BlackburnD
New member
As I am getting closer to moving back to the US I have been doing a lot of reading and planning for my re-entry into the hobby. It will be my first Reef tank, but not my first SW tank. I have been reading a good bit about Ich, and curing dry rock, and other things that go with the early phases. Planning a 120Gal with a 40b sump, and I think I will use about 110lbs of rock in the DT with a little more in the sump. Let's get into it...
Rock - Thinking of using a mix of dry and TBS rock. I like the diversity of life on the TBS, but also would like to try and limit the amount of potential bad hitchikers. Thinking about 40LBS of TBS. So will need to cure the dry, and aquascape using the TBS and dry together. Main concern here is best way to attach the live rock to the dry rock considering I would rather do it with the rock dry, but of course that's not feasible with wet LR. Should I/could I put the LR in something to watch for unwanted pests before going into the DT? what would be the best method to bring them out without hurting the good stuff?
Cycle & Fallow - I intend to let the tank run with no new life for about 80 days. Rock, sand, and whatever creatures are on the LR. Clearly this is for Ich, but will also give me time to deal with any more unwanted creatures. My question, concerns here are am I going to end up starving all of the potentially wanted life on the LR while also trying to get rid of/starve the baddies (ie, Cirolanid)? During this cycle & fallow stage I was thinking it would be a good idea to have the fuge up and running with Chaeto to start growing a big healthy pod population. I would like to have some anthias and a dragonet eventually. Will the fuge just allow the bad pods to populate as well? I just figure if I have the fuge running with the chaeto already I won't be possibly introducing Ich in any stage later when i do add it.
Adding life - Fish with go through the TTM and then into an observation tank. I imagine it would be good/smart to get the observation tank ready and running about halfway through the fallow stage of DT so once I am ready fish can go into the DT fairly soon after.
Coral quarantine is a different story. I am unsure how big of a tank would really be needed for this. I know it would have to be at least 72 days before getting into the DT, but just concerned how to go about this process properly. I imagine a small tank with a decent light will be just fine for frags, but unsure about filtration for this QT of corals.
So that's the plan or my thought process. I sounds like so much overkill, but I also think to keep my tank surely Ich free, and hopefully up with a decent biodiversity while minimizing bad hitchhikers could work well. Any thoughts from the experienced greatly appreciated. Apologies for the novel.
Rock - Thinking of using a mix of dry and TBS rock. I like the diversity of life on the TBS, but also would like to try and limit the amount of potential bad hitchikers. Thinking about 40LBS of TBS. So will need to cure the dry, and aquascape using the TBS and dry together. Main concern here is best way to attach the live rock to the dry rock considering I would rather do it with the rock dry, but of course that's not feasible with wet LR. Should I/could I put the LR in something to watch for unwanted pests before going into the DT? what would be the best method to bring them out without hurting the good stuff?
Cycle & Fallow - I intend to let the tank run with no new life for about 80 days. Rock, sand, and whatever creatures are on the LR. Clearly this is for Ich, but will also give me time to deal with any more unwanted creatures. My question, concerns here are am I going to end up starving all of the potentially wanted life on the LR while also trying to get rid of/starve the baddies (ie, Cirolanid)? During this cycle & fallow stage I was thinking it would be a good idea to have the fuge up and running with Chaeto to start growing a big healthy pod population. I would like to have some anthias and a dragonet eventually. Will the fuge just allow the bad pods to populate as well? I just figure if I have the fuge running with the chaeto already I won't be possibly introducing Ich in any stage later when i do add it.
Adding life - Fish with go through the TTM and then into an observation tank. I imagine it would be good/smart to get the observation tank ready and running about halfway through the fallow stage of DT so once I am ready fish can go into the DT fairly soon after.
Coral quarantine is a different story. I am unsure how big of a tank would really be needed for this. I know it would have to be at least 72 days before getting into the DT, but just concerned how to go about this process properly. I imagine a small tank with a decent light will be just fine for frags, but unsure about filtration for this QT of corals.
So that's the plan or my thought process. I sounds like so much overkill, but I also think to keep my tank surely Ich free, and hopefully up with a decent biodiversity while minimizing bad hitchhikers could work well. Any thoughts from the experienced greatly appreciated. Apologies for the novel.
