New Red Sea Max 250!

[aaamborghini]

Hello there! The Fiance and I just bought our first saltwater tank yesterday! The Red Sea Max 250. So far we absolutely love it! After setting everything up last night, adding the water, rock and sand, I seem to be kind of stuck. What is the next step? And how long should it take for the water to become clear? We added Carribean live sand, but didnt rinse prior so there is alot of debree floating around. The guy that helped us at our LFS told us that the tank would be ready for some fish in a few days, and that it would help to cycle the tank. Just looking for some advice from expereinced aquarists! Thank ya'll!

 

[revsgirl]

Hi there!! First of all, congrats on your new purchase!! Welcome to R2R!! These guys and gals around here love to help!! Don't hesitate to ask any and all questions you have along your journey!! We love seeing new tanks around here! You should definitely start a build thread!!

 

[wysiwyg]

your tank will need to cycle for at least 3 weeks to a mnth before adding livestock

 

[EcoFrags]

there are a few products that have nitrifying(spelling?) bacteria in them along with a second part that is the ammonia that they need...if you buy those the tank can cycle in a few days...without those 2 products your test kit (if you dont have one i recommend getting one) will be the determining factor in when your tank is ready to add livestock but ive seen it take from a few days to a few months without the 2 part bacteria additive.

 

[BarbH]

Hello and welcome to r2r and to the hobby :welcome: One things clearing up with the sand might take a day or two for things to settle and for the water to clear. With the rock what did you use, live rock, dry rock a mix of both? Depending on what was used can effect how long the cycle will take for your tank along with some other factors such as the amount of die off that may be on the rock. If you haven't already done so I would get a basic test kit for testing ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, and I would test the parameters at least every few days. This will allow you to know when ammonia starts to show up in the tank along with following where you are at in your cycle and when your tank has finally finished cycling. I would wait on adding fish or any type of livestock until your tank has cycled. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask

 

[aaamborghini]

Hello and welcome to r2r and to the hobby :welcome: One things clearing up with the sand might take a day or two for things to settle and for the water to clear. With the rock what did you use, live rock, dry rock a mix of both? Depending on what was used can effect how long the cycle will take for your tank along with some other factors such as the amount of die off that may be on the rock. If you haven't already done so I would get a basic test kit for testing ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, and I would test the parameters at least every few days. This will allow you to know when ammonia starts to show up in the tank along with following where you are at in your cycle and when your tank has finally finished cycling. I would wait on adding fish or any type of livestock until your tank has cycled. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask

We purchased 18lbs of live rock from our LFS, but it did sit out for approx. 3-4 hrs while we were getting everything together. (One piece we got actually had some coral on it but Im assuming it didn't make it through transfer.) And we are planning to add more live rock soon. Yes, I have a test kit for the basics, and was told to wait on the more in-depth kits until we're ready for coral. I'm extremely nervous about adding fish, so I may hold off for the month. We purchased the tank for our son's 1st birhday, so I have a little over a month and a half before we need fish anyway, so I'm not trying to rush anything. But as long as everything reads normal for a few days, I'm ok to stark adding fish, correct? Thanks for the help!!

 

[aaamborghini]

In reference to the tank actually cycling, do I know its finished when the ammonia presents and then drops to 0? Is that what people refer to when the levels "spike"?

 

[BarbH]

I would defintly add some more rock, with the live rock I would expect to see a shorter cycle time. The live rock is part of your biological filtration. There will probably be some die off on the rock. You will want to watch for your ammonia to rise followed by getting a reading on nitrites. You will want to wait to add anything to the tank until your ammonia and nitrites are reading 0. Once you have finished your cycle you will be ready to add your clean up crew along with your first fish. Do you know what type of fish and corals that you are going to be wanting to keep yet? The big thing is that you want to make sure to take things slow and not to rush, it can be hard but as it has been said nothing good happens fast in a reef tank.

 

[BarbH]

In reference to the tank actually cycling, do I know its finished when the ammonia presents and then drops to 0? Is that what people refer to when the levels "spike"?

Kind of in a nutshell with the nitrogen cycle in the aquarium you have waste that breaks down, this waste can be dead organics, detritius, left over food that is breaking down, the waste breaks down into ammonia. Nitrifying bacteria will break down the ammonia and will turn it into nitrites. As the process continues the nitrites are turned into nitrates. The level spikes that people refer to is as this process happens you will start to see a reading of ammonia which will gradually climb and will peak out at a certain level which after the level will start to slowly drop, this will also be seen with nitrites, when I cycled my tank I was getting a reading of ammonia nitrites and after a little while nitrates. After my ammonia had spiked and started to come down I saw my nitrite levels climb higher once they reached a certain point they also gradually started to fall also. Your cycle will be finished when you are getting a reading of 0 for ammonia and nitrites. One thing that I have heard people doing to make sure that their cycle is finished before adding fish is using a method called ghost feeding. For a couple of days you place some fish food into the empty tank like you where feeding fish in it. What you are watching for is to see if there is a reading of ammonia as the food starts to break down. If there is no reading of ammonia than there is enough nitrifying bacteria to start supporting a couple of fish. As the bioload is increased the nitrifying bacteria will increase, you just want to make sure that you give the system time to adjust as things change.

 

[aaamborghini]

Good tip, on the ghost feeding. Thank you. As far as the sand goes...its not an incredibly fine sand but no matter where I place the powerheads it keeps blowing it around so you see BB tank. Is this normal? Will adding more rock help to resolve this? or should i just get used to having to see the bottom?

 

[BarbH]

I had that happen with my tank when I first set it up, I readjusted my powerheads so they are facing towards the surface of the water. I still have flow in the bottom of the tank without my sand being shifted around. Also with the powerhead pointed towards the surface it will help to bring oxygen into the water with the surface being agitated.

 

[mallorieGgator]

Welcome and congrats on the new tank! Any pictures?

 

[Pappy]

Welcome look forward to pics!


Mike D "like the beastie boys" Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Steelerfan747]

Hi there and welcome to R2R. I hope that your stay will be an enjoyable one. The tank should start to clear in about a day however in a couple of days you will probably start to notice a few brown spots that will start to develope. This is normal and just a part of the process. The amonia will have to spike and then drop down to zero. Once this happems and the rest (phosphate, nitrates, nitrites) drop down to zero and your ph reaches about8.0-8.2 you could start to add your first fish. Should be about 1 1/2- 2 weeks. Be patient and good luck

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Welcome to R2R!

We appreciate your membership!

Thanks for joining and please make sure and post often!

 

[ritter6788]

Welcome! Good advice given. Good luck with your new tank.

 

[Loki]

Welcome! Ditto on all the advice above I would also like to see pictures.

 

[aaamborghini]

Thank you for all of the great advice everyone!! Pictures to come soon...I can't wait to show it off.

Is there anything I should know now about coral? I want to have all different kinds, not just specifically hard or soft corals.
And one last thing...should I worry about getting a chiller? The tank is located in the basement where its always cool, but is that enough? Will the light bulbs add a ton of heat to the water?

 

[Loki]

I am unsure of the size of this tank. But if it's under 100 gallons and in a cool part of the house that is air conditioned I wouldn't worry about a chiller.

 

[BarbH]

What temp does the basement usually stay at and what type of lights are you running? More than likely you will not need a chiller but I would keep an eye on what the temp of the tank is through out the day to get a better idea of what you may need to do.