[jsgates]

Ok, I've been taking my time setting up my 80 ga. reef, and things are going great so far. Tank is now 80% full of saltwater, and has been running since last Sunday evening with just the two Koralia 3 powerheads. T5's and Moonlights have been plugged into a timer/powerstrip, and I'm running the T5's from 7:00 am - 9:00 pm. The rest of the time, the moonlights are on. Is this a good lighting cycle? Tested the Specific gravity today and the PH with my Seachem Basic Multi-test kit. Looks like my water parameters are good, but I'd like a second opinion:

Specific Gravity: 1.023 (this was taken before I topped off the tank. about 1 had evaporated)
Salinity: 31 ppt
PH: 8.2
Alk: 2.5 meq/L

Still need to check water temps to see if I need a heater. Now on to my question:

Live Rock is coming this week from mrmarine on ebay and I'm about to start cycling the tank . I need to plan my aquascape while the tank is cycling. I bought 100 lbs of Fiji LR. Should this be enough for my 80 ga. tank? I was thinking of maybe adding some additional Toca LR for variation. Also I saw that a lot of you guys attach the rock to PVC? How exactly does this work Guess I'm not seeing it by the description. Any suggestions for Aquascaping with the LR? After the tank cycles, I plan to put the LR in place, and add my White sugar-sized sand. Thanks for any suggestions.

[FINDING_NEMO]

u dont need ur lights on while the tank cycles

[jsgates]

Is there anything wrong with leaving the lights on while cycling? Also, anybody got any input on Live Rock / PVC pipe portion of my question? Thanks.

[dhboyd1]

I am not sure I understand all your steps but you say you are going to put LR and sand in after tank cycles? You know your tank will cycle again after you put in that stuff if it come overnight from ebay. If you have just water in the tank your aren't cycling yet, not until you add something to cycle (biologicals).

From what I understand, you basically build bleachers for the rock using the pvc. I have seen people glue it to pvc or drill it and fit the pvc into the holes but I think the bleacher concept would work best. Eventually coraline will grow over everything and you can't see much. I wish I had done it that way myself as I built walls from my live rock and had to move everything so I had flat surfaces to put corals and stuff.

You don't need lights until 4-6 weeks into the cycle unless you like diatoms, brown algae and green algae to an excess.

I like the idea you are planning ahead and asking questions as you go along. Keep asking.

[jsgates]

Right, I'm not cycling yet......that's what the Live Rock is for. Going to add it to start the cycle. I read in guide on this site that it is good to wait under most of the diatom is gone before adding the white sand. Put LR in, let cycle, when diatom die is almost at an end, add the sand.

[jimw369]

Rock, then sand, then water. Wait for tank to cycle 4-6 weeks. Get cleaner crew.

I you could, please tell me where you saw in a guide on this site where it says to put sand in last after the diatoms are gone. I would sure appreciate that information so I do not advise anyone wrong. Thanks.

[jsgates]

ummmmmmm.......water has to be first. The 3 part guide on setting up a reef forum.

[jimw369]

Yes, hmmmmm...checked it out and you are correct. It is as you stated.

I will be checking that paragraph out with Ryan at another time.

Heres the scoop.

Rock in first-Easy to aquascape, can change your mind as you go. Do not have to worry about water displacement and can see what you are doing.

Substrate(if using one)- Spread out around LR to the desired depth. LR will sit firmly on bottom of tank and not on substrate. Burrowing fish and critters cannot undermine LR causing LR to tumble. Still no mess.

Add RO/DI water- add slowly and not directly on to substrate so as to minimize cloudiness in the water. Let water settle for a few hours and turn on pumps.

I would even consider taking the water back out and then doing my aquascaping if I wanted to do something fancy and pin or epoxy the LR. Especially if my substrate wasnt in there yet.

Keep in mind this is all IMHO. Good luck and look forward to the pics. Take pics while you are doing it!

[jimw369]

I just went back and read Kolos set up guide and maybe I would try it his way the next time. The part about having brown diatoms all over the substrate gets me to thinking a little. I think maybe LR , water then sand.

It just goes to show there are several ways to do something and achieve the same end result. Thanks for posting the thread! I have learned something I thought I already knew.


"Pride goeth before a fall"

[wesley6610]

Everything else sounds good except for the lighting schedule, IMO you lights are on way too long, 14 hours is TOO much. For my T5 lights I have my Actinics on for 10 hours and my daylight/middays on for 6.5 in the fall/winter and 7.5 in the spring/summer. I would advise you to look at your corals later on once you add them in hopefully no sooner than 6 months and see how long they honestly stay fully open. I found that my corals started to close up after about 6 hours of light and closed almost completely nearing 8. But instead of "asking" them to open back up when the moonlights came on, I left the Actinics on longer and they appreciated that by staying open longer so I could view them as long as the daylights cycle was kept shorter. Then the moonlights only kept open the ones that could "glow" for lack of the scientific word under the blue LED's. Longer lighting schedules can lead to unwanted algae growth in the future, so beware.