Noob to Nano Reefing

J

jgreen

New Member
Hello everyone,

I'm Jasmine. I'm new to Nano reefing and I look forward to my new hobby. I have been doing a lot of reading and researching on this site and others like it. I'm a law student and I'm on a very tight budget. I barely was able to afford my tank set up. I'm starting off with a 12g Nano tube basic, 15.5 LBs of LR and 20LB's of LS.

My tank has not arrived yet even though it's just a few blocks away from me locked up in the UPS terminal. I ordered it on Tuesday but due to the holiday, my tank is will not be deliver until Monday.

The LS I already had from my other 10g tank which I ended up taking back to the store because I really wanted a nano tank. I emptied the tank and saved my LS by putting it into a bucket and putting a lid on it with some sea water I had in the 10g tank.

My LR I just brought today at a 20% discount due to the holiday. It's 15LBS of Fully cured live rock which is better than what I ordered online. I went to HomeDepot and brought a 12g storage case (see through) and put my Catalina Ocean Water, AquaClear PH, 50W Heater and my LR into until my Nano tank arrives. I don't have a filter for this set up as of right now, but I plan on using the 12g storage case as a tank for the new and sick livestock. Livestock will be many months down the road for me. I'm taking things nice and slow.

Here are some pictures:








Sorry about the poor quality of the pictures. I'll get better with my camera blackberry pearl someday.


Stay tuned for the 2nd half of the show. It get's better. :alice
 
B

brandon

New Member
Welcome to Nanotank Jasmine! :D

Always nice to see another member getting started!

Looks like a great start, curing the LR in a storage case.

Cant wait to see more :D

Brandon
 
J

jgreen

New Member
Thanks everyone for the warm welcome,

I have a few questions, most of my questions have been answered through my research and reading on Nano reef systems.

My LFS sold me fully cured live rock $9 per LBS. I know that there will be some die off and from what I understood, even fully cured live rock needs to cycle again. Thus, my plan is to let my LR set in the holding tank until I get my next check which is two weeks away. I also plan on doing test daily to check water quality. I do not have the holding tank lit although I do allow natural light to hit the LR since it is fully cured rock. I add Reef vital DNA at the suggestion of the LFS. I believe that I read that one should not change the water during the cycling process unless water quality deems so.

So, with fully cured live rock, will two weeks be enough to put into my nano tank? I do not want to fully cure off the livestock that is already living on my LR. I'm worried that if I followed the curring process I've been reading about for curring live, it will leave me with dead rock. This rock is too expensive to lose being that I paid well over $200 for it. My nano tank I should have today or Monday. Should I just place the LR in the Nano tank and use the same water from the holding tank?
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
I think this is the comment i made that island is reffering to:

here is marine depots version of curing - good info but to it i would add:
1 month min 2 is better
use 2 pails and move the rock back and forth with each 100% water change
and NO light!
it is important that the process be bacterial driven not algae
and scrub rock, rinse, and inspect once a week to get rid of the nasty shrimp, crabs, aptasia and other pests you may not want. thats why 2 buckets :)
http://www.marinedepot.com/education_ce ... veRock.asp
you will lose some biodiversity - but avoid many problems
Click to expand...
i think that many people feel that in some way they are curing their water hence the no water change theory, but your not, other then aging your water a day or two to stabilize its chemistry its good to go, so.......
what i would do is just that - you may get away with a shorter period though if it is "fully cured", but remember fully cured doesn't mean pest free. set up another bin just like you have - in a week do the rinse and light brushing and put it in the new water and bin, the second bin ensures no time out of water for the rock (make sure its aged 2 days and the salinity and temp are equal). look in the bottom of the first bin - the amount of detritus will be an indication of how long you have to do this, once or twice may be enough. make sure you check every nook and hole to see if there are any nasties during the rinsing. unless there is actually corals on the rock - almost everything good will survive ie sponges, worms, bivalves, tunicates, and even the coraline and pods, and you won't end up fighting algae for the next 6 months. you can set up your new tank with water and sand right away when you get it and get the temp and salinity set with the lights on a cycle etc., and if you go very slowly you can then begin stocking almost right away once you place the rock in your tank
just my opinion though.....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top