ejm4's Pics - 14 ~ G Biocube

[ejm4]

I installed the water last evening and let run for 24 hours.

 

[ejm4]

Does anyone know I get the photos to work with Google?

 

[ejm4]

This is the only way I have found to add pictures.

 

[nissan577]

nice tank

what do you plan to get?

 

[ejm4]

Thanks,
Mainly corals with a clown fish for my kids.

 

[ejm4]

Water and live rock in tank since last Thurs / Fri (9-12-08). A total of 11 pounds of live rock in the tank. Running both lights during the day and moon light at night. Starting to see a little brown alage in the right front corner of the tank. Tested the water tonight:
PH 8.2
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
As of now just waiting for the cycle to start.

 

[nissan577]

thats good. now the waiting process begins. lol. i recently started mine. but my moonlights dont work since i dont have the cable for it. any pics of how the aquascaping looks like?

 

[ejm4]

Came home from work to find some more brownish alage on the live sand. Not sure what to call it. Here are some waiting photos...

 

[subielover]

Looks like diatoms to me, completely normal to have them in a new tank. They will actually go away on their own, just make sure you are doing your weekly maintenance, i.e. water changes, scrubbing the glass, etc. Tank is coming along nicely

 

[ejm4]

Thanks -
I was told to do NO water changes until it cycled from the LFS???

 

[subielover]

That would be correct, sorry I didn't realize it was still cycling

 

[spanko]

IMO I would do water changes if you get ammonia readings greater than .5. This to help keep any life on the rockwork alive.

 

[ejm4]

I tested the water on Tuesday night before the alage and the ammonia was 0.0. I plan on testing again 2nite to see if anything has changed.

 

[ejm4]

It has been 11 days since the start. My current water readings are:
PH 8.4
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Ammonia 0
The only thing that has change was the PH moved from 8.2 to 8.4. Also the brown alage or diatoms.
Things seem to be going very slow...

 

[nissan577]

Really nice tank. and love the rock work. just relax and buy things slow now. dont go over board

 

[ejm4]

Is it time to add anything or should I wait longer?

 

[alexa11]

i would definitely wait longer. You can add a small amount of food to 'feed' the live rock. As it deteriorates, you will probably get a small cycle. You can also stick a raw shrimp from the grocery store in there for a couple of days to get the cycle started, then take it out. you don't want the waste or food of your animals to start a cycle while they are getting used to their new environment. It wont take too long! looking forward to seeing what you add!

 

[ejm4]

Headed to the LFS last evening. Picked up two red leg crabs for the tank.

 

[ejm4]

Came home from work tonight to find a full out grass bloom. I did a 10% water change on Wednesday night. I first had some brown diatoms and now everything looks like pasture flowing in the wind. I am going on about 3.5 weeks and no fish, just live rock and two red legged crabs. Should I just let this play out?

 

[fenrir]

This is normal, your tank will look nasty for awhile. If you are running your lights longer than 6 hours I would go ahead and decrease the time.