92 corner cycling

So I set up my new tank yesterday and did a water test last night

temp 80.1

Salinity 1.020

PH 8.0

Ammonia .25ppm

Nitrite 0ppm

Nitrate 20 ppm

Then this morning I did another set of tests

temp 79.6

Salinity 1.020

PH 8.2

Ammonia .25ppm

Nitrite 0ppm

Nitrate 0ppm

The salinity is so low because the guy I go ti from had it at 1.019 so I am going to slowly bring it up with water changes and top offs

I will take pictures when I get the rocks the way I want them, every time I try and change them around sand gets everywhere and I can't see anything so thats pretty annoying

the lighting I have is 4 96watt power compacts, will I be able to keep any soft corals under these lights?

Quote:

Originally Posted by hookem0981 

what size is the tank?

It is a 92 gallon corner tank, its 28inches deep I think, I could be wrong though

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by deejeff442 

if you dont have fish just raise the salt to 1.025 .you wont have a problem with that.mushrooms and polyps are good low light corals.not much else .i am sure when you recover from the cost of the set up you will go to the mh or t5's.most corals like an established tank like 6 months or more anyway.i prerinse sand when i get it .then you dont have the cloudy mess.

also as you will see as you go on testing ph will be different in the morning than in the evening its normal.

Yeah I was wondering why the PH changed

My test results tonight are

Temp 78.6

Salinity 1.020 (Which I will bring up next waterchange)

PH 8.2

Ammonia .10ppm

Nitrite 0ppm

Nitrate 0ppm

How come my ammonia went down and my nitrite and nitrate didn't?

My test results this afternoon

Temp 80.1

Salinity 1.020

PH 8.2

Ammonia 0ppm

Nitrite 0ppm

Nitrate 0ppm

any input on why my ammonia made it to 0 while none of my nutrients ever breached 0?

Is this because I bought an established tank and there is no long cycle or do I need to trigger an ammonia spike with a shrimp?

Yea the tank had been established for something like 7 years

I think the reason it had ammonia was because of die off with the rock

Also I was forced to use tap water because I don't have a RODI yet. I definetly intend on buying one in the near future though.

So I went over to my neighbors house to get the two fish my tank came with and he handed me a large damsel and a clown fish with them

he is breaking down his tank so hes giving all his stuff to me and I don't really know how to say no. will the 4 fish be ok?

the damsel is a domino I just looked it up

so there is a small clown, a small longnose hawkfish, a big damsel and a marine beta.

Im kinda worried

He also wants to give me his rocks which are covered in red slime. (maybe cyno) maybe just red algea I'm not sure.

If I put it in my tank will it spread? The red stuff is only on the top where the light hits I don't know if that helps with the ID

The tank has a cover and a canopy so thats all set, the beta was living in the guys tank for all 7 years so I am under the impression that it eats well.

thanks for all the help!

The fish are in the tank and just about everyone is hiding except the clown fish who has stayed in the front swimming in the current. its really exciting to have fish in the tank already!

I did a water test of my tap water with salt, all tests were 0 except ammonia which was .5ppm so I'm not sure waterchanges are a good idea right now

I will go out and buy water from the fish store I guess.

I was too, maybe I'll try it again I might have mesed up the test

I also find it kind of odd how I just about always test for 0 with nitrates and always 0 for nitrite

Quote:

Originally Posted by florida joe 

 

ok first   things first do you mean you bought the tank AND  the water that was in in from your friend
 

I bought the tank rock and everything from somebody on CL including 50 gallons of the water

Tests today are

Temp          80.1

Salinity       1.020

PH              8.2

Ammonia     0ppm

Nitrite          0ppm

Nitrate         Somewhere between 0 and 5