My AR620 Nano

[ray]

thanks again all for the reply's yeah looks like i need some thing to just kick start into life a bit more please please do keep passing advice on more the better as i am new even tho been on here a bit now still learning :)

[ray]

can i have people's feedback on nt labs live bacteria what do you all think is it worth the money i looked into dr tims and i must say its highly priced even tho it does have a good review.

cheers ray

[ShyTalk]

Well I rate Dr Tim, he knows his stuff, if you google him you'll see he really is the man when it comes to this sort of stuff, he actually discovered the bacteria and caused a lot or re-writing of books!
His waste away and re-fresh are brilliant, more bacteria to solve algae problems this time, he knows bacteria for sure.
Can't comment on NT labs, never used any of their kit, i do know there is a lot of stuff out there that is supposed to help,but seemingly it rarely does.

Of course the cheap way is simply add a little cooked prawn or mussel, as this decomposes it turns to ammonia, which kickstarts the nitrobacter into getting to work converting the ammonia into nitrites, then the nitrobacter get to work converting the nitrites into less harmful nitrates.

Give Dr Tims a go, then i will know if its as good as they say before i buy some for the new tank :-)

[ray]

well not going to add any thing yet any way to kick it off as i am going to add 20lb of live sand in so that will take me up to 40lb of live sand next month and going to re scape my rock again for the last time then i will start to add some thing to kick start it off a bit more even when my tank is ready to add stuff i wont be rushing it as i have seen it just makes major problems and can just as easy crash the set up there will be updates of the tank as i go and changes so keep them eyes open :)

[ShyTalk]

Ah well if you have all that live sand you'd be wasting your money on bottles of live bacteria as its already in your sand.
Yep take it slow, i've lost count of how many rush and have disasters, try a chunk of prawn,lots of people do it & its in most of my books, should get them bacteria working, just add it and wait for the ammonia spike...then that will fall away and your nitrites will spike, then as they fall back your nitrates will rise, let things settle for a week or two, a partial water change, then you're off mate.

[Tangman]

Hi Ray i would say you have enough sand in your tank as if you have it to deep it will collect all the crud and and act as a DSB which is not good in a tank as if they go wrong which they do you will lose everything when it crashes. I only put around 15mm deep of sand in my tanks just so the glass is covered and keep some Conch to keep it turned over and clean. Dont waste money on Live sand as it will soon get live from your rock very quick. Twiggy

[cl0wn]

was it only me that added some pee in my tank to get it started?

[Tangman]

was it only me that added some pee in my tank to get it started?

Anything which as Ammonia in will do to kick start it. Twiggy

[reefergeek]

Made the same mistake with my first tank yet more bad lfs advice bout shed loads of live sand but when i started reading up normal sand will become live seeded from the live rock in time saving you £££s it will also prolong the cycle time of your tank, normal substrate is around £25 for 25kg off the net delivered with a choice of substrate size

[ray]

Hi Ray i would say you have enough sand in your tank as if you have it to deep it will collect all the crud and and act as a DSB which is not good in a tank as if they go wrong which they do you will lose everything when it crashes. I only put around 15mm deep of sand in my tanks just so the glass is covered and keep some Conch to keep it turned over and clean. Dont waste money on Live sand as it will soon get live from your rock very quick. Twiggy

cheers twiggy for the infor my sand bed does not look much some area's you can still see the bottem of the tank ! this is why i want to add more i will be keeping some thing to keep the sand bed turning surely 20lb wont hurt no more will be put it after that.