Newbie, New tank, just got base rock in, and filled

[RobertG]

Brian welcome to MAAST, you are on your way to an addiction!!! If you jumpout now, I'll take your rock & sand... LOL Good Luck with it. I am sure someone here will be able to help get you through the tough times. You are welcome to a nice cup of my sand to help seed your sand. Nice & alive with all kinds of critters. I am on the otherside of town, in Leander. I might be heading to S. Austin later today. Let me know if you are interested, I might be able to meet you somewhere there in Bubbaland.... 825-8468 is my cell..

[brianK]

Sorry I didn't get back with you RobertG yesterday, had errands to run and didn't get much free time. I didn't know the light cycling so thought I would just stager
both lights..but alot easier to just leave them on for the 10-12 as you said Gary..thanks for the advise.

I've got a few programs to keep track of inventory, test results and such so should be covered on keeping track of things.

So when I go purchase the live rock, do I need to bring coolers, buckets to take it in, or do the stores usually have containers? Just curious.....How many pounds of LR
would be good for the base rock I have?

Brian

[Instar]

Welcome to MAAST BrianK!
Aragalive is a good live sand. It has lots of spores held in stasis by the red algae thats packed in it.
They will grow all kinds of things for you. Put that together with with some live sand from people here
and you will have a real good start on benthic creatures for your tank.

Judging just from looking at that picture, I would probably double the amount of base rock in live rock, so
if you have 30 pounds of base, add 60 pounds of live. You can do that in two steps with store bought regular
live rock and then some real nice rocks with things living on them such as zoo and ricordia rocks after things
cycle for you. Even small rock frags from other members will count for that. (Unless its to be a fish only, that is.)

There isn't really a "wrong" amount or way to run a salt water tank. There's more than one way to do it and
have great results. Have fun and keep your sense of humor. You did good by seeking advice here as there's
a lot of that to go around.
Take your time and enjoy all the little things that grow from that
sand and rock before you bury it with big hairy things.

[RobertG]

Brian, Looking at the pic again. I noticed the powerhead on the left the 802, I have nic named those pumps as murderers. They will suck a fish in like you would not believe. They sell a filter strainer deal for it, I highly recommend one, having lost a couple of fish over the years to one.

[brianK]

Yeah, I just got the powerhead from an associate at work, Gonna get a different one before I put the fish in. What are some good fish friendly
powerheads to use?

Brian

[GaryP]

Brian,

I think the consensus around here is that the Maxijet are the best small powerheads available. You probably only need a couple for that size tank.

Gary

[Ram_Puppy]

you could get a nice maxijet and put a sqwd on it, that would actually reduce the amount of power your using, and I think it's more asthetically pleasing as well, in addition to creating a wave action.

[brianK]

So Ram, what is "sqwd"?

BTW, so where is the best place to get Live Rock in Austin? Where have you had the best luck with? What test
conditions (ph,Amm,Nitrates/Nitrites) are best . Have 2 pairs of 55w 10k bulbs for light...

Brian