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Daniel
February 23rd 05, 10:34 AM
Hi all!

I am getting my tank (40 uk gal)this weekend and will be setting it
up... My local Marine shop has advised setting it up with 25k uncured
live rock to bring the tank up to cycling quicker. My question is will
I also need to add a couple of fish to add a bio load as well? The
shop guy was not clear on this...


Thanks for your help...

Dan

Billy
February 23rd 05, 01:32 PM
"Daniel" > wrote in message
om...
| Hi all!
|
| I am getting my tank (40 uk gal)this weekend and will be setting it
| up... My local Marine shop has advised setting it up with 25k
uncured
| live rock to bring the tank up to cycling quicker. My question is
will
| I also need to add a couple of fish to add a bio load as well? The
| shop guy was not clear on this...
|

No, until the rock is fully cured (may be several weeks) any critters
in that tank with the rock will have a very rough time of it, if they
survive at all. The rock contains (should contain) a myriad of
organisms that will become part of your tank's biological filter.

http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/filterselection/a/aa111901_3.htm


keep postin'!
billy

Ray Martini
February 23rd 05, 07:04 PM
Definitely no. When you put uncured live rock into your new tank you will
see ammonia levels shoot to the sky and stay that way for a while (possibly
several weeks). I put 90lbs of uncured live rock in my 72 gallon bowfront
and couldn't even see in the tank for a couple weeks. Ammonia levels were
way off the tester charts. I didn't add any fish until the ammonia and
nitrites were at 0 and the trates were almost there. The die off from the
rock causes alot of ammonia.

Hang in there ...


"Daniel" > wrote in message
om...
> Hi all!
>
> I am getting my tank (40 uk gal)this weekend and will be setting it
> up... My local Marine shop has advised setting it up with 25k uncured
> live rock to bring the tank up to cycling quicker. My question is will
> I also need to add a couple of fish to add a bio load as well? The
> shop guy was not clear on this...
>
>
> Thanks for your help...
>
> Dan

Daniel
February 24th 05, 09:48 AM
I thought as much...

The shop guy said tank should be ready (cycled) in 10 to 14 days but
from what I've read he's being VERY optamistic... I'm in no rush...
The aim is stability and perfection NOT beauty at a price....

Another question then... Do I need to have the lights on in the tank
while I cycle...?

Thanks for the heads up...

Dan

(Daniel) wrote in message >...
> Hi all!
>
> I am getting my tank (40 uk gal)this weekend and will be setting it
> up... My local Marine shop has advised setting it up with 25k uncured
> live rock to bring the tank up to cycling quicker. My question is will
> I also need to add a couple of fish to add a bio load as well? The
> shop guy was not clear on this...
>
>
> Thanks for your help...
>
> Dan

perkinskr
February 24th 05, 06:20 PM
can you get fully cured live rock?
"


Daniel" > wrote in message
om...
>I thought as much...
>
> The shop guy said tank should be ready (cycled) in 10 to 14 days but
> from what I've read he's being VERY optamistic... I'm in no rush...
> The aim is stability and perfection NOT beauty at a price....
>
> Another question then... Do I need to have the lights on in the tank
> while I cycle...?
>
> Thanks for the heads up...
>
> Dan
>
> (Daniel) wrote in message
> >...
>> Hi all!
>>
>> I am getting my tank (40 uk gal)this weekend and will be setting it
>> up... My local Marine shop has advised setting it up with 25k uncured
>> live rock to bring the tank up to cycling quicker. My question is will
>> I also need to add a couple of fish to add a bio load as well? The
>> shop guy was not clear on this...
>>
>>
>> Thanks for your help...
>>
>> Dan

Ray Martini
February 25th 05, 01:13 AM
Hey Daniel:

I got lucky and caught a guy at the LFS that knew his stuff. He told me to
put in the uncured live rock and lights out for a month. I followed his
advice (with a little cheating of course (how can you not want to see what's
going on on/in the rock)) and within a month the NH3 and NO2 were at 0 and
NO3 was at an acceptable level. Not quite 0 but around 10ppm. It's 0 now.

The first animals I put in the new tank were the cleaners. I bought a medium
sized crew which included emerald crabs, snails, hermit crabs, and a serpent
star. They do a great job keeping the algae and other unwanted growth at
bay. By 6 weeks in I added the first two fish (read my post on those
goddamned Damselfish!!). We all buy a couple of cheapy Damsels to cycle the
tank and then we can't get rid of them and believe me you will want to get
rid of them.

Anyway have fun and post pics of your tank in the alt.binaries.aquaria
group!



"Daniel" > wrote in message
om...
>I thought as much...
>
> The shop guy said tank should be ready (cycled) in 10 to 14 days but
> from what I've read he's being VERY optamistic... I'm in no rush...
> The aim is stability and perfection NOT beauty at a price....
>
> Another question then... Do I need to have the lights on in the tank
> while I cycle...?
>
> Thanks for the heads up...
>
> Dan
>
> (Daniel) wrote in message
> >...
>> Hi all!
>>
>> I am getting my tank (40 uk gal)this weekend and will be setting it
>> up... My local Marine shop has advised setting it up with 25k uncured
>> live rock to bring the tank up to cycling quicker. My question is will
>> I also need to add a couple of fish to add a bio load as well? The
>> shop guy was not clear on this...
>>
>>
>> Thanks for your help...
>>
>> Dan

Mr-Moonlight
February 25th 05, 09:51 AM
Hi!

Thanks for this advice... My guy at the LFS DOES seem to know what he's
on about but is slow at giving up his info... I'm just trying to get it
right....

How many cleaners would you suggest? And of what types?

Thanks

Dan

Mr-Moonlight
February 25th 05, 12:33 PM
I can but from what I'm told it will still need to cycle in the new
enviorment to wont make THAT much difference...?

Ray Martini
February 25th 05, 02:27 PM
Depends on the size of the tank. Check out http://www.liveaquaria.com they
have a bunch of cleaner packages. It's a pretty good spot for on the fly
info.


"Mr-Moonlight" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Hi!
>
> Thanks for this advice... My guy at the LFS DOES seem to know what he's
> on about but is slow at giving up his info... I'm just trying to get it
> right....
>
> How many cleaners would you suggest? And of what types?
>
> Thanks
>
> Dan
>