It has been a while, I need help...new tank
- Thread starter kyle sawyer
- Start date
kyle sawyer
New Member
haha, good to know. I think actually after doing some reading, I'm going to take my bio balls out and leave the middle section blank. Idk yet. I"m just gonna let it cycle and then decide when i can finally put something in it. I'm getting impatient! I should have taken a picture today, the brown and green has grown quite a bit. And I think I have noticed a little purple on the top of one of the rocks. The only thing on the glass and back is the brown right now
kyle sawyer
New Member
I'm stoked! I just need it to finish so i can finally start putting stuff in the tank
kyle sawyer
New Member
nope. I dont have any test kit. I was just waiting till stuff started growing, then i'll start testing. So now that stuff has started growing, i'm going to start testing. Probably tomorrow. Just dont want to spend the money for the tests if i can tell what is going on just by looking at the growth
kyle sawyer
New Member
ok, mine has been running for 4 weeks and i have 3 different colors running. maybe i'll pick up some clean up crew today. i'm going to grab a test kit as well just to see. thanks again for all the help guys! I"ll go take an updated pic here in just a minute
Last edited:
beaslbob
Well-Known Member
kinda
actually to helps it cycleing.
what happens macros (and other plants/algae) actually prefer to consume ammonia if present instead of nitrates.
So as the aerobic bacteria are building up the "missed" ammonia is being consumed by the macros instead. So there are not or low ammonia/nitrIte spikes. You can get an initial nitrAte spike until the bacteria build up. At that point nitrate will drop down as the macros consume the nitrates.
If you are considering bio balls in say a wet/dry, I would recommend you replace them with macro algae like chaetomorphia.
my .02
kyle sawyer
New Member
excellent, thank you very much for that .02. I'll definitely keep that in mind. On another note! I added the first fish! Note the extra growth on the rocks. And this is not a fish i plan on having in here once the tank is completely built. Just a cheap fish to get my tank fully established.
micah creekmore
New Member
This is totally unrelated, but how in the world do I post a new thread topic?!? I need help. Thanks!
jay0705
Well-Known Member
Good luck getting it out lol. Alot of people plan on moving fish when they get too big or aggressive , ect. Much easier said than done. It looks to be a yellow tail, so your lucky in that wayexcellent, thank you very much for that .02. I'll definitely keep that in mind. On another note! I added the first fish! Note the extra growth on the rocks. And this is not a fish i plan on having in here once the tank is completely built. Just a cheap fish to get my tank fully established.
kyle sawyer
New Member
ya, that's what the lady at the store said too. she said use it to finish cycling my tank but then make sure and take it out before i add anything else because they are tough to catch. so i'll make sure he is out before i add anything else. She also said that they can become aggressive once they get bigger so i'll have to take him out before that happens too. and thank you!
jay0705
Well-Known Member
I have a yellow tail and its fine w my other fish. The issue w taking it out is ideally you want your tank done, most of the rock, ect in it b4 u add fish. Bc adding stuff after you have fish in it can cause spikes. I generally have 80-90% of my rock in my tanks before my fish start going in. I still add a peice here or there but its not alot at once.
beaslbob
Well-Known Member
I think it's interesting how a yellow tang eats the chaeto. Kinda slurp in in. LOL
FWIW I partitioned the back 3" of my old 55g tank and added lights pointing forward. The chaeto (and caulerpa) thrived along with pods also, nitrates dropped to 0 in 3 weeks, and the two tangs were constantly grazing the macros that poked through the egg crate partition.
Funny how $20 worth of stuff made such a great difference.
still just my .02
kyle sawyer
New Member
what do u guys think? time for a clean up crew? It has been cycling for 5 weeks now
kyle sawyer
New Member
It's growing! I added a little more rock and 2 turbo snails. The lady at the store said I can start adding very small amounts of choral here in about 2 more weeks. I'm so stoked!
kyle sawyer
New Member
Going to get my first coral tomorrow! Pretty excited 
I think I'm going to get some GSP and keep it on an isolated rock there in the front left of my tank. I have heard that this stuff is hard to control so i'm going to keep is by itself. And I want to start something on the larger rock....any suggestions?
I think I'm going to get some GSP and keep it on an isolated rock there in the front left of my tank. I have heard that this stuff is hard to control so i'm going to keep is by itself. And I want to start something on the larger rock....any suggestions?kyle sawyer
New Member
new coral! i got a xenia! Not what i was going for but I like the way it looks in my tank and I cant wait for it to grow a bit.
