Cycle question!!

[hillbillyreefer]

I'm starting another sw reef tank. This time a 33 gal. The LR is coming from my existing tanks, and has been in my tanks for 4 months. There is some GHA on the rock so before introducing it to my new tank I decided to keep it in the dark for awhile. It's been in complete darkeness for almost 4 days. Today I'm going to pull it out scrub the heck out of it with a brush, rinse and brush some more. After it's clean into the new tank it will go. Does anyone have any idea if/how nasty a cycle it's going to have in the tank. I've had the tank running for 5 days with just water and a chunk of halimeda and a bag of calupera in it. Trying to get the nutrient export component started early this time. I used some water change water to start the tank.

Now for the real pot stirring question. I have egg crate on the bottom of the tank. I don't think I'll be able to look at that long term, way too ugly. What are you you guys using for sand. I know it's a pain to maintain but I like the looks of sand better than BB. White is the color of choice for this tank. Tank will be high flow, and high light eventually. What size grain would you recommend? What depth of bed would be best?

Thanks in Advance

Brad

[Slipstream]

Sand basically is all up to the owners preference. I have about an inch of Tidal Marine Substrate in my FOWLR tank. Much more i dont think itd look good in MY tank, but some tanks look better with less, and some look better with more. But i recommend getting Live Sand, its a little less work too keep clean. And for color, id go for a really light beige or white, it looks more natural to me.

[hillbillyreefer]

Thanks Slipstream.

Scrubbing GHA is a lot of fun. Wish I had more of the stuff!!!! NOT.

While scrubbing I inadvertently scrubbed some sort of encrusting SPS. Do you think it will live. It really looks like crap at the moment.

Thanks
Brad

[Whatigot]

if you already have eggcrate at the bottom, why not just go for a plenum?
purely out of curiosity...?

[hillbillyreefer]

Haven't done much research into plenums. The one place I do remember reading about them said they could be problematic (but what can't in this hobby). That was about as far into plenums as my research got. Do you run one, if so how do you have it set up and are you happy with it?

Thanks
Brad

[Whatigot]

I was advised against a plenum by everyone, but by noone who had tried.
I'm actually setting up a 90 gallon reef right noe with a plenum because it seems like all the books I read suggest that it is an excellent system that requires very little maintenance.
As I understand it you need to think about changing or seriously cleaning the overlaying substrate avery 24 months or so....
It seems like there are a lot of hobbyists to don't reccomend it but very very few who have actuallhy tried it.
I have read that you need to be careful about how much rock/sand you are using as too much will result in too much dentirification and nitrification.
seems like everything else in this hobby and requires some measure of planning and adjustment.
I am looking foreward to seeing for myself how it works.

[hillbillyreefer]

Thanks for the input I will do some more reading on the subject and if I find anything really worthwhile I'll let you know.

ATM I'm leaning toward about 2" sand in the display and then putting together a HOB refugium in the back to hold my skimmer, heaters, macro etc. etc. I was going to buy one, but the cost for what you get seems a little high. It's just a box with a couple baffles, an inlet and an out let. I have some acrylic in the shop so this weekend I think I'll whip one up. I'm also considering a DSB for the fuge but haven't really decided on anything.

Has anyone on here played around with xenon bulbs? I was going to play with
led's but xenon would be so much easier. There is a good selection of bulb temperatures and ballasts should be cheap, reflectors shouldn't be hard to retro.

One of the best parts of this hobby is all the DIY stuff you can do if you want too. The next best part is sitting beside the ecosystem you've created while looking at and reading about what others have created.

So many ideas so little time.

Brad