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Boodiballa 
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 Topic: Setting up tank
Posted: March 11 2008 at 1:44pm |
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HI!!
As many of you know last summer our whole living room ceiling collapsed and all the insulation and other debris falling into our tank did not make for happy fish and coral. We lost it all, we were more upset about that than anything else. We bought the tank already set up and established and we are finally able to get it up and going again, but we have never done one from start up. We kept our rock and sand in salt water hoping to keep it alive. We now have our tank set up with the rock and sand back in it, but that is all we've done so far. It's only been up for 3 days. If you have any advice as how to continue it would be greatly appreciated. We did give it a fresh water 'rinse' after the collapse to get the insulation and stuff off it before putting it back in clean water. But because of the circumstances all we were able to do is mix the saltwater do a quick test for salinity and hope for the best after that. We're not even sure if it is still live. We were going to try putting some live rock and sand in hoping to help cultivate. So any advice would be very helpful.
Thank you so much!!
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"My other tank has a Murloc in it."
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superman1981
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Posted: March 11 2008 at 2:03pm |
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I'd say throw a piece of LR from a LFS or someone else's tank, and maybe a cup of sand and let it sit for a week or so, checking the Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite to make sure everything is cycled before adding fish!
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Sure you are, you are Crappy Reef Club Member #1 -Chk4tix 6 gal nanocube 65 gal build thread
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superman1981
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Posted: March 11 2008 at 2:04pm |
Well before adding corals and fish I should have probably said 
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Sure you are, you are Crappy Reef Club Member #1 -Chk4tix 6 gal nanocube 65 gal build thread
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Boodiballa
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Posted: March 11 2008 at 2:22pm |
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That is what we were thinking of doing--putting in some rock and sad that we know is live and letting it cultivate. We just weren't sure for how long. Then we were going to add snails and crabs. Good or bad to add those next?
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"My other tank has a Murloc in it."
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CrimsRayne
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Posted: March 11 2008 at 2:43pm |
Every tank is different. Some start to grow quickly and others take more time. Stick to the basic rule of when things start to grow add snails and crabs then when you get the green, go for it. 
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"What we know from this hobby is too hard to share with the people who just want to look and not get wet." -Rioreefer
"The Puffer Girl"
Zoo freak :)
West Jordan
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Boodiballa
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Posted: March 11 2008 at 2:49pm |
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Thanks. I know it's going to take patience--which is something I struggle with--but I want it to be healthy and happy so we'll give it the time it needs. Too bad there isn't Miracle Grow for aquariums like there is for your garden. lol I am just looking forward to getting it going again. I have missed it so much and was truly devastated when we lost it. We appreciate all the advice we can get as we want it to be successful once again.
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"My other tank has a Murloc in it."
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CrimsRayne
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Posted: March 11 2008 at 2:55pm |
If you want to give the tank a kick in the right direction you can find someone near you doing a water change and use that to seed the tank. I did that with my 180 (and all my nanos are from my bigger tanks) and it's been going well. Quick growth and the fish are loving it.
And my 2 cents, the more stable the tank it comes from the better yours will be... 
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"What we know from this hobby is too hard to share with the people who just want to look and not get wet." -Rioreefer
"The Puffer Girl"
Zoo freak :)
West Jordan
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Boodiballa
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Posted: March 15 2008 at 3:35pm |
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Ok, so we now have a very good brown coating on the rocks and sand, is that a good sign? Does that mean our rock and sand is still live?
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"My other tank has a Murloc in it."
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pa_reptileman_4
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Posted: March 15 2008 at 4:00pm |
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yes its part of the cycling, its a diatom bloom it will go away within a few days to weeks.do you have a cleaner crew in there?
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pitiful guppy tank.
shane
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Boodiballa
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Posted: March 15 2008 at 4:04pm |
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no cleaner crew--we were thinking about getting some today-do you think it's time or still too early?
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"My other tank has a Murloc in it."
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pa_reptileman_4
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Posted: March 15 2008 at 4:20pm |
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i would say its time for some.
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pitiful guppy tank.
shane
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Boodiballa
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Posted: March 16 2008 at 5:06pm |
We put in 5 red legged crabs and 5 blue legged crabs and 5 snails. They are very happy, one of the crabs has already moved into a bigger shell and we now have white patches on the rock where the snails have been. We also put in 5 green chromi's, they seem to be doing really good too. They are swimming around and have even come out and played in the flow from the pump. It was fun to watch them. I'm getting so excited. We don't want to move too fast so we are hesitant to add anymore livestock right now, but we did buy someone's live rock and will be adding it today so we are hoping that help will help cultivate our rock. Any more suggestions would still be greatly appreciated. 
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"My other tank has a Murloc in it."
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