MattyJatz's 37G Eclipse SW Diary

[mattyjatz]

Originally Posted by patrick8929
http:///forum/post/3077671
i dont know about your eclipse but mine came with the filter kinda built into the hood. i would toss that and get a nicer hob filter and put some cheato in that sucker and a little mini fuge light.
I take a picture of it in a few and show you what it looks like. The only problem is that its attached to my hood as a whole assembly...

 

[patrick8929]

okay, yea if your is the same as mine the problem is that if you take the filter out and put another one on you will have to leave the hood off all together. so you might want to think about getting a new light fixture because the filter that comes with this tank is not all that great. you can check out my thread and see how my eclipse 6 is set up

 

[mattyjatz]

What HOB filter and Light did you replace your eclipse hood with?

 

[patrick8929]

well my light in a nova extreme pro, 6 t5ho 18watt bulbs with individual reflectors. the filter is an aquaclear? i think im not sure but that doesnt matter so much as long as you get an HOB filter that isnt a bio wheel and is the right size for a 36 gallon. do you want coral? and what are your stocking plans a far as fish and what not

 

[mattyjatz]

Just tested my parameters again:
pH - 8.0
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5
So should I only see my nitrate go down now that the cycle looks to be almost over? It appears that my Nitrite is no longer. The water test yesterday clearly showed Nitrite, and now today it clearly read 0.
Is Nitrite a lot worse for your tank than Nitrate? Or are they about the same?

 

[meowzer]

nitrite is worse....fish can live with trates..while trites are toxic to them...
IMO test for a couple more days...if the ammonia and trites stay at 0...start with a few cuc

 

[mattyjatz]

Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3078153
nitrite is worse....fish can live with trates..while trites are toxic to them...
IMO test for a couple more days...if the ammonia and trites stay at 0...start with a few cuc
That's what I thought I would do. Just make sure the results stayed where they are. I'm getting excited!

 

[meowzer]

Originally Posted by MattyJatz
http:///forum/post/3078221
That's what I thought I would do. Just make sure the results stayed where they are. I'm getting excited!

I know the feeling...I get excited everytime I get something new too...or find something different...or something grows....this is A GREAT HOBBY

 

[mattyjatz]

So once my cycle has finished, is it a good idea to do a water change?
Does anyone have a link to a thread that talks about water changes, and how much to change, etc. I thought I remember seeing a thread that gave a lot of good advise and instructions.
Thanks!

 

[worrballer]

You can do water changes whenever you want. I wouldn't but that is just me.
The water change schedule is up to you. How much water can you easily change at one time? If it is 10 gallons I'd try to shoot for every week. 10-15 gallons every other week or 20 gallons every three.
I'd do 15 every two weeks IMO.

 

[meowzer]

LOL...Being a 37g I'd probably change 5-6g's at a time...once a week...or even every other week...depending on what you have in there

 

[mattyjatz]

Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3078689
LOL...Being a 37g I'd probably change 5-6g's at a time...once a week...or even every other week...depending on what you have in there

Are you laughing at me because I'm a newb?! lol

 

[meowzer]

Originally Posted by MattyJatz
http:///forum/post/3078783
Are you laughing at me because I'm a newb?! lol
OH NO>..I wasn't laughing at you...I was just thinking 15g's on a 37g is quite a bit...

 

[mattyjatz]

Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3078784
OH NO>..I wasn't laughing at you...I was just thinking 15g's on a 37g is quite a bit...
lol, that's what I figured. I was just giving you a hard time!
So would you recommend to do a water change before I add CUC and fish once my cycle is over?
If I do this, won't I get Ammonia/Nitrite spikes? I thought I read somewhere about doing a water change once your cycle has completed. But it seems like the cycle would start over again once you do the water change...am I wrong?

 

[worrballer]

This is how it was explained to me by the Saltwater Guru at my LFS:
So there are 37 gallons in your system. You take out 5 gallons for your weekly water change in exchange for "clean" saltwater. That is 13% of your system's volume. Not that much, you'll always be playing catch up instead of actually making a difference.
That is the beauty of our nano systems! We can change out 50% or more of the water, no problem. That other Central Reefing site has a water change calculator that can back me up.

 

[meowzer]

Originally Posted by MattyJatz
http:///forum/post/3078802
lol, that's what I figured. I was just giving you a hard time!
So would you recommend to do a water change before I add CUC and fish once my cycle is over?
If I do this, won't I get Ammonia/Nitrite spikes? I thought I read somewhere about doing a water change once your cycle has completed. But it seems like the cycle would start over again once you do the water change...am I wrong?
I have no idea why a w/c would create a cycle.....ALL I can say is...I did a small 4g w/c on my 29g...after the initial cycle and before adding the cuc....I really don't think it would matter either way....EXCEPT that when you do a w/c you are refurbishing your water supplements (GEEZ the right words are not coming to me)

 

[worrballer]

Originally Posted by MattyJatz
http:///forum/post/3078802
If I do this, won't I get Ammonia/Nitrite spikes? I thought I read somewhere about doing a water change once your cycle has completed. But it seems like the cycle would start over again once you do the water change...am I wrong?
No you won't get any spikes. You get spikes when you add dead things into your system like rock or sand that used to be alive. Or when something dies in your tank.

 

[spanko]

Hello Matty.
IMO you have cycled your tank. This means that you have established a bed of nitrifying bacteria that will convert the current bio load from ammonia to nitrite and from nitrite to nitrate. Our tanks unless designed so do not house enough of the denitrifying bacteria in them to convert the nitrates into nitrogen gas so we must remove them. We do this by changing out a percentage of the water for clean water on some regular schedule.
If this tank were mine I would do the following;
1. Do a minimum of 10% of the volume of water change out. If you have a 37 gallon tank and with the displacement of rock and sand you probably only have 30 gallons of water. So 3 gallons removed, 3 gallons of new saltwater added. I would also add here that the water should not be tap water mixed with salt, instead RODI or distilled water mixed with salt.
2. After the water change I would go out and get 3 of each of the following; Nassarius snails, Cerith snails, and turbo or Nerite snails. Add them to the tank and let it go for a week or two. Testing every other day or so to see how the tank is reactingstabilizing.
3. I would also get on a regular water change schedule of 10% per week. At water change time us a turkey baster, new one not the one from the kitchen, to gently blow on the rock work to dislodge any accumulated detritus and suspend it in the water column. Then do the water change which will remove some of this detritus and help your filter also remove some of it. At water change time it is also a good time to clean out and replace any filter materials like flosses or pads. Clean the glass. Etc. Get in a rhythm here for your weekly maintenance.
4. After a week or two go ahead and add some more critters. Slowly here as each time you add something you are adding a bioload and your bacteria culture needs to increase to handle it. So one fish at a time, or two clowns if you want a pair or whichever way you are going to go. After each addition wait a week or better two to see how your tank does handling the bioload increase. You do this by testing for nitrites and nitrates. If you are doing it slowly enough you will not see any nitrites on your test but you will see some increase in nitrate which can again be controlled by the water changes.
Just some suggestions hope they help you decide on a course for your tank. And we always need pictures of the progress.

 

[mattyjatz]

Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/3079299
Hello Matty.
IMO you have cycled your tank. This means that you have established a bed of nitrifying bacteria that will convert the current bio load from ammonia to nitrite and from nitrite to nitrate. Our tanks unless designed so do not house enough of the denitrifying bacteria in them to convert the nitrates into nitrogen gas so we must remove them. We do this by changing out a percentage of the water for clean water on some regular schedule.
If this tank were mine I would do the following;
1. Do a minimum of 10% of the volume of water change out. If you have a 37 gallon tank and with the displacement of rock and sand you probably only have 30 gallons of water. So 3 gallons removed, 3 gallons of new saltwater added. I would also add here that the water should not be tap water mixed with salt, instead RODI or distilled water mixed with salt.
2. After the water change I would go out and get 3 of each of the following; Nassarius snails, Cerith snails, and turbo or Nerite snails. Add them to the tank and let it go for a week or two. Testing every other day or so to see how the tank is reactingstabilizing.
3. I would also get on a regular water change schedule of 10% per week. At water change time us a turkey baster, new one not the one from the kitchen, to gently blow on the rock work to dislodge any accumulated detritus and suspend it in the water column. Then do the water change which will remove some of this detritus and help your filter also remove some of it. At water change time it is also a good time to clean out and replace any filter materials like flosses or pads. Clean the glass. Etc. Get in a rhythm here for your weekly maintenance.
4. After a week or two go ahead and add some more critters. Slowly here as each time you add something you are adding a bioload and your bacteria culture needs to increase to handle it. So one fish at a time, or two clowns if you want a pair or whichever way you are going to go. After each addition wait a week or better two to see how your tank does handling the bioload increase. You do this by testing for nitrites and nitrates. If you are doing it slowly enough you will not see any nitrites on your test but you will see some increase in nitrate which can again be controlled by the water changes.
Just some suggestions hope they help you decide on a course for your tank. And we always need pictures of the progress.
Spanko - Awesome advise. Thanks a ton for the lengthy thread here. Much appreciated man!
Since my tank is filled with tap water, by adding 3 gallons of ro/di water instead, will this cause any problems?
Thanks again,
Matt

 

[spanko]

It is desirable to dilute and or eliminate the tap water in our tanks as most (some will chime in and say they have been using and have had not problems with tap water and to that I say you are lucky to have such clean water) of it is not of the quality we want to use. So in answer to your question no the 3 gallons of rodi water mixed to the correct Sg, and temperature and Ph will only make you tank better.
IMO in a tank this young without any inhabitants yet I would not be opposed to seeing you do a 100% water change here (or as close as you can to 100% knowing some will be left in the sand a rock). Just make sure that you have the new water ready to go fro the things I mentioned above, Sg - temp - Ph and go for it. Prior to doing so blast the rocks with the turkey baster to get out as much of the detritus that you can. While the water is out, working fairly quickly you could also scrub off some of the algae and then rinse the rock in the water you took out before replacing in the tank. Don't want to leave the rock out of water too long though as you would affect the biofiltering bacteria, but it would be a good opportunity to clean some of the algae out, clean up your water, and get the tank ready for you critter additions.