Week 5 of the new "experiment"

[squid row]

I started a 20 gallon tank as an experiment in preparation for my 80 gallon bow front that will be put together next year.


Water was purchased from LFS and I have set it up with dead sand and dead rock from marco rocks

This is week 5 and testing for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate reveals:

Week 5 - Ammonia 3.0 PPM, Nitrite 0.35, Nitrate 0
Week 4 - Ammonia 2.0 PPM, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0
Week 3 - Ammonia 2.0 PPM, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0

Seeing the algae start to take over now. Nasty looking brown stuff and some green stuff mixed in just to make it twice as ugly

Thoughts on progress?

The only water I have added is some RO/DI water to top off when needed, about a half pitcher per week

 

[scooter31707]

did you add anything to the tank like Bio-Spira or a raw shrimp? May I ask, what are you looking for as in results with this experiment?

 

[squid row]

did you add anything to the tank like Bio-Spira or a raw shrimp? May I ask, what are you looking for as in results with this experiment?

I added some freeze dried brine shrimp at week #2 to start the cycle, now just waiting for it to happen so I can add livestock

What am I looking for? I am using this tank to see what to do/not to do when I set up my 80 gallon in a few months. Once this 20 is established, i will convert it to a quarantine tank

For now, if I screw something up I can take it down and start over but my goal is simply to learn the right way to set up and maintain a new tank before I build out the 80 DT

 

[dowjones1221]

do have have your lights on? if nothing is in the tank there is no need to have the lights on all your doing is feeding the algae....IME i don't see algae until the the cycle is finished and livestock is added(thats with no lights at all until livestock is added)

 

[squid row]

do have have your lights on? if nothing is in the tank there is no need to have the lights on all your doing is feeding the algae....IME i don't see algae until the the cycle is finished and livestock is added(thats with no lights at all until livestock is added)

Yes, turned the lights on during week 3 but for the life of me I don't remember why I did that.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I have to congratulate you on your approach to the hobby and trying to learn and get it right. Way too many rush into this hobby, spend lots of money, get off to what looks like a good start, and then when it all blows up on them, they quit. Do you have any filtration on the 20g tank?

Next start up, you could try just using a small amount of pure (and I mean PURE) ammonia rather than the freeze dried shrimp. That way you don't have to wait for it to decompose to get to having ammonia in the water.

 

[kmbyrnes]

+1 on pure ammonia. My most recent tank cycled in just 3 weeks.

 

[squid row]

Thank you all for the help and encouragement

The 20 has a hang on the back filter that is rated for a 60 gallon tank. Why that filter? Because when I had it set up as a freshwater tank and my filter quit, that was the only one I could find at the Walmart late one night...

The lighting is a 65 W compact fluorescent with 50/50 bulb and I have one wavemaker pump in there that I bought for what will eventually be my display tank and have started running it in the 20 just to see what happens.

Temp is set to 80 degrees, water has not been changed but RO/DI water has been used to top off that which has been lost to evaporation.

I have shut the lights off per a suggestion on this thread and guess I really don't need to do anything else until the ammonia comes to 0 and the nitrite goes to 0 at which time I will add a clean up crew of snails and hermit crabs

Am I on the right track?

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Yes, you're doing fine so far. I applaud your patience, many try to go too fast and usually end up with a disaster. As mentioned, adding some pure ammonia will kick your cycle into gear. Since you used dead rock and sand it'll take a while for the nitrifying bacteria to get established. I added a small chunk of live rock to my reef saver rock to seed the fake rocks. That might be an option for you.

 

[gone fishin]

I think your off to a solid start and just a waiting game now. Good luck

 

[squid row]

Tested the water again this morning...

Ammonia is starting to drop, it is down to 2.0 PPM and Nitrite is going up, it has gone from 0.25 to 2.0 PPM in the last two days.

Will start testing for Nitrate this weekend and shopping for (but not buying yet) a clean up crew

 

[Ron Reefman]

You are doing just fine. Keep up the patience and good work.

Are you planing to keep this tank going long term if you get a bigger tank? Or just transferring stuff from this tank to the new one? I'm just curious.

 

[JaihWill]

Great start, and patience. Waiting is the part that most want to skip. Sounds like you have a solid plan so congrats!

 

[squid row]

You are doing just fine. Keep up the patience and good work.

Are you planing to keep this tank going long term if you get a bigger tank? Or just transferring stuff from this tank to the new one? I'm just curious.

I will keep this tank up and running for a few months then build out an 80 gallon bow front and convert this 20 gallon into a Quarantine tank

Jumped the gun a bit today and tested for nitrates, sure enough they are starting to show.

Ammonia 2.0 PPM
Nitrite 2.0 PPM
Nitrate 10PPM

 

[Ron Reefman]

When your ammonia and nitrite go to zero you should introduce a macro algae to take up the nitrate and see how fast it goes down.

 

[squid row]

Just an update... Today the water parameters are changing and seem to be heading in the right direction.

Week 6 parameters:
Ammonia - 0.5PPM
Nitrite - 5.0 PPM
Nitrate - 50 PPM

So Ammonia is just about gone, nitrites are still very high and nitrates are climbing.

QUESTION - do I wait until Nitrites are gone before doing a water change and introducing any livestock


Also, since shutting off the lights the algae on the rocks has all but disappeared.

Thanks again for all of the help

 

[gone fishin]

I would wait on the Nitrites to disappear before doing the WC.

 

[Martini5788]

Wait for the nitrites to zero out before the water change, and then I would do a massive water change prior to adding critters to get the nitrate down to a reasonable level for maintenance.

 

[squid row]

This morning:

Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates look like 0 too!

Did a 25% water change so I guess I am ready for the first inhabitants. Should I go with a CUC first?

 

[ZeeSparrow]

Yes, CUC first. I'm a little suspicious of the nitrate test result though. Did you add anything to lower that (like macro algae)? I would have expected that to remain at 50 if not be higher, unless you tested after your 25% water change. Even then, that would only lower nitrates by 25%... not to zero. What brand test kit are you using?