Well its finally time! I have order my 75 gallon pre-drilled tank with 2 corner overflows. Im going to have a 30 gallon sump were the filter sock will be ran after feeding and washed, reef-dynamics skimmer will set and also have a sand bed and some macro growing for a safe place for pods to live. The main tank will also have macro and mangroves growing in it for places for them to hitch. Im going to use dry sand and dry rock. Im wanting to cycle it will ammonia but I need some direction on how to do that so I dont mess it up. I do have a chiller if need be. Last if anyone as macro growing for there SH what kind of lighting are you using to make it grow good? If I should change anything or anyone can give me any tips so I dont loose money that would be great! I am a SPS keeper so I do have a good amount of experiance.I will be posting pics as soon as the tank and everything comes in! :beer:
My 75 gallon set up
- Thread starter Treed
- Start date
Bump...Okay so what is the best way to cycle this tank? If its adding ammonia iv read like 10 different ways to do it so if its the best way to go how do I go about doing it? In my normal tanks I would just add fish but I want this tank to be "clean" of everything do that the horses arent effected.
I thing everyone that uses ammonia have slightly different protocols.
In my case, I use ammonium chloride powder and I add enough to bring the ammonia up to the level I want, i.e. 2ppm light loading after cycle, 6ppm heavy load after cycling, and then keep checking to see when the nitrite starts and when the ammonia gets to zero followed by nitrite going to zero. Some check the nitrates to know that the complete process is happening.
When both reach zero, I add enough to get to 1ppm and see how fast it clears. If it clears in less than one day I'm good to go for light duty, and if it clears within 8 hours I'm good to go with heavy duty.
In my case, I use ammonium chloride powder and I add enough to bring the ammonia up to the level I want, i.e. 2ppm light loading after cycle, 6ppm heavy load after cycling, and then keep checking to see when the nitrite starts and when the ammonia gets to zero followed by nitrite going to zero. Some check the nitrates to know that the complete process is happening.
When both reach zero, I add enough to get to 1ppm and see how fast it clears. If it clears in less than one day I'm good to go for light duty, and if it clears within 8 hours I'm good to go with heavy duty.
wdt2000
Member
If you don't have any other tanks you could just add a dead shrimp, just remove it after a few days
Rayjay's way seems much more reliable though.
Sounds like a very nice tank. Mangroves really need strong lighting imo, but macro grow well with just about any kind of basic lighting.
Rayjay's way seems much more reliable though. Sounds like a very nice tank. Mangroves really need strong lighting imo, but macro grow well with just about any kind of basic lighting.
Yea my main tank is a 180 gallon SPS tank. Its just everything Ive read said the tank needs to be as sterile as possible, therefore being my reason for wanting to use ammonia if you all think thats the best way to go. Can I use normal cleaning ammonia or would you recommend the powder over that? If so were can I find that? Im planning to do H. Erectus. I could safely get 8 in a 75 gallon correct? Also I do have a mangrove doing awesome under a 10k bulb...Maybe Im lucky lol
