Nuvo Fusion 20G

[GilroyC]

Hi...my name is Gilroy Collaco am am new to reef central...Am new to the aquaria hobby and curently have a 3 week old Nuvo Fusion 20 with live rock...ghost protein skimmer and the regular sponge filters that comes with the tank...Skye LED 18 Watts

My tank seemed cycled about a week ago...just cycled with adding LR and dosing with Stability and prime...Have done 2 weekly water changes of around 25%...issue I have is a mini cycle commenced after the 2nd water change...causing ammonia, nitrite and nitrate to go up by 1 ppm...prior to the water change, all parameters were at 0...I have had a constant ph of 7.6 or 7.8...Can a water change trigger a mini cycle? I did also clean the sponge filters...Also, there seems to be a lot of dust type particles in the DT...the tank looks pristine clear with the LED off, however, when on and I go within a foot away from the tank, are the dust like particles visible...how do I clear the same as would like the water to look absolutely clear.

 

[GilroyC]

Also, I currently do not have any powerheads...Am currently looking to have a pair of clown fish and a hermit crab till about a month or so...
Thereafter, would like to add some corals, along with a dragonet blenny and dottyback/firefish goby...when should I add a powerheads and any advise on which corals to start with would be great...currently, I have the Skey LED 18 watt set up...hence, corals who h would run with that amount of lighting to start with would be great.

 

[ssick92]

First of all, welcome to RC and reefkeeping! You will find a wealth of knowledge on this site, even though it may not always be what you want to hear... Try not to get frustrated, and remember to be patient.

Using Prime during a cycle is completely counteracting the purpose of the cycle. A tank cycle is the process of developing denitrifying bacteria within the tank so that harmful ammonia is turned into less harmful nitrite and then harmless nitrate. By introducing Prime, you effectively limited the amount of ammonia in the system, which suppresses the growing of the beneficial bacteria. Typically during a cycle, people actually dose MORE ammonia so that they can be sure that enough bacteria is generated. You basically did the opposite.

If I were in your position, I would not dose any more Stability or Prime. Instead, I would dose ammonia to about 2ppm and see how long it takes to convert into nitrate. Once your tank can convert the 2ppm of ammonia into nitrate (ammonia test will read 0) within 24 hrs, then your tank is cycled.

The "dust" particles could be a few things... My best guess is that it is probably microbubbles from your skimmer (the Ghost skimmer is notorious for introducing microbubbles during break in), or could be some precipitation of calcium carbonate which could be for a lot of different reasons (salt mix, calc/alk imbalance, pH swings, etc.)

Hope this helps, and remember not to rush things. Usually by taking shortcuts (stability and prime in this case), it will hurt the system in the long run. The most important factor in reef tanks is TIME.

 

[ssick92]

In regards to your powerhead question, you definitely need circulation. Depending on your budget, I would spend the cash for a Vortech MP10QD. The Vortechs are generally regarded as some of the best powerheads available, and is what I run on my tank. If your budget cannot support that, take a look at the Jebao WP-10. Either of those should be more than sufficient for your tank.

I am not familiar with the performance of the Skye light, but I have to assume it will be fine for softies and maybe some low light LPS. I would start with easy, hearty soft corals such as zoanthids, mushrooms, or leather corals. If you can keep them happy, then start looking at more difficult and/or picky corals.

 

[GilroyC]

Thanks for the input John...Yes, when I went to my LFS to test my water parameters, I was told the same thing...thereafter, I have not used Stability or Prime, however, the LFS told me to use stability when considering water changes and in case of any hike in water parameters, could proceed with Prime...Also, since, my last visit to the LFS(13.09.2016), the water parameters were Ammonia 0, Nitrite .025 and Nitrate 10...He said, that I was good to go, hence, picked up a pair of Ocellaris Clownfish and 2 Astrea Snails...24 hrs later everything was fine until I introduced a Powerhead to the tank...Immediately, I had detritus all over my tank and though it reduced(not entirely) I felt the need to check my parameters considering I encountered a mini cycle with water change only...Reading as follows: Ammonia .1, Nitrite .1 and Nitrates 0...I immediately called my LFS and was til to add prime...and proceed to do a water change...I am currently out of Salt Water and am leaving to get some from the LFS...will keep updated.

 

[GilroyC]

BTW, there was no mention by my LFS to add ammonia...He gave me a bottle of Prime and Stability and said to use the 2 together...Instead of going a week, I dused the same for 2 weeks...Anyway, now with fish and nails in my tank, how to proceed with establisting a good amount of denitroffing bacteria in my tank.

Also, for the powerhead, I have the Voyager Nano Steam 1000...Seems to work fine and am assuming that for a 20G, it would be enough.

 

[ssick92]

Honestly, I feel your LFS gave you some poor advice, but what's done is done. At this point, you are just completing the cycle with fish in the tank, which isn't recommended as it can be harmful / toxic to the fish, but Oscellaris are generally hearty fish that will be fine in the long run.

If you had no livestock in the tank previously, then I find it hard to believe that what you saw floating all around your tank was detritus but I don't know your situation completely. Whatever it is should clear up over time. Just keep an eye on your nitrate level and do 20% water changes as necessary to keep it below ~20 for soft corals. ~10 for LPS, and below ~5 for SPS. Once you start adding corals you will also need to keep an eye on your calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium levels.

That powerhead will provide what I would call "low flow" at around 10-15x your tanks volume per hour. It should be fine for most soft corals, but you will want to be up around 25-30x your tanks water volume for stony corals such as LPS and even higher for most SPS. If you added another one on the other side of the tank and pointed them towards each other, it would probably give you a good amount of random flow that your corals would enjoy.

Good luck!

 

[GilroyC]

Morning John, we'll dI'd a 20% water change last night...water parameters as of this morning are Ammonium <.05, Nitrite. O5 and Nitrate is between .5 and 1...On the other side, have stopped using Stability and Prime...The inhabitants seems to be doing well.

As for the powerhead, will add a stronger one once I decide to add corals...with whatever, has happened so far, am wanting to go slow and keep the tank to a FOWLR...Maybe, sometime during Christmas would I want to add some corals...

Also, how do I prevent fish food from going down the overflow...3 in every 5 pellets goes down there as with the plankton...the larger clownfish seems to eat more, however, the smaller guy eats very little or doesn't like what I'M giving him? Any ideas would help.

I would like to show you my tank, however, am not sure on how to uplod pics.

As for the particles, they aren't microbubbles...but look a lot like dust particles.

Another thing is that my sKimmeridge does seem to be doing things the way it should...There are bubbles, but no foam...whenever, I check the cup it's filled with dirty water...no slimy stuff yet...Is this normal or am I to do something about it.

Thanks again for your advice.

 

[ssick92]

Morning John, we'll dI'd a 20% water change last night...water parameters as of this morning are Ammonium <.05, Nitrite. O5 and Nitrate is between .5 and 1...On the other side, have stopped using Stability and Prime...The inhabitants seems to be doing well.

As for the powerhead, will add a stronger one once I decide to add corals...with whatever, has happened so far, am wanting to go slow and keep the tank to a FOWLR...Maybe, sometime during Christmas would I want to add some corals...

Also, how do I prevent fish food from going down the overflow...3 in every 5 pellets goes down there as with the plankton...the larger clownfish seems to eat more, however, the smaller guy eats very little or doesn't like what I'M giving him? Any ideas would help.

I would like to show you my tank, however, am not sure on how to uplod pics.

As for the particles, they aren't microbubbles...but look a lot like dust particles.

Another thing is that my sKimmeridge does seem to be doing things the way it should...There are bubbles, but no foam...whenever, I check the cup it's filled with dirty water...no slimy stuff yet...Is this normal or am I to do something about it.

Thanks again for your advice.

Let me see if I can address all your points.

Simply continue to monitor your parameters and make sure nothing gets totally out of whack, but I don't think you will have any issues. Just give the tank a couple weeks to run its course before adding any more livestock.

Honestly, what has happened thus far doesn't mean you can't add corals, it just wasn't the best way to go about cycling a tank. In a few weeks you should be totally fine to add corals if you want. Waiting until Christmas time isn't going to change much...

To prevent food from going down the overflow, try turning off all pumps and powerheads during feeding. Use a turkey baster to introduce the food closer to your tankmates rather than dropping it on the top surface of the water. See if that helps. The larger clownfish has likely established being the dominant female. She will always be bigger and will eat more than the smaller male. As long as the male is eating some, he will be fine. What are you feeding?

An easy way to upload photos is make an account on Photobucket.com. You can then copy the BBCode for the image and post it directly in your post and the image will show up.

What kind of sand do you have? Is it a fine sand (consistency of sugar)? If your powerhead is directed at the sand, or the sand is very fine, it will likely be blown around the tank. If this is what it looks like to you, try aiming the powerhead up towards the surface more. It will lessen the amount of flow in the tank, but at least it won't be blowing sand all around your tank either.

How long has your skimmer been running? Skimmers typically need to go through a "break in phase" where the water level is kept below the collection cup and it runs for anywhere from a few days to a few weeks before you actually start skimming anything. Once you start seeing the bubbles that you want you can raise the water level to about halfway up the collection cup and you should start getting some good skimmate.

Hope that covered everything...

 

[GilroyC]

Will continue to monitor the water parameters every morning...will wait a month or so, so have to have a bit more confidence in taking care of the tank...thereafter, would like to add a few corals and bring in a few more inhabitants..

As for feeding, will turn off the tank devices for about 5 mins during feeding. So far am feeding twice a day, however, have felt that there has been too much overfeeding of the tank with 70% of the pellets and plankton going through the overflow...Have postponed tonights feed till early morning...As for the food, I am using Hikari Marine S Pellets and Frozen Plankton.

For the snails, I have used Frozen Seaweed (told to use one cube in 10 days). As for the clownfish, the slightly larger one bosses the smaller one...They just an inch in size, so am assuming, that the larger one would grow till 3 inches and the smaller will be around 2 inches at fu'll grown.

As for the substate...it's no sand...just medium size marine gravel...I use the return nozzles on the tank as a water breaker and the powerhead is slightly pointed to wards the substrate...However, have moved the same to allow the flow being straight in the middle of the tank.

The skimmer has being working since the time I got the tank started (3 weeks completed), however, doesn't seem to skim anything...hope that with inhabitants and feeding in progress, we should have something to show in the next few days...will keep updated.

Will try to upload some pics.

 

[GilroyC]

Morning John, I checked the water parameters last night and got the following reading:

Ammonium .1
Nitrite. 1
Nitrate. 05 - .1

I assumed that the rise in ammonium would have been due to excessive feeding which happened till last 48 hrs...I did not feed the fish last night and rechecked the parameters this morning to find the reading the same as last night.

Is .1 ammonium dangerous...should I do a water change(did one on Thursday) or just hold on for another 24 hrs...the inhabitants seem fine and am continously checking for any signs of discomfort.

I am using the JBL Test Kit and so I never get a 0 reading for anything.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[GilroyC]

Afternoon to all.....w.r.t the issuw with water parameters, I had my wife check test the same while I am at work at the moment and the following results were to be found:

Ammonium .2
Nitrite. 1
Nitrate. 05 - .1

I'm not sure whether the Kit I'm using is bad or not, however, since I knew an immediate water change would be possible nor do I have any QT, I had my wife dose 3 ml of Prime to the tank.

As much as I am not wantin g to use the same, I currently do not have any options in store to protect the inhabitants.....Although, none are showing any signs of discomfort. Should I do a water change or wait and re-test tomorrow morning.

I will however, have the saltwater readied tonight in case of an immediate change-of required.

Any advise would help.

 

[ssick92]

The fish should be fine at those levels, but if your ammonia continues to go up and you start to see signs of struggling from your fish (heavy breathing, lethargic, etc.), that is when I would do the water change.

It isn't recommended (in fact, the exact opposite of what is recommended) to have fish in the tank during the cycle, but it has been done plenty of times before and more often than not the fish make it through.

 

[GilroyC]

Appreciate your assistance John....currently, I have the following readings(as of this morning)

ph: 7.8 - has never gone up or down since the tank started
Salanity - 1.028
Ammonium - between .1 - .2
Nitrite - .1
Nitrate - 1

All this is based on the JBL Test Kit.

Have reduced feeding to once a day (around 10 pellets combined) for my clowns. They aren't showing any signs of discomfort and seem do be doing fine. The snails are still alive.

Generally, I do a weekly WC of around 30% tank volume, however, since, I'd done 2 WC in the last 5 days, would put off any water change till mid of next week(unless I find ammo. going up)...I've read that Nitrite and Nitrates do not pose any treat to marine life at levels generally measured in our tanks, hence, will let the cycle continue as it is, in the hope that it gets done at the earliest.

Thanks again....will keep posted.

 

[ssick92]

Any particular reason you are keeping your salinity at 1.028? Typically it is recommended to stay around 1.025-1.026. I have never kept it above 1.026 so not sure what kind of effect that will have on the tank...

 

[GilroyC]

When I checked the Salanity, it was just after a water change. I get my saltwater water already mixed from the LFS...I think it measured 1.027? However, it's back to 1.026. Generally, when I find it up, I just remove a cup or 2 of tank water and replace it with mineral water(drinking water).

I have also just opened another thread in the Fish Disease section. My larger clownfish(since last night) has an open and slightly swollen mouth with the lower jaw seemingly slightly protruding and a small white spot on the middle of the lower lip

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[ssick92]

Can you post a picture of your clown? Sounds like he got chomped by something... Do you have any shrimp or hitchhikers that came with your LR?

Is the clown acting any differently?

 

[GilroyC]

Snap shots attached....No shrimp or hitchhikers that I have in the tank.

http://s1243.photobucket.com/user/gilroyc/media/20160920_160404_zpsmryywc9c.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1
http://s1243.photobucket.com/user/gilroyc/media/20160920_160405_zpskhdgwwjl.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

http://s1243.photobucket.com/user/gilroyc/media/20160920_160310_zpsawlwhkwc.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2

She seems to be swimming fine...eating as well...the only different behaviour is that she at times would swim to the surface on the tank and rub her lips on the LR...else, everything else seems normal...no heavy or rapid breathing or lethargy.