New build challenge - anything to do?

[JetsIrish]

Hey there wamas,

 

I received some really kind offers from a couple of your members on reef2reef, who encouraged me to join. So here I am. (I’ll post a build thread after i eventually get up and running). 

After years of thinking about it, I just started up my first salt water build. Super excited about it (mostly). But I have a frustrating situation that I’m hoping for some advice with.
 

I bought a Waterbox 100.3 around Memorial Day. 

It has been a slow process as I’ve been traveling a lot this summer and didn’t want to get the tank up and running until after I was back home and able to focus on it. When I finally got around to assembling the tank and stand, there was an O ring and gasket missing for the return line, but waterbox quickly and happily sent me the missing piece. I assembled the return line checked the tank, overflow, and sump for leaks. All good. I assembled a (pretty cool if i do say so myself) aquascape, made a lot of RoDI saltwater, filled the tank, and added live sand. As that settled, I started setting up my sump so that I could start running the water through the filter socks after the sand settled somewhat and was hoping to add a couple a fish and bacteria this weekend. When assembling my return pump, I became aware that my a pvc joint in the return line seemed “wiggly” and didn’t appear likely to be water tight. I tested it by pouring some water from the top and that was fine. But Sure enough, it wasn’t. A few gallons of flood later, I reached out to Waterbox. They were helpful and apologetic, but I’ve been waiting on a replacement return line since Wednesday. Despite their assurances, it doesn’t appear likely to arrive until Monday while I’m at work. I’ve been running a wave maker intermittently just to keep things moving, but it stirs up all my new sand, so haven’t run it for more than a few hours at a time (though the sand is settling faster everytime). Beyond the significant inconvenience, how big of an issue is this? Is the water going to be usable since the cycle hasn’t started? What, if anything, should I be doing now?

 

TLDR: basically have a tank, overflow box, and partially full sump of pretty stagnant salt water. Pre-cycle. Running wave maker intermittently. Is this gonna be a problem or can I just pick up from where I left off once I  drain the overflow box and have the new return line assembled? 

Edited September 10, 2022 by JetsIrish

[AlanM]

Feel free to pick up where you left off.  It won't hurt anything to just have the wavemaker running instead of also the return pump into the sump.  Point it higher if you don't want it to stir up the sand, but you're going to have to run it anyway and now is a perfect time to get it running where it won't mess with the sand. 

 

I'd wait a while for fish, though.  Get it all working.  Add some bacteria if you want.  Do some ghost feeding with pretty much anything you have on hand.  Take your time to do the cycle and wait for the uglies on the rock to come and go.   It's better to learn how a new system works without fish than learning it when you're trying to keep your new pets alive.

[JetsIrish]

Thanks. You’re right about the wavemaker and the sand, the rest of my family just keeps pointing out how cloudy it gets… which causes me to turn it off … everyone’s a critic. 
 

Are you suggesting to start the cycle without a return pump? I honestly hadn’t even considered that… 

[AlanM]

Sure, plenty of people start the cycle going with dirty old rock in a brute trashcan of saltwater with a powerhead and a heater in it.  Feel free to run the lights or not.  The bacteria won't care, but it might help you get used to how it all works.  

 

It'll probably be cloudy for a while.  You probably didn't want to rinse the live sand because it was live, maybe?  It'll have some dust in it.  The rock might also be dusty if you started with dead rock.  It will all settle out eventually.  Even the really fine stuff will get slimy and clumpy from bacteria film eventually and will stick together or hang out in the corners where the powerhead doesn't hit or the tiny parts of the rock.

 

The tank will keep cycling for months (years really) as various things grow and die off in it.  It's way more than just nitrogen processing bacteria that make a reef tank mature, although the ammonia test coming up good is an important start.  So the point is to not go whole ham right from the beginning.

[YHSublime]

Great advice from Alan already. There’s a cycling process I’ve heard only called by “the European process” in which they run 3 months into a cycle before adding anything, clean up crew included. 

 

i expect its European because we don’t have that patience in the USA. ?