Newbie starting up and needs some help

[Ranger NRK]

Im starting up a 30 gallon tall hex tank and have some questions about my set up and about cycling the tank any feedback would be awesome. So I have a 30 gallon tall hex (26in) and I have 2 aqueon circulation pump 700s aimed at each other in the top of my tank, an aqueon pro100 placed next to one of the pumps, a fluval 206 with the intake ending 3 inchs above the bottom im not sure whether I should place the outtake somewhere in the middle or at the top, and a aqueon-glo 14watt light. I don't plan on using a protein skimmer. I'm going to get about 2inchs of crushed coral for my substrate and somewhere around 20lbs of liverock. the tank is going to be a fowlr im only planning to put two clowns in along with the clean up crew( any suggestions for my crew would be great). as for cycling the tank iv been trying to find out how often I should do water changes while the cycling is happening and I cant really find much. any help would be great thanks.

 

[frankdontsurf]

I'm new as well but I'll throw some ideas at you..

I would put the circulation pumps mid level on the tank, I would off set them so they face each other but not directly, think two lane highway - maybe have one pointing slightly up or down so you don't make a giant whirlpool hex walls should cause good turbulence like that. I would put the heater horizontally as low as you can in the tank - heat rises this in theory makes your thermostat more accurate. The flow those two power heads produce is enough to keep it circulating well in there. Good placement on the intake for the filter but (I haven't heard anything particularly bad about those types of filters), they aren't popular online people just rather use a sump and skimmer or cheato. I personally think that if you maintain it a little more than regularly you should be fine.

If your rock is dry, your sand is dry, and you're using water that you made - wait a month, test, change out 10% every 7-10 days after that till you hit zeroes. Live rock, live sand, and home made water the same.. All live (water, sand, rock) you can test at a week or two and see where you stand. My LFS does Marine tests for .75 and Coral tests for an extra .75 ask around..

A little tip when searching for answers go to Google.com, put in your question and add "reef tank" in there. Use the tools to set the date to the last year. 9 times out of 10 you'll get an answer on one of the major forums. This works because there aren't many forums and Google index's well. Nothing wrong with posting questions just sucks to wait sometimes.

 

[Reefing Madness]

After you notice a ammonia spike, you can do 10-15% WC until the cycle is completed. Then do your customary 25%. The bacteria grows in the substrate and rock, not in the water.
If your using Dry Rock, I'd say you don't need to do any water changes, if you are using Live Rock Uncured, then I'd do the 10-15%, as you want to keep the Ammonia from spiking to high, and killing off anything thats beneficial in there.

 

[glb]

Clownfish are great little fish. I've always kept two in my nano and they're a blast to watch.

 

[Ranger NRK]

so im going to upload a pic of my tank and any feed back on if I need to reposistion my equipement would be great iv got alittle more than 2in of crushed coral as my substrate the tank has be running for 3 days so if I need to do any changes iv got some time. and im not sure but I might have gotten some kind of mushroom on my rock ill upload a pic and see if anyone knows if its just dead stuff or if its some coral and what kind of lighting and stuff I would need for it.

 

[Mole]

don't really count on having anything "alive" on any of the new rock for more than a few days... it'll take a couple months to get the tank cycled and ready for any livestock so if anything does make it that long... consider it a bonus

 

[Ranger NRK]

 

[Ranger NRK]

not sure why it came out side ways when I uploaded it It was vertical but not sure if I need to change the substrate or not the depth is like I said around 3in my LFS said that's what I wanted? the intake is about 3ins from the top of the substrate and the power heads are aimed at each other at the top causing surface disruption for gas exchange and hopefully providing current through out the tank.

 

[Ranger NRK]

sorry if this one comes out horizontal too im going to start chaing the orientation before I upload but I was wondering if this was a mushroom and if it was still possible to save it?

 

[glb]

If the tank is brand new and the rocks are uncured, it's unlikely that anything alive on the rock will survive the ammonia spike starting the cycle. How much live rock do you have?

 

[Ranger NRK]

20lbs I did a chem check and I got 0 ammonia and .5ppm Nitrite but its only been like 3 days

 

[Ranger NRK]

also there is this weird bug thing crawling around my live rock I cant get a pic of it because its pretty fast. its tanish brown, has to feeler/antenna, its doesn't look like any pics iv seen of bristle worms so I have no idea what it is

 

[glb]

20lbs I did a chem check and I got 0 ammonia and .5ppm Nitrite but its only been like 3 days

You might want to get a little more rock if you're planning on keeping coral. The rule of thumb is a 1-1 1/2lbs per gallon I believe. It will be much easier to keep your tank stable if you have a bigger bio filter. Just my 0.02.

 

[DSP]

Google Copepods and amphipods those may be the critters your seeing.

 

[Ranger NRK]

actually its been like 6days and the ammonia has been at 0ppm the past 4days, the nitrites are down to .1ppm and the nitrates are on the rise

 

[glb]

actually its been like 6days and the ammonia has been at 0ppm the past 4days, the nitrites are down to .1ppm and the nitrates are on the rise

Sounds like a good cycle!