My 54G Mixed Reef (pic intense)

[Mike.B]

Looken good....up until all that food :eek2:

why did you want to cycle the tank in this messy manner?

 

[gemini aquarius(t)]

nice tank,hope it turns out good ill be following,

and i voted yes to the members tanks forum

 

[Lunchbucket]

why did you throw in that much food? w/ the shrimp idea you ONLY leave it in till you get a spike then you can take it out. w/ all that food you can't get it out and any life that had a chance now doesn't

tank looks great and i love the tile!!
Lunchbucket

 

[Avast Marine]

Yes I could have cycled the tank in in number of ways. I have used other ways in the past. I had the food laying around as I just switched my other fish to Omega One. Weatherson had suggested this method, so I desided to give it a try.
This morning about 95% on the food has dissolved and the water is pretty cloudy. I could run some carbon to clear the water, but since I haven't got the crude in there yet, it would probably be just a waste.

 

[Avast Marine]

I no doubt used WAY more food than Weatherson had ever intended, but no more than I was comfortable with . My intent is to not just push the N cycle but, to push the usual other first 6 month issues as well. I am not doing a water change yet. I have just been adding new water to the system on a regular basis until I reach the max volume, then I will start to actually change out some of the water. Right now there are 69 gallons in the system. I have a max capacity of 100 gallons. So I bet it will be about 2 weeks before my first water change.

 

[Mike.B]

Keep us posted on tank parameters, well actually I just want to know what your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate over the next 2 weeks is like. Just to see how this cycle method works.

 

[Avast Marine]

Will do subzero, I think I will actually test on a regular basis just to go ahead and document this. I do realize that this is not the norm, but I have been thinking about this for quite some time. If it works, great. That means that we can not only force the first cycle but, also a good chunk of the maturation process as well. If I can generate enough bacteria in the system to combat this at a early stage, then down the road some of the other issues may never come up. If it doesn't then oh well, at least I gave it a shot, and the "normal" problems will reveal themselves when they choose to.

 

[Avast Marine]

2nd water test:

Temp: 79.3 +
Ph: 8.3 -
SG: 1.026 +
NO2: 0.00 =
No3: 15ppm -
NH3: 1.5ppm +
CA: 380ppm +
DKH:11.5 -
PO4: 0.5ppm +
Mg: 1290ppm +

Still cloudy, just took some pics, will upload in a bit.
Today I started adding DT's (yes more food :eek2: ), as well as B-Ionic 2 part. I realize dkh is on the high end of the spectrum, so I will monitor that pretty close and only dose part 2 until Ca=430ppm and dkh stabilizes. I would like to get the Mg up just a tad, but until the dkh levels are down just a bit more I am going to hold off and assume that he reading may be a little off.

 

[Avast Marine]

Looks like month 3 or 4 of my first tank :rolleye1:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/58279226@N00/179415471/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/48/179415471_c9635731d7_o.jpg" width="600" height="449" alt="cycle1" /></a>

Protein skimmer anyone?

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/58279226@N00/179415473/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/59/179415473_cf20a66a9a_o.jpg" width="600" height="449" alt="cycle2" /></a>

While I am thinking about it here are some pics of my "fish room" (closet).

I tiled the floor, put in a floor drain, and built some shelving including the little flip top table that is perfect height to do water test without bending over. The top white bucket is my RO/DI, and the one below it is my mixing bucket for salt.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/58279226@N00/179415474/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/48/179415474_0c5c08354c_o.jpg" width="600" height="802" alt="fishroom" /></a>

This part is still kind of a mess, but I will show you anyhow. My equipment sump that gets the water first from the overflow. This will hold my skimmer, assorted phos reactors, heaters, top off controller, you can see the Geo 6x12 barely on the left, dosing pumps etc, etc.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/58279226@N00/179415475/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/34/179415475_eadc63743e_o.jpg" width="600" height="802" alt="sump1" /></a>

There is no water in here right now, so don't flame bout the cords in there :eek1: . Right now I just have a simple bypass running from the display to the fuge (well actually it's my emergency overflow).

 

[chrismunn]

i sure would like to know how you built that wine rack. thats really cool...

 

[chrismunn]

when this massive cycle is over and the tanks water params are back to being stable\water is clean, there wont wont be enough available food source to sustain the large amount of bacterias that you are hoping to gain. i believe the the amount of bacteria will dwindle to the numbers only necessary to handle the avail bio-load at the given time after the N cycle. but it was a good thought...
and whats with the electrical cords in the bucket of water? GEEZ! jk...

 

[Avast Marine]

That is entirely possible. I would just like my sandbed to mature a little. My thought is this. My tank had already cycled before I added the food. There is a vialble bacteria culture already started. By increasing the nutrient level to the upper threshold, the algae is what is really going to expand at a rapid rate (see day 2 pics). When the snails are added to the tank, its going to look like the salad bar at Central Market . They will eat and produce waste. Bacteria cultures will grow at an alarming rate, at this time I will begin protien skimming, add macro algae, and turn onn the carbon and rowa, in an attempt to cut the chain to some degree. I will remove half of my snail population and move them to another tank that needs a bump in the cleanup crew anyway. At this point I will just hold steady for a month and see what happens. I think it would be nice to battle the early tank problems as soon as possible, before livestock is added. This is my convoluted theory anyway. I know that my tanks parameters will never acheive "perfection" like this (If that ever happens I would become board and leave the hobby). Thats perfectly fine with me, this is not going to be a starboard SPS tank. I prefer soft corals and mostly zoas, which will thrive in a slightly "dirty" tank anyway.

Thanks for looking and feedback is always appretiated.

 

[chrismunn]

i think your theory might hold up. seems like you've thought about this one...
im going to keep this thread on my subscribed list for 12 more months. i m anxious to see what happens...

 

[Neowind]

WOW this is definatly an extreme way of doing things. I really hope that everything works out for you. I am glad to see people trying new things.

 

[The_fishkeeper86]

wow,this is just amazing I cant wait to see how this turns out

btw, what kind of livestock are you planning on. or did I miss it somewhere

 

[Avast Marine]

Yesterday morning I started to test and knew what was coming by my keen sense of smell. Nh3 = 8ppm. This was the only test I did. I had saved the water from the rock holding tubs and had been running a powerhead in it, I tested and found detectable readings of Nh3, No2, No3 but, still perfectly fine for it's intended purpose. I used this water to do a approx 25gallon water change to get the Nh4 to a number I was more comfortable with.

3rd water test:

Temp: 80.5 +
Ph: 8.27 -
SG: 1.024 -
NO2: 0.50ppm +
No3: 35ppm +
NH3: 4.0ppm +
CA: 435ppm +
DKH:16 +
PO4: 0.125ppm -
Mg: 1280ppm -


I spent this morning getting my plumbing ready for the equipment sump. I have set up a version of the Calfo style automatic water change system and during the water testing of this tank it performed flawlessly. I will expand on that later when I can add pics to explain it a little better.
I got my ATO system hooked up and in place, and now I am mixing a bunch more salt water to add to the system and some to hold the cleaning crew in until the Nh3 levels out to 0.00.

Ordered from reftopia for delivery thursday:
100 Turbo Snail
18 Nerite Tesselatta
48 Nassarius Snails
24 Cerith Snails {the good kind}
4 Emerald Crabs
4 Peppermint Shrimp

Fishkeeper: Stocking list- Mixed reef
:rollface: . JK. There is not a type of coral I do not like, so this is my stocking plan. When the params are right I plan to add a good representitive or two from each of SPS, LPS, Shrooms, Softie and Zoanthids. I will carefully monitor growth rates and general health of the species. I have tried to create a enviroment that many varied species can live but, will ultimately choose to focus on what does the best in my tank. I think this will keep me focused on proper tank maintenece and husbandry rather than trying to change the setup to house a species that may not naturally do well for this particular set up. Once the corals are determined I will work on a fish list. I would like to have a green carpet up top, but I am not sure the tank will support it, only time will tell.
Neo and Chris, I'm anxious too and really excited about this new setup, I do have patience but, would prefer the tank to take a little dive before I go out spendin $ on livestock.

 

[Mike.B]

Sounds like its coming right along.

Cant wait to see some pics of your newly setup equipment.

 

[Avast Marine]

Aquascaping version 3 is a combination of 1 and 2 .

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/58279226@N00/182601942/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/71/182601942_e4d3f83837_o.jpg" width="600" height="449" alt="aqua3" /></a>

 

[katpurdy]

vrs. 3 is a good compromise! VERY similar to #1, but good.

 

[The_fishkeeper86]

yes i like this one