bonese Posted January 6, 2011 Author Share Posted January 6, 2011 Here is basically where I'm at - Let me know if this is right on and if I can forget about this worry Link to comment
bitts Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 start on inch or so lower. though really all that matters is that its not overflowing anymore since they really do require readjustment to reflect the changes in bioload, over time. Link to comment
bonese Posted January 6, 2011 Author Share Posted January 6, 2011 I will adjust it tomorrow. So I want there to be gunk on the walls not in the cup right now? How's life bitts? Link to comment
bitts Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 for the most part. though I doubt that there will be much to build up in either location, since the waters so clean & there is so little dissolved organics. but At the moment it would be best leave it in the tank to benefit the bacteria. don't worry that won't last. as for life the little one has a fever so shes staying home with me tomorrow. I'm a horrible person, I'm all excited that little girl is sick. Link to comment
bonese Posted January 6, 2011 Author Share Posted January 6, 2011 Haha Indeed that is horrible wishing sickness on a child. However if it helps you have fun I say keep her sick. I dropped the bubble level down about 1.5" to see how it goes and I'm still adding mysis and some cyclopeeze flakes, nothing is showing up for trates yet. Should I go overboard and feed like a mad man? As for mb7 I have my dosage so its 1 drop per 50 gallons daily. So I just do a single drop a day. I do hope this helps as I've never been so excited to get algae. Link to comment
bitts Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 what your doing sounds good don't worry it just takes a while. like my first cycle took over a month. with the dry rocks the cycle may be smaller but take more work to kick it in. if you get really impatient you could bump your feeding, but only like once. oh one thing to keep in mind is the ammonia levels. that will tell you if the cycle has started, where as trats will tell you that its almost over. diatoms should show up before the algae but in a normal cycle I would throw in a couple certh when I had a descent amount. the would eat the diatoms adding things back into the cycle. but your cycle may not put out enough to support one that early, so you'll have to play it by ear. Link to comment
bonese Posted January 7, 2011 Author Share Posted January 7, 2011 Yeah I understand it'll take a while. I have to get an ammonia test kit because apparently mine doesn't have one. So until tomorrow when i drive up there it will remain unknown. I'm slowing adding more sand to the point where I like it and I seem to like it a little thicker than what I initially expected. So stick to 1 drop of mb7 a day? I fed today - a cube of mysis and a pinch of cyclopeeze and noticed the skimmer level jumped up. I have talked to Jeremy and he said to maintain the bubble level right in between the bottom of the collection cup and the main cylinder and that seems to be able to cope with the added nutrients without constant overflowing. Let me know what you think. Link to comment
bonese Posted January 7, 2011 Author Share Posted January 7, 2011 So finally there is something actually showing up in my tests. I have 0.5 ammonia levels and still have 0 nitrates. I imagine the ammonia level will take time to increase? Am I wrong for thinking that? Staying on schedule - pinch or so everyday a drop of mb7 and the skimmer is solid now. Evythinf is looming good. Link to comment
bitts Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 the bacteria which processes ammonium can take up to a month to fully develop into a healthy population. Which is part of why the 3 aspects of denitrification take so long to establish them selves. Each population must be established to a point that feed the next in large enough quantity's to sustain & provide for the populations growth. This is what is being measured with the tests. That there is an abundance, allowing for the further development of the following population. Also with there being little in the tank to be mineralized into ammonium, the population of ammonia processing bacteria can only meet the provided Amount. This is ok because over time with the small feedings the available amount of organics for decomp will increase. Especially since decomp is also a slow processes. Just be careful not to eventually overload the system, as these organics are added. while the cycle is young the populations for nitrite & nitrate have very little to feed on. Which is why they are not registering anything. But I think its time for you to pop a barley pop to celebrate your cycle. Link to comment
bonese Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 So I celebrated my cycle for 3 days and nights. I now woke up on the fourth day, feeling surprisingly alright. Also when I awoke I went down to check out the tank as I haven't really done a full inspection in a few days due to vision impairment. I now declare that there is indeed algae growing on my rocks. It appears to be light brown single long sprouts - To be honest it looks like burnt byprosis but its not longer than .5". I am sorta sitting on the fence if I should be worried about this but I know its just my OCD not wanting algae or anything "Bad" in this set up. Should I continue the mb7 dosing as well as the food regime? The past 5 days or so I have added a cube of unthawed mysis and my usual pinch of cyclopeeze. Let it stablize for a few days and test it out? Link to comment
bitts Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 do an image search on Diatoms to see if thats what you've got, sounds like it could be. then you may in fact be at a point where you can sit back & relax. ease off everything & just top the tank off as needed. the mb7 was just to help establish a bacterial colony, so thats really just a judgement call. even just a couple drops would have done it, but they may have died out. the ? is weather you think its established. as for adding more food, if the bacteria are established then they should be cycling nutrients that have come from the food. which means you might be able to get away with reducing this or just holding back completely. after all if it had been live rock instead of base you wouldn't have been adding anything. thing of it as the die off trailing off. as soon as you see the ammonia & trites taper off throw in some snails to help move the cycle along. again building the bacterial population. Link to comment
bonese Posted January 11, 2011 Author Share Posted January 11, 2011 Awesome. I forgot how cool this all was due to the build process being so long. Last night at 2 and this morning I turned the lights on and noticed all over the glass little tiny pods(?). I thought that was pretty cool. As well as me screaming I have pods! At 2:30AM I looked up diatoms and I do have a small, very small amount of them. I have more of these baby Long haired algae(?) on the rocks, glass and magnet cleaner. So I think were looking good. Link to comment
bitts Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Wahoo!!! thats awesome bonese. how long do you think you can last with out adding anything beyond coral & snails. Link to comment
bonese Posted January 11, 2011 Author Share Posted January 11, 2011 I can wait years. My incentive is to go slow and that was it from the start. Thatsnwhy it took forever for me to build this thing. I hope we can get a nice list of future wants for coral and stuff. Pretty excited as of now knowing that what I'm doing is working. Now if I'm following everything correctly the nitrates should be reading on a test by now? Bitts I'm interested in vodka dosing this tank. What do you think of that idea? Link to comment
spanko Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 What interests you about carbon dosing? Link to comment
bonese Posted January 11, 2011 Author Share Posted January 11, 2011 What drew me to carbon dosing was when you said I haven't heard of people using mb7 without a carbon source. I then did some further reading on the topic finding about how to start dosing and then double the amount the following week as well as the reduction of nitrates and phosphates. All in all it looks like a interesting procedure and would ultimately like to involve it in this system. Some questions for you Henry: When is the appropriate time to start this? The articles I have read said you will notice a difference in coral color so I was under the assumption that you needed to have livestock in the tank. I also read that it is much longer of a process to introduce the vodka dosing in a mature established tank. I'm not interested in rushing it and would like to have a complete understanding of it first. Would you suggest an alternative? Or not even suggest do anything - Keep it simple? Link to comment
bitts Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 ok bones before you go much further into the land of drunk fish. got something for you to take a look at. actually both of you. sending pm. from my side of this the reason to dose would be to replicate the carbon cycle. thus research Link to comment
ajmckay Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Bonses, maybe just continue to research the carbon dosing... I'd wait until you have an established maintenance routine to see if you can find one you're happy with. Overall I think it's safer. Link to comment
spanko Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 I have been carbon dosing with the addition of Prodibio Nano products and Brightwell amino acids for quite some time now. I did it for some specific reasons. I think I outlined them in this thread............... http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...p;#entry3069446 Holy .....................that is one large read you sent bitts Link to comment
bitts Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 hope you like it. OH NO!!! we're back to wadka tails are we. Link to comment
spanko Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 May as well throw bones in the water! Link to comment
bonese Posted January 12, 2011 Author Share Posted January 12, 2011 If I'm in throw in wadka tails I will most definitely drown. I've been reading the book JP and its ridiculously interesting. Ran a phosphate test and they are at 0. Ran a Nitrate test and the value is 5. Still adding a pinch and mb7. Diatoms are now on the rocks but only on the back of them on the return side. Pictures tonight hopefully. Link to comment
spanko Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 If I may be so bold, if you are reading nitrates you have a biofilter working. I would stop adding the food and get a couple of clean up critters in there. JMO Link to comment
bitts Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 no you may not. come on Henry your one of the most knowledgeable reefers around here, speak up. but yea time to back off on the feeding & add some cerith's. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.