SynRG Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Maybe get your hands on a PAR meter and crank these bad boys up to 100% for fun and take some measurements. Scape is looking great! Link to comment
pschom Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 good luck, hopefully those leds are gonna be enough Why would 3 SOL modules not be enough light for this tank? I have 1 over a 24x24. It's shallow, but three of these is serious. Link to comment
saltwatercoral Posted February 5, 2012 Author Share Posted February 5, 2012 Why would 3 SOL modules not be enough light for this tank? I have 1 over a 24x24. It's shallow, but three of these is serious. Thanks pschom, I think I will get a Par read out when I get the SOL's mounted to see what Im actualy pushing! I did not get the SOLS mounted today but I did get my friends dad over and after 5hrs we ran a dedicated line from the Breaker Box to the tank! Here are some pics so far... Electrical Before Electrical After Plus I ran a dat wire (CAT 5) for the NET modual for the ReefKeeper. Mounted the AI controller next to the ReefKeeper controller. There is also enough room I left for the future upgrade to 2 MP40 controllers! My first sign of life on my live rock. What are these things? There are 4 on this rock, are they good or bad? Link to comment
redwhiteandblue Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 appear to be feather dusters. good filter feeders Link to comment
saltwatercoral Posted February 5, 2012 Author Share Posted February 5, 2012 appear to be feather dusters. good filter feeders Aha! Thanks. That was the biggest on on the rock! Link to comment
saltwatercoral Posted February 6, 2012 Author Share Posted February 6, 2012 It's been alitle over 3 weeks now and after doing some more tests, the Amonia is at a safe level and there are 0 Nitrite and 0 nitrates. Should I add my first fish? Link to comment
Aqua fire/medic Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 It's been alitle over 3 weeks now and after doing some more tests, the Amonia is at a safe level and there are 0 Nitrite and 0 nitrates. Should I add my first fish? Absolutely! Link to comment
redwhiteandblue Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 as long as ur new live rock doesnt "recycle" id add a fish or 2. def start with a few CUC members if u havnt already. not too many though, there isnt much for them to munch on yet..... Link to comment
saltwatercoral Posted February 6, 2012 Author Share Posted February 6, 2012 as long as ur new live rock doesnt "recycle" id add a fish or 2. def start with a few CUC members if u havnt already. not too many though, there isnt much for them to munch on yet..... I took the rock Directly home (30 min transport) and dipped the rock and entered it into the tank. I have seen the Amonia spike and now start to fall to a safe level. I still have not seen a spike in Nitrites or Nitrates but I do now have live rock and live sand in. If I add say a few clean up crew members for a few days and they survive for about a week then I think I will ad my first 2 fish! I'm going to add my first living creatures Tuesday (Monday I am way to busy). I think I'm going to add a "nice looking" crew. What looks nice (clean up crew) and will be good as well, and should a shrimp be added just yet? Link to comment
urbaneks Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Nice work on the dedicated circuit. I had to do the same thing to accommodate my MHs. It's good peace of mind to know that someone running a hair dryer isn't going to trip the breaker. Link to comment
CLR Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 If ur looking for a good basic CUC u should look into reefcleaners, they ship only on tuesdays(might be wrong) but they have awesome prices and some starter groups for various size tanks. But if u want to get the CUC from a LFS I would say get various snails, ceriths, nassarius, turbos, etc. I have never hear very many positive things about hermits (they kill/eat snails) so I decided to stay away from them personally along with emerald crabs. Maybe a couple skunk cleaner shrimps to start with or regular cleaner since they are much more active. My skunk stays under the rocks unless its feeding time or nighttime. Hope this helps a little bit. Link to comment
pschom Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 +1 not the circuit. The hairdryer thing has happened to me! +1 on reefcleaners. They have very nice cuc packages. Link to comment
SynRG Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 I'd just go slow with adding CUC. Start with a few snails and hermits and you should be good. Don't want to throw a ton in their since they will not have enough to eat. You can always add slowly as you need them. I started with 3 snails and 3 hermits. Added 3 more of each. That is all I have in my BC29 after 6 months. No algae issues. As long as you stay on top of your parameters you should not need a ton of CUC. Did you ever have a diatom bloom? Seems odd that you never saw a spike in Nitrites then Nitrates. I'd add things very slowly. Maybe also consider dosing Microbacter7. Link to comment
saltwatercoral Posted February 6, 2012 Author Share Posted February 6, 2012 I'd just go slow with adding CUC. Start with a few snails and hermits and you should be good. Don't want to throw a ton in their since they will not have enough to eat. You can always add slowly as you need them. I started with 3 snails and 3 hermits. Added 3 more of each. That is all I have in my BC29 after 6 months. No algae issues. As long as you stay on top of your parameters you should not need a ton of CUC. Did you ever have a diatom bloom? Seems odd that you never saw a spike in Nitrites then Nitrates. I'd add things very slowly. Maybe also consider dosing Microbacter7. Slow is always better, I think I will few hermit's and snails and see what happens. What does Microbacter7 do? Link to comment
saltwatercoral Posted February 6, 2012 Author Share Posted February 6, 2012 Never got a diatom bloom, but also never had any lights on either. Dont know if that made the difference or not though. When I get my clean up crew tomorrow should I drip aclimate or float them to aclimate? If the clean up crew survives I will prob add 1 fish over the weekend and see what happens! Link to comment
saltwatercoral Posted February 6, 2012 Author Share Posted February 6, 2012 Looking good Thank you surgicalsense! Link to comment
CLR Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 I do a combination of floating and slowly adding water manually for 30-45 mins Link to comment
mpsti05 Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 I usually float acclimate. Let the bag sit in the water sealed for 15 min, then open the bag up and I add half a turkey Baster of water from my tank every 5 min for 45 min. Then drain the bag through my fish net over the sink and add the fish or cuc... Never any problems that way Link to comment
saltwatercoral Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 Thanks CLR and mpsti05! I may grab some more live rock and a small CUC and see where that takes me! Link to comment
CLR Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Keep us posted, and pictures are always appreciated Link to comment
saltwatercoral Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 Keep us posted, and pictures are always appreciated Will do! Link to comment
pschom Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 I have a stupid question that I've been meaning to ask. How can a tank, yours or anyone's, cycle (build up nitrifying bacteria) if there isn't any waste to break down. I'm probably asking it wrong, but if you have dry rock and water and sand, how can you build any bacteria at all? So I guess I'm asking how can one see a build up of ammo, nitrite, nitrate if there's nothing breaking it down? Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about which is why it's a question.... Link to comment
Mr Pants Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 It can't cycle without something in there rotting. If you have a lot of uncycled live rock a good amount of stuff on the rock will die which will give you some ammonia for the bacteria to consume and propagate. Some people cycle with a tough cheap fish, by pouring urine in the tank, by pouring store bought ammonia in the tank, or putting a shrimp from the grocery in the tank. Best practice in the hobby now is to use store bought bacteria such as Dr Tims with either some ammonia or 1-2 small fish. Many store bought packages of nitrifying bacteria are isolated from freshwater sources and thus won't do anything - so make sure you have the species isolated from saltwater reef environments. You had a little mini cycle but when you add your fish the tank will cycle again, this will be rough on the fish if you don't add some bacteria at the same time. This is why its really just best to skip the first mini cycle and cycle by adding fish and some nitrifying bacteria. You can skip the fish and add ammonia with the nitrifying bacteria, but you'll want to be prepared to add fish as soon as the cycle is over (it won't last long ~4 days depending on tank size and amount of ammonia and bacteria you add). You're really just wasting time by attempting a cycle without an ammonia source. Link to comment
pschom Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 You're really just wasting time by attempting a cycle without an ammonia source. See, this is what I thought. 'cycling' the tank means nothing without some waste in there. SWC, if I were you I would: Get some Bio-Spira, or the like. Enough that is rated for your tank and dump it in. Don't add any more LR right now 1 day after adding the bactria, add 1-2 fish - make sure these are hardy fish, but definitely don't put anything in there that you don't want to keep cause it's a PITA to get them out... Then the tank will actually cycle Monitor your params at tht time Once the nitrates are pretty high, like a good orange and the is 0.00 ammo, do a big water change. Then take a nitrate reading and if you look good THEN add a CUC You should be able to add pretty much anything at that point. As long as you maintain the levels of nitrate. Hope that makes sense. I'm not trying to be negative, but I've been thinking about this for like a week. Lol Link to comment
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