nsousa Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 Well after a long Hiatus away from the saltwater hobby I got back in with this new Fluval 13.5 modded tank. Below is a list of mods i have. i just started my tank this past weekend. Im going with raw shrimp method for cycling since ive had great luck in the past with this method. 1) fluval evo 13.5 2) intank media basket for both chambers 3)cobalt 50w heater 4) Sicce 0.5 pump 5)jebao rw2 (its the smallest one they have) 6)AI prime hd with 18" flex arm 7) smart micro ATO with eshopps 2 gallon acrylic reservoir. 8) Aquaforest Reef salt 9)10lbs of dry rock 10) dry aragonite salifert test kit (threw shrimp in 2 days ago hoping tomorrow will have some ammonia) 1)ph 8.15 2)ammonia 0ppm 3)nitrites 0ppm 4)nitrates 0ppm Im using aquaforest reef salt and will be doing daily drops of Aquaforest Bio S when i get a trace of ammonia. Looking forward to see where ill be in a few months!! As for the aquascaping i took my time with building this cave which has opening from all directions! Big Shout out to Marcelo From FragBox.com who has helped me get most of my supplies and equipment! 3 1 Quote Link to comment
CarolinaShoreReef Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 Really digging the aquascape. Good gob! 1 Quote Link to comment
nsousa Posted April 5, 2018 Author Share Posted April 5, 2018 Thanks!! Here are some other angles of the scape. 5 Quote Link to comment
MrJoel Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 I will be keeping an eye on this thread. Looks like a good starting point. Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 Love the aquascape. Your plan sounds great. I love aquaforest reef salt. The most consistent I've used to date and it mixes so quickly. Where are you located? Quote Link to comment
nsousa Posted April 5, 2018 Author Share Posted April 5, 2018 5 hours ago, Clown79 said: Love the aquascape. Your plan sounds great. I love aquaforest reef salt. The most consistent I've used to date and it mixes so quickly. Where are you located? Thx, i havent used it long enough to give an opinion but ive read nothing but good reviews about there products. Agree on the mixing super quick. Im located in Toronto. Quote Link to comment
nsousa Posted April 5, 2018 Author Share Posted April 5, 2018 Been 3 days with raw shrimp to cycle tank. Usually by now i would have some ammonia. Really weird my past experiences 3rd day i would have ammonia in the tank??? Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 I figured you were in Ont. With fragbox being your source. Not sure why the shrimp isn't working either. Has it started to break down yet? Quote Link to comment
nsousa Posted April 5, 2018 Author Share Posted April 5, 2018 38 minutes ago, Clown79 said: I figured you were in Ont. With fragbox being your source. Not sure why the shrimp isn't working either. Has it started to break down yet? Oh yeah. Seems like 1/4" of slime all the way around. I had the heater set at 80. Just before i left for i set it to 82. When i get home ill do ammonia test again. I used dry rock and dry sand so it should be showing something by now. Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 55 minutes ago, nsousa said: Oh yeah. Seems like 1/4" of slime all the way around. I had the heater set at 80. Just before i left for i set it to 82. When i get home ill do ammonia test again. I used dry rock and dry sand so it should be showing something by now. Normally yes with a shrimp breaking down. Give it time. Quote Link to comment
NanoAaron Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 yowzas- nice mods. how come you chose to get both media racks? whatchya gunna run in them? Quote Link to comment
nsousa Posted April 5, 2018 Author Share Posted April 5, 2018 18 minutes ago, Clown79 said: Normally yes with a shrimp breaking down. Give it time. Yeah im in no rush. Just normally would have some ammonia by now. Quote Link to comment
nsousa Posted April 5, 2018 Author Share Posted April 5, 2018 18 minutes ago, NanoAaron said: yowzas- nice mods. how come you chose to get both media racks? whatchya gunna run in them? Not sure yet. In first chamber floss, chemi-pur nano and purigen, 2nd rack floss at bottom not sure what else. I notice that last chamber before pump catches a lot off debris. Quote Link to comment
NanoAaron Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 3 minutes ago, nsousa said: Not sure yet. In first chamber floss, chemi-pur nano and purigen, 2nd rack floss at bottom not sure what else. I notice that last chamber before pump catches a lot off debris. Yeah I noticed that too.. Right now I have the stock foam but am running a small media reactor with carbon in it. Pump is in the third chamber and return leads back to chamber one. If i felt like dropping a bunch o cash on the media basket I would get the chamber one media basket, run similar filtration as what you described, and then put the reactor pump in chamber 2. lots more room in there! Best of luck on your tank! Looks great so far Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 Running floss, purigen and carbon is a great idea. I find in aio's alot of detritus builds in the second chambers. I vacuum my first and second chambers weekly so it doesn't become an issue. Quote Link to comment
nsousa Posted April 5, 2018 Author Share Posted April 5, 2018 51 minutes ago, NanoAaron said: Yeah I noticed that too.. Right now I have the stock foam but am running a small media reactor with carbon in it. Pump is in the third chamber and return leads back to chamber one. If i felt like dropping a bunch o cash on the media basket I would get the chamber one media basket, run similar filtration as what you described, and then put the reactor pump in chamber 2. lots more room in there! Best of luck on your tank! Looks great so far Which media reactor are you running? You have pics Quote Link to comment
NanoAaron Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 just a cheapo off amazon.. think its an aquatop mr20..? Quote Link to comment
MSunkin23 Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 I really like your scape. Thats how they should be! Quote Link to comment
nsousa Posted April 5, 2018 Author Share Posted April 5, 2018 42 minutes ago, MSunkin23 said: I really like your scape. Thats how they should be! Appreciate that!! That time really paid off. Im extremely happy with it. Quote Link to comment
nsousa Posted April 5, 2018 Author Share Posted April 5, 2018 Ammonia finally arrived!! Must have been me turning up the heater to 82 it was previously at 78. Salifert kit shows some where between 0.25 and 0.50 Where moving along now tomorrow im going start adding 1 drop of aquaforest bio S every 2 days. It say 1 drop everyday for every 27 gallons since mine is half that im going to stretch it every 2 day until nitrites drop. Quote Link to comment
nsousa Posted April 5, 2018 Author Share Posted April 5, 2018 Moved the jebao up a bit. Also have some pics with water and our slimey friend whos decaying in there. Also i modded the ato tube. Didnt like the big clear pipe it brought so i made it blend it in alot more? Also note the hole i made in my 2nd chamber of the intank basket to accomadate the ai prime bracket. 2 Quote Link to comment
StephLionfish Posted April 6, 2018 Share Posted April 6, 2018 Awesome scape! Looking forward to seeing this one Quote Link to comment
nsousa Posted April 15, 2018 Author Share Posted April 15, 2018 Just thought i would update my progress so far. Water parameters are as of yesterday Ammonia 0.25ppm Nitrites 2.0pp Nitrates 50ppm (not sure why so high) Will they drop as cycle ends? Im hoping with in 2 weeks cycle should be done 1 Quote Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted April 15, 2018 Share Posted April 15, 2018 really like the rockscape. great job with the build so far Quote Link to comment
JBM Posted April 15, 2018 Share Posted April 15, 2018 4 hours ago, nsousa said: Just thought i would update my progress so far. Water parameters are as of yesterday Ammonia 0.25ppm Nitrites 2.0pp Nitrates 50ppm (not sure why so high) Will they drop as cycle ends? Im hoping with in 2 weeks cycle should be done Are you still using Aquaforest Bio S ? Ive never had good results with any "bottled bacteria" ever. Maybe you got a good bottle, or this product works. To me it seems as though your cycle is almost done. Your ammonia, and nitrites have risen and are falling. On 4/5 you had .2-.5 ammonia, everything else 0.0 10 days later you have .25 ammonia, .2 nitrite & 50ppm nitrate. Give it another week, mix up your favorite salt in a batch net to 40-50% of your tank volume and change that water. nitrates are removed by water changes and macro algae...the fun part begins 2 Quote Link to comment
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