Fishing4Answers
New member
I finally, after weeks of having the equipment sitting, have everything up and cycling. I spent the last two weekends building a custom stand for the tank to sit on and a small table I can keep testing and other maint. related items on while working on the tank. I am really happy with the way it turned out, the only other part I would like to fabricate is a board that I can mount the controller pieces and power supply to.
I did notice that for the first few days that the heaters would stay on all the time. This seemed odd because while I was at work I let the room temperature get to around 80 and the heaters were still on for a long time. I ordered a heater controller that I was looking at that I can use until I get an apex. Turns out that I was correct the tank temp was all the way up to 85 and the heaters were still heating. I set the controller to 80 and calibrated the heaters (set to 82) and the tanks has been rock solid at 80 ever since.
I added a small table shrimp a few hours after I had the saltwater and equipment in the tank. That has been in there six days as of today. I did have a little cloudiness after the sand and initial cloud had settled. I wanted to check so I ran a test on Ph, Ammonia and Nitrite. There is for sure Ammonia in the system as it tested at 4 ppm and Nitrite came in at 0.25. Looks like the cycle is underway. I did not test Nitrate because I did not really see a need with ammonia so high still. The Ph came in lower than I would like to see at 7.8 so if you have any ideas on how I can raise that a little that would be awesome. I was reading that this can be fine I just want higher so when i need to dose calcium and alk I have room for it to swing. I did test it at night so that could be why it was low, I might test it during the day tomorrow. I did also increase the surface flow to see if that will help any. We will see what happens, I know a lot of people say dont chase Ph, so let me know your opinions.
I will get the pics on my computer and put them in a post below in a few minutes. Thats about all I have for now.
I did notice that for the first few days that the heaters would stay on all the time. This seemed odd because while I was at work I let the room temperature get to around 80 and the heaters were still on for a long time. I ordered a heater controller that I was looking at that I can use until I get an apex. Turns out that I was correct the tank temp was all the way up to 85 and the heaters were still heating. I set the controller to 80 and calibrated the heaters (set to 82) and the tanks has been rock solid at 80 ever since.
I added a small table shrimp a few hours after I had the saltwater and equipment in the tank. That has been in there six days as of today. I did have a little cloudiness after the sand and initial cloud had settled. I wanted to check so I ran a test on Ph, Ammonia and Nitrite. There is for sure Ammonia in the system as it tested at 4 ppm and Nitrite came in at 0.25. Looks like the cycle is underway. I did not test Nitrate because I did not really see a need with ammonia so high still. The Ph came in lower than I would like to see at 7.8 so if you have any ideas on how I can raise that a little that would be awesome. I was reading that this can be fine I just want higher so when i need to dose calcium and alk I have room for it to swing. I did test it at night so that could be why it was low, I might test it during the day tomorrow. I did also increase the surface flow to see if that will help any. We will see what happens, I know a lot of people say dont chase Ph, so let me know your opinions.
I will get the pics on my computer and put them in a post below in a few minutes. Thats about all I have for now.
