1st time set up

[SandiegoSalt]

Hello all,

I am just finished setting up a 285 gallon aquarium which i plan to put both live rock and fish in for the first year. I have the sump, skimmer and pump going with water from scripps peir. Now I know from having fresh water for years the tank has to cycle, this will take about 30 days. So druing this time, If you would throw any tips, ideas or suggestions my way so i dont make any fatal mistakes would be greatly appericated.

Thanks all,


Chris

 

[fishfanatic2]

A lot of the older books will say that you should introduce hardy fish to help the cycle along. However that is unneccessary you dont need fish, to get the same effect, empty some flake food or other food into the tank every so often. Also, Im assuming by "..with water from scripps pier." that ur using natural seawater. This probably isn't a good idea since the pollutants in all water and the plankton and other algae suspended in it will not survive in the tank. The only way you should really use natural seawater is if you let it sit in the dark for several weeks. There are many good quality synthetic salts that are readily available for you to mix with your water to create saltwater.

HTH

 

[SnowManSnow]

Want some bad advice to start the cycle? Just pee into the water Pardon my "enthusiasm" this morning haha

Really, good luck with the 285g tank! I'm sure we'd all love to see some pics.

 

[Anonymous]

I too would love to have a 285g tank.

My recommendation would be to start the plant life (in a refugium) as the very first thing. Makes things much easier that way.

 

[Joew]

Refugiums are not easier, ignore that. They're great for keeping critters like copepods. Use a awesome skimmer and a refugium becomes a null point. More labor involved. Gotta trim it, blah blah...So please ignore Beaslbob when he says use a refugium Have a nice day

JoeW
_________________
Snap shot

 

[Anonymous]

Water from the scripps pier should be fine; plenty of people use wild salt water including most public aquariums. I believe the water from that peir is filtered too, although I don't know how.

Do you have live rock in the tank? What are you using for circulation, lights and skimmer?

 

[SandiegoSalt]

Ok, the water from scripps peir is filtered through three huge sand filters and while i was filling up three other people that have tanks also used the same stuff.

In the tank right now is the following......base rock about 250lbs and some substright, thats becides water.

for the filter questions i have a 55 gallon sump, the sump is in four parts with the first part being the area where the bio balls are, then there is a large area where the skimmer sits then a slim area where more bio balls are, the last area is where the intake for the pump is. I got a huge skimmer (euro reef cs-6 two plus ). right now im working on getting the lights going but tried to hook them up over the weekend and got knocked across the room when i pushed the on button, seems there is a short there somewhere. the lights are hamilton tech hood with three MH-250s and two 48 lights in it as well, the guy i got them from cut the darn cords that lead to the transformer so im trying to figure out how all that works as well.

I figure i will let this sit and moniter the amonia levels for the first month till i can see that its ready for stuff, every now and then i have placed flake food in it to see if i cant get the process started.

I do appericate all the feed back you guys have given me and any other questions ill get back to you as quick as possible.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[SandiegoSalt]

For circulation I have a ( Iwaki .5hp pump ) where i plumbed it back up through the overflow to the three outlets in the back of the tank. I have included a picture of what i have done so far......

 

[Ben1]

Skimmer seems to small for such a big tank I would have gone to a cs8-cs12 atleast or even better a becket skimmer. Bioball may be ok for FOWLR but if you plan after the first year to also add coral ditch them now and let the skimmer/rock/sand be your filter.


Instead of throwing in flake cycle with a cocktail shrimp or two, this will work better in such a large system.

 

[Anonymous]

Well if that base rock is live rock it should contain more than enough biological matter to stimolate growth, no shrimp needed.

I agree on removing the bio-balls. All that aerobic surface area will just lead to a lot of nitrate that you would rather pull out first with the skimmer.

Get a GFCI for your outlets!!!!!

 

[Anonymous]

Get a GFCI for your outlets!!!!!

This is worth saying twice...