New to reefkeeping

[Dyncaus]

hey guys, just wanted to say hi, i just started my first saltwater tank, its a 29 gallon tank. i am hoping to keep a mostly reef tank with a few fish in it. so far i have it set up with kent salt, a prizm skimmer, a penguin powerhead, 40 gallons of live sand, and 11 pounds of fiji live rock. i was wondering how long you guys think this tank might take to cycle, i know the sand says no cycle time, but the rock prob needs to cycle. also, what are your thoughts on either adding fish after cycling then adding more rock later, or if i should finish all the rock first then stock with fish, sorry for the long first post, thanks oh yeah, one more thing, is it okay to keep the live rock with no lighting or just normal freshwater hood lighting, or do i need to get the right lighting so the rock will cycle properly?

[robertpower3]

Add all of your live rock first especially if you are adding uncured live rock. I'd shoot for 30-60pounds total depending on what you want to do. Cycling is different in every tank. what are your water parameters. Get some good test kits ie. salifert or hagen. some people lijke to add a damsel to cycle. i think this is a bad idea because you can't add very many fish to a 29 gallon aquarium so why waste any space with a cheap fish you don't really want, unless you intend to get rid of it. Does that help? Oh yeah cycling time any where from 1 week to 2 months.

[Dyncaus]

thanks, i tested the pH, ammonia and nitrite today after i added the live rock and had it running for a bit, pH was at 8, ammonia and nitrites at 0. i also had another couple of questions. on the prizm skimmer, when i set the flow so that bubbles are going into the collection cup, the bubbles are just turning to water and it fills up very quickly, is this what is is supposed to do?, if i set it any lower, then no bubbles go into the cup at all. also on the powerhead it has a fitting to allow it to mix air and water, should i use this or is it not good to add more air to the powerhead?, thanks for the help

[adaminaustin]

Welcome Dynacus,
I would look into upgrading the lighting as well. The rock will cycle without it. The coraline on the rock wont grow much without more light though. If you are planning a reef the coral will also need more light.

But that aside sounds like a nice little setup.

I would add fish after the cycle. Not much use in making some poor little guy crazy just to speed up things a couple of days.

[adaminaustin]

your ammonia and nitrite will spike then fall. Wait a day or two it will start to rise. I have never owned a prizm. I know someone will be able to help with that tomorrow.

[robertpower3]

Adjust the bubbles in the prizm too right about the black o-ring where the collectioncup and skimmer meet. You da not want wet foam pouring in to the collection cup. Organic waste will bubble into the collection cup. It should be a dark brownish or green slime. I would clean the collection cup daily on the prizm and it will skim better. You do not want the air attachment on the power head. Just cap it and submerse the power head. You will probably want to get another power head to. That will help with dead spots.

[Dyncaus]

thanks for all the help guys, the tank is starting to smell like rotten eggs, i guess thats the live rock cycleing, i am hoping to get some more live rock soon, if had about 30 pounds of live rock, how many fish would i be able to safely keep in the tank?

[matt]

Dyncaus;

Welcome! My first reef tank was a 29 gallon. In terms of stocking, you're best thinking of this tank as a 20 gal long with some extra inches on top; I'm not sure if you know what I mean by this. It's the same footprint, and its very easy to overstock a tank this size. I would say 30lbs max for the liverock; you really need the water volume in the tank, and extra rock, while it does help with filtration, also means extra bioload. I don't know if you have your lighting picked out, but what worked well for me was the ahsupply 2 X55W power compact set up. You buy a wood hood from them, and install the lights and reflectors yourself. Using a mh bulb to light this tank would be terrific lighting, although the tank shape lends itself to florescent bulbs, and it might cause some serious temperature issues; you'd have to be careful how you mounted it and the type of cooling fan you use. It's best to get some light on the liverock ASAP; there's usually some photosynthetic life on decent quality liverock; this will die without light. I would also get some sort of live sand activator; if the "live" sand you bought was the stuff in bags at the lfs, it's really just wet sand. You need a sample of sand from a well established reef tank that has a good microbiological community.

Good luck!

[TexasState]

You should let your tank run for a month after you put the rock in there to let it cycle. Just let it run for a month b4 you add anything or test for anything. If you click on my signature, I have a complete metal halide kit for sale if you're interested. I'm currently using it to run my 29 gallons tank.

[DeletedAccount]

I had a 29 gallon with a mini pendant, 250 watts, DE HQI. It worked great! I elevated it off the water about 10 inches and had no heat issues, though I did have a fan running in the room all of the time. I was able to keep any coral I wanted, a clam (though he was brutally tramatized by the annoying clowns), and a few fish. Then, when I was ready to upgrade the tank, I could still use the light. It is currently running on the 50 gallon clam tank and looks great!


Good luck to you!

Misti

[Dyncaus]

thanks for all the responses guys, i have been researching around and i was wondering if you guys recommend leaving the skimmer on or off during cycleing?

[TexasState]

It's up to you, I leave my skimmer off to speed up the cycling process. If you want to save as much life as possible from your LR, and pro-long the cycle, then crank up that skimmer.

[Andrew]

welcome to the club!

I would go lite on the fish load (once the tank has finished cycling), especially, being new to reefkeeping, and a small tank. Three 2 to 2 1/2 inch fish would be manageable, provided you don't get them all at once (spreading new additions out every couple weeks to a month, would be good. A clown, small wrasse, and a blenny would make for an interesting display, along with various soft corals (I'd probably go with power compacts, at the minimum, for these). To be successful, IMO, involves being patient (resisting urge to buy whatever is new at the LFS), stocking lightly, and keeping up on regular maintenance (water changes and tests, replacement bulbs, etc.) and you should do fine.

Andrew

[Dyncaus]

hey guys, does anyone know if they power compact lighting system with the moonlight feature is any good or not, or any recommendations if they have some for my tank?

[Dyncaus]

hey guys, here is a link to the light fixture that the LFS recommended to me http://www.hellolights.com/302xcoaqpcho.html is that one any good?
The other light i was looking at is the power compact hooded system with moonlight feature at http://www.aquacon.com/powercompactpricelist.html

[robertpower3]

Look on ebay for pcs they are much cheaper also try www.reefs.org

[TexasState]

I would go for the CSL w/ the moonlight over Coralife. I would get the T5 over the CSL.

[brewercm]

OK, I'm partial to the Coralife, but I owned one for a while before upgrading my lights. I too would go T5 or MH if it's a possibility over PC.

[manny]

I agree about getting the CSL w/moonlight. The moonlight feature is a cool feature to have and you don't have to worry about upgrading to it later. I got the aqualight right now wishing i had spent the few extra dollars for the csl

[TexasState]

Why is CSL using white moonlight instead of blue moonlight? And don't say b/c the moon is not blue. :0)

[bozack]

I have the Aqualights too and wished I had the Moonlight feature now.
Can't complain too much as I got my Aqualights pretty cheap but one thing I hate about them (at least all of mine), is if you touch the end screws on the fixtures they always zap the crap out of you.
I asked some LFS's about this and no one knew anything.