Newbie aquarium question
 

Some are isolated from the other setups but I do have 6 on one system
and 3 on another that utilize a common sump/fuge

All separate picos however do have as large a Aqua Clear filter HOB
type on them for additional capacity and toprovide a modest fuge...and
a place for adding carbon is nbecessary and a pllace for the heaters.
Last count is a total of 11 PICO (2 gal or less) tanks . They make
better night nlights etc than typical night lights do, plus they give
me a place ot create new micro reefs when I frag corals etc. After
they get size and growth to them I incorporate them into the larger
tanks, and start again in the Pico tanks.

On Sat, 13 Jan 2007 23:09:57 -0500, KurtG
wrote:

Tristan wrote:
I have a bunch of pico tanks 2
gal or less that have been up and runing for two or more years and do
just fine.


Hi Tristan,

Are all your tanks isolated?

--Kurt



-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!

Newbie aquarium question
 

"Gill Passman" wrote in message
...
wrote:
I just bought a 25gallon aquarium about a week ago and put the substate
and live rock in it. I haven't put coral and fish in and today I
suddenly found the water turned yellow!

I have pumps (Rio 800) running and using Biological filter calls.. What
do you guys think the problem come from? I changed water (about 60%
change) today but still feel water is yellow. What do you think? Shall
I do a complete water change?

Thanks!


OK I'm a newbie but want to ask a few questions of you....or clarify that
you are following the same concepts that I am....

The point of Live Rock is that it does your filtration for you....once it
is cured of course and most of the die off has happened - and this die off
is generally down to shipping and the decay of stuff that died during
shipping - cured rock is a good way to go when starting up unless you are
prepared to wait for it to cure itself - and it sounds pretty much to me
that this is what you are doing....even if unintended....uncured rock is
cheaper because your LFS hasn't made the investment of keeping it for
weeks to do it themselves....

Mechanical and convential biological filtration, from my research, are
fine if you want a fish only tank....but they will mean that your nitrates
and phosphates will be at a level that can sustain fish but not
inverts....so it is a choice as to what your priorities are......I want
corals, inverts and fish so have opted for all my "filtration" and
"conversions" being done by my live rock and now live sand (the sand
having been populated by the creatures in my rock)....

I know that you have been asked about whether you have a protein skimmer
or not....from my experience with my little 15 gall Nano I would not be
without one....this yellow water you are talking about is what I empty
into the sink from the cup of my skimmer.....what I see in the cup of the
skimmer is enough to freak me as to what it would be like if I didn't have
my cheap budget protein skimmer (cost me £18 plus the air pump -
£22)....it has to be said every penny spent is well worth it...and if we
got into a larger tank (or even my small tank) - if you evaluate the cost
of your corals against this one essential piece of kit the cost works
out.....the loss of your frags at between £20 and £40 pounds compared to a
more expensive model still costs out well - let alone the emotional cost
and the frustration....

Gill


Somebody correct me if I am wrong but i believe there is no such thing as
cured rock.
As soon as you remove it from the ocean everything on it and in it starts to
die.
It's is possible to get rock from a LFS that has been marinating in water
and you can get it home quickly. But still, live rock doesn't come with all
the goodies
that it would have as it was in the ocean.

GET YOURSELF A SKIMMER MAN !!! : )

Newbie aquarium question
 

Isn't high ammonia part of the cycle ?
Don't you need it to cycle ? If you dilute the tank with water aren't you
just
removing bacteria that moves the cycle along and prolonging cycle time ?

I only ask because I didn't do it that way and I had plenty of pods and
worms
after the cycle.


"Wayne Sallee" wrote in message
link.net...
I would do water changes if it is real high in ammonia or nitrite, in order
to preserve the life on the rock.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



TheRock wrote on 1/13/2007 7:17 AM:
Your tank is cycling...if you're seriously going to get into this hobby
one thing you need to learn up front is patience. Nothing happens
overnight.

You rock takes months to cure. You should not have changed your water at
all yet.
Do you have a protein skimmer ? While you're curing rock you should be
running a
protein skimmer 24/7 7 days a week. Smells good I bet : )


wrote in message
ups.com...
I just bought a 25gallon aquarium about a week ago and put the substate
and live rock in it. I haven't put coral and fish in and today I
suddenly found the water turned yellow!

I have pumps (Rio 800) running and using Biological filter calls.. What
do you guys think the problem come from? I changed water (about 60%
change) today but still feel water is yellow. What do you think? Shall
I do a complete water change?

Thanks!

Newbie aquarium question
 

There is lots of debate on what is cured or cycled rock as different
places use these terms interchangebly. My lfs hewre sells rock that
is fully cured........in other words if its pulled from their tank,
and placed in water, and carried homoe and placed in your tank with
little to no exposure or fooling aorund there would not be enough of
die off to make it noticeable. They sell only fully cured/cycled rock
that is ready to place in the tank (within a reasonabale time frame )
and within a day or two its more than safe to start adding fish.

I have cycled lots of tanks already, and do find that when ammonia and
nitrite levels get too high stuff on the rock and in the rock starts
to die as well. So I try and keep my ammonia and nitrite levels as as
possible (Ammonia no higher than say 1 or 1.5) . It may take a bit
longer but I get much more diverse critters that survive the cycle
times.

The rock the lFS here sells is some nice rock, and lots of goodies
come on it..Its not unusual to find small tiny polyps of yuma or other
shrooms.....as well as sea squirts, sponge and dusters.......brittle
serpent stars etc.

I much prefer to take longer in getting a tank cycled than do it
faster with aditivies like dead shrimp etc or usuing live fish. It
will still cycle, and also keep my ammonia and nitrite levels low. I
do water changes during cycle so levels are not high, and I run a
skimmer most of the times.



On Sun, 14 Jan 2007 15:09:25 GMT, "TheRock" wrote:


"Gill Passman" wrote in message
...
wrote:
I just bought a 25gallon aquarium about a week ago and put the substate
and live rock in it. I haven't put coral and fish in and today I
suddenly found the water turned yellow!

I have pumps (Rio 800) running and using Biological filter calls.. What
do you guys think the problem come from? I changed water (about 60%
change) today but still feel water is yellow. What do you think? Shall
I do a complete water change?

Thanks!


OK I'm a newbie but want to ask a few questions of you....or clarify that
you are following the same concepts that I am....

The point of Live Rock is that it does your filtration for you....once it
is cured of course and most of the die off has happened - and this die off
is generally down to shipping and the decay of stuff that died during
shipping - cured rock is a good way to go when starting up unless you are
prepared to wait for it to cure itself - and it sounds pretty much to me
that this is what you are doing....even if unintended....uncured rock is
cheaper because your LFS hasn't made the investment of keeping it for
weeks to do it themselves....

Mechanical and convential biological filtration, from my research, are
fine if you want a fish only tank....but they will mean that your nitrates
and phosphates will be at a level that can sustain fish but not
inverts....so it is a choice as to what your priorities are......I want
corals, inverts and fish so have opted for all my "filtration" and
"conversions" being done by my live rock and now live sand (the sand
having been populated by the creatures in my rock)....

I know that you have been asked about whether you have a protein skimmer
or not....from my experience with my little 15 gall Nano I would not be
without one....this yellow water you are talking about is what I empty
into the sink from the cup of my skimmer.....what I see in the cup of the
skimmer is enough to freak me as to what it would be like if I didn't have
my cheap budget protein skimmer (cost me £18 plus the air pump -
£22)....it has to be said every penny spent is well worth it...and if we
got into a larger tank (or even my small tank) - if you evaluate the cost
of your corals against this one essential piece of kit the cost works
out.....the loss of your frags at between £20 and £40 pounds compared to a
more expensive model still costs out well - let alone the emotional cost
and the frustration....

Gill


Somebody correct me if I am wrong but i believe there is no such thing as
cured rock.
As soon as you remove it from the ocean everything on it and in it starts to
die.
It's is possible to get rock from a LFS that has been marinating in water
and you can get it home quickly. But still, live rock doesn't come with all
the goodies
that it would have as it was in the ocean.

GET YOURSELF A SKIMMER MAN !!! : )




-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!

Newbie aquarium question
 

TheRock wrote:
Isn't high ammonia part of the cycle ?

Sort of. Ammonia serves as food for the first of the nitrifying bacteria you
want to develop.

Don't you need it to cycle ? If you dilute the tank with water aren't you
just
removing bacteria that moves the cycle along and prolonging cycle time ?

No, you aren't removing bacteria; for the most part, they live in the substrate
and live rock. You're removing ammonia. The fact that there is a high ammonia
level is proof that you don't have a large enough bacteria population to eat it
all. If you leave the levels as they are, the population will gradually grow
large enough to transform all of the ammonia to nitrites. Then the population
will starve and decline to whatever level can survive on the ammonia normally
introduced as urine and decay products.

If you run a 50% water change, you will remove half the ammonia. That's still
more than the existing bacteria population can handle, but the population won't
have to grow as much to reach a level large enough to transform all of the
ammonia to nitrites. Your tank will actually cycle more rapidly.

The same is true of nitrites, when the cycle reaches that point.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

Newbie aquarium question
 

TheRock wrote:

Somebody correct me if I am wrong but i believe there is no such thing as
cured rock.

Live rock that has been marinated in water (as you put it) until nothing dies
anymore is said to be "cured live rock." The curing process typically involves
low light levels, lots of circulation, and large water changes.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

Newbie aquarium question
 

Yep your assumption is right.


On Sun, 14 Jan 2007 18:11:34 +0000, Gill Passman
wrote:

George Patterson wrote:

Live rock that has been marinated in water (as you put it) until nothing
dies anymore is said to be "cured live rock." The curing process
typically involves low light levels, lots of circulation, and large
water changes.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

This is my understanding of "cured live rock" as well.....one of the
guys at the lfs was chatting to me about the latest batch of LR that
they had got in and how they were needing to empty the cup on the
Protein Skimmer multiple times a day when usually, after the die off it
would be daily at most....

I'm guessing from my experience that there was also a certain degree of
die off when I put the rock into my little 15 gall tank (but much less
than would have happened if the rock hadn't been "cured") - certainly I
was getting stuff in the cup of the Protein Skimmer without having
anything in the tank other than the LR but this was minimal compared to
what I get now with fish, corals and inverts in there....

Gill



-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!

Newbie aquarium question
 

George Patterson wrote:

Live rock that has been marinated in water (as you put it) until nothing
dies anymore is said to be "cured live rock." The curing process
typically involves low light levels, lots of circulation, and large
water changes.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

This is my understanding of "cured live rock" as well.....one of the
guys at the lfs was chatting to me about the latest batch of LR that
they had got in and how they were needing to empty the cup on the
Protein Skimmer multiple times a day when usually, after the die off it
would be daily at most....

I'm guessing from my experience that there was also a certain degree of
die off when I put the rock into my little 15 gall tank (but much less
than would have happened if the rock hadn't been "cured") - certainly I
was getting stuff in the cup of the Protein Skimmer without having
anything in the tank other than the LR but this was minimal compared to
what I get now with fish, corals and inverts in there....

Gill

Newbie aquarium question
 

No such thing as Internet Cured live rock once it is pulled and packed
and in transit., it once again becomes rock in need of curing. Closet
yur gonna come to actual real cured live rock is harvest it and place
in yur own tank imediately or but it cured at lfs and carry it home in
a bucket of SW and place in the tank with little to no exposure to
air or temp variations.....How fast it will go downhill is anyones
guess as it all depends on how much and what is on it to begin with.
Same for that wet bagged live sand that is sold. HOw much good do you
really think that stuff serves. I see bags of it that are expired, or
laying on a stores display shelf in direct sunlight and hot/warm, it
sets for days on end in a hot truck while being transported, or in a
cold truck during winter.......Best bet on that sand is buy cheaper
dry pack sand and get a cup of live sand from someones established
tank or add live rock and let it seed the sand with bacteria. Thats
all the bagged sand is capable of having anyhow, and that can come
from good live rock anyhow....

On Sun, 14 Jan 2007 18:40:45 GMT, "TheRock" wrote:

I meant "purchasing cured rock"...you are correct.
And to further clarify...internet cured rock.

Especially when they ship it in wet newspapers.


"George Patterson" wrote in message
news:9Ntqh.386$AG6.142@trnddc06...
TheRock wrote:

Somebody correct me if I am wrong but i believe there is no such thing as
cured rock.

Live rock that has been marinated in water (as you put it) until nothing
dies anymore is said to be "cured live rock." The curing process typically
involves low light levels, lots of circulation, and large water changes.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.




-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!

Newbie aquarium question
 

I meant "purchasing cured rock"...you are correct.
And to further clarify...internet cured rock.

Especially when they ship it in wet newspapers.


"George Patterson" wrote in message
news:9Ntqh.386$AG6.142@trnddc06...
TheRock wrote:

Somebody correct me if I am wrong but i believe there is no such thing as
cured rock.

Live rock that has been marinated in water (as you put it) until nothing
dies anymore is said to be "cured live rock." The curing process typically
involves low light levels, lots of circulation, and large water changes.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.