Grow out tank and "cycle"...

[Reefguide]

My be a stupid question but here goes:

If I set-up a Rubbermaid container as a seperate system just for grow out, will only have NSW will it undergo a "cycle"? No LR, LS, ect.. just pain old saltwater... Paramaters will all be kept in check by frequent Water changes..

Also what if I add a wet dry? will it then undergo a "cycle?"

Thanks...

 

[Telochupoto]

Cycling a tank means "seeding" the LR and LS with enough bacteria to help you filtrate the water better; if you RO/DIed the water already and added the proper elements and you let the water sit for at least overnight to let it settle, I don't see a problem with just adding a "guinea pig" fish to try it out. You have to understand something, the whole cycle term came from way back when, when individuals didn't have all the advantages that we now have. Even now, you don't need to cycle the tank unless it is to cure that LR/LS and seed it with the bacteria. Just my 2 Cents.

 

[Entacmaea]

Is this grow grow out vat going to be connected yo your regular system? I didn't get the feeling it was from your post... If not, and you are not going to have any LR and LS, basically the only area in which bacteria will grow (and slowly at that because they will only be introduced at the air/water interface and through the frags you are trying to grow) will be the water column and the surface of the container. You will have very little room for error in a tank like this(basically without any filter) Even with water changes, you will never be able to dilute waste products to a level appoximating that which you would achieve in a regular system. Not to mention it would be a pain in the butt. I'd skip the wet/dry even, and just throw some sand in and seed it, then whatever rack or plugs/rocks you are growing frags on will be additional surface area for bacteria...

Telo is right, you are not really talking about a situtation that would include a traditional "cycle". Sounds like you are trying to keep it simple, low maintenance, but I would gander that throwing some sand in and creating a biofilter in the tank will long term be far less maintenance than all the water changes you will end up doing...

 

[Reefguide]

actually its not for frags it for juvinile clown fish... They are now 7 days old and I figure another 2-3 weeks in this tank, then I'll move them. Due to the high numbers of clowns in the rubbermaid container I dont want to add Sand or LR for maintnance reasons...

 

[Osama]

Can you connect this tank to your refugium or main system . If you can I believe that would be your better option. Let us know how it works out. Good Luck

 

[Entacmaea]

First off, that is awesome you are trying to raise clowns!

Second, if you are going to have fish in the rubbermaid you will producing even more waste than you would with corals, etc. and have even more need for biological filtration... water changes alone will only dilute the waste, and without a effective biological filter which normally would convert nitrogenous waste almost immediately, you will have ammonia and nitrites in the water, constantly= not good for clown fry. The large water changes you will need to do might also be relatively stressfull on the little buggers... osama is right that plumbing it to your system would be the easiest solution...

Good luck though!

 

[Reefguide]

I was just offered a 45g custome tank for use as my grow-out tank that is segmented for different batchs at different stages of growth. Plumbing into my main tank is not possible. The main tank is in my "office room" at home and the grow out would be in the garage. I figured that maintnance on the rearing tank would be easier if there was no LR, LS, ect. Easier to siphon out dead larva, waste accumilation ect...

Any ideas on setting this up with-out having to go through a cycle? I dont really want the hassle of LR, LS, ect. My clowns should spawn in another week or two and would like to have the 8 day old larva i currently have already in the grow-out tank so that the larva tank is ready for the new ones... Damn I confused myslef reading that ! 8O

 

[Entacmaea]

How are you going to provide circulation in the rearing tank, airstone I would guess? You could put some filter floss or sponge(prefilter material) in your main tank for the next week and allow it to be colonized, then switch to the rearing tank with the fry?

 

[Reefguide]

Hmm, good idea, thanks.. Yeah I was planning on using airstones if I went with the Rubbermaid containers and a overflow/sump design if I went with the 45g....

Now about that fiilter floss... I let it colonize in the main tanbk for a week then just drop it in the new rearing tank? Remeber No LS, LR in the set-up...

Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

Hmmm.... Cycling a tank is really just developing then bacteria colonies to a population that can take care of the available nutrients. You don't need to cycle the tank, but you won't have any natural system for dealing with excess nutrients. If your nutrients are very low or if you increase them very slowly there may never be a noticable cycle. I guess since there is no rock or sand, and thus nothing to speak of for those populations to live on, then a cycle is not really necessary. You will have to be filtering the water some way, however...

Maybe ask someone who breeds fish for an answer to this? We are all reefies here, and speaking for myself anyway, don't know much outside that paradigm.

 

[Entacmaea]

That is the general idea. You would just have to make sure that the airstone is providing enough circulation and air for the bacteria (so the floss should be closer to the airstone, rather than farther from it) Even better would be to buy one of those really cheap/lame sponge filters you see in fresh water set-ups- (it is basically a sponge attached to an airstone). Run that in your main tank for the next week, then transfer it to your rearing tank...

Also, If this custom 45g has more than one partition, you could conceivably turn one of the partitions into a "filter" section, with the floss, or sand or LR(even one small peice from your main tank would be a help)- set up a pump to pump out of this filter section and into the rearing sections, thus filtering the water without exposing the fry to the pump (I am assuming that the flow rate would be low enough to prevent fry from going over the overflow and into the "filter" partition, but this is an added risk, addmittedly) So you can have filtration, but still siphon un eaten food, dead fry, etc. from the rearing section...

 

[Telochupoto]

With your purpose and vision said; I would then suggest having baffles installed on that grow out tank. The purpose of this would be to in one end have a filter, now keep in mind that this side has to have a baffle with the opening at the bottom so no fish can go in it and get killed. Then I would place a pump or powerhead big enough to transfer the water from one side to the other. Sort of like this:

|****|*******************|****|****|
|****\*******************\****|****|
|****|*******************|****|****|
|****|*******************|****|****|
|****|*******************|****|****|
|____|___________________|____\____|

First off this was the best I could do to illustrate what I mean; the "*" represent the water, and is the only way for the illustration to be post since this board doesn't support more than double spacing I guess. Anyway, anywhere you see a "slant" place a sponge the length of the opening to stop the fish from going into that partition. If you don't plan on having LS then the second baffle can be taken out; and finally place the filter in partition #3 [I would guess in the width side of the tank] and at the bottom of the same partition place your pump or powerhead returning the water to partition #1. You could add more baffles if you decide to go with the different sizing partitions as well. Any questions?