Billdemart Posted June 14, 2003 Share Posted June 14, 2003 Hey all. I have pics of my tank all over this board, but here are the specs. 10 gallon rectangular 20" 96W Coralife Quad 50/50 hood 20 LBS Kaelini Live Rock 10 LBS Live Sand Rio 90 and 50 powerheads 50W Ebo Jagr Heater I have had the Live Rock and Live Sand in for 3 days now. The live rock came pre-cured suppossedly. It looks great, I've been topping off the water and keeping the lights on 8 hours a day. I did all of my tests (man ive gotta find an easier way to do this, took like 45 minutes), and here are the parameters... Salinity - 1.0245 Temp - 80F PH - 8.0 Alk - 4.5 CA - 400 NH3/NH4 - 0 NO2 - 0.0-0.1 mg NO3 - 20mg (give or take 5 or so) How am I looking so far? Thanks! Bill Link to comment
Satchmo Posted June 14, 2003 Share Posted June 14, 2003 Looking great Bill. I would give it another week or so, make sure everything remains stable and you'll be good to go. Fun, aint it? Link to comment
Billdemart Posted June 14, 2003 Author Share Posted June 14, 2003 Thanks Satchmo. I'm in no rush, so waiting isn't a problem. Everything I add to this tank is going to be slow. I will test my water over the next few weeks and see how everything is going. I just wanted to make sure I was headed in the right direction Thanks, Bill Link to comment
Billdemart Posted June 17, 2003 Author Share Posted June 17, 2003 I am still reading 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites, and 25 Nitrates. Does this mean my tank is cycled? Do I need to do a water change? Thanks, Bill Link to comment
Billdemart Posted June 18, 2003 Author Share Posted June 18, 2003 Anyone? Is it possible to cycle this fast? BUMP Link to comment
myelin Posted June 19, 2003 Share Posted June 19, 2003 I would say you are looking good. I had a fairly quick cycle with cured live rock and crushed coral. I beleive the cycle in my tank took only a week. Iw ould work on getting those Nitrates down. You may want to do a 10% or so water change. If you want to take it slow, that is a good idea. Other than that, I would say you are ready for a small clean-up crew. It is your call. Link to comment
Billdemart Posted June 19, 2003 Author Share Posted June 19, 2003 I am doing a 10% change this afternoon. I will see how it looks after that. Then I may add a couple of snails and a scarlet hermit. Thanks for the advice! Bill Link to comment
seabass Posted June 19, 2003 Share Posted June 19, 2003 The only thing bad about getting your nitrates down with 10% water changes is that at 25 ppm, it will take more than 15 water changes to get your Nitrates below 5. Link to comment
Billdemart Posted June 19, 2003 Author Share Posted June 19, 2003 So what should I do then? Link to comment
seabass Posted June 19, 2003 Share Posted June 19, 2003 Water changes are the way to go, just change more than 10%. Many people do a 50% water change right after their cycle is complete. One 50% change and five 20% changes get you where you should be. Sounds like things are coming along fine. Link to comment
FlyGTI Posted June 19, 2003 Share Posted June 19, 2003 Bill, you've got the right attitude with your tank. Thinking through all of your moves, tankwise, and doing all your homework first. I can't wait to see what the tank turns out looking like. You're certainly going to do well in this hobby, given your patience. None of the rest of us have it. That's why we're all spending money like water trying to fix our mistakes! Link to comment
seabass Posted June 19, 2003 Share Posted June 19, 2003 btw - your water parameters are fine for a scarlet (and/or a fish) and hermits are much more fun to watch than live rock. Your water is probably fine for snails too, but I'd personally get the Nitrates down a bit before adding the snails. Link to comment
Billdemart Posted June 19, 2003 Author Share Posted June 19, 2003 Thanks guys, I just did a 20% change and Im going to check the parameters in an hour or so. 50% seemed too drastic for me. Do you just let the rock sit there in the air while you are changing that much water? GTI you give me too much credit man. I have absolutely no patience, but I know with a tank this small rushing it would be folly. I am so impatient that I changed my 55 gallon tank to an African Cichlid tank and went out and grabbed 2 Africans. They are awesome fish and I want to get more but Im out of money! Can't wait to get some life in that Nano though. The tank looked alot better a week ago then it does now. It's starting to grow some serious hair algae! Hopefully thats just part of the maturing process. Bill Link to comment
seabass Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 Hair algae love Nitrates and it is common to have it after your cycle is complete. Also, make sure that you test your RO water for Nitrates; if your freshwater has Nitrates then water changes won’t help. Also check your Phosphate levels, algae also feed on Phosphates; water changes will help solve this problem too. I bought a new soft bristle tooth brush to brush the hair algae off my rocks after my cycle, but you’ll want to treat the problem and not the symptom and starve the algae by bringing down its nutrients (Nitrates and Phosphates). If you brush it off your rocks while they’re still in you tank, you’ll want to do a water change and siphon out as much debris as possible (I temporarily put in a filter cartridge in my HOB to clear the water after I brushed the rocks). I can change about a third of my water without exposing any of my rock. It won’t hurt to expose your rocks to air for a couple of minutes, but you might want to figure out how much water you can change without exposing anything, and change that much. Hope that helps, keep up the good work. Link to comment
Billdemart Posted June 20, 2003 Author Share Posted June 20, 2003 Great advice Sea Bass. Thanks a ton. I will keep you guys updated. Thanks, Bill Link to comment
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