120 gallon buld up

[XeroKitsune]

Yes thats right i got it falks my 120 gallon( 48.1Long x 25.1 high x 24.1 wide) with it's oceanic stand all light pine i just filled it and began the salt adding tonight i will go get sand as for right now im watching the salt slowly go away i have 2 40 gallon filters and a 60 gallon bakpak2 running, all have biobale and live rock rubble and odyssea light set up. pics soon i promise!!!!

[erikharrison]

Do you feel like a million bucks right now? I would! :bigsmile:

[XeroKitsune]

Do you feel like a million bucks right now? I would! :bigsmile:
lol YUP sure do wanted to know does that TLC stuff really work freind said it almost eliminates the cycle

[erikharrison]

If you want to discourage the cycle you will need more than TLC. I highly recommend letting the tank do it's thing before you become a fish killer. :) Take your time and put a whole bunch of sand and live rock in! If you have not yet bought either, you should be purchasing that instead of TLC. The best way to speed it up is to have a good sandbed out of an established tank and live rock out of an established tank. If I could tell you one piece of advice it would be to just take it nice and slow. At least for the first three months.

[Bill S]

Patience, grasshopper. Patience. The single biggest waste of time, money and livestock, is the lack thereof. There ARE no shortcuts in reefkeeping.

[XeroKitsune]

thanks too some tips im going to go get lots of live rock over the next week or two and build it up im manly oing for FOWLR but im going to have a few live zoas and stuff like that but i need help or tips on how to build it up looking really nice and tall need tips on braces and shelves thanks

[XeroKitsune]

took these this morning after i put some live rock in from the old tank last night it's still real cloudy right now from all the sand last night The first is as you enter my bedroom, second is from my bed thats what i wake up too besides my wife, third is from the comp (yes thats a blue damsel and he is an ***) last is one of my favorite chunks of live rock it's covered in hermits right now they hid in the holes and went for the ride lol, more to come as it clears im soo excited but i know i must take my time so yeah let me know what you think

[Mr Cob]

Looks good.

That Damsel will be a champ if he makes it through the TOXIC chamber.

Here is a link to some info on where your tank will be headed over the next 30days:

http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/bionitrogencycle/a/aa073199.htm

Have fun...it's very addicting and your are at the hardest part in my opinion of this hobby...WAITING! Forget the money...the first 6 months were the hardest for me...I wanted to add everything...but it begins to pay off quickly once you have a stable tank.

As everyone has said..Patience and Water QUALITY is the key.

Read

Read

Read

....and Read some more. You can never read enough in this hobby.

P.S. Read

[matt]

Do you have a 2 or 3 day old tank with a fish and hermits in it? That's probably not such a good idea. If that's true, unless ALL of your rock and sand came from an established aquarium, I'd take the fish and hermits out immediately. I'm sure there are people on this forum that would buy them from you, in fact, I'd buy the hermits. Then you can let your tank cycle for several weeks, get your rock set the way you want it, and slowly introduce livestock.

Using a fish to "cycle" a tank is a really bad idea that does nothing beneficial for your tank and usually kills the fish. Plus, if you're planning on more fish, you're going to wish that damsel was gone, believe me. The hermits at this point will not really do anything to clean up your tank, and almost certainly will die if you have any sort of ammonia ****e.

It's always really exciting to start a new tank. The last one I did, I waited 4 months before adding a fish, and watching the microlife develop on the rock without any predators was really great.

[erikharrison]

I agree with Matt.

The word of the day is: Read.

PSST R-E-A-D.
Hey, you over there, Read.

If you listen, wait, and read, you will see that salt becomes obsessive!

[caferacermike]

Well Matt at least of the damsel dies it will give the bacteria something to feed from. Especially that all time favorite cyanobacteria.

[copperband]

i still have one of the damsels i used to cycle my tank he has been in ther for a little over a year and has caused no trouble

[XeroKitsune]

there is 107lbs of already established live sand and 97 lbs of established live rock from my other tank 62 gallons of the water is from my other tanks so yeah it's basically all the same tank just bigger when payday comes i hope to buy a sump from a friend.

[Mr Cob]

Probably should have mentioned the amount of LR, LS, and Established water in your original post to avoid the confusion. The pictures are also very deceiving because it appears as though there is only a few pounds of LR.

Have you tested your water to see where your cycle is at? Even if half the water is established your tank is still going through a cycle especially with a fully disturbed sand bed...and that live rock in the pic doesn't look cured.

Just make sure you test the water parameters before adding anything else.

Good luck with everything...I have found the MAAST forum to be a very reliable source with many experienced reefers with tons of info. Google is great too but you have to weed through the BS and normally you get straight to the heart of the answer here on MAAST.




there is 107lbs of already established live sand and 97 lbs of established live rock from my other tank 62 gallons of the water is from my other tanks so yeah it's basically all the same tank just bigger when payday comes i hope to buy a sump from a friend.

[XeroKitsune]

all but one piece in the pic is old live rock prolly 6 or 7 months old going out today to get more, all the fish that are in here are the ones that my buddy gave me for my first one (granted now i have five most small taring a few down as well to make room) but all my fish had made it threw the first tanks cycles so i have no worries about them, more pics will be up later.

[XeroKitsune]

here are the pics like i said hope you like 'em every thing is going great fish are happy my eel has doubled in size already!!! there are a few pics of my two ferrets as well they are my children.

[XeroKitsune]

and thats it Hehe

[aquasport24]

I got this praise from RC (sw tank is like a car ,the faster you drive the harder you crash).

[XeroKitsune]

yeah i know everything thats in this tank(like said once before i'm pretty sure) has gone threw the cycle of five different tanks

[copperband]

is that a snowflake moray eel in with a gramma and a shrimp. if that is how are you keeping it from eating them.

[XeroKitsune]

Yes and i feed him two cubes of brine shrimp and/or Squid everyday he takes from my hand and any that gets away he picks up right after and goes and hides with his head out never had any trouble with him at all.

[copperband]

wow thats pretty cool

[XeroKitsune]

yeah it is but i have 1 Q what is the best way to encourage coralline algae?? Also The best way to encourage the green leafy algae?? For a Blue hippo tang down the road.

[copperband]

i add purple up for coralline alqae

[XeroKitsune]

thats what i have been doing i just hate the way it clouds the water thanks

[ismvel]

I don't use any additives at all. It comes with time. My tank is only 2.5 months old and all the rocks are covered up with green and purple coraline algae. And I purchased Marco Dry Fiji rock, which is white as can be.....I simply purchased about 2 pounds of LR from an LFS and placed it on top of the dry rock when I began my cycle and let it seed it.

[XeroKitsune]

thanks for all the help yeah a lot of mine are covered in it too but i was just wondering the best way to get it to go faster my wife was really wondering because she wants it to cove the back glass for a natural and colorful look. Another lil' update is my BakPak2 which hangs on one side and an 80 gallon bioweel full of biobale and live rock. The skimmer final stopped getting clear watery foam and is now gathering a dark black thick substance and it stinks horribly!!! but every last one of the lil fish are happier than ever .

[XeroKitsune]

one more thing, Update on my levels as of this week 12/29 Nh3/NH4+= 0.25 12/31 Nh3/NH4+= 0.1 01/01 Nh3/NH4+= 0.0 No2= 0.6 and last but not least today they are *Drum roll * Nh3/NH4+=0.0 And my no2 is at 0.3

[XeroKitsune]

prolly a stupid question What size(Gallons) sump would i need for a 120 ??

[erikharrison]

a 75 would be great!

[XeroKitsune]

kk thats big though but i guess less room for error

[erikharrison]

It is big! I also forgot that that tank is only a four foot. Best bet is going to be a custom acrylic job. Reason being, you are going to need a large skimmer for that bad boy, and since you have a cubish style aquarium, a cubish style sump will fit better.

[XeroKitsune]

Thanks Erik

[XeroKitsune]

Okay here is my new dilemma I just got my sump right so i went to put it in the stand and it is to big to slide in there by about a 1/4 inch so i think yall have seen the stand four front doors blah blah blah where the two big doors open up one one the left has a frame the hinges are hooked to was wondering if it would be safe to remove that board and slide the sump in or will my yank come smashing down on me like a new years ball???

[XeroKitsune]

anybody ??? please?????

[Bill S]

Yup. No one's going to tell you to do that and risk it failing. I also have an Oceanic stand under my 215. While it's well built, it's really not OVERBUILT. For that reason, I can't think I'd recommend removing anything. If you decide to do that anyway, I'd drain as much out of your tank as you can before doing it. If you need to borrow buckets, I probably have enough to hold your whole tank. 663.8079.