St. Pete 12g Nano back up after a 5 year break.

[Tampa_Bandit]

Im also a tampa local. Have you heard of or been to coral corral, marine warehouse, or fish and other itchy stuff?

No, I haven't been to any of these stores. How are they and what do recommend?

 

[St.Pete_Reefer]

Im also a tampa local. Have you heard of or been to coral corral, marine warehouse, or fish and other itchy stuff?

I've been to Marine warehouse its not bad just busy at times and hard to get service. As for fish and other itchy stuff my coral supplier HIGHLY recommends them.

 

[Tampa_Bandit]

Cycling = Boring

I did order a hydor Flo, and a Coralife Power Digital strip today.

 

[rollinlowgsxr]

i cant wait to see more pictures ive always wanted a nano

 

[JayGatsby]

Cycling = Boring

I did order a hydor Flo, and a Coralife Power Digital strip today.

I set up my Hydor wave maker and my timers last night. We're running right along with each other.

I didn't do an all-in-one power strip, I wanted more options and outlets. Let me know how the coralife works out, I read mixed reviews on Amazon and wasn't sure.

 

[HaKs310]

I ran that strip a few years back and had no issues. I also read the reviews on amazon and decided against it this time around. Ended up ordering a 10 outlet Belkin strip and use an IKEA timer for the fans.



Anyway, are you ghost feeding or doing something else to introduce ammonia? Looks like that LR is pretty much cured already.

 

[JayGatsby]

Nah, getting sand and rock tomorrow... there'll be a little die-off due to transport and time out of water and all that, but it shouldn't be too much of a cycle... may ghost feed, not sure what I'll do. My favorite part of TBS rock is leaving it alone for a couple of weeks while you see what all's actually in it...

 

[JayGatsby]

And I got a 12-outlet Belkin and a pair of Stanley digital timers for the lights. Seemed effective/expandable/replaceable in parts.

 

[HaKs310]

Haha that LR question was directed at Tampa.

Check your thread though, just posted; don't want to thread jack.

 

[Tampa_Bandit]

Yeah I am ghost feeding to help things along, but i only put a couple flakes in at a time so i think i need to put a little more in because ammonia is still pretty non-existent.

I spent a few dollars more on the LR sense i have a small tank.

I also read the reviews on the Coralife power strip, but I think for my situation and how simple a setup i have it should work just fine. I need things to be clutter free and the least amount of cords as possible so i can hide everything and keep things neat and tidy. I don't have a stand for the tank and right now it's on my office filing cabinet so i don't have many places to hide stuff.

 

[HaKs310]

What are your test reading?

As I said earlier, I don't think you will see much of an ammonia spike. Looks like your LR is already quickly converting that to nitrates.

 

[Tampa_Bandit]

ammonia is pretty low. I have the numbers written down at home and i'll post them after work. However, with my cured LR i won't have a normal cycle? Should i maybe get a starter fish or continue to wait and see how the numbers look?

 

[HaKs310]

Our tanks are always cycling. I really hate the idea that we cycle our tanks in the beginning and we are good to go. Bacteria populations will be dependent on the amount of ammonia being introduced in to the water column.

With cured LR, it already has a nice bacteria population that will just keep on growing with ammonia being introduced, until both are level. So with ghost feeding you are adding an ammonia source which the bacteria consume which in turns gives them the means to grow. And they will continue to grow until there's a stable population; enough bacteria to consume all the ammonia quicKly. This is what we call a "cycled" tank. Now when we add a fish, another source of ammonia, bacteria will have an extra source of "food". The bacteria population now has to eat double for a while until its population grows once again to match the amount of ammonia now being introduced. Pretty much another mini "cycle". This is why it is advised to add inhabitants weeks apart; to let the bacteria population grow and catch up.

 

[Tampa_Bandit]

Well i woke up and looked in the tank this morning and i had a hitch hiker coral on one of my LR. It was fully extended with the lights out and looked pretty cool. I turned on the lights and got out my Cannon Rebel XTI to take a shot of it but when i zoomed in with my lens the camera would not take the shot. I am not an expert photographer and need to educate myself more on how lenses work with close up objects, but i was pretty frustrated that i couldn't get a close up of this coral to post here. (any suggestions are welcome on how to get closeups.) When i finally did get a shot i had to zoom way out and by then the coral had retracted into it's hole so the picture didn't show much...

 

[Tampa_Bandit]

Our tanks are always cycling. I really hate the idea that we cycle our tanks in the beginning and we are good to go. Bacteria populations will be dependent on the amount of ammonia being introduced in to the water column.

With cured LR, it already has a nice bacteria population that will just keep on growing with ammonia being introduced, until both are level. So with ghost feeding you are adding an ammonia source which the bacteria consume which in turns gives them the means to grow. And they will continue to grow until there's a stable population; enough bacteria to consume all the ammonia quicKly. This is what we call a "cycled" tank. Now when we add a fish, another source of ammonia, bacteria will have an extra source of "food". The bacteria population now has to eat double for a while until its population grows once again to match the amount of ammonia now being introduced. Pretty much another mini "cycle". This is why it is advised to add inhabitants weeks apart; to let the bacteria population grow and catch up.

Thanks for the information HaKs310. This is a really good explanation to how tanks cycle. I have read the other forms on how to cycle a tank, but for some reason this was a really good explanation to how it all works, and sunk in a little better with me this time around. Thanks again!

 

[HaKs310]

No problem!
Yeah I often see people explain the cycle as a one time thing when first setting up the tank. Truth is our tanks are always going through a cycle, albeit not at the level one might incurr when first establishing the tank, but a mini cycle nevertheless. This is why some people run into problems when they add four fish in a three week period, in a newly established tank and then wonder what went wrong.

Anyway, how are those numbers coming along?

 

[Tampa_Bandit]

Water tests today:

Salinity: 1.025
Ammonia: .25
Nitrate: < 10 (hard to tell lvl reading)
Nitrite: 0

So, really the levels have not changed much over the last week. I am going to continue to add fish flake and wait until next weekend to do anything.

 

[HaKs310]

Sounds like a plan! Any ideas for the stocking list?

 

[Tampa_Bandit]

This is what i am thinking right now:

Yellow watchman Goby
Coral banded shrimp paired w/Goby (not sure on this one, maybe a different shrimp)
small Black Clown

 

[HaKs310]

If by Coral banded you mean, Stenopus hispidus, they do not form symbiotic relationships with gobys.
Look for Alpheus sp., Candy stripe pistol shrimp.


My stocking list is about the same, just different species. I'll be going with a Yasha goby, Candy pistol, and a True Perc