First saltwater setup

[Bldgengineer]

Well lights are a no go. One of them came in shattered even though they were pretty well bubble wrapped. Amazon did me a solid and refunded me for both lights and told me to dispose of both of them.

 

Tested ammonia and still a solid 8ppm so I'm currently in the process of a 25% water change.

 

Scratch that. Diluted the sample in half with distilled water and still came out to 8ppm after about 7 mins....lost track of time. Now doing a 50% water change.

[Bldgengineer]

Another couple of days, another water change. Still at 8ppm. Maybe I should take the filter out?

[Bldgengineer]

Think I had a small victory tonight. Just tested ammonia after a few days and it's somewhere between 4 & 8ppm. Too dark for 4 but not dark enough for 8. I could see the 8 bar behind it when I passed the sample over it. I'll test it again in a few more days and hopefully it will look even better then.

[Cencalfishguy56]

Think I had a small victory tonight. Just tested ammonia after a few days and it's somewhere between 4 & 8ppm. Too dark for 4 but not dark enough for 8. I could see the 8 bar behind it when I passed the sample over it. I'll test it again in a few more days and hopefully it will look even better then.

do you have liquid ammonia? I used dr.tims ammonia to cycle my tank, also I found at petsmart they have denitrifying bottled bacteria buy the biggest bottle and dump it in, then add ammonia to around 2 ppm and see how long it takes to process it, I did this in my QT tank and cycled it in 3 days lol

[Bldgengineer]

It's definitely above 4ppm now. It's taken about 2 weeks and several water changes to get to this point. I think I'll let it drop to 0 before I try anything else. I just want to monitor it to make sure it continues to drop.

[Cencalfishguy56]

It's definitely above 4ppm now. It's taken about 2 weeks and several water changes to get to this point. I think I'll let it drop to 0 before I try anything else. I just want to monitor it to make sure it continues to drop.

thats crazy but guess it could be worse

[Bldgengineer]

Yeah I never had it this bad in any of my freshwater tanks. My kids' tank cycled in just over a week lol. Then again, I've never tried it by adding ammonia before. I was dropping in what should have been around 1.5ml of ace ammonia but I think a couple of drops escaped from the syringe I was using. I dunno.

[Cencalfishguy56]

Yeah I never had it this bad in any of my freshwater tanks. My kids' tank cycled in just over a week lol. Then again, I've never tried it by adding ammonia before. I was dropping in what should have been around 1.5ml of ace ammonia but I think a couple of drops escaped from the syringe I was using. I dunno.

could have been, that's crazy high but at least you're almost complete and should have a heavy saturation of bacteria

[Bldgengineer]

Hopefully. I'm actually in looking forward to testing ammonia tomorrow for the first time.

[Bldgengineer]

I do have a question in regards to lighting. Does anyone know if the orbit marine 18-24" will be enough for this setup? Or should I opt for the 24-36" for th higher wattage? If i do decide do go with thus light, how would a clear lid full of condensate effect it? Any ideas on a diy lid to keep evaporation in while using a light like this? plan on replacing my powerhead for the koralia 240 eventually

[Cencalfishguy56]

I do have a question in regards to lighting. Does anyone know if the orbit marine 18-24" will be enough for this setup? Or should I opt for the 24-36" for th higher wattage? If i do decide do go with thus light, how would a clear lid full of condensate effect it? Any ideas on a diy lid to keep evaporation in while using a light like this? plan on replacing my powerhead for the koralia 240 eventually

18-24" should suffice or as you mentioned the bigger the model the better, also shoot for an open top or a screen top, condensation then will increase but it will keep your pH stable IMO

[Bldgengineer]

Thanks for the advise. Think I'll probably make my own screen top and go ahead with the orbit marine or aquamaxx Nemo light.

 

Getting closer. Ammonia is down to a definite 4 and I can read nitrites now that are at 1ppm. My water is cloudy now for some reason. Not like sand got stirred up but not as clear as it was. Another thing that I'm finding is a build up of salt on my HOB and the cord for it. Is this normal?

[Bldgengineer]

Just tested again and ammonia is down to 2ppm. I'm hoping I'm not annoying some of the more experienced reefers with my constant chronicaling lol. I'm doing this to help me journal my first saltwater experience and to possibly help beginner aquarists just how long this process can take and how much patience can pay off.

[Clown79]

How long has it been cycling?

 

Its an interesting thread for all. Everyones experience is different.

 

I have never used liquid ammonia, live fish, or a shrimp so its interesting reading other ppls methods.

 

I've had 4 sw tanks and the longest was 4 weeks to cycle.

 

I find the fastest method has been starting with 80% liverock/20% dry rock, livesand and ghost feeding. 2 weeks cycled.

 

My other tank which i used 90% dry rock and 10% liverock, livesand, with ghost feeding took 4 weeks

[Bldgengineer]

How long has it been cycling?

 

Its an interesting thread for all. Everyones experience is different.

 

I have never used liquid ammonia, live fish, or a shrimp so its interesting reading other ppls methods.

 

I've had 4 sw tanks and the longest was 4 weeks to cycle.

 

I find the fastest method has been starting with 80% liverock/20% dry rock, livesand and ghost feeding. 2 weeks cycled.

 

My other tank which i used 90% dry rock and 10% liverock, livesand, with ghost feeding took 4 weeks

My first post on here was day 1 hour 1 so I think tomorrow night it will be 3 weeks. I've never done a saltwater aquarium before and a forum environment has always been a good way for me to journal my successes and failures to learn from.

 

I'm getting ready to order a few upgrades like lightning, filter, power head and testing items. I have thread opened in the lighting section but I'm seriously considering the reef breeders superlux or ocean revive T247. I'm considering the AI Prime as well but I'm more into function than flash and I have concerns over the Prime's spread and ability to grow with my tank's demands if I decide to go with sps corals at some point. I will be ordering a jabeo pp4 with controller, Red Sea and salifert test kits, and an AC70 filter next week. Once I make a decision on a light I'll order that as well(~$200 budget).

 

Very small update tonight. Ammonia is 1ppm, Nitrite is 5ppm+(very dark purple) an nitrates are somewhere between 10-20ppm. I'm hoping the nitrites go down somewhat over the weekend so I can begin testing with ~1ml or so of pure ammonia.

 

I do have a question, should I wait for the tank to have the ability to consume ammonia and nitrites within a day or two before a water change or should I do a 20% change once I hit 20ppm or so nitrate no matter what? I'm thinking just wait since I nothing living in the tank

Oh and I'll definitely be using some form of live rock the next time I start a tank. Even just to seed some coralline lol. Lesson #1 learned.

[dpoltsdsu]

My first post on here was day 1 hour 1 so I think tomorrow night it will be 3 weeks. I've never done a saltwater aquarium before and a forum environment has always been a good way for me to journal my successes and failures to learn from.

 

I'm getting ready to order a few upgrades like lightning, filter, power head and testing items. I have thread opened in the lighting section but I'm seriously considering the reef breeders superlux or ocean revive T247. I'm considering the AI Prime as well but I'm more into function than flash and I have concerns over the Prime's spread and ability to grow with my tank's demands if I decide to go with sps corals at some point. I will be ordering a jabeo pp4 with controller, Red Sea and salifert test kits, and an AC70 filter next week. Once I make a decision on a light I'll order that as well(~$200 budget).

 

Very small update tonight. Ammonia is 1ppm, Nitrite is 5ppm+(very dark purple) an nitrates are somewhere between 10-20ppm. I'm hoping the nitrites go down somewhat over the weekend so I can begin testing with ~1ml or so of pure ammonia.

 

I do have a question, should I wait for the tank to have the ability to consume ammonia and nitrites within a day or two before a water change or should I do a 20% change once I hit 20ppm or so nitrate no matter what? I'm thinking just wait since I nothing living in the tank

Oh and I'll definitely be using some form of live rock the next time I start a tank. Even just to seed some coralline lol. Lesson #1 learned.

No need to do a water change yet, it's still cycling and it isn't really needed! Glad it's coming along!

[Clown79]

Sounds like you are planning well and ahead which is great.

 

The aquaclears are good filters, I like that you can use any media in them without issue. On my 15g I ran the smallest aquaclear and that sucker cleaned up well, the flow was so strong I couldn't run it on full flow.

 

As for lighting. Do a lot of homework and don't rush the decision.

 

Ai Prime is a good light, everyone recommends it. I personally contacted them regarding spread. Its advertised as 18x18 but I also have seen 30x30.

They confirmed 1 will do 18x18. The Ai hydra has the double light fixture which is suitable for larger spread.

 

A lot of ppl recommend Nanobox, you may want to look into those.

 

 

As for cycling. Some advise doing a water change early won't effect anything but I have seen others have mini spike in ammonia with early wc.

 

I have always waited till ammonia and nitrite is 0 then performed a water change. If the nitrates are fairly high then a larger waterchange will need to be done.

I would wait to do the wc.

[Bldgengineer]

That's what I was thinking. It will probably take another week or so for it to get rid of all of nitrite so I'll wait.

 

I like the ac70 and pp4 combo for a tank this size. I think it will work for anything that it will need as the tank progresses. I'm just going to have to modify the screen top some to accommodate the ac70.

 

I like the AI Prime and its features my only issue is that it seems ideal for a cube shaped tank vs a standard 10g like I have. I keep looking for a good example of a pic or video on a standard 10g but can't find anything.

[Bldgengineer]

I'm actually on the hunt for some established live rock around me. I'd like to get a small piece to get some coralline algae going. Besides Petco, there's three LFS. One is fw only, one is an hour away and the other is actually a good friend of mine who I completely forgot about starting a petshop next to his pet grooming store. It's still new new though and he's still setting up his invert tank.

 

I have 3 petcos near me and they're all different. One of them has very little fish stock and not much rock. The rock they do have has brown hair algae all over it. Another has a lot of fish, a lot of frags and some corals and a lot of rock. Some look healthy and some look like a 70's porno. Then there's this Petco about 45 mins from me. They're fish always look healthy and their rock look clean but there's nothing on them. It's all brown and red. I'm not experienced enough to tell what it is but it's stuck on there. You'd have to scrape it off. The tanks are always clean. The entire store is actually clean and organized. Even the bathrooms. They tie their rock together with zip ties. They don't have a fridge/freezer for fresh food though

[Bldgengineer]

Another small update. Ammonia is gone. 0ppm. Nitrites are sky high and nitrates are hovering at 20ppm.

 

I also epoxied the middle piece to the outer 2 pieces with water weld. Hoping that works out well

[Bldgengineer]

Nothing to update. Nitrites are still through the roof so here a pic for attention ?

 

 

Doesn't look very different except for the epoxy. This will be my before pic until my ac70, koralia nano 240 and SB Reef Lights get here

[Sharbuckle]

Looks so much like my first setup! Way to go. Really excited for you. So many great answers to your questions above I get to just sit and watch

[Bldgengineer]

Thanks! These past 4 weeks have been interesting!

 

Got some goodies in today. My AC70, refractometer, 50w heater, korelia 240 and 2 digital thermometers. The thermometers were 2 for $10. I checked them with my calibrated fluke from work and one is 1 degree low and the other is half a degree low. Not too bad.

 

I also dosed my tank up to 1ppm ammonia. 3 drops. Trying to keep the nitrosonomas happy while the nitrobactors do their thing. I'll test tomorrow to see how well they're consuming their food.

[xhavok]

Nothing to update. Nitrites are still through the roof so here a pic for attention

 

 

Doesn't look very different except for the epoxy. This will be my before pic until my ac70, koralia nano 240 and SB Reef Lights get here

I just want to say I love your rockscape!

[Bldgengineer]

I just want to say I love your rockscape!

Thanks! I was trying for some depth with as little as possible.

 

Believe it or not the 3 pieces I epoxied alone have got to be over 10lbs. I lifted all 3 together the day after I applied the epoxy to test it out and I was amazed by its weight. Definitely more than when I put them in

In case anyone is wondering, this tank is 100% BRS reef saver and top fin oolite sand. 100% dead. I (accidentally over) dosed it with ammonia to start it and other than that I think the cycle has been going great. I may get a small piece of live rock from the Petco that keeps everything clean just to get some coralline started later. Depends on how the ammonia test goes tomorrow