kylekruko85 Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 Hi everyone. I figured I would start a build thread to track my progress. A few weeks back I started researching and buying equipment. I ended up picking up a Coralife Biocube 29 and stand from a guy who bought it but never used it. I am just waiting for my refractometer and tds meter to get here today and I can start making water and get this thing going. Here's a pic of my aquascape, however now I only have egg crate just under the rocks. Here's what I have for equipment. Coralife Biocube 29 Coralife Biocube stand 30# BRS Reef Saver 20# Caribsea Oolite Intank Media Basket Tunze Osmolater Nano ATO Tunze 9001 Skimmer 2X - Jebao RW-4 Cobalt Neo Therm 100w Heater NanoBox Large Retro Plus M Led Lights Stock Pump Inverts Custom clean up crew from reefcleaners Fire Shrimp Harlequin Serpent Star Fish Midas Blenny 2- DaVinci Ocellaris Grade B Corals Neon Green Candy Cane Orange Ricordea Rainbow Ricordia Green Tipped Frogspawn Elegance Coral Duncans Jedi Mind Trick Shelving Monitpora Orange Shelving Montipora Link to comment
Idaho ken Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 Looks like your off to a great start! My cube has been up and running almost 10 weeks (tomorrow).....my patience wasn't practiced and I've lost a few fish.....and I know better......starting off with base rock takes a lot of patience lol! Link to comment
kylekruko85 Posted March 13, 2016 Author Share Posted March 13, 2016 Filled the tank with sand and water yesterday afternoon and its significantly more clear already. My ammonium chloride solution is suppose to be here tomorrow and I can start my fishless cycling. How far up should I fill the back chambers? The max line seems way too low. Link to comment
Idaho ken Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 I fill my water up all the way to just under the top basket of the intank media basket....no issues! Link to comment
kylekruko85 Posted March 14, 2016 Author Share Posted March 14, 2016 I fill my water up all the way to just under the top basket of the intank media basket....no issues! Perfect, Im not quite that high yet but it definitely makes it quieter without the waterfall. Link to comment
kylekruko85 Posted March 14, 2016 Author Share Posted March 14, 2016 Sand has settled and I I will start dosing ammonium tonight. Link to comment
kylekruko85 Posted March 15, 2016 Author Share Posted March 15, 2016 So I turned on my RW-4 power head on for the first time since I filled my tank with sand and water. Holy sandstorm. Even on the lowest setting is seems too much. Is my sand to fine for it? Or any advice on position? Link to comment
Idaho ken Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 I have two in my tank....pic attached. Both are at the lowest setting, lots of water movement, takes time to find that sweet spot though! Link to comment
kylekruko85 Posted March 16, 2016 Author Share Posted March 16, 2016 I have two in my tank....pic attached. Both are at the lowest setting, lots of water movement, takes time to find that sweet spot though! I'm trying it at the bottom pointing up now, kinda like you show yours on the left. Link to comment
kylekruko85 Posted March 16, 2016 Author Share Posted March 16, 2016 Cycling really tests your patience ?. Added the ammonia and bacteria in on Monday. Ammonia has been at .8 last two days. PH 8.2. I'll just sit here and wait patiently.? Link to comment
kylekruko85 Posted March 17, 2016 Author Share Posted March 17, 2016 Opinions. I'm new to testing but looks like .8 to me. Link to comment
Idaho ken Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 I'd agree....8 to 1.2.... Link to comment
kylekruko85 Posted March 18, 2016 Author Share Posted March 18, 2016 I'd agree....8 to 1.2.... Should I hold off on adding more until I get a zero reading? Link to comment
joines77 Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 I spiked mine to 2 ppm and let i go to 0 and spiked it again to see how long it took to get to 0.you want the tank to be able to take care of 2 ppm in 24 hours. Link to comment
kylekruko85 Posted March 27, 2016 Author Share Posted March 27, 2016 Finally saw a nice nitrite spike the last two days. Just waiting to dose until it zeros out again long with ammonia Link to comment
Sharbuckle Posted March 27, 2016 Share Posted March 27, 2016 So hard to be patient but it pays off. I like the scape! Link to comment
kylekruko85 Posted March 28, 2016 Author Share Posted March 28, 2016 Do nitrites usually take longer to lower during cycling? I have a trace amount of ammonia but over 1 in nitrites. I don't want to dose more ammonia until they are both zero correct? Link to comment
Water Dog Posted March 29, 2016 Share Posted March 29, 2016 Correct, let both ammonia and nitrite reach zero before dosing ammonia again. Link to comment
kylekruko85 Posted March 29, 2016 Author Share Posted March 29, 2016 I guess what I am worried about is if it takes too long for the nitrites to go down and I havent been dosing ammonia, will the ammonia eating bacteria die off. Link to comment
kylekruko85 Posted March 30, 2016 Author Share Posted March 30, 2016 This roughly what I've seen the last few days with zero ammonia Link to comment
Idaho ken Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 Looks good and dark, shouldn't be to long before you see Nitrates! Do you have any algae growth starting yet? Link to comment
kylekruko85 Posted March 31, 2016 Author Share Posted March 31, 2016 Did a smaller dose of ammonia yesterday and still read zero today. Just waiting on those nitrite eating bacteria. No signs of algae yet. Link to comment
kylekruko85 Posted April 2, 2016 Author Share Posted April 2, 2016 Wooohooo my nitrites finally fell. Gave a full dose of ammonium chloride tonight. Hopefully I'll see some progress Link to comment
kylekruko85 Posted April 4, 2016 Author Share Posted April 4, 2016 looks like its taking about 1-1.5 days to process ammonia and about 3 to process nitrites. Might be getting close! Link to comment
Matteo Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 you are definitely doing it right! once you get diatoms you are pretty much done Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.