Sepia Bandensis Tank Idea

[Cephdoc]

This is my old reef tank. Its been torn down for about 2 years. Its a 75 gallon, nice tank i really like it. Custom stand built by my father and I. I ran the a wet/dry filtration system along with a refugium and UV steralizer. It's currently up in the attic right now just screaming at me to be set back up for these new ideas. Please everyone pitch in on idea and thoughts about me doing this. Will it work good, and be a great tank for housing the cuttles in? I will run the same sort of setup. Are there things i need to rework? Worry about? Modify?(Ex: Overflow box a issue without a screen?) I want to run this system because i have everything for it to be setup as of right now, so no real extra money will be spent toward getting started.
Thanks

 

[DWhatley]

If you have always owned the tank and know you have never used copper to treat sick fish, it looks like a great set-up.

Three real expenses that come to mind are still the use of at least DI for your water, a skimmer and live rock. UV sterilizers have had some negative comments in the past and are not necessary (you might try polling members to see how many people use them in their ceph tanks) but I can't vouch one way or the other on potential issues (I only run one on my reef that contains no cephs). I have considered running one my FW holding tank just to kill anything that may come from the tap water (that obviously gets ground water somewhere in the system or I would not have red mud) but would not effect any of the pods or small foods eaten by the cephs.

 

[Cephdoc]

Never been copper treated, and also have a skimmer that worked great. Still have some liverock in a box from when we tore it down. I thought the UV would be good for microalgae control? I dont have to run it, was just an idea.

 

[DWhatley]

Correction, you have rock in a box, not live rock. Even if you had kept it in water with good circulation (and in a box suggest that it is dry) the bacteria would not be sufficient to start a tank. The rock will become live rock, eventually, but it will not provide any filtration for a long time. You can hasten the process somewhat by mixing the dead rock with uncured live rock to start your cycle but you can't start a cycle with just dead rock. Even sacrificing a few fish to the cycle process will not prepare a 75 gallon tank for a ceph.

 

[Cephdoc]

It will take a whole new batch of "live rock" to cycle the tank? Im tearing down my current reef tank. I was wondering if i set up this other 75 gallon before the other reef is completly torn down could i use some of the bioballs and lava rock i have in my current sump in the ceph wet/dry? Any more suggestions? I was planning on sacrificing some damsels but then i thought about it again and i will be raising them from babies.. and im afraid the fish will pick on the cuttles before they are big enough to eat them. Could you give me a good estimate on how many pouunds of live rock i should get for this set-up? 80? Or more? Less? keep in mind it will be partially a reef set-up also.
Thanks

 

[DWhatley]

Anything in your current reef, if you keep it wet and fed will help provide bacteria for the new one. You certainly can reuse the dry rock, it just won't provide benefit for a long time. Some aquarists feel that even using the water from an established tank helps (I always use fresh water and fresh sand when upgrading but other swear by using live sand and at least a portion of aged water). I don't use bio-balls so I am not sure how much they will add to the cycle but I do know you have to keep them wet and continuously fed like live substrate. There are several of ways to cycle a tank and I am guessing you have been into fish but not corals in the past and a typical live rock setup is somewhat foreign to your current system. I am not well versed on lava rock and have read that it can continue to outgas sulfides for a long time. This may only be rumor or someones conjecture without any evidence so some internet searching would be a good idea. Cephs are more sensative to water conditions than most fish so we try to error on the side of safety.

Hopefully someone with successul experience using a wet/dry set up can coach on moving one to a larger environment (Joe-Ceph - are you reading?)

 

[Cephdoc]

Sounds good. I was going to use some water and possibly some of the live rock currently in the reef tank now to start the other. Most of the pieces are covered in polyps/mushrooms/leathers/corals etc.. so we will see. I plan on selling alot of whats in my reef tank because i most of it is not suitable for cuttlefish with them. Stinging corals, corals that need alot of calcium and other additives?(Thoughts on doing this with corals in with cuttles? Do they mind the iron, iodine, calcium, buffers, etc..) Also bioballs like i mentioned earlier, along with lava rock that is currently in the sump covered in filter feeding sponges I thought that might be good to help cycle. More questions.. should i start the refuigium even before it cycled? With mud and algae etc.. When i had the set-up last time it was operational the refugium was a add on and not part of the original design so i never cycled with it.. Thanks for all the input thus far! I greatly appreciate it form everybody who has given me advice along with viewing my threads. INPUT INPUT INPUT!!! Please comment and let me know what you are thinking.
Thanks