365 Day All-in-One Nano Reef Challenge 🏁

[This guy is extra salty]

On 3/8/2020 at 4:48 PM, devaji108 said:

Did we ever get the list of contestants? I am not fallowing every build and would love to spy...errr i mean  check in  on all the great builds going on. 😄

I call it lurking..

[devaji108]

On 3/10/2020 at 9:14 AM, Christopher Marks said:

I’ll have it posted very soon! Work has been kicking my butt this past week. 

 

we totally understand,

at least you are getting work with all this covid 19 crap going on it's cutting into my reefing funds.

but this shall pass too!

[Chadicus Meridius]

I need help with cycling with bio spira how does it work do I just add in biospira or do I have to add a food source?

 

please help

[Coolbreeze]

1 hour ago, Seea said:

I need help with cycling with bio spira how does it work do I just add in biospira or do I have to add a food source?

 

please help

Add a bottle and a source of ammonia. I used Dr Tim's Ammonia in the past. Wait two weeks for the cycle to finish and do a 50% water change.

[Chadicus Meridius]

3 minutes ago, Coolbreeze said:

Add a bottle and a source of ammonia. I used Dr Tim's Ammonia in the past. Week two weeks for the cycle to finish and do a 50% water change.

Ok, thanks. Is a frozen shrimp a good source of ammonia. What’s another good source, like fish food is that a good source?

[banasophia]

39 minutes ago, Seea said:

I need help with cycling with bio spira how does it work do I just add in biospira or do I have to add a food source?

 

please help

I add the BioSpira (and at least one other beneficial bacteria source such as live sand or Nutri-Seawater, which also has beneficial bacteria, just as back up in case one of the products was damaged by temperature extremes during shipping/storage), then if all equipment is functioning properly, a few days to a week later I check my parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) to be sure everything looks fine and add one or two hardy fish... the fish are the ammonia source for the bacteria you added. 

[Tamberav]

40 minutes ago, Seea said:

Ok, thanks. Is a frozen shrimp a good source of ammonia. What’s another good source, like fish food is that a good source?

I have used fish food and shrimp before...I prefer fish food tbh...shrimps get slimey. If you use a shrimp it needs to be in a bag so you can remove it when it gets gross.

 

Dry rock I assume?

[Chadicus Meridius]

14 minutes ago, banasophia said:

I add the BioSpira (and at least one other beneficial bacteria source such as live sand or Nutri-Seawater, which also has beneficial bacteria, just as back up in case one of the products was damaged by temperature extremes during shipping/storage), then if all equipment is functioning properly, a few days to a week later I check my parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) to be sure everything looks fine and add one or two hardy fish... the fish are the ammonia source for the bacteria you added. 

Ok thank you .

 

Just now, Tamberav said:

I have used fish food and shrimp before...I prefer fish food tbh...shrimps get slimey. If you use a shrimp it needs to be in a bag so you can remove it when it gets gross.

 

Dry rock I assume?

Yea I have dry rock, but. I plan to add 2-3 live rocks I was just waiting to get the water, sand, and dry rock in. 

[Tamberav]

4 minutes ago, Seea said:

Ok thank you .

 

Yea I have dry rock, but. I plan to add 2-3 live rocks I was just waiting to get the water, sand, and dry rock in. 

The live rock will help seed which will be awesome. 

 

Don't add fish with ammonia still present is the big thing. No matter what way you do it.

 

 

[Chadicus Meridius]

1 minute ago, Tamberav said:

The live rock will help seed which will be awesome. 

 

Don't add fish with ammonia still present is the big thing. 

 

 

Yea I just need to get to the lfs to Buy them. The live rock is $4.99 per lbs, pretty good price imo.

[banasophia]

21 minutes ago, banasophia said:

I add the BioSpira (and at least one other beneficial bacteria source such as live sand or Nutri-Seawater, which also has beneficial bacteria, just as back up in case one of the products was damaged by temperature extremes during shipping/storage), then if all equipment is functioning properly, a few days to a week later I check my parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) to be sure everything looks fine and add one or two hardy fish... the fish are the ammonia source for the bacteria you added. 

Yes, to be clear, the ammonia and nitrite need to be zero when you add the fish, if you do it this way.

[Chadicus Meridius]

3 minutes ago, banasophia said:

Yes, to be clear, the ammonia and nitrite need to be zero when you add the fish, if you do it this way.

Yea I have a test kit to test the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels. 
I just got to be patient.

I also will be picking up the biospira this week.

[Peaches]

Uh oh, this could make stocking my tank an interesting experience. Are you guys having issues like this where you are

[Ratvan]

11 hours ago, Peaches said:

Uh oh, this could make stocking my tank an interesting experience. Are you guys having issues like this where you are

Not as extreme yet but a lot of LFS's near me are operating as online stores only and have shut doors on the bricks and mortar stores

[devaji108]

well I dont have any LFS any where around me so it's all ways been online shopping for me. but if things continue  to get real bad they may stop shipping  so other essential goods get to the ppl who need it. 

 

strange times,

be well my reefing friends!

[Ratvan]

2 hours ago, devaji108 said:

well I dont have any LFS any where around me so it's all ways been online shopping for me. but if things continue  to get real bad they may stop shipping  so other essential goods get to the ppl who need it. 

 

strange times,

be well my reefing friends!

All deliveries here are delayed by an estimated 1-2 weeks already

[SaltyGallon]

8 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

All deliveries here are delayed by an estimated 1-2 weeks already

Is that deliveries of coral to LFS' or general deliveries to homes mate? I've found Amazon and Royal Mail to be okay up till now. I was in my LFS at lunch and they were saying they'd had a Taiwan shipping cancelled today.

[Ratvan]

4 minutes ago, Azur said:

Is that deliveries of coral to LFS' or general deliveries to homes mate? I've found Amazon and Royal Mail to be okay up till now. I was in my LFS at lunch and they were saying they'd had a Taiwan shipping cancelled today.

Got a text from PetsatHome as well as a couple of online vendors. Due to high demand blah blah blah delays, bleh blah. 

[Coolbreeze]

Just received my order today from two different online suppliers. One item was missing from one of my order and I am now checking to see what happened ☹️

[Chadicus Meridius]

Sorry I keep asking about cycling I just want to ask if this works. So if I add a frozen shrimp and then put in bio spira am I doing it right?

[banasophia]

38 minutes ago, Seea said:

Sorry I keep asking about cycling I just want to ask if this works. So if I add a frozen shrimp and then put in bio spira am I doing it right?

Yes, that way will work. The shrimp is your ammonia source to feed the bacteria. Not sure how long you’re supposed to leave it in though. 

[Chadicus Meridius]

3 minutes ago, banasophia said:

Yes, that way will work. The shrimp is your ammonia source to feed the bacteria. Not sure how long you’re supposed to leave it in though. 

I watched a melevs reef video he said “rule of thumb is 3 days” TySm.

should I let the shrimp stay in the tank for a day before adding the biospira?

[Gravity]

Three days seems a bit short. You will need to leave it in long enough to produce nitrate. I would suggest somewhere around 40 ppm nitrate. 

[SliceGolfer]

@Seea Why are you posting your tank questions here? Post them in your 365 Day Challenge build thread 🙂🙂🙂

[devaji108]

2 hours ago, Seea said:

Sorry I keep asking about cycling I just want to ask if this works. So if I add a frozen shrimp and then put in bio spira am I doing it right?

 

shrimp will work but put it on a mesh bag or something it will get slimy and fall apart, leaving you with more in the tank than you want...

 

I personally like pure ammonia cleaner and easier to work with. just make sure you get PURE  ammonia with nothing else.  can be found in hardware stores. or get a bottle of Dr. tims that is what I use. 

 

dose till you reach 2PPM go slow and test along the way to get there.  we are talking about drops not table spoons here  once you're at 2ppm add your biospira and wait a few hours and test. depending on the type of bottled bac. you used -some work faster than others - in a few days 3-6ish you should be down to 0          ( keep in mind API ammonia test keeps will always read .25 )

 

once you are at 0 dose ammonia again. if tank and bring it back to 0 with in 24hr you are "cycled"  that does not mean dump a ton of fish and corals in at once. still go slow. start with a few easy corals and a small CUC and slowly increase the bio load over the next few months.

 

good luck and remember to have fun along the way!