Ok guys I now have 20lbs of live rock in my tank now ready to start cycling my tank! Where do I start! LOL! I posted a new picture of the tank with the live rock in there today! Â Rusty
Here's what's working for me on a Nano 24. First throw away the rings, carbon and bio balls that came with your tank. In the first chamber will be media, if you can get a media rack it helps. I use Chemipur Elite, Purigen, and SeaGel in filter bags and top it off with filter pads/floss. In the second chamber you will create a fuge, you need to remove the black backing, you can remove the whole back or just that section, it should just peel away and use an LED light. You can get one made for the Nano for about $60 or get one at Lowes for $15, both work well. The one from Lowes I attached with two sided tape. In the third chamber you should upgrade the stock pump to a maxijet 1200 and this is also the place for the heater. In the tank I also use two Koralias Nano's 2 for good flow, one in my rockwork to keep the ditris blown out and one opposite the output from the back. [p align="inherit":2jvl7hbz] [/p:2jvl7hbz][p align="inherit":2jvl7hbz]Second slow down, add your rockwork and wait for 2-4 weeks while the tank cycles, the less light during this time should help control the algae bloom. If you try to rush this your setting yourself up for a tank crash.  You will need to do water changes during the cycle and change the filter pads often. You will know your tank is cycled when the water is crystal clear and there is no smell. Invest in some good test kits and when your parameters are in line you are ready to begin to adding your inhabitants. Remember your building a micro environment so your bio-load will be limited less is more when it comes to fish, etc.  Then plan to visit Blake, Norman, and The FishTank often; you won't be able to resist.[/p:2jvl7hbz][p align="inherit":2jvl7hbz] [/p:2jvl7hbz][p align="inherit":2jvl7hbz]Again, this is just what works for me, find out what works for you and enjoy.[/p:2jvl7hbz]
well right now i dont have the money to buy a media basket that you are talking about and stuff and I am not that great and fixing up stuff can I not run a sucessful reef tank just by using the set up that it came with and not changing the filters it did not come with any media balls just in 2 of the 3 chambers it has black filters and some white media in a bag and that is it!. Â
i have often wondered, everyone talks about all the things to put in your tank to help start the cycleing. this is a question for everyone out there. Why cant when starting a new tank by takeing the water drained out from an established tank be used. It should be chaulked full of bacteria and organic material plenty to cycle a new tank well. we all do water changes and some of us quite large water changes. This is just a thaught that i had, i am looking forward to hearing what everyone else thinks of this
IMO....Hands down best way to jumpstart a new tank is get a few lbs of this [url2='http://premiumaquatics.com/aquatic-supplies/L-CRUDE.html':sjsmy4l5]http://premiumaquatics.com/aquatic-supplies/L-CRUDE.html[/url2:sjsmy4l5] will be discusting for about 5 days but will be filled with life.
Ok guys I went to the store today to look for some raw shrimp lol well nobody sells just like plain shrimp where i live it is all baged and there are so many types but they are all in the deep freezers some cured in sea salt and some are not. Does this matter if it does not i will just go buy a bag and throw 1 in the tank and cook the rest and have a good snack lol! Â Rusty
lol we dont have a Kroger but i bought a bag of raw shrimp today and threw it in there! I had to go to Wally World and I hate that place lol!
Ok Ladies and Gents it has now been 11 days since I have started cycling my tank and I have had the raw shrimp in there but it is now gone I have still had no spike in my tank on the levels they are still reading 0! So does this mean how long will it tank in order my for my tanks lvls to go up or will they go up lol! I have no alge in my tank that i have seen plus i have not run lights on my tank during the whole cycle! so is this good!
you will probably not have an algea bloom if you havn't been running the lights. You should run the lights for a few days so you can see if the temp will rise, and just how much of a temp change you get if any. While doing that I'll bet you start seeing some algea appear on the glass.
Problem is that the bacteria that keep your tank cycled arent in the water column. They are mainly in the LR and other porous places in the tank i.e. filter sock, sponges, and some in the sand but not near as much as LR. Seeding a tank with the smallest piece of LR from a established tank will give you the jump start. There is debate about some rock I bought for my tank if you want to read about it, it is under the topic Beat the Nitrogen cycle.
