Patience is the most difficult part...

[Ben Seaver]

I recently purchased a used 120 gal. I just got it up and running and now I am patiently waiting for things to start brewing. I have 80 lbs of live sand, 50#s dry rock and 10#s live rock. I have been running it for 3 full days now and plan on waiting a couple weeks till I move forward. I altered the wet dry sump to fit 2ea 8" socks. Originally came with bio balls but I decided the sock method was better for me. There is a hang on overflow box with 2 bulkheads, they continue to make a loud gurgling noise, i have been adjusting the flow with a couple shut off valves connected to an external pump which has helped but I still feel it could be quieter. So far everything looks good, I am wondering how long it will take to see the dry rock change into live rock. Should I do water changes at this point? I do have a test kit which I did last night, all 4 test results were where they should be. I guess just wait at this point......patience is my biggest enemy!!

 

[4FordFamily]

Welcome home, you will love it here. Patience is the worst I agree entirely!!

 

[kschweer]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[Chrisfish]

Welcome, great place to be

 

[dbl]

Welcome and you're correct...patience is king. Do a lot of reading/research while your tank cycles.

 

[KJ]

Welcome to R2R Great advice all above ^^^^^^^

 

[melypr1985]

Welcome to R2R! I'm one of those people that say not to do water changes until the cycle is complete. You can always add a bacteria in a bottle produce to help speed this up, but dont expect miracles from it. it would probably only cut out a week at most from the whole cycle process.

 

[Scottsquatch]

Welcome to R2R! The cycle takes a lot longer with dry rock, just let it do its thing and test it from time to time. Others may wanna speak up, but I do not think you would be wise to move ahead in only a couple more weeks. It can take quite a few months for some reef tanks to cycle. Good luck with your tank!

 

[Reeferfourlife]

Welcome aboard! Your cycling will be done when it's done. Just keep testing. Every tank is different with cycling time.

 

[120reefkeeper]

 

[mushroomrob]

Welcome to R2R! Let's see some pics of your setup!

 

[Diesel]

Three days means nothing yet.
If you just rely on your 10lb of LR to help you cycle it can take a long time.
You can use a dead fresh shrimp from the fish market in a mesh media bag hanging in the sump or dose bacteria in your tank but they need a carbon source to start populate your tank, Dr Tim One and Only is a good source to use and one benefit is your tank can be cycled when done right in 5 days.
Starting a build thread and posting your test results will help you big time as many members here can chime in to support and advice you going forward.
As I always say "if you think you going slow....slow down even more as only bad things can happen overnight in this hobby".

 

[glb]

Welcome! I agree with everyone. SW tanks require a ton of patience! You can also use pure ammonia (from a hardware store), the kind that doesn't have surfactants and doesn't bubble when you shake it. What are your testing numbers at this point?

 

[jsker]

Welcome to R2R and saltwater reefing. As stated in all of the above time is your buddy. If you could snap a couple pictures of you plumbing we can help you a bit more with the gurgling noise with your over flow. The pump might be to small and not enough volume from the return, and you have to shut down flow from the return. My overflow and adjustment screws so that I can increase flow

 

[tom reilly]

Welcome . This is great place to learn while waiting.watch the daily posts. Lots of people going through the same steps you are.

 

[twilliard]

Welcome to the R2R community!
If there is one thing that will drive a person crazy is a noisy overflow.
There are several good solutions to help aid in the noise.
Be patient with the tank cause it will let you know when you are pushing it and doing so will require more money to fix any issues.
Slow and steady, with stability in mind. This will help you in the future if you practice it now

 

[shay7blue]

Are you feeding your tank? This will help get the ammonia level up to kick off the process.

 

[shay7blue]

I recently purchased a used 120 gal. I just got it up and running and now I am patiently waiting for things to start brewing. I have 80 lbs of live sand, 50#s dry rock and 10#s live rock. I have been running it for 3 full days now and plan on waiting a couple weeks till I move forward. I altered the wet dry sump to fit 2ea 8" socks. Originally came with bio balls but I decided the sock method was better for me. There is a hang on overflow box with 2 bulkheads, they continue to make a loud gurgling noise, i have been adjusting the flow with a couple shut off valves connected to an external pump which has helped but I still feel it could be quieter. So far everything looks good, I am wondering how long it will take to see the dry rock change into live rock. Should I do water changes at this point? I do have a test kit which I did last night, all 4 test results were where they should be. I guess just wait at this point......patience is my biggest enemy!!

Are you feeding your tank? This will help increase the ammonia and get the cycling process kicked off. Good luck and welcome.

 

[zoomonster]

Welcome. Yes patience is always an issue for me too and it never ends like the thought of just hurry up and grow already. Everyone has an opinion and here's mine. Just buy a good nitrifying bacterial product and you can be in business in just a couple weeks. There's a bunch including Dr Tim's and others. When I started this tank I used Continuum Aquatics Bacter Gen M. 100lbs dead rock, 50lbs live rock, mostly dead seaflor special and two bags of caribsea ocean direct live sand. In two weeks I had fully cycled and added chaeto to my refugium. Then I slowly started adding critters starting with some CUC. I think it was at about the 4wk mark I added fish and some misc things like ricordia and haven't stopped since Just a week or two later the first couple SPS were added (and that really hasn't stopped). If you have all dead rock you really need to buy a piece or two of live rock or at least some scraps to seed the tank for coraline to start growing. That part takes a while for all the rock to grow and color up but when it has you will be wishing for it to stop. I constantly clean coraline from the glass, heater and powerheads. Do note that I continued using the bacterial product daily until it was gone at probably 5-6 weeks.

 

[Ben Seaver]

Thank you all for the thorough response. To answer a few questions...
-I have started using Micro Bacter 7. Only been a few days so far. Per directions on bottle I have been adding 1 cap ful per 25 gal daily.
-I added a couple pics of my set up. The noise is mainly from the 2 bulkheads in the hang on overflow. I think one may be slightly shorter than the other which may be adding to the noise. There is 2 shut off valves leading in and out of my external pump, I turned them 50% off which seemed to help but not enough. I was thinking of modifying overflow to house 2ea Durso style pipes but I don't think there's enough room for 2 of those. My pump also gets really warm, even though its external can that still increase temp if my water??
-I tested the water and my
PH looks to be at 8.2
Ammonia at .25ppm
Nitrite & Nitrate at 0ppm.