Hustlers 300G Panzer Project (Up and Running)

[reefwars]

looks good , prob a bit early for clowns any amonia from die off in transport of the lr or adding the sand can and prob will kill them, if by chance they do survive its still gonna be hard on them.keep an eye on your amonia and if it gets above 0.5 i would remove them or use something to get rid of the amonia.nice score on the favia's too cheers

[Hustler]

So when everyone said.... get a pair of clowns to cycle the tank they lied? lol
Im doing periodic WCs as well as a bunch of turnover and really it was more of a tank move than a new setup as I got almost all the bio and i have next to nothing compared to the bio load it had.... Ive done this a bunch of times with fresh..... and in way worse scenarios never had a spike.... but I will keep you posted
they are the saltwater goldfish arent they? Jk

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Hustler

So when everyone said.... get a pair of clowns to cycle the tank they lied? lol
Im doing periodic WCs as well as a bunch of turnover and really it was more of a tank move than a new setup as I got almost all the bio and i have next to nothing compared to the bio load it had.... Ive done this a bunch of times with fresh..... and in way worse scenarios never had a spike.... but I will keep you posted
they are the saltwater goldfish arent they? Jk

who would be everyone?? i doubt many people on this site said to use clowns for cycling??? fact is you dont need fish for cycling you just need to provide an amonia source, if your rock was out of water for any period of time it will have die off, when adding sand theres also going to be a small spike unless its sand that has never been in a reef aquarium.transfering a saltwater tank and a fresh water tank are not really simiular, theres organic dieoff that comes from rock and sand like bacteria,copepods,amphipods,sponges, polyps,crabs,snails you name it if it spends anytime out of the water they are going to die thus creating an amonia spike. even doing a transfer from one spot to another causes a small cycle how big the cycle depends on how established the tank was and how fast it can convert amonia,since your using a new tank and new equipment its not really a simple transfer.any detection of amonia is harmful or even fatal to fish. you would have been just fine to leave your rock alone and let it cycle naturally,if it needs a stronger amonia source or if you dont think it has enough bacteria on it to sustain marine life you can feed the bacteria a manual source like cocktail shrimp,pellets or flake or even a cultured bacteria source and then give them time to reproduce.you should wait untill you see a spike from the amonia and then wait for it to dissappear meaning its been converted into nitrates which can be manually removed.patience is the name of the game doing things to fast will most def result in disease ending up in your tank,wasted money on livestock,chemicals, and save yourself alot of frustration.300g is a nice size system to work with and youll have plenty of time for livestock but trust me your tank doesnt need live fish to start or complete a cycle in fact fish most times do not make it through a cycle of any size sorry not meaning to lecture just provide some insightcheers

[Hustler]

And i thank you for pointing that out
Im sure there will be several walls I will run into with this salt conversion but cycling has always been one of my better suits....its the basics of the fish hobby salt or fresh.... with 4k in arowanas and starting a new tank with a simple dose of prime, stability and a good water change routine plus a seed... And they eat almost a pound of fresh seafood a day....I have never even experienced a loss of feeding nevermind illness.... Alot has to do with the ammount of water and flow mind you.... but still I can understand your concerns.... Feel free to PM me if there are any other things you may wish to point out on these subjects as this is my build thread..... and Im trying to keep it positive as it will be up here long after Ive mastered the reef

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Hustler

So when everyone said.... get a pair of clowns to cycle the tank they lied? lol

This is some freshwater thinkin you gotta ditch. Whoever told you that shouldn't be trusted for future information either.

When cycling a tank you are looking to get a population of nitrifying bacteria. These bacteria are found mostly in and on live rock in a saltwater tank. Thus, if you buy rock from an established tank your tank is essentially cycled the moment you put the rock in. Curing rock is the process where you deal with die-off either from "fresh" collected rock that you buy from the LFS or die-off from a move. If you see ammonia your rock is curing, if you don't see ammonia in the first week your rock is cured (no die-off). Get a SeaChem Ammonia Alert, and if there is any color change on there get on here pronto. Ammonia burn will permanently damage a fish's gills.

[Hustler]

The ammo alert is in there now... has been since the salt... The rock came from a running reef and was maybe MAYBE 20 min in transport with very very little die off i can tell anyways from the black bottom i have.... corals and clowns are amazing and the ammo alert hasnt twitched yet and Ill still do WCs.... also adding prime and stability just incase.... that and I have a huge exxcess from my stingray days so its already here lol.
Myka thanks again for all the help.... I realize its a new world with salt but Im pretty sure the clown pair is in the safe zone either way seeing as ive probabbly spent more in safeguards while making the switch then the clowns themselves

[Myka]

Oh I think the clowns will be fine too. You did jump the gun rather early there though, you will have to practice patience in the future as any mistakes you make will be big mistakes simply considering the size of your tank! And you're welcome for the help. I can't wait to see how your tank progresses, always interesting watching newbies.

Prime and Stability are not products you should be adding all the time. In the beginning few weeks it may not be a bad idea to help curb any cycle that may be happening, but you shouldn't use them long-term in a reef tank. Are you using tap water? I think you bought an RO/DI, didn't you?

[Hustler]

I have the 5 stage ro/di from aquasafe... the big bugger...
But with the fresh i added every other week just to avoid any unforseen mishaps..... I guess its overkill with the ro system.....but I have like.....gallons of it still so... I though it wouldnt hurt Almost bought a doser for just that stuff with my stingrays but managed to do it manually and avoid it..... could have been my top off system

[Zoaelite]

More pictures please ?

If I were you I would remove the bio reactor, do a search on here or reefcentral you will find tones of mixed results. Personally for me it was good to start and then caused problems in the long run.

I'm going for a more natural feel, DSB with mangroves & macro is a much better filtering tool.



Any idea on your final lighting, aquascape or fish & coral comp? Looks like it's going to be a wicked tank, will be watching for sure.

Your clowns will be fine btw, look at how the favias are doing! Watch early morning or @ around 1:00am, lots of open mouths to be seen.

[reefwars]