I`ma n00b!!

Welcome to GIRS! I am also new to the saltwater business and am still learning as I go. Take a look around the site and feel free to post!


Thanks and see you around!! /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/biggrin.gif

 

Hey welcome!

Check out the regional forums for the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids region. We have a meet coming up at the end of the month in North Liberty Community Center, Saturday April 23rd from 3-5pm. We are going to have a coral fragging demo, and talk about some of the more advanced techniques for maintaining healthy water parameters. In doing so, I will touch base and compare and contrast against the more conventional techniques for maintaining parameters. We would be pleased to help and discuss the process of establishing an aquarium as it pertains to water quality, and likely make some suggestions for the type of equipment necessary.

Hope to see ya there!
-ANdy

 

Welcome kmcgill88
Glad you found the site. I know that I throw a lot of information at you yesterday at the pet store, and it would be almost impossible to remember everything at once. So like Evolution said don't hesitate to post questions, you also welcome to PM me when ever you want to, I am more then glad to help out. We were all "noobs" at one time and had many of the same questions.

Andy mentioned the a regional meeting the end of this month. I know that you have other plans that weekend, but just to let you know this is a good place to meet other members and talk about the questions you have. We normally have a monthly meeting talking about different topics within the hobby. So if you can't make this meeting, there are many others that you can attend.

Here is the tentative schedule for the CR/IC area
http://www.greateriowareefsociety.org/Community/InterestGroups/GroupDetails/tabid/160/asg/4/aft/22042/showtab/groupforums/Default.aspx

Again welcome to the club
Troy

 

Welcome to the club Andy. You said you dont have LR in your tank yet and are working on cycleing the tank if i read that correctly. if this is the case, you should know that your LR is going to be one of the biggest causes for your tank cycling.

And I ran my skimmer. But you will have people that dont. I dont know the best way personally.. Goodluck and be sure to hit that meeting. you wont regret it.

 

No mthomp...I'm Andy, I actually didn't catch this fellas name, kmcgill what is it there guy?
As far as not having live rock, you're missing out on a major leap forward in the cycling process. Live rock contains robust colonies of nitrifying bacteria that will reduce ammonia to nitrates. Of course you need to feed these bacteria with ammonia to keep that process going. It's likely that any live rock you put in the tank will have some die off on it, but it will be quickly assimilated within the matter of a few days to a week. From there, you'll want to add fish food, a raw piece of shrimp/krill, or a damsel or something to keep feeding the bacteria.
Eventually, these bacterial colonies will equilibriate based on the amount of waste input, and any subsequent additions may kick off a few "mini-cycles." As long as new input isn't massive, these shouldn't be signficiant sources of stress on livestock.
Running your protein skimmer during this process will reduce the density of colonies, as nitrifying bacteria expire and become suspended they will be removed rather than being fed back into newly assimilating colonies. It's a good idea not to use a skimmer for the first month or so.
Beware of the live rock you add, poorly cured rock will harbor microcosoms where pores are ladden with nutrients that will fuel cyano bacteria and green hair algae. It's possible to have worse hitchhikers on live rock too, like aptasia, mantis shrimp, acoel worms, planeria, and giant bristle worms (not all are bad) just the large ones, and an over abundance of these and some other meso fauna can be problematic. Hopefully you find somebody who 1.) has experience eyeballing live rock 2.) is honest about what they see and how the rock has been treated. Even so, you still may have some pieces that will harbor less than desireable flora and fauna, and in some cases it will take rock a year or more to really clean up.
cya,
andy

 

In a 55 i think 65-70 lbs is plenty. Another thing you can consider is using dry rock and seeding it with a couple pieces if live rock its much cheaper and often easier to work with. check out bulkreefsupply.com and http://www.marcorocks.com/

when you order LR online you are going to have a lot of die off but you will get a lot of bio diversity. just be sure to keep an eye out for unwanted critters such as crabs and shrimp

 

That white milky stuff is bacteria! DOM (dissolved organic matter (the purpose of skimming)) comes in all shapes and forms, but it mostly turns brown, and after a few days will produce a thick poopy sludge, or if skimming wet, will be tea/coffee colored.
I hope I'm not too late to help you out here, but the site has been down all day:
Yeah there is such a thing as too much rock, especially in the 55. Unfortunately the width of a 55 is somewhat restrictive, normally 1.5-2lbs/gallon is preferred but, in a 55, shot for 1lb/gallon.
I would not order live rock online for several reasons, there is definitely a quality vs. quantity factor. Live rock will often be advertised as "pre-cured" and this is a pretty relative term. Pre-cured is just slightly better than uncured, it's still usually pretty nasty and needs further curing, and shouldn't be put in display aquarium. It's best to cure rock like this in a rubbermaid tub. Second, even if it is truly cured, the shipping process will be hard on it, they will ship it dry, and usually you'll pay for heavy items too.
Generally the geographic type of the rock is of personal preference, however there are ecological issues to be aware of, Fiji and Marshall island rock is a MAC certified fishery and is a zero impact process. Tonga is almost impossible to get these days, and especially Red Sea stuff, I don't know if that was the result of poor management or not (Red Sea was an established importer just leaving and getting out after a 45 year run of it). In any case, Tonga is really sweet stuff (check out the shapes). You can get dry tonga.
And I would advocate starting with some locally bought seed rock that you can look at, and talk to somebody about, and then buy dry rock for the rest of the aquascape. Marco rocks and BRS are great sites. BRS is in Minneapolis and they ship FAST!!! Locally bought live rock will be a little more expensive, but you're really getting what you pay for. Live rock is really the foundation of the system for your tank, and it will HUGELY influence the progression of your system for years to come.
Let us know what your up to. Even if you got some rock on line, we can help you make the best of it.