30g starts! OMG YES!!! pics inside!
- Thread starter brewski4u1
- Start date
brewski4u1
Member
its late i have been drinking! lol and i have staed at my tank for at least a hour...... and seen nothing!!! i think i'm having a problem w/ the temp! i have like a 3 or 4 degree flux in temp anywhere btwn 76 and 80 is that going to be a issue???
what i have planed for this tank is mostly reef and a few fish! 2 clowns a goby of some sort and who knows! but deff lots of corals !!
this friday i will be gettin some more LR and i will be done ! i need 2 or 3 peices to make me happy! ! jst want to add soemthing to the tank! ASAP!! but have to take my time!!
so let me know what you people think!!
ps i will be adding a shrimp tomm! to help the cycle go a little faster!
what i have planed for this tank is mostly reef and a few fish! 2 clowns a goby of some sort and who knows! but deff lots of corals !!
this friday i will be gettin some more LR and i will be done ! i need 2 or 3 peices to make me happy! ! jst want to add soemthing to the tank! ASAP!! but have to take my time!!
so let me know what you people think!!
ps i will be adding a shrimp tomm! to help the cycle go a little faster!
brewski4u1
Member
ran my water test when i got home on lunch today! this is what i got
PH 7.9
ammonia- 2ppm
nitrate- 2ppm
nitrite- .20ppm
salinity .026
so everything is on its way up! hopefully it will be a quick cycle!! lol yea sure! and i found my first creature a little tiny snail ! yeah!!
so far so good!
PH 7.9
ammonia- 2ppm
nitrate- 2ppm
nitrite- .20ppm
salinity .026
so everything is on its way up! hopefully it will be a quick cycle!! lol yea sure! and i found my first creature a little tiny snail ! yeah!!
so far so good!
brewski4u1
Member
ok got hoem from work and did some more water test my tank seems to be flying to be in thsi cycle process i dont know here is what i got and some pics of the acutal test and cards you will see maybe i'm cant match colors? :notsure:
ph 8.2 - 8.4
ammonia- 1-2ppm
nitrate- 20-40ppm
nitrites- 20-50ppm
it seems that everything is almost spiking already and i'm ony on day 3 whats going on i thought this should take weeks maybe months? :thinking:
here is a pic what are you opions??
ph 8.2 - 8.4
ammonia- 1-2ppm
nitrate- 20-40ppm
nitrites- 20-50ppm
it seems that everything is almost spiking already and i'm ony on day 3 whats going on i thought this should take weeks maybe months? :thinking:
here is a pic what are you opions??
cjason3041
Member
tank looks good, but..... i will tell you from experience...samuel adams is much more condusive to building a tank
azfishgal
Active Member
Put a heater in your tank and set it for 79, that way you won't have the big flex. Also, don't worry about testing for Nitrates right now, because your high Nitrites will give you a false reading. Just test for Ammonia, as soon as that starts to drop, start testing Nitrites, when that drops start testing Nitrates. I personally don't use the test you have on my SW tank (I do for freshwater). I use the Red Sea, it gives you a more accurate reading IMO. Besides all that looks like things are going good. LOVE the rock work!
grumpygils
Active Member
Originally Posted by Brewski4u1
ran my water test when i got home on lunch today! this is what i got
PH 7.9
ammonia- 2ppm
nitrate- 2ppm
nitrite- .20ppm
salinity .026
so everything is on its way up! hopefully it will be a quick cycle!! lol yea sure! and i found my first creature a little tiny snail ! yeah!!
so far so good!
Has anyone told you how to modify the Skilter? I have one. You can cut an air tube hole in the top of the collection cup and run an air pump down into the cylinder. This will give you much better frothing and ten times less noise
I used a Walmart air pump. Make sure the air pump has a needle valve to control the air flow. Two other important things. You must use a wooden air stone that produces fine bubbles. Walmart plastic or stone ones will not work well. I use the 2 inch wooden coralife. And, make sure when you cut the hole for the air tube, make sure it is very tight around the tube so it doesn't leak or slip.
Tank looks great! Have you thought about painting the back blue if it against the wall?
:cheer:
Good Luck
Mc
ran my water test when i got home on lunch today! this is what i got
PH 7.9
ammonia- 2ppm
nitrate- 2ppm
nitrite- .20ppm
salinity .026
so everything is on its way up! hopefully it will be a quick cycle!! lol yea sure! and i found my first creature a little tiny snail ! yeah!!
so far so good!
Has anyone told you how to modify the Skilter? I have one. You can cut an air tube hole in the top of the collection cup and run an air pump down into the cylinder. This will give you much better frothing and ten times less noise
I used a Walmart air pump. Make sure the air pump has a needle valve to control the air flow. Two other important things. You must use a wooden air stone that produces fine bubbles. Walmart plastic or stone ones will not work well. I use the 2 inch wooden coralife. And, make sure when you cut the hole for the air tube, make sure it is very tight around the tube so it doesn't leak or slip.
Tank looks great! Have you thought about painting the back blue if it against the wall?
Good Luck
Mc
curryfishman
Member
No shrimp wont be nessary it should cycle off the rock
brewski4u1
Member
Originally Posted by azfishgal
Oh, one more thing, I would scrap your Hydrometer and get a Refractometer. The hydrometer is calibrated for 68 degree water (I think) and it's not accurate. It's worth the money to get the Refractometer. I got mine from this site for a great price.
azgal! not to question you but i read the instrustions for my hydro and it is calibrated for water temps of like 77 78 but eventually i will get a refracto!
Oh, one more thing, I would scrap your Hydrometer and get a Refractometer. The hydrometer is calibrated for 68 degree water (I think) and it's not accurate. It's worth the money to get the Refractometer. I got mine from this site for a great price.
azgal! not to question you but i read the instrustions for my hydro and it is calibrated for water temps of like 77 78 but eventually i will get a refracto!
brewski4u1
Member
got 2 diffrent results so o well will try again tomm or tonigth when i get home from work ! but both results say that my ammonia is dropping! is this happening a little fast?
brewski4u1
Member
ok came hoem cleaned all the test equipment really good and tested again! and like during lunch the ammonia is going down ! did it really already spike! it only went up to 2.0ppm so i dont know! well here its waht i gor right now!
also on a side not when i came home for lunch everything was looking good !
i get hoe frrom work just 20 min ago and i have brown alge everywhere! fropm what i read this is supposed to happen correct? :help:
no flash
flash
also on a side not when i came home for lunch everything was looking good !
i get hoe frrom work just 20 min ago and i have brown alge everywhere! fropm what i read this is supposed to happen correct? :help:
no flash
flash
brewski4u1
Member
no one seems to care anymore but i do !
and i'll post it for myself!!
temp- 78
ammonia- .5-1ppm
nitrites- 2-5ppm
they look just a little ligther in person!
temp- 78
ammonia- .5-1ppm
nitrites- 2-5ppm
they look just a little ligther in person!
brewski4u1
Member
brown alge is still taking over !! so ligths are out! for the rest of the day hopefully this will help!
larryndana
Active Member
Originally Posted by renogaw
don't let your ammonia get *too* high, it will start killing off your hitchikers.
other than that great looking setup!
to late now but, you shouldn't have let your ammonia go over 1ppm. being over that will and did kill any benifical organisms in your lr or ls. if there was any in them to start with.
if it was bagged sand, no worry there is just bactria in it.
don't let your ammonia get *too* high, it will start killing off your hitchikers.
other than that great looking setup!
to late now but, you shouldn't have let your ammonia go over 1ppm. being over that will and did kill any benifical organisms in your lr or ls. if there was any in them to start with.
if it was bagged sand, no worry there is just bactria in it.
I
innerdragon103
Guest
you dont really need your lights on for the cycling process. and the 'brown algae' are probably diatoms... trust me and everyone else when they say this but those completely clear up as fast as they come, its the weirdest thing but yea.. if you detect GREEN algae, then that's when you know your lights are on for tooo long.
azfishgal
Active Member
Originally Posted by Brewski4u1
azgal! not to question you but i read the instrustions for my hydro and it is calibrated for water temps of like 77 78 but eventually i will get a refracto!
IMO you should question everyone on here, do your research and then decide for yourself, so no worries. If you ever do Hypo though you will want a refractometer, because they are much more accurate and you want to be exact when doing Hypo. I've read a few stories on here where the Hydrometer gave people the wrong readings and caused problems. You are just starting out though, so it should be fine for a while.
azgal! not to question you but i read the instrustions for my hydro and it is calibrated for water temps of like 77 78 but eventually i will get a refracto!
IMO you should question everyone on here, do your research and then decide for yourself, so no worries. If you ever do Hypo though you will want a refractometer, because they are much more accurate and you want to be exact when doing Hypo. I've read a few stories on here where the Hydrometer gave people the wrong readings and caused problems. You are just starting out though, so it should be fine for a while.