Luk3 Posted October 23, 2007 Author Share Posted October 23, 2007 Well since my diatom bloom ( will my sand clear up when this goes away?) ive gotten little brown fuzzy looking strands sticking to the glass. There not very big but there are quite a few of them. The are cover the glass and the back wall. I'm assuming these are from the bloom, Any help would be appreciated Link to comment
soundman Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Well since my diatom bloom ( will my sand clear up when this goes away?) ive gotten little brown fuzzy looking strands sticking to the glass. There not very big but there are quite a few of them. The are cover the glass and the back wall. I'm assuming these are from the bloom, Any help would be appreciatedWhat you describe sounds like a diatom bloom. It's been just over a week since you added your LR, that's pretty fast for your cycle to be done already but not impossible if your LR was already cured and wasn't out of the water for very long during the trip from the LFS to your tank. To be sure, I would test your params for a few more days....if your ammonia and nitrite stay at 0, I would say it's time to do a water change (2 or 3 gallons) & add some snails. The snails will clean up the diatoms. Astrea snails are a good choice for this. Link to comment
Luk3 Posted October 23, 2007 Author Share Posted October 23, 2007 Cool thanks, My params as of 3 PM today Temp: 78.7 SG: 1.0245 Nitrites: 0 Ammonia: 0 Nitrates: 20ish (could be lower than twenty but not by much) Ph: 8.1 The weird thing i havent seen a spike, i test every week so maybe i just missed seeing it? So what does everyone think? Is my cycle over? These are pics of the little fuzzie things i was talking about its actually green This is Some algae from the diatoms mabye? ID of this stuff mabye please? FTS ( i out the temp probe in the back like people suggested Link to comment
Luk3 Posted October 23, 2007 Author Share Posted October 23, 2007 Bump Any comments or suggestions? Link to comment
allenspidey Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Maybe the cycle is over. There isn't a standard time for it. I've read where people had it over in just a few days. If you are only testing every week, it is very possible that its over. Take a sample to your LFS to be sure. Link to comment
Luk3 Posted October 23, 2007 Author Share Posted October 23, 2007 thanks what should i have the LFS test? Everything or just nitrates? Anyone else have comments? Link to comment
supreme_spork Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 thanks what should i have the LFS test? Everything or just nitrates?Anyone else have comments? my advice would be to sit back and let your tank settle for a few more weeks. cycles are *very* unpredicatable when setting up a new aquarium -- you can have no cycle, one small cycle or a series of cycles over the first weeks and months, and your LFS is giving you bad info if they say you won't have a cycle because their rock is cured. unless you moved the rock submerged in water and never exposed it to air, kept the temperature stable the whole time and didn't shock anything living on the rocks when you moved it into your tank you're going to have the potential for another cycle. when you first get rock, your cycle is kicked-off by things on that rock that die and decompose -- that's what produces a lot of the ammonia. however, there are critters that frequently survive the first cycle but are weakened and die-off over the coming weeks, and that can give rise to another, generally smaller cycle. also it takes bacterial populations a few iterations usually to stabilize -- they "bloom" when the cycle begins, then they die-back, then they begin to stabilize. in a new tank -- regardless of what you're seeing with your tests -- this can happen over several months. i wouldn't even bother taking the water to the LFS for at least another week, but that's just IMO. Link to comment
Luk3 Posted October 23, 2007 Author Share Posted October 23, 2007 so your saying my birttle stars (3) and feather dusters (2) are going to die? Thats kind of depressing Link to comment
supreme_spork Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 so your saying my birttle stars (3) and feather dusters (2) are going to die? Thats kind of depressing no, that's not what i'm saying at all! lots of things can make it through the cycle just fine -- and the smaller the cycle you experience the more things will come through. however, *some* things will likely be weakened by the stress of the cycle and may not die for days or weeks after the rock goes in your tank. you may never actually see the things that are dying -- at any given time, assuming you have nice quality rocks, you'll only be able to see a tiny fraction of the entire ecosystem that's at play in your tank. if you can see 3 micro brittle stars you may well have dozens of them in your tank that you never see, and as a general rule the sick and dying things tend to stay hidden. Link to comment
Luk3 Posted October 23, 2007 Author Share Posted October 23, 2007 I see, well when the lights are one the 2 larger mini stars have two to 3 of there arms out searching for food i guess and the littles one is always out. During night, when the LEDs are just on, they all come out and search around. I have become attached to these little guys probably because there the first creature in my tank Link to comment
Luk3 Posted October 24, 2007 Author Share Posted October 24, 2007 Alright well my params are posted above and diatoms are taking over my tank! I know that this is completely normal but i was wondering if i could put an astrea snail or two in there to clean up the diatom. Do you think this is ok? or should i still wait? Link to comment
Luk3 Posted October 25, 2007 Author Share Posted October 25, 2007 Well i added my first snail today. A turbo snail, as soon as i put him in he got right to work. Link to comment
Luk3 Posted October 27, 2007 Author Share Posted October 27, 2007 I am planning on doing a 2g water change tommorrow. All my parameters are normal except nitrate which is around 20 ppm. ive had my diatom bloom since last week. Ive added a turbo snail hes eating all the diatoms and green algae. Ive also noticed some coepods. Is this normal? Link to comment
Luk3 Posted October 27, 2007 Author Share Posted October 27, 2007 Well i did my water change. 2 Gallons Im going to check my parameters in a little while when everything gets settled Link to comment
Luk3 Posted October 27, 2007 Author Share Posted October 27, 2007 Alright well i check my params and once again everything was normal except those darn nitrates. Nitrites - 0 PH 8.2 SG - 1.024 Ammonia - 0 Nitrates -20 Any ideas for lowering nitrates other than a water change? Link to comment
cp3823 Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 I'm having the same problem. My tank has been going for 30 days and two weeks ago I added two percs. Nitrates are still hovering around 12-14 ppm. I did a 2 gallon water change and nitrates dropped to 8 ppmthen after 3 days have became 12-14 ppm again. I still have some diatoms on the rock so I dunno?? Link to comment
Luk3 Posted October 30, 2007 Author Share Posted October 30, 2007 First and new Zoas! They opened up almost immediately and have really nice color and i can see 3 new polyps forming. Im pretty excited! Link to comment
Luk3 Posted October 30, 2007 Author Share Posted October 30, 2007 What do you guys think about my placement. I wanted them upfront where they could be seen, they is a moderatley good flow and quite a bit of light. I also sort of wedge the base in between two rocks in hope that the zoas will grow onto them. Was that a good idea? l Link to comment
Luk3 Posted October 30, 2007 Author Share Posted October 30, 2007 Bump for placement question Link to comment
goalcreas Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 Just out of curiosity, what test kit are you using for your nitrate? Have you calibrated it? I have found that because many test kits, the colors between say 5 and 10 or 20 and 40 are so similar that you really can't trust the nitrate kit unless you calibrate it. I use RO/DI water and since I am also a plant tank guy (new to SW) I have dry ferts around. I added .2g KNO3 to 2 liters of water which would give me roughly 21ppm nitrate IIRC, can't remember for sure if that is the right math off the top of my head. using that water I did a test on the kit and found it to be closer to 30 or 40 which told me that my sw reading of 10ppm was not all that realible (and the 5 and 10ppm look the same almost, as do the 20 and 40, but I could tell it was not 20 and closer to 40 for sure) That was an API test kit, readily available, cheap and inacurate as can be. Link to comment
Luk3 Posted October 31, 2007 Author Share Posted October 31, 2007 I have an API master test kit. Can some ID my Zoas? Link to comment
Luk3 Posted November 3, 2007 Author Share Posted November 3, 2007 well i went to my LFs store yesterday just to see what they had and i saw a nice colony of zoos and asked how much and the guy said they werent for sale. Then he said well maybe i can frag it for you for 10 dollar. So he took it out of the water and broke of a big piece and a little piece. I thought i was getting the little piece but he gave my the big one. So for 10 dollar i got a nice 50+ polyp frag. What does everyone think? (also an ID on these would be cool) Link to comment
Ben314z Posted November 6, 2007 Share Posted November 6, 2007 Nice! I hope your new Zoos do well for ya. Keep an eye on em. Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted November 6, 2007 Share Posted November 6, 2007 well i went to my LFs store yesterday just to see what they had and i saw a nice colony of zoos and asked how much and the guy said they werent for sale. Then he said well maybe i can frag it for you for 10 dollar. So he took it out of the water and broke of a big piece and a little piece. I thought i was getting the little piece but he gave my the big one. So for 10 dollar i got a nice 50+ polyp frag.What does everyone think? (also an ID on these would be cool) That was a really great buy, they look really nice! Don't know an official name on them tho, and I've spent plenty of time lurking on Zoaid.com. The placement on your earlier zoa frag sounds fine. Link to comment
nanu-nanu Posted November 6, 2007 Share Posted November 6, 2007 seriously i think you are too hard on the "zoas with names" thing. if you buy them from a LFS, and get a huge frag of them, they're most likely nothing "special" if you like em, awesome. a good place to check out names of zoos and stuff, is on zoaid.com Link to comment
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