Cycle Levels and Powerheads

[nca989]

I have everything setup now and it's been running since Friday. But my levels aren't changing at all. Everything reads 0 with a PH of 8.4, how is it possible that everything is so perfect? does it take longer to start seeing the ammonia spike? I have two damsels, some live rock, and some used sand (from someone elses's old setup)... seems like I should be seeing something, no?
Also I had to turn off my powerheads last night, they were seriously overheating my tank! They were Rio 800 and 1700. For 72g, I was thinking of going with MaxiJet, how much do I need? And is the heat off of them always a problem?
Last but not least, my temp spiked to almost 83 last night, is that gonna kill off my LR? The fish didn't seem to care the least.

 

[larrynews]

not sure about the first part i think you should see some spikes in the next day or so, as for temp mine runs about 83 all the time..just so that it doesnt jump and stays the same is the important thing

 

[chickadee]

larry's right. They can tolerate higher temps. Mine is constantly at 80. As long as it's stable, it should be ok.
as far as your ammonia spike, If your live rock was cured and your live sand was from an established tank, it's very possible that you won't even see a spike at all, depending on how big your tank is, and how much LR and LS you put in it. If your live rock and live sand were cured, and you have a lot of it in your tank, your rock and sand are already cycled. So, they're capable of processing the ammonia and nitrites already. If you start seeing a rise in nitrates, that means that your at least getting some ammonia, although you may not see it. I would at least wait until you see nitrates for sure, though.

 

[chickadee]

oh, and as far as flow, if you want a reef tank, they say about 20x's your tank size in flow is good, if it's just FOWLR, about 15 or so is fine. For example, if you have a 55g tank, that means you need a flow of about 825 - 1,100gph. So if your filter is about 500 gph, that means you should have an extra 325 - 600 gph. That should give you an idea of the general amount you need. However, you want to make sure you have enough flow across your sand so it doesn't get dirty. So if your sand starts getting dirty from leftover food, you should get more powerheads. Hope this helps!

 

[nca989]

Ok, so much information to take in. I'm not sure what "cured" live rock is, but this came from an established tank, the newest pieces where added in July, in fact most of the pieces have developed the beautiful purples already. I would guesstimate that I added about 40lbs of the sand from that tank, it was live sand when they added it, and it was again from the same established tank as the rock. The picture shows most of the LR, imagine another chunk about the same size, or a tad bigger than the piece near the middle of the tank... not sure how much it weighed but all together the pieces filled two 5 gallon buckets. I've been carrying and lifting so many heavy things lately with this project I can't estimate the weight anymore lol. Also a small amount of water (maybe a gallon or two) from the established tank was used too.
One other weird thing, do test kits go bad?
Ok so I have a 72g tank, with a Magnum 350, and I have the seaclone 100 (although it's not on yet). So that's 450gph. So I assume three MaxiJet 1200's would do it? That should create roughly 1335gph Do I need more? Or is there another arrangement that would work? Also I was reading that the MJ1200's could be used submerged or not. Has anyone tried using them outside the tank with rigid directed tubes run into and out of the tank? Is the noise awful like freshwater pumps are? I assume this would take care of the heat issues?

 

[michaeltx]

yes test kits go bad they have an experation date on the packaging if they dont I dont use them. they last for about a year before they need to be replaced.
as far as an ammonia spike you used cured LR meaning that it was in a tank or tanks of water and kept alove everything that was going to die did die off.
i would give it some more time usually there is some sort of spike even with cured rock even if minute.
this doesnt mean go out and buy a bunch of fish though its still needs time to adjust itself out. i would add a pinch or to of flake food to the tank and it will kick start aleast a mini cycle. so you will know where your at anyway.
Mike

 

[chickadee]

cured means there's nothing dying or dead on the LR. Because everything in your tank was already established, chances are you're not going to see any kind of spike. Instead of setting up a new tank, you've basically just moved a tank... so i agree with TX, let it adjust itself first.