Last Minute Setup Questions

[FlorabamaTrigger]

Okay, so I'm stuck here at work until 6, and the wife just called and said the new Wet/Dry for my 125g just showed up at the house with all my other goodies. Now I'm gonna be chompin at the bit to get out of here and get home to get started!

Anyways, I have to say that I've been reading as much as I can on here, (using the search feature) , and as much as sometimes it's hard to find an answer to the direct question I had sometimes, it led me to so many other great ideas I had never thought of!

Anyways, on to my questions... I'm going with African Cichlids, so my PH level will need to be UP there. I've got 100lbs of PFS that I rinsed this past weekend to put in the tank tonight. I've also been told to mix in 20-30lbs of crushed coral which would help keep my Ph levels up in the range I'm going to need. First, I like the idea someone had on one of the other threads here about adding the Coral by placing it in a bag or pantyhose and placing it in the sump. That way it can be rinsed later since it needed to be in order to keep the Nitrates down. This is the first I've heard or needing to rinse the Crushed Coral? The person that reccomended me to add the crushed coral has a ton of African Cichlids in multiple tanks, so I have been going off of his knowledge since I am a newbee to all of this, (About 6mths) , and he reccomended me mixing the Crushed Coral in with the PFS. Should I be concerned about the Nitrates shooting up with this stuff, or since I'll be needing the higher ph level will it even out since it will be in a 125g tank and running a 27g wet/dry sump?

Or, am I better off not using the Crushed Coral and just using the 8.2ph Buffer i've used on my 29g? And if I hold off on using the crushed Coral, should I substitute more sand, or does the amount of sand I use in the tank make a difference?

And while I'm throwing out questions, tonight after I install the wet/dry filter I'll finally be able to slide the tank in place. (Since the wet/Dry can only be slid in from behind cause the doors in the front of my stand are only 10inwide!) I've already got my PFS rinsed and the egg crate stuff laid down in the bottom of the tank. Is it better to add the sand first, then using a bowl to pour the water into add the water afterwards, or vise-versa? Or does it make the sand settle faster either way? Next, after I've added the water and PFS, is it better for me to let the tank sit for a few days and let the water clear before turning on the wet/dry and or HOBs that came with the tank, or would it be better to turn on the HOBs (since I plan on only using the Wet/Dry anyways and keeping the HOBs as a backup) and let them do my cleaning for me before I run the wet/dry and have to clean it out too?

 

[CharlieTuna]

Not an expert, but I do not understand why the crushed coral would be more likely to cause nitrate problems then any other substrate, I have never heard of this. I have used crushed coral in an African Cichlid tank without any problems. IMO, it would be much easier to buffer the water naturally with the substrate and/or crushed coral in the sump. I can't help you with the amount of crushed coral to use. I used crushed coral in my 150g as the only substrate. My well water PH was 8.2, my tank always ran about 8.2 to 8.3.

I would add the sand before filling the tank. Put a large bowl in the bottom of the aquarium, on top of the sand, to deflect the water as you add it. I would run all of your filtration to clear up the water, it will probably take a couple of days.

 

[Morledzep]

i'm with Charlie, i keep crushed coral as part of the substrate in all of my tanks. it mixes well with river rocks.. probably work just as well with sand.

my nitrates have never been high because of my crushed coral. they have, on occasion been high because i've skipped a water change or two, but that's operator error, has nothing to do with the crushed coral.

if you're using sand as your substrate i would hold off on starting the pumps and the filters for 24 hours and give the sand a chance to settle (it won't clear up completely till the filters do their thing though). you want to try to avoid getting sand in the impellers in your filters as much as possible.

and that bowl trick is something every aquarist should learn early on.. it's a lifesaver.

 

[FlorabamaTrigger]

Well, unfortunately good ol UPS, no doubt also hindered by this time of year, didn't deliver the Wet/Dry yesterday and had to reschedule it for today. Apparently it was a different box that had arrived and the wife was mistaken what had actually arrived. So you can imagine my suprise when I walked in and noticed it hadn't.

Anyways, it wasn't that bad since I still had some work to do. I had thought about painting the back, but since once I paint it, if I ever changed my mind later, it would be a royal PIA to remove so I opted for the black plastic from the local Petsmart first. Needless to say after about 2 hours of trying to get all the bubbles out I finally gave up and plan on trying to use a hair drier tonight. If that doesn't work, I'll probably just turn it around and use the blue side since the black color shows up every bubble or corner left unstuck completely.

Thanks for your opinions on the Crushed Coral. I still need to rinse out the coral before adding it, but I'm hoping it won't be as cold, or at least the wind won't be as bad, tonight so I can get it rinsed out without dealing with catching hypothermia! I've also gotten some omore advice on how long to wait before turning on the filters. Since I'll be using a wet/dry system, a friend who also had a similar setup gave me a good idea. I'm going to first wait a day until the sand settles first, then cut an old t-shirt and replace the filter pad and bio with stretched pieces to catch any sand that comes through. I'm also going to only fill the tank up half way first as to minimize the concentration of the couldy water and use a gravel cleaner along the top to remove the larger pieces. After it clears I'll replace the filter pad and bio in the wet/dry and temporarily put the two HOB 60s on the back and turn them on too. The rating on my wet/dry is 900gph, then each HOB is 300 each. 1500pgh total should clean everything else up rather quickly!

Now the next decision will be whether to try the 'fishless' cycling, or just get some tigerbarbs or something, maybe 4 or 5, to kickstart the process.

 

[Morledzep]

don't kill live fish for your cycle.. use plain ammonia (NO sudsing agent). or a piece of cooked shrimp.. just don't intentionally kill an animal, especially in such a cruel way.

 

[FlorabamaTrigger]

Yeah, I have been told to throw in some tigerbarbs or tetras, something hardy that would probably make it until the tank is completely set before putting in my more expensive fish. However, I just don't see myself being able to throw in fish just to know that they will die due to the tank not being ready.

I'm going to stop on the way home and buy some more media to mix in with my 29g so in about a week or so I'll have some to throw in the new tank to help get it going.