Back to hobby need opinion.

102ttran · Dec 28, 2018

Hi everyone,
So I just decide to get back into the hobby now since it's been 2 years out of it. I still have all the equipments and dry rocks been in my basement. So I have a 50g cadlight cube running with radion g4 with 2 mp40 which is too much for it. Sump running with carbon and gfo reactor with nyos 120 skimmer. Return pump I forgot the brand might have to get another one since it's been so long. Should I buy new rocks and cycle it again or should I used the one that I have. And should I just use one mp40 on the side or just use both with lowest speed?

sfin52 · Dec 28, 2018

Welcome back.

JPergamo · Dec 28, 2018

A lot of your questions are personal preference really. No need to buy new rocks unless you want different shapes. You can acid dip them. I used old live rock that was in a cichlid tank for years and just acid washed them and started fresh. I also am not a fan of gfo especially in new tanks. I feel it strips the water too much. Carbon I use sparingly only for a few days at a time if I want to clear the water up a tad. Welcome back

102ttran · Dec 28, 2018

JPergamo said:
A lot of your questions are personal preference really. No need to buy new rocks unless you want different shapes. You can acid dip them. I used old live rock that was in a cichlid tank for years and just acid washed them and started fresh. I also am not a fan of gfo especially in new tanks. I feel it strips the water too much. Carbon I use sparingly only for a few days at a time if I want to clear the water up a tad. Welcome back

Thanks for the tips. I'm not planning to run the reactor after awhile when my tank fully stable. And I guess I'm going to used the old rock and when you said acid dip do you mean bathe them in vinegar and dry them out after?

JPergamo · Dec 28, 2018

Use muriatic acid. Just do a quick search. It's a ratio of 1: 10 gallons of acid to water. Wear gloves and do it outside in a rubbermaid garbage pail or similar. Bubbles like crazy it eats away the whole outer layer of your rock making it like brand new

Ron Reefman · Dec 29, 2018

I'm 100% in agreement with JPergamo about the rocks and the GFO. I've used rocks over and over in various builds over the years. And I never run GFO or carbon unless there is something wrong in the tank that needs to be fixed or improved.

As to the using 1 or 2 of the MP40's, I always consider good flow to be very important and the variability of that flow to be even more important. I'd use them both. I have a 40g cube (2'x2'x20") and I have 2 returns split into 'Y's at the end and 3 wave makers in the tank. Two are just small ones, but one is as big as an MP40. IMHO, the corals love variable flow.

102ttran · Dec 29, 2018

Thanks Ron that was great info.

102ttran · Mar 8, 2019

Alright havent been posting for the updates on my cube. I just started to cycle my tank in February 1st. With dry rock and live sand. My reading on pH ammonia and nitrite and nitrate is good. But I didn't turn on my light yet so I have no algae or diatom bloom at all. Is this mean my tank is still cycling or should I do a big water change and turn on my light for the algae or diatom to start? I'm doing fish less cycle and using biospira to speed up the cycling process. Should I wait for another week or 2 with my light on now or should I just wait for the diatom bloom?

102ttran · Mar 8, 2019

Here's some photo of the tank. In the process of cycling. Lights on just to take picture. But skimmer and heat been on since day one of cycling.

Ron Reefman · Mar 9, 2019

If you want to do a water change, that's OK IMHO, but I see no need to go big. I would turn the light on and get through that first round or two of diatoms and/or bacterial blooms which will probably take 2 to 4 weeks.

102ttran · Mar 9, 2019

Ron Reefman said:
If you want to do a water change, that's OK IMHO, but I see no need to go big. I would turn the light on and get through that first round or two of diatoms and/or bacterial blooms which will probably take 2 to 4 weeks.

Thanks Ron. So I need to get my light going for a complete cycle?

Ron Reefman · Mar 9, 2019

The diatom bloom is an algae and lights will certainly help get that going.

On my last build I had to add a lot of coral and fish right away as I had a 180g tank break. I stored everything in spare small tanks, buckets, garbage cans, rubbermaid containers, you name it. I had to do water changes in most of those as I didn't have enough filtration for all of it. It was a giant PITA for 6 weeks while I shopped for, ordered, waited for delivery, set up, plumbed and made ready a new 120g system. At that point sand, rock and livestock started going in. The rock was very live so no nitrogen cycle to speak of, but I went through 2 diatom blooms and a long, cranky bout with hairy algae. From first water in the tank to the end of the hairy algae bloom was 4+ months of regular cleaning the tank almost every day because I had a lot of sps corals in the tank and I wasn't about to lose them to algae after keeping them all alive through a broken tank and 6 weeks in spare bedroom full of buckets of livestock and water changes!

102ttran · Mar 9, 2019

Wow sound like it's a journey for you. But I guess this hobby is all about patiences. I guess I have to turn on my light now for the bloom. Is there a schedule for it or just run whatever schedule there is by default? I'm using radion xr30 g4 right now.

Captain Quint · Mar 9, 2019

Welcome to R2R!

Ron Reefman · Mar 9, 2019

102ttran said:
Wow sound like it's a journey for you. But I guess this hobby is all about patience. I guess I have to turn on my light now for the bloom. Is there a schedule for it or just run whatever schedule there is by default? I'm using radion xr30 g4 right now.

Just make sure they are on for a 4 to 6 hour midday. That's what is needed for photosynthesis. Most of any ramp up or down isn't intense enough.

PatW · Mar 9, 2019

Welcome back.

You can use the old rocks. I would soak them over night in a diluted bleach solution, it only takes a cup in a bunch of water. Then rinse, rinse, rinse.

You can add take a bunch of water. Put the rocks in and add a cup maybe 2 of muriatic acid. Do it outside. Never add water to acid. Add acid to water. Do not breathe the fumes. It will erode away the outer layer of rock and presumably remove the phosphates that have bound to the rock.

And/Or you can dump the rock in saltwater with a power head and let it sit for a week or two. Then test for phosphates with the Hanna ULR phosphate checker. If you get some dump out the saltwater. Put in new saltwater and repeat the process until you get a 0 phosphate test.

Or you can just put the rocks in the display tank as is and take your chances.

102ttran · Mar 13, 2019

Tank update.

So I tested my water and everything is good. I also added 2 clownfish so far and light schedule is from 2pm to 10pm 2 hrs ramp up and 2hrs down total of 4hrs in the evening. Tank still clear with no sign of algae or diatom. Does that mean my tank is still new and I shouldn't add in any corals at the moment? Was planning to add in some frogspawn and candy cane at the end of this week. Should I just wait a few more weeks to see how it is then add corals?

Coralick · Mar 13, 2019

102ttran said:
Hi everyone,
So I just decide to get back into the hobby now since it's been 2 years out of it. I still have all the equipments and dry rocks been in my basement. So I have a 50g cadlight cube running with radion g4 with 2 mp40 which is too much for it. Sump running with carbon and gfo reactor with nyos 120 skimmer. Return pump I forgot the brand might have to get another one since it's been so long. Should I buy new rocks and cycle it again or should I used the one that I have. And should I just use one mp40 on the side or just use both with lowest speed?

I would wash your rocks really well racks really well scrub them, and let them cycle there without out the light