your club meets? How often do you meet? Are there membership dues?

[ritter6788]

Maybe just wait it out and it will vanish on it's own.

[magic4jc]

Okay. I took a sample to Exotic Fish in Tyler, and showed it to a young man who seemed VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE about all this. He said it was definitely Cyano-bacteria/red-slime. He recommended waiting out the cycle. I came home and gave all my live rock a "bath", scrubbing it with a bristle brush, in a bucket of saltwater. I think I got most of the red slime off. Now it is back in my tank, waiting for cycle to finish. Yesterday, I got my first reading of nitrites (0.25). Trying to be patient while the cycle happens. I can hardly wait to get started!!!!

[esqu37107]

Okay. I took a sample to Exotic Fish in Tyler, and showed it to a young man who seemed VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE about all this. He said it was definitely Cyano-bacteria/red-slime. He recommended waiting out the cycle. I came home and gave all my live rock a "bath", scrubbing it with a bristle brush, in a bucket of saltwater. I think I got most of the red slime off. Now it is back in my tank, waiting for cycle to finish. Yesterday, I got my first reading of nitrites (0.25). Trying to be patient while the cycle happens. I can hardly wait to get started!!!!

Sounds like you're off to a good start. Keep us updated

[strange_screams]

seems like you've done a great job so far, you've done research, you're paying attention to the tank, you bought a lot of live rock and your waiting for the cycle

the only mistake you've made so far in my opinion is buying an acrylic tank, but if you got a good deal, that's great, just be careful when scrubbing algae and moving around rocks as acrylic can scratch easily

and we all get some sort of algae or pest or something go wrong, part of the learning process, just stick with it, you're already leaps and bounds ahead of those people that said a salt water tank was "to hard"
-Sadie