First Posting by New Reefer; Skimmer and Reef Question....

So, my wife brings home this lovely all-glass corner tank, and she
fills it with sal****er, hooks up a protein skimmer, plops in some
pieces of reef rock and three fish. I come home from work, and Bam,
now I am a beginner reefer. Many years ago, though, I had extensive
experience with freshwater systems, so I'm not completely new at this.

Got a couple of concerns here, mainly about the reef rock organisms
and the protein skimmer....

The tank is about two weeks old now, and aside from some new algae
growth, there really are no visible signs of life on/in this reef rock.
Also, today is the first day the protein skimmer is not
out-of-control-spilling over the catch-cup with foamy dark gunk. The
foam now is quite clean, with hardly any organic matter deposited in
the catch-cup.

Salinity, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph levels seem normal for a new
tank, although the ammonia level today is lower (between zero and
..25ppm) than it was two days ago.

It seems to me, knowing absolutely nothing about whatever sorts of reef
organisms were supposed to have been living on that rock, that such
critters probably died off when they were placed in a completely
un-established system, and the wife and I now are left with some pretty
rock with yellow-green algae, but no longer an actual living reef.

This would seem to account for the apparent, two-week long bio-overload
on the skimmer, followed by today's fairly clean foam.

Looking for technical feedback, kind folks, I am......

Greg Bensen
Sacramento, California

Well.......not really.
It depends on what kind of LR you got in regards to the odds of what
kind of tyupical critters yu may have as hitch hikers. Live rock is
not uusually sold with a gusarantee of having external life on it, and
any that does occur is usually part and parcel. Its there for the
bacteria process it creates......Odds are if that live rock was not
out of water for too long and it was packaged properly, and added to
a tank with proper water paramters, all its going to do is cycle, and
the length of the cycle is dependant on how much die off the rock had.

It oculd be as short as a day or two or as long as a few weeks or even
one or two months. It all depends on how good that LR was.

A protein skimmer usually does not really need to be nstalled until
well after the cycle is finished, and things are on the way in regards
to bacteria and fish loads........

Sounds like yur using fish to do the cycle since they were added so
soon, and odds are they are probably damsels, correct? Bad to do
things like that, and simply letting the live rock start and finish
the cycle is sufficient......What is "normal" in regards to water
parameters? Skimmers can take a few days or a few weeks to break in,
and an algae bloom is pretty well expected with a new tank. What kiind
of water are you usuing.RO /RODI/ Dechlor Tap or ?

A run down on the numbers of the water parameters would be nice to
allow a decent reply, , but sal****er unlike fresh the key thing is
patieints......Nothing happens overnight or even in weeks for the
most part with a sal****er setup. It can take months for it to mature
enough until you may see things that survived the cycle and were
actually htch hikers on that liverock. Be patient and give it
time....If there is not enough protein to remove the water is gona be
clearer than usual......its normal for usch a new system..

Unfortunately not all live rock is as good as it could be, and its all
at the morales and attitude of the local shop yu bought it at. Just
give it all time........when yu start seeing l=white specs on the
glass its a good sign things are gong the way they shoul dbe, as they
are copepods and a sign of good things, and most desireable to
have.That alone is uisufficient to be considered it a living reef,
along with bacteria. If yur looking for fancey corals and such, I thnk
yur gonna be dissapointed no matter what kind of live rock you buy as
thats all extra$$$ and normally added after a cycle finishes.


PATIENCE is the key with sal****er setups.....What may apear dead
today can tream with life in 3 or 4 months down the road.....and odds
are if you knew what to look for that is a typical hitch hiker odds
are you would find some. Get a magnifying glass and preferably a red
lens on a flashlight and have a look see after lights are
off......you'll probably be surprised. Al that lives is not normally
visible with the naked eye. Look at nooks and cranies in th elive
rock and look on the sands surface and the sand where it meets the
glass........
On 4 Jun 2006 11:47:02 -0700, "
wrote:
So, my wife brings home this lovely all-glass corner tank, and she
fills it with sal****er, hooks up a protein skimmer, plops in some
pieces of reef rock and three fish. I come home from work, and Bam,
now I am a beginner reefer. Many years ago, though, I had extensive
experience with freshwater systems, so I'm not completely new at this.

Got a couple of concerns here, mainly about the reef rock organisms
and the protein skimmer....

The tank is about two weeks old now, and aside from some new algae
growth, there really are no visible signs of life on/in this reef rock.
Also, today is the first day the protein skimmer is not
out-of-control-spilling over the catch-cup with foamy dark gunk. The
foam now is quite clean, with hardly any organic matter deposited in
the catch-cup.

Salinity, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph levels seem normal for a new
tank, although the ammonia level today is lower (between zero and
.25ppm) than it was two days ago.

It seems to me, knowing absolutely nothing about whatever sorts of reef
organisms were supposed to have been living on that rock, that such
critters probably died off when they were placed in a completely
un-established system, and the wife and I now are left with some pretty
rock with yellow-green algae, but no longer an actual living reef.

This would seem to account for the apparent, two-week long bio-overload
on the skimmer, followed by today's fairly clean foam.

Looking for technical feedback, kind folks, I am......

Greg Bensen
Sacramento, California

Thanks for your relpies, guys. Definately was not my choice to add the
fish, or even the rock so soon after the water went in. Nonetheless,
having done some other reading since posting my question here, I've
been getting the concept of the cycle which takes place after having
first introduced live rock to the tank. Gotta let things run thier
course.

Thanks again for your replies,

Greg