Diary Of My Cycled FOWLR Tank!

estein02

estein02

Member
First...a little information on my set-up:
65 gallons
30 lbs of Lalo
25 lbs of Tonga Branch
60 lbs of Arag-Alive (40 lbs Oolite and 20 lbs of Special Grade Reef Sand)
CPR CS90 Overflow into a Berlin BS-1 Sump that contains the heater AquaC Urchin Pro Protein Skimmer w/ Mag Drive 3 and a Mag Drive 7 for the return pump.
For flow in the tank I have 1 Seio M620 PH and a MaxiJet 1200.
The tank was set up on 4/20/07 and initially I had a very large Ammonia spike of at least 8.0 ppm...so anything that might have been alive in the LR probably didn't make it. I did a few 50% water changes after that spike that seemed to bring the levels down to where they should be.
Tank finished cycling on 5/13/07 with the following results:
Temp: 77 degrees
Salinity: 1.025
pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Trites: 0
On 5/14/07 I changed 20 gallons of water and then the fun appears to have begun.
Trates: 10ppm
 
estein02

estein02

Member
On 5/16/07 I went out of town for a few days and my tank looked like this:
Very little to no algea growth to speak of. I think the only color on my LR was the color that hung around when I first received it.



 
estein02

estein02

Member
Came back home today after being gone 2 1/2 days and the tank has chaged significantly. I was like holy s#!t when I walked into the door. Now there is all sorts of growth in the tank. Green algea all over the glass and some on the rocks. Brown growth, which I'm guessing is the diatom bloom all over the place...on the sand, glass, rocks and water pump. I also think I'm seeing some purple, reddish brown, pinkand green coraline. From what I've read all this growth is an indication that the tank is doing well and progressing as it should.
I'm going to get the clean-up crew over the weekend and then wait a few weeks to add my first fish. I'm kind of late in getting my QT up, as I wasn't going to have one, but I have wisend up to the fact that having one is vital to the success of a saltwater tank.
One other thing I've noticed is that there are a lot more particles flowing around in the tank...very small white stuff...doesn't look like bubbles, but definitely not something that was flowing around prior to this growth. Is this normal?
Now some updated pictures. Please give me some input.




 
estein02

estein02

Member
Just a couple more pictures of the growth in the tank. Again, any thoughts, advice, suggestions...just any thype of input would be greatly appreciated.

 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
looks like you are on a roll to me. Diatoms are the brown stuff, normal during maturtion process. Purple stuff looks like coarline algae, good stuff, normal during maturation process. are you running any kind of mechanical filtration? some filter pads should help to get rid of the floaties. Doing good. Get some CUC in there. Do another water change to get the trates down some more then get on your regular schedule for water changes to keep them down.
Looking good keep posting.
 
estein02

estein02

Member
Originally Posted by cfung
what kind of lighting do you have?
I've got a 36 inch Current USA Nova Extreme 4x39W T5HO with 3 Lunar Lights. I've got the actincs on from 11AM - 11PM...the daylights on from 12PM - 10PM and the lunar lights on from 11PM - 11AM. If the CUC that I plan on getting tomorrow can't control the algea I might cut back on the lighting period some.
 
estein02

estein02

Member
Originally Posted by spanko
looks like you are on a roll to me. Diatoms are the brown stuff, normal during maturtion process. Purple stuff looks like coarline algae, good stuff, normal during maturation process. are you running any kind of mechanical filtration? some filter pads should help to get rid of the floaties. Doing good. Get some CUC in there. Do another water change to get the trates down some more then get on your regular schedule for water changes to keep them down.
Looking good keep posting.
Thank you Spanko!
I've got the line from the overflow box going into a filter sock and within the sump I've got a filter pad in the small compartment and have the prefilter on both of the mag drives. I am going to clean the filter pads and put in a new filter sock to see if that helps. I thought that 10ppm was okay for the nitrates. Is that not correct?
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
probably okay but you want to shoot for 0 on it in a reef tank. Remember nitrates are something that algae feeds on also.
 
estein02

estein02

Member
Well, part of the CUC at least. My CUC includes:
10 Astrea Snails (though I only spotted 6 tonight...i'm sure the others are around)
3 Turbo Snails (now I see where they got their name...they are workers!)
12 Red Leg Hermit Crabs
I know this is probably light for a 65 gallon, but so far they are doing a great job. I am thinking about adding 10 Nassarius Snails and an Emerald Crab if the crew I have so far doesn't do the trick.
One thing I've noticed since adding these inverts is that there is more stuff (small white particles) in the water flow of the tank. I am guessing that this is due to the CUC stirring up the sand bed and LR in the tank. I cleaned my filter sock and sponges in the sump so hopefully that will help some. Is this something that I should be overly concerned about or is it normal? If it is not normal I am open for suggestions on stopping it.
It's pretty neat watching these guys do their thing!
 
estein02

estein02

Member
Below is the list of fish, and the order, in which I am thinking about putting into my tank. Any comments / suggestions would be appreciated.
Purple Fire Fish
Clown Fish (not sure what type yet...probalby a Percula)
Six Line Wrasse
Royal Gramma
Flame Angel
Before I add anything I need to get my QT up and cycled. Plan on doing that this week, so I am probably looking at a good 6 weeks before the first fish is added.
TIA
 
estein02

estein02

Member
Please...I'm looking for any advice / guidance / suggestions / comments I can get.
I've got a few things going on that I could use some expertise to help me through:
Size and makeup of my CUC?
The white stuff floating around my tank?
Fish list?
Also, I can't keep one of our freakin' cats of my aquarium light! Hopefully she won't fall in.
TIA
 
earlybird

earlybird

Active Member
Originally Posted by estein02
Please...I'm looking for any advice / guidance / suggestions / comments I can get.
I've got a few things going on that I could use some expertise to help me through:
Size and makeup of my CUC?
The white stuff floating around my tank?
Fish list?
Also, I can't keep one of our freakin' cats of my aquarium light! Hopefully she won't fall in.
TIA
Starting a new thread was a good idea. Tank looks great. Here's my view on clean up crew. I've slowly added my clean up and I'm not done yet. It helps in a few ways but it's nice because when I acclimate I replace the water with new make up water and it serves as a small water change. I do this on top of my weekly 5 gallon water changes.
White stuff, I've got some too and I think its mainly detritus. Do you have a sump? You may need a smaller micron filter to trap it.
Fish, do you have a qt yet?
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Fish list and addition sequence looks good. Mechanical filtration for the floaties. (Fliter pads or floss)
CUC now this is JMO.
5 Nassirius
20 Ceriths
10 Asteras
To start with.
 
estein02

estein02

Member
Originally Posted by earlybird
Starting a new thread was a good idea. Tank looks great. Here's my view on clean up crew. I've slowly added my clean up and I'm not done yet. It helps in a few ways but it's nice because when I acclimate I replace the water with new make up water and it serves as a small water change. I do this on top of my weekly 5 gallon water changes.
White stuff, I've got some too and I think its mainly detritus. Do you have a sump? You may need a smaller micron filter to trap it.
Fish, do you have a qt yet?
Thank you EB...I was beginning to feel neglected!
Appreciate the complement!
That is a good idea incorporating your water changes with your new additions. I'm sure I am going to have to increase my clean up crew too. I've got 4 hermits that have gathered in one corner of the tank. They look like they are still alive, but I'm not sure. When I left this morning the rest of the hermits and snails were going to town. I am going to test my water tonight and do my weekly 10% change tomorrow (need to get some make up water mixed). Have you lost any members of your crew since adding them?
I do have a sump...the line from my overflow into the sump goes into a filter sock. In the largest chamber of the sump I have a mag drive 3 (with the prefilter) going into an AquaC Urchin Pro Protein Skimmer...then the water flows through a norrow chamber that contains a filter sponge...into the last chamber which has a mag drive 7 returning the water to the tank. I cleaned all of the sponges and filter sock last night so I will see how it looks when I get home.
Haven't got the QT yet...which is only increasing the time for me adding fish to the tank. I am certainly not going to introduce fish to the tank without QTing them first. I was going to play Russian roulette, but I wisened up since then.
Thanks again
 
estein02

estein02

Member
Originally Posted by spanko
Fish list and addition sequence looks good. Mechanical filtration for the floaties. (Fliter pads or floss)
CUC now this is JMO.
5 Nassirius
20 Ceriths
10 Asteras
To start with.
Thanks Spanko...
I was planning on adding some Nassirius Snails...I probably would have added at least 10 so I am glad you suggested 5. What do the Ceriths do?
 
estein02

estein02

Member
Originally Posted by earlybird
Yeah the QT is a must. I have not lost any of my cleaners (knoking on wood).
You don't QT your cleaners do you?
The 4 snails that I had in the corner have moved so they are doing well...except for one (there is a shell still there but no hermit). Not sure what happened to him. All of the other hermits are accounted for. Not sure where some of the Astraeas are...can't find all of the shells. Guess they are in the rock somewhere.
This is fun!
 
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