Scrilla Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 Waddup Homies... After Many Weeks Of Reading And Lurking, Ive Finally Taken The Plunge: Introducing: *DRUM ROLL* I Came Up With This Concoction Late Last Evening After Finally Getting My Hands On Some Nice Live Rock... Thanks Jeff. Its A New JBJ 12G Nanocube Deluxe And It Consists Of The Following: 12lbs Of Live Rock 10lbs Of Caribsea Pink Fiji Live Sand Modular Surface Skimmer I Cleared The Rear Chambers And Added A Fully Submerible Tetra 50w Heater That Automatically Adjusts Heat Output To Keep The Water At A Constant 78 Degrees... One Less Headache. I Ditched The Bioballs, Carbon, And Rings But Left The Sponge In To Trap All The Cloudy Particles And It Must Stay Its Done A Great Job... These Pics Are From Today: Im Currently Letting The Tank Run With No Lights To Prevent Any Algae Growth... I Welcome You In My Journey. Any Thoughts, Tips, And Feedback Is Appreciated... Link to comment
Scrilla Posted June 7, 2009 Author Share Posted June 7, 2009 So Its Been Running A Little Under 24hrs Now And I Decided To Put This API Test Kit To Work And Came Out With These Parameters: The pH And Nitrate Were The 2 Tests That Seemed To Give Me A Bit Of Trouble. It Was Kinda Hard To Distinguish A Similar Color Match On The Cards... Nitrite Came In At Exactly 0 And Nitrate Was Hard To Tell If It Was 5.0 Or 20. My Question Is: Doesnt Nitrate Come From Nitrite? Is It Possible This Tank Cycled Overnight? Link to comment
westcoastreefer84 Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 The nitrates are most likely coming from the rock When you add live sand and live rock, your introducing all the live bacteria that completes the cycle To answer your question about if your tank cycled in one night, think of the term "cycle" as the colonizing of the bacteria, your cycle is complete, you just don't have enough bacteria yet to handle the bioload of a reef system Hope this helped your understanding of cycling a reef tank with live sand and live rock Its common practice for some to add livestock after adding live sand and live rock, but its much safer to wait out the algae bloom, let it all die off theb do a massive water change Link to comment
Scrilla Posted June 7, 2009 Author Share Posted June 7, 2009 The nitrates are most likely coming from the rock When you add live sand and live rock, your introducing all the live bacteria that completes the cycle To answer your question about if your tank cycled in one night, think of the term "cycle" as the colonizing of the bacteria, your cycle is complete, you just don't have enough bacteria yet to handle the bioload of a reef system Hope this helped your understanding of cycling a reef tank with live sand and live rock Its common practice for some to add livestock after adding live sand and live rock, but its much safer to wait out the algae bloom, let it all die off theb do a massive water change It Helped A Bit... Ive Pretty Much Have Read Something Similar Throughout The Site... So Things Are Well On Their Way And Im Just Waiting For An Algae Bloom, Then Do A Massive Water Change Then Add A CUC Correct? Link to comment
westcoastreefer84 Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 Wait till you get diatoms, they will be like a brown mat on the sand, they feed off silicates which are usually high in newly established tanks ( I believe its silicates? ) They will eventually run out of food and die off, here's the where it gets a little complex, When the algae dies off you wanna do a big water change, because dead algae turns into nutrients in the water for new algae growth I don't depend on a cuc to keep my tank clean, IMO I wouldn't add more than 3 crabs and 2 small-med size snails, they will all graze your tank, and most cuc's do better in new tanks because they prefer fresh new algae however ( most crabs prefer softer algae, won't touch the old tough stuff ), in my experience, all my snails ever wanna eat is the coralline on my back glass, the crabs don't ever make a dent in any algae problems Clean rock = tooth brush and a siphon Also be careful when adding any cuc, because they all will eventually starve and die and pollute the tank And remember, nobodies way is the right way, but learning as much as possible will help you to be more successfull Also, what kind of filtrations do u plan on running? When your cycles over you will want to run carbon and definatley look into a media rack either diy or stevie T, I'm not sure if he makes one for your tank or not, your sponge filter really should be replaced every 3-7 days and carbon every 30 Link to comment
Scrilla Posted June 8, 2009 Author Share Posted June 8, 2009 Wait till you get diatoms, they will be like a brown mat on the sand, they feed off silicates which are usually high in newly established tanks ( I believe its silicates? ) They will eventually run out of food and die off, here's the where it gets a little complex, When the algae dies off you wanna do a big water change, because dead algae turns into nutrients in the water for new algae growth I don't depend on a cuc to keep my tank clean, IMO I wouldn't add more than 3 crabs and 2 small-med size snails, they will all graze your tank, and most cuc's do better in new tanks because they prefer fresh new algae however ( most crabs prefer softer algae, won't touch the old tough stuff ), in my experience, all my snails ever wanna eat is the coralline on my back glass, the crabs don't ever make a dent in any algae problems Clean rock = tooth brush and a siphon Also be careful when adding any cuc, because they all will eventually starve and die and pollute the tank And remember, nobodies way is the right way, but learning as much as possible will help you to be more successfull Also, what kind of filtrations do u plan on running? When your cycles over you will want to run carbon and definatley look into a media rack either diy or stevie T, I'm not sure if he makes one for your tank or not, your sponge filter really should be replaced every 3-7 days and carbon every 30 Thanks For The Words... Im Actually Contemplating On What To Do Next As Far As The Rear Chambers Are Concerned. Ive Browsed Here And On StevieTs Site And Havent Found Anything Pertaining To A Rack For The NCs. Only Have Found Them For The Bios... With That Said, Ill Be Off To HD Tomorrow To Get My Hands On A Sheet Of Egg Crate To Create My Own Rack... Im Thinking Of Running Floss In The First Chamber, Carbon/Purigen In The Second, With The Heater And Stock Pump In The Third... Does That Sounds About Right? Link to comment
Scrilla Posted June 8, 2009 Author Share Posted June 8, 2009 Heres Some Fresh Shots Of The Tank... I Was Forced To Do A Bit Of Aquascaping Due To The Presence Of Some Aiptesia And Bubble Algae, But Its Been Taken Care Of, I Hope... What Do You Guys Think? Link to comment
soaptray Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Tank looks great - keep up the good work. Can't wait to see some corals and livestock in there Link to comment
Scrilla Posted June 10, 2009 Author Share Posted June 10, 2009 Tank looks great - keep up the good work. Can't wait to see some corals and livestock in there Thanks... I Cant Wait Either. Im Very Tempted To Throw A Fish In There Already But I Know Patience Is Key... Link to comment
Scrilla Posted June 10, 2009 Author Share Posted June 10, 2009 I Had Some Free Time This Afternoon So I Proceeded To My Local Hardware Store And Purchased A Sheet Of Eggcrate... Nothing Wrong With Getting Prepared Right? They Actually Had Some Damaged/Broken Peices And I Was Able To Score A Sheet With A Broken Corner At A Discounted Price. So I Did Some Measuring And Came Up With A Little 2 Piece Rack That Will "SANDWICH" The Filter Floss In Chamber One... Did The Same For Chamber Two But Now That I Think About It, I Dont Think Its Necessary Right? I Plan On Running Chemi-Pure Elite And Purigen. The CPE Comes Prebagged And The Purigen Needs To Be Placed In A Media Bag So Itll Just "Dangle" In The Chamber Right? Any Thoughts Or Suggestions On This? How Soon Should I Be Running This Stuff? Link to comment
Scrilla Posted June 10, 2009 Author Share Posted June 10, 2009 I Then Headed To Walmart And Went On The Hunt For This Infamous "Filter Floss"... Luckily I Already Knew Where To Find It, So It Wasnt Much Of A Hunt... This Is The Right Stuff Correct? I Saw The Actual "PolyFil" Brand Everyone Seems To Write About, But This Is The Exact Same Thing With 4 More Oz For A Few Pennies More. Its Also 100% Polyester... Thinking About Something I Saw On Here, I Then Headed Down Several Aisles And Spotted Something That I Thought Would Work Perfect As A Drop In "Fuge" To House Some Chaeto Or Whatnot... What Do You Guys Think? Its Low Profile And Wide Enough To House A Generous Amount. Ill Need To Drill Out Several More Holes For Flow. Link to comment
Scrilla Posted June 10, 2009 Author Share Posted June 10, 2009 Came Home And ReChecked My Parameters Tonight: Temp: 78 Salinity: 1.225 pH - Still Hard To Tell: 8.0-8.2? Ammonia - Found This Odd, It Dropped Down To 0. Nitrite - 0. Nitrate - Looks Like 5.0 What Brand Is Everyone Else Using, Not Too Pleased With This API... Link to comment
Scrilla Posted June 12, 2009 Author Share Posted June 12, 2009 Had Some Extra Time On My Hands This Afternoon And Visited A Couple Of LFS... Rechecked My Params And Got The Green Light To Make Some Additions To My Tank... Came Home With: 3 Blue Leg Hermits A Trio Of Green Shrooms 1 Cleaner Shrimp: A Frag Of Purple Shroom: A Green Zoa Colony: They Acclimated Nicely And This Is An Hour Or So After Being Placed Into The Tank. The Hermits Got Right To Work And The Cleaner Shrimp Has Been Hanging Out Between The BackWall And Rock... What Do You Guys Think? Currently Looking For More Frags. Any Contributions Would Be Appreciated... Link to comment
Scrilla Posted June 12, 2009 Author Share Posted June 12, 2009 FTS: You Can See The Green Shrooms In The Lower Left Corner... Link to comment
zjharva Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 Why Do I Capitalize Every Word...... lol nice tank. I've got a 12dx too thats just starting out. Just remember to take it slow. Link to comment
Scrilla Posted June 13, 2009 Author Share Posted June 13, 2009 Why Do I Capitalize Every Word...... lol nice tank. I've got a 12dx too thats just starting out. Just remember to take it slow. Im Gangster Like That... Patience Is Definitely The Key... Link to comment
SiLkk Posted June 14, 2009 Share Posted June 14, 2009 Looks like its coming along well! Link to comment
Scrilla Posted June 19, 2009 Author Share Posted June 19, 2009 Looks like its coming along well! Thanks... Havent Posted Any Updates In A While... Heres A Bit To Bring You Up To Par: FTS: Copepods: The Addition Of Some Clean Up Crew members: CUC Consist Of The Following: Nassarius Vibex Blue Leg Hermies Scarlet Reef Hermies Trochus Cerith Snails FTS - Brown Algae Bloom: Zoas And Shrooms Look Great: Link to comment
Scrilla Posted June 19, 2009 Author Share Posted June 19, 2009 Tonights FTS: Forgot To Mention The Addition Of A Koralia Nano... Works Great. Rechecked All My Params This Evening And Everything Is Great. Trates Are At 5.0 Though. I Have Done 2 Weekly Water Changes So Far. Wish Me Luck... Link to comment
soaptray Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 Looking awesome! I like the scape - your corals are looking nice too. Where do you live by the way? Link to comment
Scrilla Posted June 19, 2009 Author Share Posted June 19, 2009 Looking awesome! I like the scape - your corals are looking nice too. Where do you live by the way? A-T-L-A-N-T-A, G-A.... Link to comment
Scrilla Posted June 19, 2009 Author Share Posted June 19, 2009 Tonights FTS: Forgot To Mention The Addition Of A Koralia Nano... Works Great. Rechecked All My Params This Evening And Everything Is Great. Trates Are At 5.0 Though. I Have Done 2 Weekly Water Changes So Far. Wish Me Luck... Man, This CUC Works Mad Overtime... How Do You Go From Whats Pictured Above To This Overnight? Link to comment
soaptray Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 My CUC works hard to... !#$%@ gorilla crabs. I found 2 more... 5 in total. I think I squished one last night, but he is stuck in a cave now... going to rot away and $%@$ up my water chemistry. Link to comment
Scrilla Posted June 19, 2009 Author Share Posted June 19, 2009 My CUC works hard to... !#$%@ gorilla crabs. I found 2 more... 5 in total. I think I squished one last night, but he is stuck in a cave now... going to rot away and $%@$ up my water chemistry. If This Is Of Real Concern, Just Keep Up With Your Testing And Water Changes... If You See A Rise In Ammonia, Something Is Definitely Up... Link to comment
drobbins Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 i have the same tank as you. i am only 3 days into the cycling process. i havent changed anything in the back of the tank. can you explain again what you did and why please. im a noob and so far im confused as hell. lol also, is a powerhead needed, and what about a skimmer? also with stevie t's media rack yu are supposed t toss the filter floss every 3- 5 days, doesnt that kill all of the beneficial bacteria. Link to comment
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