i started Friday, April 11 2014, this is the set up
16 gallon bow front
8Lb Live rock
8LB base rock
20LB Live sand (CaribSea Arag-Alive Bahamas Oolite Aquarium Sand)
20gal Rena SmartFilter
50W heater
Hydor Koralia 240 wavemaker and 450 with controller
Current USA Orbit marine
Taam Rio Nano skimmer(this is on order)
after adding live sand and rock i only was able to put 13GL
i used tap water with salt to mix it (tap water with conditioner) (but i guess using tap water was bad)
Salinity was at 1.024
after that i ended up putting live rock (live rock was not cure i got it from the store straight to my tank)
by Tuesday i started noticing some algae growing
the readings were confusing i went to the store they tested the water the ammonia was high so i bought a test kit (duhh forgot to buy a ammonia so i dont really know the reading of the ammonia)
by last Thursday
i got readings from ammonia its was 1 and more algae growing
after adding a powerhead know i keep the flow everywhere no death spots!
finally i got a nutrafin test kit yesterday monday. so this are my results
ammonia .6
PH 8.0
nitrite 1.6
Nitrate 50
what i believe im in the middle of the cycling posses since ammonia has gone down and nitrate, nitrite has gone up high. but what im reallly concern is the algae that keeps growing (i figure it out i keep the light on for to long probably about 10 hours so im cutting down the light to 5 hours)
i guess i just have to wait and keep testing the water.. i also just got the skimmer i dont know if i should put it on or just wait a little more!!
any inputs if what im doing is right or wrong thanks
i also added a skimmer one day ago!!
sooo i think my cycle is done!!!
yesterday reading was
amonia .6
nitrite .8
nitrate 10
PH 8
Salinity 1.026
todays reading from this morning was
nitrate 10
nitrite 0
i dont know if the readings from API test strip and nutrafin master kit are accurate!!
but this is how the tank looks like
im gonna test it in the afternoon so i can start adding a CUC
Thanks for all the advice, I'm gonna get the red sea coral pro mix when i finish my bag of instal coral mix.. hopefully for next month ill be getting the RI/DO system for sure!
Well today finally i did my water change with filter change and relandscape the tank. also finally i got my current USA orbit marine led here are some pics
so here are my test result from today in the morning everything seems to be going good!! i think
Salinity 1.025
PH 8.0
Ammonia .6
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
Phosphate .25
Calcium 420
KH 143.2
so since i'm not sleepy lol i went to do some water testing... i think my CUC like to work at night. they are the night workers, during the day i don't even see them..
i think I'm gonna get other kind of ammonia test, its confusing, i was reading the instruction
COLOUR CHART RESULTS
<1.2 mg/L
If the result from the colour chart indicates that the ammonia level is below 1.2 mg/L NH , 3
continue to add Nutrafin Cycle on its regular dosage schedule.
http://ca-en.hagen.c...dc-e8869e7a3045
thats why is always .6 or maybe its really always 0 :blink:
PH is between 8-8.5
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Calcium 420
and here is the pic of the skimmer, all the junk that has collected in a week
i think the KH and pholsphate I'm gonna sell it to a friend that is doing a fresh water tank
16 gallon bow front
8Lb Live rock
8LB base rock
20LB Live sand (CaribSea Arag-Alive Bahamas Oolite Aquarium Sand)
20gal Rena SmartFilter
50W heater
Hydor Koralia 240 wavemaker and 450 with controller
Current USA Orbit marine
Taam Rio Nano skimmer(this is on order)
after adding live sand and rock i only was able to put 13GL
i used tap water with salt to mix it (tap water with conditioner) (but i guess using tap water was bad)
Salinity was at 1.024
after that i ended up putting live rock (live rock was not cure i got it from the store straight to my tank)
by Tuesday i started noticing some algae growing
the readings were confusing i went to the store they tested the water the ammonia was high so i bought a test kit (duhh forgot to buy a ammonia so i dont really know the reading of the ammonia)
by last Thursday
i got readings from ammonia its was 1 and more algae growing
after adding a powerhead know i keep the flow everywhere no death spots!
finally i got a nutrafin test kit yesterday monday. so this are my results
ammonia .6
PH 8.0
nitrite 1.6
Nitrate 50
what i believe im in the middle of the cycling posses since ammonia has gone down and nitrate, nitrite has gone up high. but what im reallly concern is the algae that keeps growing (i figure it out i keep the light on for to long probably about 10 hours so im cutting down the light to 5 hours)
i guess i just have to wait and keep testing the water.. i also just got the skimmer i dont know if i should put it on or just wait a little more!!
any inputs if what im doing is right or wrong thanks
i also added a skimmer one day ago!!
sooo i think my cycle is done!!!
yesterday reading was
amonia .6
nitrite .8
nitrate 10
PH 8
Salinity 1.026
todays reading from this morning was
nitrate 10
nitrite 0
i dont know if the readings from API test strip and nutrafin master kit are accurate!!
but this is how the tank looks like
im gonna test it in the afternoon so i can start adding a CUC
Thanks for all the advice, I'm gonna get the red sea coral pro mix when i finish my bag of instal coral mix.. hopefully for next month ill be getting the RI/DO system for sure!
Well today finally i did my water change with filter change and relandscape the tank. also finally i got my current USA orbit marine led here are some pics
so here are my test result from today in the morning everything seems to be going good!! i think
Salinity 1.025
PH 8.0
Ammonia .6
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
Phosphate .25
Calcium 420
KH 143.2
so since i'm not sleepy lol i went to do some water testing... i think my CUC like to work at night. they are the night workers, during the day i don't even see them..
i think I'm gonna get other kind of ammonia test, its confusing, i was reading the instruction
COLOUR CHART RESULTS
<1.2 mg/L
If the result from the colour chart indicates that the ammonia level is below 1.2 mg/L NH , 3
continue to add Nutrafin Cycle on its regular dosage schedule.
http://ca-en.hagen.c...dc-e8869e7a3045
thats why is always .6 or maybe its really always 0 :blink:
PH is between 8-8.5
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Calcium 420
and here is the pic of the skimmer, all the junk that has collected in a week
i think the KH and pholsphate I'm gonna sell it to a friend that is doing a fresh water tank
