tinkerer Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 hmmm... i never saw mine get quite that high, i did use a bacteria starter though. i saw one guy had his over 100, so who knows. Link to comment
GravyReef Posted January 17, 2012 Author Share Posted January 17, 2012 Cruising along! I'd be tempted to do a WC even though trites and ammonia aren't zero yet. 50ppm trates is high! I was considering a water change, 2-3 gallons. My goal has been to hold off on doing anything at all until something (anything!) happens....diatoms, algae, etc. At worst, a water change just lengthens the cycle a bit, right? I'm fine with that. hmmm... i never saw mine get quite that high, i did use a bacteria starter though. i saw one guy had his over 100, so who knows. I'm using a starter as well (Brightwell Aquatics MicroBacter7). Not really sure how to proceed. I have all kinds of media ready to start running in the basket (Chemi-pure Elite, Purigen, even Rowaphos), but it seems early to start that. Link to comment
RedStang Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Didn't realize you utilized a "helper." So not sure how you should proceed. Hopefully you'll get a diatom bloom shortly. Link to comment
GravyReef Posted January 17, 2012 Author Share Posted January 17, 2012 Didn't realize you utilized a "helper." So not sure how you should proceed. Hopefully you'll get a diatom bloom shortly. Yeah. For better or worse, I've been following Medred's build for advice/ideas. His tank turned out beautifully...I'd be happy with 1/2 the success he's had! His diatom bloom occurred at 10 days. I'm going to test my RO/DI water when I get home today. It's a new unit so I don't expect it to be a problem. However, I'm surprised at those nitrate numbers at 10-11 days in...I've actually had water in the tank for 17 days, since 12/31/2011, but didn't add LR (or anything else) until the 5th. -Gravy Link to comment
tinkerer Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 the oddity of this game is that everyone has a different experience. while i am sure there is a controlling factor that we are missing that determines these outcomes, nobody seems to know what it is. we take in all the info we can and have a game plan for all the possibilities. Link to comment
GravyReef Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 the oddity of this game is that everyone has a different experience. while i am sure there is a controlling factor that we are missing that determines these outcomes, nobody seems to know what it is. we take in all the info we can and have a game plan for all the possibilities. Isn't that the truth. Wouldn't it be boring otherwise!! Update on the tank: Tested my RO/DI and it was clean, no nitrates. (whew) I think I'm starting to see some brown on the edges of a few of the corals. Though I might be seeing it because I want to see it! Will be more (or less ) apparent tomorrow... Update on the LED's: Heatsink & Mean Well drivers arrived today from RapidLED. Wow those guys are fast! I have the fan, power cords, wire, solder, etc. already. I have a few inquiries out on cutting the acrylic for the enclosure. The 6 3UPs are coming from LEDGroupBuy and should be here sometime around Feb 1st. Need to order the ALC for my ReefKeeper to control them. -Gravy Link to comment
cberglof Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I like your LED plan. Have you considered doing an in hood build, or do you want to go topless? Are you going to wire the blues separate from the whites on the 3 up to be able to control color? I am considering getting some of these to put in my bc14. I think you are cycling just fine. The bacteria starters don't always speed things up. I wouldn't put in any filter media, or change water until your nitrates drop and you get your diatom bloom. Shouldn't be too much longer. Link to comment
metrokat Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I was set upon a soft cycle but it did not happen that way. I did about $100 worth of water changes to no avail. I got diatoms within the first week. Link to comment
RedStang Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 the oddity of this game is that everyone has a different experience. while i am sure there is a controlling factor that we are missing that determines these outcomes, nobody seems to know what it is. we take in all the info we can and have a game plan for all the possibilities. Exactly. We can try to base our tanks of others experiences, and that's a good idea, but each of ours will behave differently. Guess that adds to the fun! Link to comment
GravyReef Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 I like your LED plan. Have you considered doing an in hood build, or do you want to go topless? Are you going to wire the blues separate from the whites on the 3 up to be able to control color? I am considering getting some of these to put in my bc14. I have the HQi model, so I don't really have a hood, just 2 plastic covers to cover the chambers, and a glass top. I don't currently use the glass top, so I have open water over display tank area. One of the fish I'm looking at eventually getting is a jumper though, so I'll probably have to go with a screen (since I don't like the glass...condensation, finger prints, etc.). I think if I did have a hood, I'd retro-fit the LED's to it. Just makes sense to use what's already there. Yep, the blues are being wired separate from the whites. With the ramp-up and ramp-down functions on the RKL light controller, I should be able to do a gradual sunrise/midday/early afternoon/sunset/moonlight/dark cycle. Anxious to play around with it. I'll be posting a walkthrough of how the build goes (with lots of pictures) once I get started. I was set upon a soft cycle but it did not happen that way. I did about $100 worth of water changes to no avail. I got diatoms within the first week. I was following along in your thread when you were having your very high ammonia readings. Hope your water clears up! Did you invent the word shmutz?? Exactly. We can try to base our tanks of others experiences, and that's a good idea, but each of ours will behave differently. Guess that adds to the fun! Yep! Well said. -Gravy Link to comment
16bio Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 When you run the light does the tank heat up alot? I am thinking of getting an hqi but cant decide between it or a 29 bio with leds, I like the hqi because I can have more of corals and even a clam but I am worried about heat. Link to comment
GravyReef Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 When you run the light does the tank heat up alot? I am thinking of getting an hqi but cant decide between it or a 29 bio with leds, I like the hqi because I can have more of corals and even a clam but I am worried about heat. They do create quite a bit of heat, but it's winter in Maine...and the room temperature in my office is in the mid-60's. When the MH's are on, the heaters just don't get used. I think this summer, when it's closer to 75-78 in the room, the MH's are going to be too warm. I'm actually switching over to LED's. Not necessarily due to heat....cost savings on electricity, bulbs, and ease of entry to Chamber 2 are the bigger reasons. The clamp that the MH mounts on is blocking easy access to Chamber 2. A standard bc29 with a retro-fit LED kit is probably the way to go. -Gravy Link to comment
RedStang Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 When you run the light does the tank heat up alot? I am thinking of getting an hqi but cant decide between it or a 29 bio with leds, I like the hqi because I can have more of corals and even a clam but I am worried about heat. With proper LED's you won't have a light limitation on the type of corals you keep. Link to comment
GravyReef Posted January 19, 2012 Author Share Posted January 19, 2012 ... I have a few inquiries out on cutting the acrylic for the enclosure. ... Ouch. First quote is $73 to cut a 12"x18" sheet of acrylic into 7 pieces. Might have to rethink things! -Gravy Link to comment
tinkerer Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 that's pretty steep just to cut something. i call shenaniganz! Link to comment
RedStang Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 What does it take to cut acrylic? Could you just buy a special blade for a table saw? Link to comment
GravyReef Posted January 20, 2012 Author Share Posted January 20, 2012 that's pretty steep just to cut something. i call shenaniganz! What does it take to cut acrylic? Could you just buy a special blade for a table saw? It was to laser cut it. Because of the cutout's (especially for the fan mount..it's an octagon with 4 screw holes), it needs to be precise, so I thought I'd see what it would cost to have the hard parts done by a professional! These guys just feed a pdf file drawing into the laser machine, and it cuts it out exactly to the dimensions....as if they were printing something on a laser printer. These guys have a lot of how-to videos: http://www.tapplastics.com/ . As a last resort I can just purchase the acrylic and try it myself. Anyway, I responded to the guy and let him know what I was doing. He changed the organization of the items to reduce the number of laser cuts and got the price down to $55. If I have him only cut the 3 parts with cutouts (2 sides and the top with the fan mount), it's $37. All prices include materials (1/4" black acrylic). I can get the remaining parts without cutouts from tapplastics, cut to size, for $10. I'm going to contact them about a quote on the entire project. If I lived on the west coast, I could walk into one of their showrooms and have a guy do it.....but I don't know if they'll do it via email. I was really hoping to find someone here on nano-reef that builds tops/sumps/fuges/etc. that would make it for me, but no luck yet. -Gravy Link to comment
GravyReef Posted January 21, 2012 Author Share Posted January 21, 2012 Update: Algae is here. Params (21 days since water went in, 14 days since seed LR was added): NH4: 0 ppm NO2: 1 ppm NO3: 25-50 ppm Ca: 450+ ppm KH: 8.15 dkH Phosphate: 0.25ppm Temp: 78o pH: 7.91 Salinity: 1.024 Couple water changes on order to help with the nitrates. Time for a small cuc (per John at ReefCleaners): 20 Dwarf Ceriths (tiny, grain of rice size) 8 Florida Ceriths 4 Large Nerites, 5 Small to Medium Nerites -Gravy Link to comment
cf21 Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Be ready for 150 snails when you open your bag of "20" dwarf ceriths haha. Just a heads up. Good luck with your tank! Link to comment
RedStang Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 Update: Algae is here. Params (21 days since water went in, 14 days since seed LR was added): NH4: 0 ppm NO2: 1 ppm NO3: 25-50 ppm Ca: 450+ ppm KH: 8.15 dkH Phosphate: 0.25ppm Temp: 78o pH: 7.91 Salinity: 1.024 Couple water changes on order to help with the nitrates. Time for a small cuc (per John at ReefCleaners): 20 Dwarf Ceriths (tiny, grain of rice size) 8 Florida Ceriths 4 Large Nerites, 5 Small to Medium Nerites -Gravy Sweet! Congrats! Link to comment
tinkerer Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 that is great! i added the CUC starters when i got diatoms, but if you got algae then fo sho. Link to comment
RedStang Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 that is great! i added the CUC starters when i got diatoms, but if you got algae then fo sho. +1 Link to comment
GravyReef Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 that is great! i added the CUC starters when i got diatoms, but if you got algae then fo sho. +1 It is diatoms. Brownish spots and patches everywhere. I think (thought?) diatoms were just another type of algae, which is why I said "Algae is here" but I should have been more specific! Cleanup crew will be here Thursday. -Gravy Link to comment
GravyReef Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 Couple silly questions for anyone following along: 1. When doing a water change, you'll mix up a quantity of saltwater (2-3 gallons for me) 24 hours prior to the change. When done, all the equipment you used for mixing: heater, powerhead, bucket, has a thin layer of salt "scum" on it. What does everyone do to clean this stuff up? First time, I actually cleaned/wiped/rinsed the gear off in the sink. Messy, took too long. I though maybe filling the bucket back up with hot water and running it for a while might do the trick. Looking for other ideas... 2. Do you keep a small amount of mixed salt water around to replace the amounts lost when you empty your skimmer cup, remove water for testing, etc.? -Gravy Link to comment
Johnstone610 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Looking great gravy! As far as water change water goes I like to keep a jug or tub or garbage can etc what ever volume you wish always ready to go. Just keep a power head and heater going in it at all times to match it to your tank params and then water changes can be done "on the fly" if you will. If you have the room it makes it super easy! Link to comment
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