Cycling with TBS start to finish
- Thread starter landlord
- Start date
Cearbhaill
Premium Member
Might be worth trying a newer or different test kit just to verify...
landlord
New member
01/03/04 - Day 43
sg: 1.025
temp: 80
ammonia: .1
nitrite: .1
nitrate: 12
ph: 7.8 (a bit low)
alk: normal
Notes:
After keeping my hands out of the tank for an extended time things are beginning to calm down. The chemistry is getting back online. I wish I would have been more patient starting out. I am thinking that I will be replacing the filtration system I am using soon. It seems to be constantly dumping more Nitrates into the system. I will have to trust that the LR/LS will suffice as the bio filter. I recently invested in a better skimmer which I am very pleased with. It's no AquaC Remora but it does the trick. No bubbles back into the tank and so on.
Have a Great New Year Folks
-landlord
sg: 1.025
temp: 80
ammonia: .1
nitrite: .1
nitrate: 12
ph: 7.8 (a bit low)
alk: normal
Notes:
After keeping my hands out of the tank for an extended time things are beginning to calm down. The chemistry is getting back online. I wish I would have been more patient starting out. I am thinking that I will be replacing the filtration system I am using soon. It seems to be constantly dumping more Nitrates into the system. I will have to trust that the LR/LS will suffice as the bio filter. I recently invested in a better skimmer which I am very pleased with. It's no AquaC Remora but it does the trick. No bubbles back into the tank and so on.
Have a Great New Year Folks
-landlord
hdtran
New member
Your tank is too new for a canister filter or w/d or bio-ball system to turn into a nitrate factory. 12ppm nitrate is good. That said, LS, LR, and a skimmer is really all the filtration you need. I didn't realize (or forgot) that you had anything else 
. The 7.8 pH is definitely on the low side, don't panic yet, but take action. When you do your next water change, add 1 tsp of baking soda per 20gal system water into your water change water, or Kent/Seachem buffer per bottle instructions. This will bring up the pH about 0.1. Continue dosing the 1 tsp baking soda (not baking powder! Arm&Hammer baking soda or equivalent!) or buffer, at the suggested dose (no stronger) every other day until your pH is up to 8.0. You want to shoot to be in the 8.0 to 8.4 range.
How's the blue tang?
. The 7.8 pH is definitely on the low side, don't panic yet, but take action. When you do your next water change, add 1 tsp of baking soda per 20gal system water into your water change water, or Kent/Seachem buffer per bottle instructions. This will bring up the pH about 0.1. Continue dosing the 1 tsp baking soda (not baking powder! Arm&Hammer baking soda or equivalent!) or buffer, at the suggested dose (no stronger) every other day until your pH is up to 8.0. You want to shoot to be in the 8.0 to 8.4 range.How's the blue tang?
landlord
New member
HDTran - I have added some Kent Marine Pro Buffer dKH per bottle instructions to raise up the PH. I have noticed that 3 of the 4 cucumbers from TBS have passed on. There corpses were hidden in various placed and had to be extricated. I think that before removing the filter I will wait to see if the newest spike was caused by the cucumbers dying.
FYI The Hippo Tang slipped away last night.
Wooglin - I have been toying with the idea of the refugium setup. I have been trying to get as much info on them for the past several weeks. I like the mangrove ideas that I have been seeing on www.garf.org. Along with the natural reduction of Nitrates they just look really cool.
Thanks for the input guys
-kurt
FYI The Hippo Tang slipped away last night.
Wooglin - I have been toying with the idea of the refugium setup. I have been trying to get as much info on them for the past several weeks. I like the mangrove ideas that I have been seeing on www.garf.org. Along with the natural reduction of Nitrates they just look really cool.
Thanks for the input guys
-kurt
landlord
New member
01/07/04 - Day 47
sg: 1.025
temp: 80
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 15
ph: 8.2
alk: normal
Notes:
The tank is stabalized once again. I think I will continue to keep out of it for another week or so. I am however getting the itch to put something in it. My second shipment was awesome. Richard and Mary are #1. 7 open brains (2 of which are the size of grapefruits) for starters. Too many more cool things to name.
-landlord
sg: 1.025
temp: 80
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 15
ph: 8.2
alk: normal
Notes:
The tank is stabalized once again. I think I will continue to keep out of it for another week or so. I am however getting the itch to put something in it. My second shipment was awesome. Richard and Mary are #1. 7 open brains (2 of which are the size of grapefruits) for starters. Too many more cool things to name.
-landlord
hdtran
New member
Repeat after me:
"Only one new fish/month until fully populated"
Looks like your chemistry is under control again. Good for you. Continue doing, say, 10% water changes every couple of weeks.
If you like (and if it fits in with your plans), you could put in a soft coral (not that you need any more color
) now, especially if you choose a predominantly photosynthetic one, such as button polyps. They won't affect your water quality at all.
"Only one new fish/month until fully populated"
Looks like your chemistry is under control again. Good for you. Continue doing, say, 10% water changes every couple of weeks.
If you like (and if it fits in with your plans), you could put in a soft coral (not that you need any more color
) now, especially if you choose a predominantly photosynthetic one, such as button polyps. They won't affect your water quality at all.
landlord
New member
I have kept out of the tank totally. I really really do not want to mess it up again. The water parameters are getting really nice and stable. I did win a battle with cyanobacteria successfullly without screwing up the water params. Patience seems to be the one quality that one must possess to win this saltwater game.
Thanks for the check-up Delta
-kurt
Thanks for the check-up Delta
-kurt
landlord
New member
Must have slipped my mind.
I first had a Red Sea Prism Deluxe skimmer. I worked very well after figuring out how to adjust it properly. Howevewr it was the noisiest piece of equipment on the whole setup. I was also getting a lot of micro bubbles in the tank. I have since swapped it out for a ViaAqua hang on skimmer. Even more complex to adjust and difficult to prime but not much noise and no micro bubbles.
As for the pics. I no longer have a digital camera in my possession. I will see what I can do as far as borrowing one from someone.
The tank couldn't be healthier. I will be adding a sump / refugium as soon as the tax money gets deposited in the bank so I can get some of the equipment off the back of the tank.
BTW The two mantis shrimps I was able to capture and remove to a separate 10 gallon tank spawned this morning, or at least one of them did. When I turned on the light she was waving hundreds of planktonic mantis larvae out of her lair into the tank. It was very cool to watch and I am soooo glad that I got them out of the display tank before this happened.
-landlord
I first had a Red Sea Prism Deluxe skimmer. I worked very well after figuring out how to adjust it properly. Howevewr it was the noisiest piece of equipment on the whole setup. I was also getting a lot of micro bubbles in the tank. I have since swapped it out for a ViaAqua hang on skimmer. Even more complex to adjust and difficult to prime but not much noise and no micro bubbles.
As for the pics. I no longer have a digital camera in my possession. I will see what I can do as far as borrowing one from someone.
The tank couldn't be healthier. I will be adding a sump / refugium as soon as the tax money gets deposited in the bank so I can get some of the equipment off the back of the tank.
BTW The two mantis shrimps I was able to capture and remove to a separate 10 gallon tank spawned this morning, or at least one of them did. When I turned on the light she was waving hundreds of planktonic mantis larvae out of her lair into the tank. It was very cool to watch and I am soooo glad that I got them out of the display tank before this happened.
-landlord
Yes, you do have a really nice tank there. As a newbie, I really enjoy these day by day threads, especially yours because you list your parameters each entry, and you are basically being mentored by the helpful guy from New Mexico (HDTran?). Anyway, I used to live in Orlando, so I remember driving all over town to check out the fish shops, especially the one by my house when I lived near UCF- I would go there three times a week, and drooling over their reef tanks are what got me interested in aquariums (the dead coral and treasure chest look turns my stomach). Best of luck with the tank and the live rock (I'm going to order some TBS when we redo our floors and I set up the tank finally), and I'll be following the progress of your system.
By the way, I know you've heard it before, but if I've learned one thing on the various forums, it's take things slow , and even I cringe when I read about all the new fish your LFS and BH keep nudging you into. That black percula would have been really sweet in your tank.
Rob Fischer
By the way, I know you've heard it before, but if I've learned one thing on the various forums, it's take things slow , and even I cringe when I read about all the new fish your LFS and BH keep nudging you into. That black percula would have been really sweet in your tank.
Rob Fischer
biomekanic
New member
very cool and interesting thread. I hope to have everything ready to get some rock this July, I'm looking to setup a rock only tank on my desk at work.
I'm going to try priming my tank before hand by having a chaeto refugium up and running, along with a seperate rubble refugium. I'm also planning on trying the live phyto plankton route, should be interesting.
BTW The two mantis shrimps I was able to capture and remove to a separate 10 gallon tank spawned this morning, or at least one of them did. When I turned on the light she was waving hundreds of planktonic mantis larvae out of her lair into the tank. It was very cool to watch and I am soooo glad that I got them out of the display tank before this happened.
Actually, there's no worries there. They're almost impossible to raise to adult hood even under lab conditions. Dr. Roy (check out the mantis forum) has managed to get 2 out of over 500 to settle out of the larvae, in a tank, if the impellors didn't smash them, something would eat them, if not each other. Consider them a source of plankton.
I'm going to try priming my tank before hand by having a chaeto refugium up and running, along with a seperate rubble refugium. I'm also planning on trying the live phyto plankton route, should be interesting.
BTW The two mantis shrimps I was able to capture and remove to a separate 10 gallon tank spawned this morning, or at least one of them did. When I turned on the light she was waving hundreds of planktonic mantis larvae out of her lair into the tank. It was very cool to watch and I am soooo glad that I got them out of the display tank before this happened.
Actually, there's no worries there. They're almost impossible to raise to adult hood even under lab conditions. Dr. Roy (check out the mantis forum) has managed to get 2 out of over 500 to settle out of the larvae, in a tank, if the impellors didn't smash them, something would eat them, if not each other. Consider them a source of plankton.
