Back in the hobby after 6 year hiatus

It took two years before cyano and algae were tolerably non-existant in my 24G nano. But then I am a slow learner and never take advice. :)
 
I also am trying to figure out why the ground light tester I have indicated none of my basement plugs are grounded, when I test it on other outlets in the house it shows they are grounded.
If the tester is functional (which it has proven to be), then you must not have grounds in the basement. Could have been a homeowner finish that was not installed properly. I'd kill power to the receptacles at the breaker panel and pull the covers and look.
 
I forgot to mention, I put egg crate from Home Depot on the bottom this time. Afterwards I put the live rock in and then added the live sand. It seems to have worked out well, and the rockscape seems more stable and easy to deal with.
I got lucky cutting it correctly for the bow shape.

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I forgot to mention, I put egg crate from Home Depot on the bottom this time. Afterwards I put the live rock in and then added the live sand.
What is the thinking behind this? to protect the bottom glass from rocks?
I would think it would trap dirt that the CUC could not get to.
 
Two days after adding Nitrifying Bacteria from Fritz #9

Two days after adding Nitrifying Bacteria from Fritz #9

This is crazy, two days after I poured in 32oz of Fritz Zyme #9 everything is crystal clear! I have zero Nitrates and had a bunch prior to adding it. I swear by this stuff, it has been around 30 years and has been used in major public aquariums. It's nice to have on hand if something goes bad too. Starting to get more of the purple coraline algae or at least that is why my memory recalls it is.

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I got some tiny blue/purple/green mushrooms and some Xenia a few days ago and I pick up two tube worms today at the CR. I don't understand why some people don't like xenia, I love it! I love the purple tube worm!

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Ok, I'm just gonna throw two things out there. No offense.

a) you seem to be in a "rushing it" frame of mind so just take it easy, buddy. I don't mean any offense by that. I rushed the crap out of my 120g even though I'd been in the hobby a really long time prior to setting it up and I ended up killing many hundreds of dollar worth of SPS...still kicking myself on that one.

b) when you dose the bacteria like that, and there's not much in the way of substances for them to eat, don't you have to also feed them? Wouldn't this explain your rapid drop in algae? I'm just saying, I think you've got to wean off that stuff very very slowly so BE CAREFUL...that, or just keep dosing bacteria and food like some of the guys on the SPS forum. Maybe you can pull off an ULNS? I don't have the discipline to keep dosing stuff every day. hah hah.
 
Oh no, a doubter. Hehe The tank has algae. I have cycled over 100 new tanks using fritz zyme #9. It works. I have been documenting the results this time because many people do not believe it works. How do you think they get giant aquarium going? Appreciate your concern but water tests don't lie.

P.S. I just poured in 32oz of it a couple weeks ago, and that was it. The waste from the fish and excess food feed the bacteria. Everything else has been on auto pilot, no water changes, just replacing evaporated water.

Sent from my EVO 3d using tapatalk
 
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I added the Fritz Zyme #9 on 7/11/2011, I tested three days later and the levels were 1/2 and now everything is nearly perfect!

Levels Prior to adding the bacteria
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YouTube Video of day 1

This is really simple, nitrosomonas and nitrobacter are two key things to completing the nitrogen cycle. They reproduce at a slow rate, hence the "patience". If you add concentrated amounts of these bacteria from a reputable source, you complete the cycle. As you can see from my test prior to adding the bacteria, there was plenty to feast upon, and now, less than two weeks later, the tank is completely "cycled". It's also good to keep a bottle of this on hand in the event you have some sort of problem. The bad thing is, that the shelf life is like 6 months, and most of the time there is 3 months left on it by the time you get it.

I have a bottle, I will bring it tomorrow for everyone to see.
 
Good view of two green star polyp frags (was one, I cut it in half), one hiding, one fully extended. This stuff grows like a weed, so it should look spectacular soon. Great addition to a reef tank, provides the coral with oxygen and other nutrients that are produced during photosynthesis

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Since you used base rock, there really isn't much nitrogenous waste to be processed by the nitrogen cycle. That's more of an issue with using recently shipped live rock.

Adding bacteria will process that waste quickly than not adding any, but then there is nothing for it to live on - or did you add fish already? It will take months, and more waste, for the live rock to fully populate.
 
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