My Tank Is Up And Running!!!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6400046#post6400046 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by eng55
What type of lighting did u get from home depot? I would be interested in doing that for my tank that I am setting up.
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The lights are just the plain jane 2 bulb 4' shop lights. There are 4 of those above my tank for a total of 8 4' bulbs 40w apiece = 320 watts of light.

For the bulbs. I believe these are actually a saltwater 50/50 bulb. I got them from someone else so I'm not exactly sure. But you can use just regular flourescent bulbs. Just try to find the ones with the highest kelvin. The only problem with them is they look pretty yellow so you might have to buy a couple actinic ones online or from a fish store or something to get some blue in it.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6400521#post6400521 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lori M
I see a piece of xenia in that first pic!
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Yeah, you cheated too you already knew it was in there! :D It's a trick question anyway. I can't even see it in the picture and I know where it's at!

Thanks again for curing my rock in your tank for me.
 
Okay here is a picture of my first coral. The picture makes it look pretty big but it's VERY VERY SMALL!!! I'm not 100% sure what it is but I believe it's zenia. Please tell me if I'm right or not.

DSCF0140.jpg
 
thats anthelia.....you keep track of that, i'll be by in a few months to collect my free frag.......j/k that tank is looking good matt, let me know when your ready for some frags
 
Uh oh, contrasting opinions. I thought that never happened in reef keeping! :lol:

It's pretty hard to tell since it's so small.

I want to make sure the cycle is over before I start stocking it. I don't think it will take too long since the rock was already cured and it was only out of water for about an hour.

I'll let you know when I'm ready for frags though! :D
 
I'll take your word for it! I'm sure you'd know before me. I'm just kind of curious if it will make it through the cycle. Are they pretty tough? My son woke up this morning (he's 5) and told me he thinks it got bigger! :D (the coral, come on get your minds out of the gutter)
 
Checked the water earlier.

Got a little bit of ammonia going on. About 6ppm
Also got some nitrites Less than 10 ppm
No Nitrates yet.

Looks like I got a little farther to go yet.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6409080#post6409080 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by glaspie69
lol....well i'll tell you what i'm so confident that i'll bet you two to one thats anthelia
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I agree.

The set up is looking good!
 
Good looking low cost setup! AFAIK Anthelia is a type of xenia isn't it? I have a ton of that stuff in my tank, but I think yours is a better color. Looks like it has some purple to it.

If you can spring for it, you'd love a refractometer instead of that hydrometer. Much faster to use, easier to read and typically more reliable from what I've read. I got a Marine Depot one for Christmas. You might also want to pick up some calibration fluid - it's usually really inexpensive and you can use it to doublecheck your hydrometer. You can even make your own if you can accurately measure the water and table salt weight - http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/rhf/index.php
 
Matt,

I like following low cost setups, so consider me silently watching from now on, until I open my big mouth again.

I keep my tank at 1.026-1.027 at 79-81 degrees.

Are you sure your ammonia is 6ppm? That seems pretty high, did you meant .6ppm?

Brian
 
Thanks for the links. I'll have to do some reading on it when I get a chance.

I'm using Instant ocean salt. I also got a bucket of coralife for christmas but I might take that back and get another bucket Instant ocean. Which is better???

My salinity is right at 1.026 with my hydrometer. And temp is bouncing between 79.6-80.1

According to my test kit. (Hagen) My ammonia is at 6ppm. But after reading this I decided to check and see if there is an expiration date on the box and there is. 12/31/03 :( Seeing as it's over 2 years expired now those numbers probably don't mean crap!

My nitrite and nitrate test kits don't have an expiration date on them. So I'm not sure if they're any good or not.

I really didn't think I would even have a cycle seeing as I used all cured rock. I'll have to buy another test kit and see what's really going on.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6420336#post6420336 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by got2lb

According to my test kit. (Hagen) My ammonia is at 6ppm. But after reading this I decided to check and see if there is an expiration date on the box and there is. 12/31/03 :( Seeing as it's over 2 years expired now those numbers probably don't mean crap!

My nitrite and nitrate test kits don't have an expiration date on them. So I'm not sure if they're any good or not.

I really didn't think I would even have a cycle seeing as I used all cured rock. I'll have to buy another test kit and see what's really going on.
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I would agree with getting a new test kit. 6ppm is REALLY high for ammonia and sounds like a bad reading from an old test kit. Any reading of ammonia over .5 will result in some deaths in the tank and over 1ppm is when the real trouble starts. My tank got up to 8ppm and I lost a bunch of stuff and my wife and I even had respiratory problems that week( just coughing and irritation, nothing serious)

Brian
 
I think I'm going to go get a different test kit tomorrow. Not sure how old the nitrite/nitrate test kit is either. That way I know my results are right or not. According to the test kit I have Nitrites are less than 0.1 ppm and nitrates are less than 10 ppm. But I'm not sure if it's accurate or not.
 
Finally got another picture of the mystery coral. My tank must be doing alright because it's pretty much opened up now and has been for the last three days. It's alot harder getting a picture of it when the rock is towards the back of the tank. There were 2 arms coming off of it but one of them broke off when I was moving the rock around so we'll have to see where that pops up at! :D Anyway here you go! :D

DSCF0189.jpg
 
Well I bought a new test kit today. I bought the Red Sea Marine Lab kit.

Here's the results:

Ammonia 0.25 ppm or less
Nitrite 0.05ppm
Nitrate 2.5ppm

So I would assume it's pretty much cycled. Anyone else have any opinions on that?

I also plugged my skimmer in last night and when i got home from the store today and the lights were on I couldn't believe how clear the water is now!

I also bought some carbon and a filter bag I'm going to toss in the sump as well.

All my rocks are starting to get a little bit of a yellowish/brown color on them. Instead of being bright almost white.
 
I don't think your cycle is done yet. You still have ammonia and Nitrites. IMO I would wait until those are gone before you do anything. What was the highest your Nitrated have ever been? Keep an eye on those and when they peek and come back down and your ammonia and nitrites are gone you are nearing the end. As far as you rocks go, you are probably having a slight algea bloom. Expected in a cycle. I would look for it to get worse before it gets better then clear up as fast as it came on when everyting gets in balance. Again...this is just my .02 :)
 
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