Tank rehabilitation

[9thfloor]

First of all hello and thanks for reading.

I got a tank from my buddy. He had to move and the tank had been neglected. No water changes (in quite awhile) or protein skimmer. Green hair algae had overgrown the tank. One crab lived.

The live rock was out of water for 5 or 6 hours wrapped in wet newspaper, when we moved the tank.

I am treating it like it is cycling. First of all, is that what I should be doing? Ammonia read .5 ppm. And second, since there is already ammonia present (and a crab living) should I just let it go for awhile until ammonia is zero, then check for nitrates after that? As opposed to adding fish food or whatever to feed the cycle.

Thanks!




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[9thfloor]

And should I have the lights going in a cycle? I have not had them on. I read you don't need them on to cycle. And that they actually only cause algae blooms.

And then I also have not been changing the water because I read that's best for cycling. Because the bacteria or whatever will grow to eat it. Note I just got this tank 5 days ago.

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[SeahorseKeeper]

I do not run the lights when I am cycling the tank. As far as the cycle goes, it sounds like you are off to the right start. I would just let it remain on the same course and monitor the ammonia and nitrate daily or every other day. Once the ammonia is zero, I would ghost feed the tank the amount you plan on feeding to your first inhabitants. If there is no ammonia spike, I would add the first fish.

 

[9thfloor]

Awesome, thanks for the info. I did not know about ghost feeding! I will do that.

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[fragmatic]

Welcome if I haven't had a chance to tell you so..
I agree with SeaHorseKeeper 100%.....I am jealous of your rock shapes.. wow! killer. Yes, I'd treat it like a cycle start. It may go smoother that a fresh cycle start, but better safe than sorry.

Did you go with fresh sand or did you wash it really well? If... IF NOT.. and IF you get into trouble remove the sand and replace or clean the devil out of it. (pun fully intended)

 

[9thfloor]

I didn't think to wash the sand. Rookie mistake! And thanks, I like the rock too. My buddy had some good stuff I guess! Most of them seem to have pretty good surface area too.

I almost didn't make this thread cause I thought it'd be asking the same questions over again. But I was not sure if I was doing it right haha. Glad to get the reassurance. Thank you very much you two!

And I will keep the sand in mind if I have problems in the future. Thanks for that bit of info. That's another thing, like ghost feeding, that I flat out did not know. :thumbup:

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[mike007]

If that sand is old i would replace it and start as though it is a new tank. My tank was set up for 10 years and i started getting high nitrates so i tore it down and replaced subsrate and now everything is doing great. I have always used good live rock, skimmer and never had a problem cycling a tank. If the rock is covered with hair algae scrub it off'. Then place it back into tank. Been there i know what you are going through.












9


been there] scrubbed it off .

 

[twintrades]

I would take the Crushed coral out. Its just going to trap crap and restrict flow. And be a problem down the road. If you want sand get a new bag and put it in there. You wont have a CUC that is going to dig down deep with that set up. SO either ditch the CC and get sand (argonite) Or be like me and come to the dark side and go bare bottom!

As for feeding why waste the food ? Go to your local ace hardware and get some pure ammonia. And just dose that. It will work faster than "feeding " the tank. And be controllable Also your not left with anything rotting or leaving anything undesirable in the tank. Thats how i cycle my rock. In fact i have some in the basement thats done. I can add 1.5 ml of ammonina (gives me 2ppm)and the next day i get 0 reading. And nitrites are 0 also.

When you cycle rock like that it preps the tank for a heavy bioload. Infact you could go out and buy your whole stock list at once. Lol I dont but you could. Its called fishless cycling. With a precycled rock added i can cycle rock in about 2 weeks from start to fin.

Good luck !! have fun.

 

[9thfloor]

I've heard of using pure ammonia to cycle. I'll have to read up on. Maybe on my next tank.

I am tempted to go buy some new aragonite tomorrow and just replace it. I'm not sure if it's crushed coral or sand in there now to be honest. It gets to be pretty small particles towards the bottom.

I have read bad things about crushed coral.

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[fragmatic]

Yeah you want aragonite and you don't need a tom of it.. IMO 1/2" is plenty. And since you are changing it don't place your rock on it..... pour it around your rock. And rinse the new stuff first.

 

[fragmatic]

Ghost feeding... most people think of themselves as feeding their fish... nothing could be farther from the truth.. you are feeding the tank. When we ghost feed a tank that is being cycled as if we have fish it is feeding (getting it adjusted) the bacteria and getting the count up for when we do feed fish. When we only feed according to how much our fish can eat in so many seconds we are failing to feed the rest of the tank of life forms. Read up on heavy feeding concepts. I am absolutely in that camp!! It is when I started doing that my tank went mega healthy.

 

[9thfloor]

I read to put your rocks on the substrate to create anaerobic zones for a bacteria that removed nitrates from the tank. Is that out dated or incorrect?

By the way thanks the all the replies people!

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[9thfloor]

I'll keep that in mind and look in to it more Fragmatic. It makes sense. Thanks for the heads up.

That's something I want to focus on. Getting a healthy tank with cleaners and even copapods and all of that. It gets confusing and complicated though!

Good thing this all takes awhile to get going. Gives me time to read and do stuff.

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[twintrades]

I get the concept of ghost feeding. I just personally think its a waste of time. If there's a new sand bed, And the rocks dont have much if any life on them. Then there's no reason in my mind that feeding needs to be done. All your trying to accomplish is building up a bacteria to break down the ammonia in the tank. So why feed food and have to wait for it to break down and decomp. When you have such a ready source avail ? And the way i figure is when you ghost feed you cant get an exact number on the ammonia that the food your adding will produce. But if you use the fishless method with pure ammonia. You can get an exact count on how much is in your tank and how much to add later as its getting used up. (plus there is no smell at all) As of today if i add enough amm to get it to 2 ppm in less than 12 hrs its back to 0. Knowing that i could Add all my corals and my whole stock list with confidence knowing my tank will handel the load.

Im not trying to step on toes here. If ghost feeding is your thing. Then by all means do it. I have only done the shrimp in a sock method. (never will again) And this is the second time doing the amm. thing. If i had rock that had life on it i would do the ghost feeding. But all of mine has been dried base rock or Baked show rock ive bought.

 

[fragmatic]

Rocks right on the glass please... LOL.. my opinion. Plus they are less to shift when critter # whatever moves the sand.


+1000 on the read and study ..all you can stand to... you get a big gold star for that one.

Number one recommendation... hands down.. take the reef slow / read & study fast

Reefing slower is faster.... LOL.. if you go fast you can bet your pay check you will lose that pay check to fix a serious problem... guaranteed. Then it is two steps back for your one step forward.

 

[tspreef]

I always use Dr Tim's one and only when I have to cycle my aquariums and it works great. Honestly though it just takes time and patients and in the end you will be happy you took your time. Good luck


Thomas...
Motto: I dream therefore I am

 

[fragmatic]

I get the concept of ghost feeding. I just personally think its a waste of time. If there's a new sand bed, And the rocks dont have much if any life on them. Then there's no reason in my mind that feeding needs to be done. All your trying to accomplish is building up a bacteria to break down the ammonia in the tank. So why feed food and have to wait for it to break down and decomp. When you have such a ready source avail ? And the way i figure is when you ghost feed you cant get an exact number on the ammonia that the food your adding will produce. But if you use the fishless method with pure ammonia. You can get an exact count on how much is in your tank and how much to add later as its getting used up. (plus there is no smell at all) As of today if i add enough amm to get it to 2 ppm in less than 12 hrs its back to 0. Knowing that i could Add all my corals and my whole stock list with confidence knowing my tank will handel the load.

Im not trying to step on toes here. If ghost feeding is your thing. Then by all means do it. I have only done the shrimp in a sock method. (never will again) And this is the second time doing the amm. thing. If i had rock that had life on it i would do the ghost feeding. But all of mine has been dried base rock or Baked show rock ive bought.

I absolutely get where you are coming from. Your are correct too... that is an absolutely valid method which works. I used Dr. Tim's when I first cycled my tank. However, there are several methods that work and we are still learning, thanks to posts and forums exactly like this where ideas are shared and debated in a healthy thread.

IMO Ghost feeding is a lead in (introduction) to the heavy feed concept.

It starts your tank into the feed the tank path, day one. It goes something like this, your mileage may vary; When you add the ammonia, yes it causes an increase in bacteria to feed on it. But, then you must feed that bacteria again or it dies off. Ghost feeding is a process of feeding the tank before you have fish, and in that concept fish are only one form of life in your tank that your feed. We have many concepts of reef tank keeping. Heavy feeding is one and it is gaining momentum because of results.. and wow does it take some nerve because it is in many cases exactly what we have been conditioned not to do. I think it started by the observation that healthy natural reefs are constantly being bombarded by nourishment.

I am in that camp.