Jason's reef bowl

[sammy33]

9 hours ago, Bluelobstor said:

I thought I would post a picture of the rock now that it is wet. I love how the bowl magnifies what is inside it. 

I think I have some ammonia in a bottle. Is that what everyone is using to cycle their bowls? If so, how much should I add? I haven't done anything since adding the live sand and rock, I still don't have the light going yet. I probably should work on that. 

I am diggin' your scape. Lookin' reefy! 😎👍

 

I really love the optics the bowl shape creates. When I set mine up I was dissapointed that I didn't have enough rock...then I filled it and was like...Yes! 

 

I used Fritz Turbo Start 900 for the bacteria source on all the tanks I have set up recently. I also throw in like a 1/4 cube of frozen mysis shrimp as an ammonia source to feed the bacteria.

[Bluelobstor]

7 hours ago, sammy33 said:

I am diggin' your scape. Lookin' reefy! 😎👍

 

I really love the optics the bowl shape creates. When I set mine up I was dissapointed that I didn't have enough rock...then I filled it and was like...Yes! 

 

I used Fritz Turbo Start 900 for the bacteria source on all the tanks I have set up recently. I also throw in like a 1/4 cube of frozen mysis shrimp as an ammonia source to feed the bacteria.

Thanks and I'll keep the fritz turbo start in mind. I thought about just putting some food in there and let it break down. The ammonia I have is several years old and was stored in the garage.

Can bottled ammonia go bad? Also here is a pic of tank with lights. I adjusted it some to match what I see.

[natalia_la_loca]

Looks good!! 

 

Based on a quick google search, ammonia does get weaker over time, but it should still work for cycling if the bottle is well sealed.

[sammy33]

Which light are you using? I looked through the thread again but could not find any info about the light? 

[Bluelobstor]

11 minutes ago, sammy33 said:

Which light are you using? I looked through the thread again but could not find any info about the light? 

Par 38 12w tuna blue by ABI 

[Bluelobstor]

It's so tempting to buy something right now. Tidal Gardens has got a livesale going on through reef2reef. I had no intentions of putting a green star polyp in here, but this one looks so cool to me with the purple that it has. But I'm going to hold off for now. I really need to check my parameters.

[natalia_la_loca]

Yeahh, waiting is a good move. There will be other sales, Tidal Gardens has them pretty often.

 

Btw since you’re thinking about the fun part (coral acquisition), it’s not too early to think about pest prevention/control if you haven’t started already. I’ve had nasties come in on corals from just about every company I’ve ordered from.

[Bluelobstor]

1 hour ago, natalia_la_loca said:

Yeah, waiting is a good move. There will be other sales, Tidal Gardens has them pretty often.

 

Btw since you’re thinking about the fun part (coral acquisition), it’s not too early to think about pest prevention/control if you haven’t started already. I’ve had nasties come in on corals from just about every company I’ve ordered from.

Yea it was hard but I decided against getting anything. It's funny you should ask about pests as I have been meaning to post some more updates as I have been reading some about coral dips and decided to buy some Melafix pond to dip with. It's 4 times as strong as Melafix marine so I'll just use 1/4 the dosage, otherwise they are the same. 

I was looking at Bayer but don't know if I want to mess with it and I might get some type of iodine dip as well.

 

You're right about other sales and next weekend WWC has a live sale and they are about an hour from my house. Not sure if cycle will be completed by then but may get something from there if I think it is.

[Bluelobstor]

I had some aged Ammonia that I was going to cycle with but now I'm thinking I won't. It says it has surfactants in it so I'm thinking I want something different so I ordered some ammonia from Amazon that the ingredients say is just Ammonia. However I had already put some of the ammonia in there that I had, about a ml of it, but when I checked the ammonia level it showed 0. I then decided to check nitrite and it showed 0 as well, then I decided to check nitrate and it also showed 0. So now I'm not sure if everything already got converted or not enough was out in to register. I'm leaning towards the latter because I have nothing to consume nitrates unless there is bacteria in the sand. I also checked phosphate which showed .25.

 

All of these test were done with API test kits with an exp date of 2020. Not sure if this is affecting the results or not? Oh, I also checked PH with API as well and it shows 8.0. API is super easy to use but I hate looking at colors.

I'm interested in hearing everybody's thoughts

 

[Bluelobstor]

Quick update on some stuff I bought that I'm waiting to come in. For food, I bought some gonipower, coral feast, and Benepet's benereef. I also picked up some calibrating agents for my refractometers and a couple of frag racks. Below is a picture of the frag rack. I also picked up some long syringes for coral feeding and some long tweezers.

[natalia_la_loca]

1 hour ago, Bluelobstor said:

Yea it was hard but I decided against getting anything. It's funny you should ask about pests as I have been meaning to post some more updates as I have been reading some about coral dips and decided to buy some Melafix pond to dip with. It's 4 times as strong as Melafix marine so I'll just use 1/4 the dosage, otherwise they are the same. 

I was looking at Bayer but don't know if I want to mess with it and I might get some type of iodine dip as well.

 

You're right about other sales and next weekend WWC has a live sale and they are about an hour from my house. Not sure if cycle will be completed by then but may get something from there if I think it is.

 

I don’t have experience with Melafix, so I can’t speak to that. I used to use Bayer and I don’t recommend it. It’s milky so you don’t see what’s coming off the frag. Also, one time I decimated the population of copepods and isopods in my reefbowl because a little Bayer got in on some new frags, even though I rinsed the frags thoroughly. I use and recommend potassium chloride (polyplab reef primer)…it’s very gentle on corals and very harsh on pests.

 

WWC being an hour away is nice!! 

 

Good move to ditch the ammonia with surfactants. Probably won’t hurt anything, but it’s best to be safe with that.

 

The fact that your test kits are API and expired—either or both could be influencing the results. A lot of people say API kits are not the best. I use Salifert kits and have been happy with them.

 

Nice looking frag rack and great coral food combo!

[Bluelobstor]

1 hour ago, natalia_la_loca said:

 

I don’t have experience with Melafix, so I can’t speak to that. I used to use Bayer and I don’t recommend it. It’s milky so you don’t see what’s coming off the frag. Also, one time I decimated the population of copepods and isopods in my reefbowl because a little Bayer got in on some new frags, even though I rinsed the frags thoroughly. I use and recommend potassium chloride (polyplab reef primer)…it’s very gentle on corals and very harsh on pests.

 

WWC being an hour away is nice!! 

 

Good move to ditch the ammonia with surfactants. Probably won’t hurt anything, but it’s best to be safe with that.

 

The fact that your test kits are API and expired—either or both could be influencing the results. A lot of people say API kits are not the best. I use Salifert kits and have been happy with them.

 

Nice looking frag rack and great coral food combo!

I've heard great things about potassium chloride so I might pick up some of that as well. I don't remember if Melafix kills the pests ot just stuns them but heard it is gentle and can help with potential bacterial infections and may even help with BJD. 

 

Yea not sure what to think about API. They are not very precise but that's not to say they aren't accurate. I am am going to get something new just not sure what. I have some Red Sea test kits as well that haven't been used but may be exp as well. I know I bought them over a year ago.

 

WWC has a lot of nice stuff. Not sure who all has experience with Top Shelf Aquatics but I'm not too far from them either. Never bought from there but they have a lot of nice stuff online.

 

I hope the food and frag racks work out. I bought the coral feast specifically for torch corals as I know of at least 1 person that swears by that with their torches.

[Bluelobstor]

I did some more tests today. I haven't added any ammonia but now the test shows 1ppm ammonia 0 nitrite, and 10-20 nitrate with expired API tests. I also checked calcium and it was between 360-380 according to API and with an expired red sea test it was 375-385 depending on when you think the color change took place. I tested dkh with API and it showed 6-8 and with a Red Sea test kit, this one wasn't expired and it showed about 8.4. I have a mag and calcium test that isn't expired but didn't realize it until later and didn't want to test again. I really hate having to determine when the color change occurred. I'm considering the Hanna test kits but they are fairly expensive. How easy is it to see the color change with the Salifert test kits? 

[natalia_la_loca]

I considered Hanna kits at one point but was spooked by bad reviews. Really though, the best hobby grade test kit is the one you use regularly, so maybe best not to overthink it. Which is to say, your API kits are probably good enough to get an idea where you’re at with cycling. I find the Salifert kits easy enough to read. It’s not an ICP level of precision, but it’s good enough for everyday use.

[Bluelobstor]

28 minutes ago, natalia_la_loca said:

I considered Hanna kits at one point but was spooked by bad reviews. Really though, the best hobby grade test kit is the one you use regularly, so maybe best not to overthink it. Which is to say, your API kits are probably good enough to get an idea where you’re at with cycling. I find the Salifert kits easy enough to read. It’s not an ICP level of precision, but it’s good enough for everyday use.

You're probably right about over thinking it.

[geekreef_05]

I like Hanna kits cause they give you a number. Takes out any guess-work or interpretation of colour matching. 

[Bluelobstor]

1 hour ago, geekreef_05 said:

I like Hanna kits cause they give you a number. Takes out any guess-work or interpretation of colour matching. 

That's why I was looking at them but they are expensive. I may get one for ULR phosphate and use what I have for now for everything else.

[Bluelobstor]

I did some more tests last night with a new kit from API. I figure it's good enough for cycling. I'm going to do back to back test tonight with the old kit and the new one. If they're the same then I will use the old kit but I didn't know if I could trust it and the new kits are not that expensive.

 

Ammonia showed to be 1-2

Nitrite was .50

Nitrate was 5-10

 

I need to check the ph. I actually have an electronic tester that I think needs to be recalibrated that I will work on doing, but I think it's going to be a little low at around 8

 

I haven't seen any diatoms yet but not sure if they will show up during the cycle. I do think I have some GHA growing. Since I have nothing in the tank, I'm wondering if it will be okay to add some hydrogen peroxide directly to the tank to kill the algae? I'm not sure if it would affect the cycle or if the rocks/sand will soak any of it up that could leech back in? 

 

 

[natalia_la_loca]

Seems like the cycle is cycling, based on those numbers. I wouldn’t expect to see diatoms this early, and I definitely wouldn’t expect to see GHA at this stage from rock that’s been in storage for a long time and commercial live sand. Can you get a pic of it?  

 

Peroxide might temporarily mess up/delay the cycle, but it won’t stay in the system long enough to cause any serious problems if you decide to use it.

[Bluelobstor]

1 hour ago, natalia_la_loca said:

Seems like the cycle is cycling, based on those numbers. I wouldn’t expect to see diatoms this early, and I definitely wouldn’t expect to see GHA at this stage from rock that’s been in storage for a long time and commercial live sand. Can you get a pic of it?  

 

Peroxide might temporarily mess up/delay the cycle, but it won’t stay in the system long enough to cause any serious problems if you decide to use it.

I'll get a picture when I get home. I'm surprised to see any as well. I thought I was seeing some old dead algae still attached to rocks even though I scrubbed them but some looks like it has gotten bigger

[Bluelobstor]

Here is a pic of the algae. I'm assuming hair algae and it def looks like it is growing. There is some more in other spots. 

[natalia_la_loca]

6 hours ago, Bluelobstor said:

Here is a pic of the algae. I'm assuming hair algae and it def looks like it is growing. There is some more in other spots. 

 

 

Is it green? Would you be able to get a pic of some of it outside the bowl and/or under regular light? I vaguely recall reading that bryopsis can live for a while on dry rock, but this doesn’t look like bryopsis.

[Bluelobstor]

1 hour ago, natalia_la_loca said:

 

Is it green? Would you be able to get a pic of some of it outside the bowl and/or under regular light? I vaguely recall reading that bryopsis can live for a while on dry rock, but this doesn’t look like bryopsis.

It's hard to tell what the light but it looks kind of grayish green. I'll try this scrape some off and take a picture outside the tank. 

It is strange seeing it grow. I would expect to see some brown diatoms and then some green algae. I just wasn't sure if you had to finish the cycle first to see the diatoms or not. 

 

What makes it even weirder is these rocks have been dry for over a year.

[natalia_la_loca]

Yeah that’s what i was thinking. It’s really strange to have GHA growing at this stage. Was there GHA on those rocks at the time you broke down the previous tank?

[Bluelobstor]

Honestly, I don't remember. I thought they were in a non-lit sump. I do know that right before I used them they did have some type of algae on it that I had to scrub outside with a wire brush and garden hose.