Second attempt 20 Gallon SPS...

[mooch1982]

Ladies and Gents, the cycle is almost complete. I anticipate another 5-7 days!!

Last week the levels were at:

1ppm Ammonia (stuck at this for over 10 days)
10-25 ppm Nitrates

Today the levels are at:

.50 ppm Ammonia
25-50 ppm Nitrates.

I plan to do a 50% water change today to reduce levels, and wait out the cycle another week or so.

Once cycled the plan is to add the yellow watchman Goby, snails, and a ton of sps frags the following week!!

 

[iced98lx]

Ladies and Gents, the cycle is almost complete. I anticipate another 5-7 days!!

Last week the levels were at:

1ppm Ammonia (stuck at this for over 10 days)
10-25 ppm Nitrates

Today the levels are at:

.50 ppm Ammonia
25-50 ppm Nitrates.

I plan to do a 50% water change today to reduce levels, and wait out the cycle another week or so.

Once cycled the plan is to add the yellow watchman Goby, snails, and a ton of sps frags the following week!!

Sounds like the direction I ended up going with my BioCube- I have a pair of purple firefish, a YWG, and all SPS and LPS coral. Good luck, and keep posting updates!

 

[ziyaadb]

Great start, but I think you have too much rock in the tank. esp as you want to grow sps.

 

[mooch1982]

You are correct in that I have too much rock, but I have a plan. The plan is to purchase a town home in the next 1 year, and then set-up a cadlight 100 gallon sps tank. The rock I have in the tank would be great to seea the 100 gallon, and of course the corals wont out grow my 20 within the next year, so I can transport them.

 

[mooch1982]

Okay more updates. Getting excited!!

Ammonia at .25 this morning
Nitrates have dropped to around 5-10 ppm

I added another piece of live rock yesterday from my lfs and this may be helping move the cycle along. I figure another week and I should be ready for my first fish. In the mean time I am ghost feeding the tank with flakes every other day in very small amounts.

Exciting times!

 

[mooch1982]

Major Update!!

Major Update!!

Been a while since I posted here, but lots of additions. Tank finished its cycle two weeks back. I added the following fish:

Helfreki Firefish
Purple Firefish
Yellow watchman Goby/Pistol shrimp pair
6 Line Wrasse

Also added the following corals:

Light Purple/Green with florescent purple polyps Montipora
Purple acro
ORA Marshall Island purple/green acro
Green millipora
crocea Clam

Levels are as follows:

Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 5 ppm
Phosphates = Ranges from .03 - .07 (Rocks are leaching phosphates, but am using a lot of GFO)
Calcium = 465
Alk = 8.0
Magnesium = 1410
PH = 7.6 - 7.8 (Wont go any higher but is pretty stable within this range)
Temp = 78 - 80

Tank issues:

Fighting a little hair algae, green algae, and of course the regular diatom bloom but that should subside.

Other thing that I am trying:

I am adding 5 drops of Lithium Chloride to my 2 gallons of top-off water to help reduce phosphates and not waste as much GFO. My LFS does this for all his customers including his SPS tanks in the shop and has had great success!!

 

[jacob.morgan78]

Looking good! Did you notice any spike in levels after adding everything? People are going to give you a hard time for adding a clam so early but if you think it'll be alright, go for it and just keep a close eye on it just in case!

Those are some pretty cool looking sps! Let me know how your clam does because I'd like to add mine to my 20H as soon as possible from my 125.

Thanks for the updates and keep them up!! Looking forward to the next one!

 

[mooch1982]

Clam is doing excellent. It has not only improved in color, but is also opening fully and responding very well to shadows and other fish!

As for levels, I did not see any spikes. This is my fourth tank, and I have always done my tanks this way with no loss in live stock.

 

[maelv]

Nice. What is this LC that you did with your rocks? Dont' know what it is...It is hilarious, you and I have similar tanks that I am about to set up this weekend, except I went with 35 lbs of Pukani..ha ha ha..going to have to put some away for another time.

 

[maelv]

Very very Nice. What is this LC that you did with your rocks? Dont' know what it is...It is hilarious, you and I have similar tanks that I am about to set up this weekend, except I went with 35 lbs of Pukani..ha ha ha..going to have to put some away for another time.

 

[mooch1982]

LC = Lithium Choliride.

Search Reefcentral for it, and you will find many threads about using it to cure and clean Pukani rock!! 35lbs?, oh but where will all the pretty SPS go!

So are you using the same equipment as well for your tank?

 

[reefscape15]

Awesome!!! Just got my 20H filled with water yesterday. Need to add some more sand and get the salinity stabilized, then time to wait for my cycle

 

[maelv]

LC = Lithium Choliride.

Search Reefcentral for it, and you will find many threads about using it to cure and clean Pukani rock!! 35lbs?, oh but where will all the pretty SPS go!

So are you using the same equipment as well for your tank?

Thanks mooch....and no not quite the same equipment. YOU have better items than I do.

I have an Octopus 110 skimmer
Evolution LED
Sicce return
MP10w es
Reefkeeper Lite controller...

 

[mooch1982]

Thanks mooch....and no not quite the same equipment. YOU have better items than I do.

I have an Octopus 110 skimmer
Evolution LED
Sicce return
MP10w es
Reefkeeper Lite controller...

Well, from what I can see your equipment is good enough to outdo my tank!!

 

[mooch1982]

I have had a major dino outbreak; it has literally taken over the tank!!

I have started using bio pellets and removed the GFO. I am starting with 1/3 the recommended dose, and suprisingly my nitrates have moved from 5ppm to 1-2.5ppm after just 2 days. Id like to keep it around this range.

After removing GFO, I started adding .02ml of Lithium Chloride to my 2 gallon top off water weekly. When the ATO comes on it doses the LC straight into the skimmer. Without GFO, my phosphates would creep up to .07ppm by weeks end. With LC, Bio pellets, and no GFO my phosphates are staying between .01 - .03 ppm. I plan to eventually stop dossing LC to see if my phosphates stay around .03ppm which is my target.

As for Dinos, I have started dosing 2ml of Hydrogen Peroxide per day. Just started today and will monitor my tank and see how it goes.

Will post more updates by end of the weekend.

 

[uxdesigner]

It sounds like your tank is still cycling and just needs more time to mature. Once things level out, add a clean up crew and in a week you will be set. Time is a substitute for additives when starting a tank.

 

[mooch1982]

It sounds like your tank is still cycling and just needs more time to mature. Once things level out, add a clean up crew and in a week you will be set. Time is a substitute for additives when starting a tank.

Im note sure if dynos are part of the cycle though. Infact, I think I picked up the dino from a frag plus, which set things off in my tank.