Help with a SPS 55g Restart!

Is it ok that in a little less than 2 weeks time my ammonia is already 0 and my nitrites are about 2ppm? kind of hard to really tell between 1ppm and 5ppm. Seems kind of early however I have been adding a bacteria source daily by the instructions on Brightwells Microbacter7 of 2 capfuls a day for 2 weeks.


I did add a bunch of new freeze dried krill in the media bag and will test again tomorrow and on Sunday when I get back from out of town
 
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Thursday night I added some new dried krill to my media bag dosed some MB7 tested ammonia it was zero and nitrites were about 2-5ppm. I left for the weekend got home. Tested the Ammonia and it is zero and the nitrites are .25. Can I be almost finished with the cycle after 10 days?
 
Sunday night nitrites were zero, ammonia zero. Added another handful of krill to media bag 24 and 48 hours later still no more ammonia no more nitries. NO3 was 5-10ppm and PO4 was .04ppm. Did a big water change last night PO4 was at .03ppm NO3 was at 2ppm this morning. Tonight i will run Ammonia, nitrite, phosphate, and nitrate. If they are all in line i will test magnesium, calcium and alk and get them to what i want. Salinity 35ppt at 78 degrees. No GFO, no carbon is running. If every thing checks out i will get a few snails and hermits on Sat let them start working the sand bed.
 
Ok so here are all my results.

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
PO4 .049ppm
NO3 2ppm
Magnesium 1200pm raising it to 1320ppm
Calcium 430
Alkalinity 8.5
Salinity 35ppt
PH 8.0
Temp 78
 
and so the algae begins! Slight browning on rocks. Small CUC has been ordered from ReefCleaners.org. Might go to LFS and pick up a few Hermits tomorrow
 
Just wait for the guys from Reefcleaners. John always puts some extras. Also they run fishless system that way you know you will not add any fish parasites with the water (less likely, but very possible). Unless you do not quarantine or not going to add any fish in the next 4-6 weeks.
 
Yea i have ordered from John many times he is awesome to deal with! Not adding fish to DT for 4 weeks. I want the CUC to get the sand bed working
 
This morning PO4 has climbed a little to 28ppb or .08ppm. I went ahead and cranked the reactor back up. I will retest in 24 hours and see where it is. If its below .06ppm I will cut it back off. Also I just added 5 Hermits to the tank and I would say probably Wed maybe Thurs I should have my snails from Reefcleaners.org. I didn't go with a 55g package that's to many this early. I went with a 15g package of snails minus the Nass Vibex. In a few months or as algae grows I will order more. I am hoping that with the addition of the Hermits and the addition of snails that my skimmer will start working better since life will be in the tank and will reduce the PO4 naturally rather than with GFO. Is this the right thing to do?
 
brad65ford said:
Truer words were never spoken.
Click to expand...

So just let the PO4 climb and come down naturally with the bacteria? I trying to be patient but I am also trying to control algae to a point. I know I am going to go through growing pains. Its part of a new tank.
 
I hope you realize that bacteria are poor consumers of po4 as compared to no3? Bacteria consume a tremendous amount of nitrates and very little phosphates. Once you run out of nitrates the bacterial count will drop and so will consumption of phosphates. Carbon is usually the limiting factor for bacteria in our tanks, but food is also a limiter, once they have consumed the no3 you will have to add more to continue the consumption of po4.
 
Oh the good old days of cycling I don't miss this times but i'm going to be starting another tank soon as well so i'll be doing the same. Nothing sucks more than waiting for them to cycle. You could always grow out macro algae, and keep pruning them as they grow. Great indicators as well for when you p04 starts lowering you macro's will not easily be able to grow as well. I've done this on all my tank cycles and like this method very cheap too. There will be others that say GFO is fine for cycling but i disagree. Sometimes you can over do GFO very easily which remove to much p04 and we all know that kills life.

Just a suggestion.
 
sirreal63 said:
I hope you realize that bacteria are poor consumers of po4 as compared to no3? Bacteria consume a tremendous amount of nitrates and very little phosphates. Once you run out of nitrates the bacterial count will drop and so will consumption of phosphates. Carbon is usually the limiting factor for bacteria in our tanks, but food is also a limiter, once they have consumed the no3 you will have to add more to continue the consumption of po4.
Click to expand...

I know that PO4 removal is a byproduct removal of NO3. That is why some people dose NO3 to reduce PO4
 
brad65ford said:
Oh the good old days of cycling I don't miss this times but i'm going to be starting another tank soon as well so i'll be doing the same. Nothing sucks more than waiting for them to cycle. You could always grow out macro algae, and keep pruning them as they grow. Great indicators as well for when you p04 starts lowering you macro's will not easily be able to grow as well. I've done this on all my tank cycles and like this method very cheap too. There will be others that say GFO is fine for cycling but i disagree. Somethings you can over do GFO and remove to much p04 and we all know that kills life.

Just a suggestion.
Click to expand...

Cheato will be here Wed along with snails from Reefcleaners
 
kissman said:
I don't want to run GFO or Carbon
Click to expand...

I hear you, I'm not saying you wont have to at some point in time especially with a sand bed system. Personally I haven't successfully run a sps dominate tank with sand yet to know that answer in relationship to feeding and water change only (similarly to what i do on my BB system with out the need for gfo reactors etc..)

Humm i'm wondering how much p04 gets purged into the sand while your curing your rock... Wondering what is better to cure dry rock with or with out sand, my guess is with out but don't know for sure. Sorry just thinking out loud.
 
Think and post all you want man. This is a learning experience for me and anybody that reads the thread. This is my first tank without a DSB. I only added a 1" sand bed if that. I added a 30lb bag to a 55g. Some people like a BB and I like to have at least enough sand to cover bottom.
 
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