Hexadron's Nitoralis [Retired]

[Mstefa1]

Kat needs attention too. JDH, your thread is stealing post views from her.

[Deckoz2302]

Pffft she be alright. Lol

[Hexadron]

Kat needs attention too. JDH, your thread is stealing post views from her.

 

I don't think that's possible. LOL

 

Pffft she be alright. Lol

 

She can bring some party in here if she wants

[Deckoz2302]

Ok so what's up j. Cycle done yet? Lol

[Hexadron]

Ok so what's up j. Cycle done yet? Lol

 

Ugh no. I thought I was maybe being impatient, but technically i started the tank before the thread. It's been 16 days, and I have been "ghost feeding" nearly every day, and still NO ammonia.

 

I ended up purchasing Ammonium Chloride and an API Test Kit for Ammonia, thinking maybe my ELOS one is bad? The other two Nitrite and Nitrate seem to be working fine. It's a bit frustrating, but the only other thing I can think of is I have established nitrifying bacteria, but I am not producing enough ammonia for it to register on the test (maybe it's working a little too well)

 

Here's my parameters. I started recording the day after my tank established.

 

 

I will for sure post more updates once I have something new to report

[JR!]

we need more pics.

[Deckoz2302]

How much are you feeding?

[ESJ]

I don't know why fish stores don't sell little bottles of ammonia. I used Blue Ribbon ammonia I bought at True Value. I had to buy a gallon of the stuff! I just added a little (1/8 tsp) throughout the day until my test kit read 3.0. After that, my cycle took a little over a week. Clean and fast cycle.

 

Edit: I should mention I used dry rock and live sand.

[Mstefa1]

I've never used dry rock so perhaps my methods are different... But I'm not a fan of artificially forcing the cycle. I prefer to let it go naturally. Now if your 3 weeks in and haven't seen anything then drop a fish in and monitor the new 2 weeks. Your fish will be fine and that will rock the cycle.

 

If using live rock over dry rock like I normally due I use the signs of the tank to clue me in. When the pods come out your probably 3/4 of the way there. When you get diatoms, your at the end. When the diatoms disappear your probably done (or almost done).

 

I've seen a lot of people make the mistake of ordering a big CUC online and dropping them in the tank right after the cycle. The problem is they don't have anything to clean up and so some of the CUC may perish. Or the personal starts feeding the tank just so they have something to eat. I rarely intentionally feed my CUC unless I am trying to distract them to feed my sun coral.

[Hexadron]

we need more pics.

 

I suppose I could take some tonight. It would be pretty boring. Some rock and sand in a tank I'll do my best.

 

How much are you feeding?

 

I was feeding every day a small pinch (maybe about 6 pellets) doing this for about 2 weeks. I also basted the sand where the food would settle to help it decompose/dissolve (proper word?) and get in the water column a bit faster.

 

I don't know why fish stores don't sell little bottles of ammonia. I used Blue Ribbon ammonia I bought at True Value. I had to buy a gallon of the stuff! I just added a little (1/8 tsp) throughout the day until my test kit read 3.0. After that, my cycle took a little over a week. Clean and fast cycle.

 

Edit: I should mention I used dry rock and live sand.

 

I did look at the LFS before I even started, just to have on hand, and I also checked at my local grocery store, Canadian Tire, Home Depot and Wal-Mart and the only ones I found had surfactants in them.

 

I ended up ordering the Dr. Tims one because it was the cheapest I could find. Funny thing is Amazon.com shipping was about $8 and from Dr.Tim's website was $56.00!!! Obviously I ordered through Amazon.

 

Thanks for the input ESJ. I wish I could have found it/ordered the ammonia sooner, but if anything, the bacteria will have a food source after the ammonia dissipates if the food ever turns to anything?! haha

 

I've never used dry rock so perhaps my methods are different... But I'm not a fan of artificially forcing the cycle. I prefer to let it go naturally. Now if your 3 weeks in and haven't seen anything then drop a fish in and monitor the new 2 weeks. Your fish will be fine and that will rock the cycle.

 

If using live rock over dry rock like I normally due I use the signs of the tank to clue me in. When the pods come out your probably 3/4 of the way there. When you get diatoms, your at the end. When the diatoms disappear your probably done (or almost done).

 

I've seen a lot of people make the mistake of ordering a big CUC online and dropping them in the tank right after the cycle. The problem is they don't have anything to clean up and so some of the CUC may perish. Or the personal starts feeding the tank just so they have something to eat. I rarely intentionally feed my CUC unless I am trying to distract them to feed my sun coral.

 

I prefer not to add a fish for three reasons.

 

1. In case there is a sudden rise in ammonia, and the fish suffers

2. I am still not decided on which fish I prefer, and am not willing to go back and forth to the LFS

3. I plan to quarantine any and all fish for a period of 30-40 days before adding to the display.

 

I am not worried to wait a bit before adding a CUC anyways, but the longer the cycle takes to initiate, the longer I have to wait overall. I am getting a bit impatient, not having any ammonia in over two weeks, so it's time to "force" it as you say. I don't think it matters where the source is, as long as it is pure.

 

Sometimes I wish I went with a slab of liverock just to help the cycle, but still glad I went 100% base rock. I am not taking any chances with pests. Just my preference.

 

If I feed my CUC, it will be something like once a week. I will not be having a very large CUC.

 

---

 

Thanks for all the feedback guys! Like I mentioned, I'll try and post some [boring] pics maybe tonight. Hopefully more exciting things coming soon!

[Mstefa1]

 

I suppose I could take some tonight. It would be pretty boring. Some rock and sand in a tank I'll do my best.

 

Well that's more than I have in my tank if it makes you feel any better! lol

I prefer not to add a fish for three reasons.

 

1. In case there is a sudden rise in ammonia, and the fish suffers

2. I am still not decided on which fish I prefer, and am not willing to go back and forth to the LFS

3. I plan to quarantine any and all fish for a period of 30-40 days before adding to the display.

 

Good luck on the QT. I personally don't think QT on a nano is necessarily. Primarily because I would decide on the fish from the beginning and slowly introduce them 1 at a time (or pair if same species). Since in your tank you will probably only support 2 fish in your 10 gallon, any issue that you may have would crop up sooner than later. It's not like your adding more fish to a long established tank and your worried about getting the others sick. Now if a fish died and you were replacing it then I would consider QT but not in the beginning stages of a tank. I'm sure I'm wrong here but ick or other fish disease probably won't affect inverts or corals unless you medicated in the display which would be a bad idea.

 

I also think fish are vital to the cycle.

 

I am not worried to wait a bit before adding a CUC anyways, but the longer the cycle takes to initiate, the longer I have to wait overall. I am getting a bit impatient, not having any ammonia in over two weeks, so it's time to "force" it as you say. I don't think it matters where the source is, as long as it is pure.

 

 

Sometimes I wish I went with a slab of liverock just to help the cycle, but still glad I went 100% base rock. I am not taking any chances with pests. Just my preference.

 

If I feed my CUC, it will be something like once a week. I will not be having a very large CUC.

 

---

 

Thanks for all the feedback guys! Like I mentioned, I'll try and post some [boring] pics maybe tonight. Hopefully more exciting things coming soon!

With the CUC, many purchase online so that's why they get them all at once. Having the ability to get them locally has it's benefits.

 

When you drop a few frags in that are attached to a piece of live rock and not a plug you will get the benefits of actual live rock assuming it survives the dip process. I've never been worried about pests in the live rock as I've never received any bad ones. That's not to say the chance isn't their but you have just as great of a chance of pests making it through your dip process with corals so unless you plan on QT them. The biggest pest being algae. I don't have any algae that just decided to grow. It all came in on frags and stays locally to the frag it came in on.

 

Good luck!

[SeahawkReefer]

So if u are going to qt, are you setting up a qt tank and cycling that now too?

[eitallent]

Hi JDH. I am just finished with a cycle in my 125 g. My ammonia never got above 1 ppm according to API test. I would have missed it completely if I had not started testing right away and everyday b/c it was only present (detectable) for 2 days.

 

Unless I am missing something my understanding of the Nitrogen cycle is that bacteria takes NH3/NH4 and process it into NO2 and then another set of bacteria takes the NO2 and excreets NO3 which can then be processed by macro algae and other organisms in the system. In order for you to have measurable NO2 and NO3 you must have had a small amount of ammonia in there. So your bacteria are already working. It takes time to build up the microbiological life in the system but it may be that you are farther along than you think!

 

Good luck!

[metrokat]

 

She can bring some party in here if she wants

Somebody called?

 

Good luck on the QT. I personally don't think QT on a nano is necessarily. Primarily because I would decide on the fish from the beginning and slowly introduce them 1 at a time (or pair if same species). Since in your tank you will probably only support 2 fish in your 10 gallon, any issue that you may have would crop up sooner than later. It's not like your adding more fish to a long established tank and your worried about getting the others sick. Now if a fish died and you were replacing it then I would consider QT but not in the beginning stages of a tank. I'm sure I'm wrong here but ick or other fish disease probably won't affect inverts or corals unless you medicated in the display which would be a bad idea.

 

I also think fish are vital to the cycle.

I agree with no QT in this case as long as both fish are bought from the same store at the same time and introduced to the tank at the same time.

 

I am not worried to wait a bit before adding a CUC anyways, but the longer the cycle takes to initiate, the longer I have to wait overall. I am getting a bit impatient, not having any ammonia in over two weeks, so it's time to "force" it as you say. I don't think it matters where the source is, as long as it is pure.

A clean up crew must have something to clean up so waiting is entirely logical.

[Hexadron]

Well that's more than I have in my tank if it makes you feel any better! lol

 

LOL, I wouldn't even doubt if your cycle finished before mine though *sigh*

 

Good luck on the QT. I personally don't think QT on a nano is necessarily. Primarily because I would decide on the fish from the beginning and slowly introduce them 1 at a time (or pair if same species). Since in your tank you will probably only support 2 fish in your 10 gallon, any issue that you may have would crop up sooner than later. It's not like your adding more fish to a long established tank and your worried about getting the others sick. Now if a fish died and you were replacing it then I would consider QT but not in the beginning stages of a tank. I'm sure I'm wrong here but ick or other fish disease probably won't affect inverts or corals unless you medicated in the display which would be a bad idea.

 

You may be right considering I will only get 1-2 fish, but for the health of the fish, I have decided to medicate right away regardless of disease. This is a topic that has some debate though. This is another area which is netiher right nor wrong, but what the reefer decides etc.. I will be medicating in a seperate tank oly for that purpose BTW.

 

I also think fish are vital to the cycle.With the CUC, many purchase online so that's why they get them all at once. Having the ability to get them locally has it's benefits.

 

When you drop a few frags in that are attached to a piece of live rock and not a plug you will get the benefits of actual live rock assuming it survives the dip process. I've never been worried about pests in the live rock as I've never received any bad ones. That's not to say the chance isn't their but you have just as great of a chance of pests making it through your dip process with corals so unless you plan on QT them. The biggest pest being algae. I don't have any algae that just decided to grow. It all came in on frags and stays locally to the frag it came in on.

 

Good luck!

 

So true. Like you said, there is always that chance. Especially frags. Some of my LFS had so many Aiptasia on frags it was ridiculous! Hopefully if anything, I can reduce the chances of introducing unwanted pests. And if numbers are low if one is introduced, it will be that much easier to eradicate it. Wishful thinking?

 

So if u are going to qt, are you setting up a qt tank and cycling that now too?

 

I was going to set up a full-fledged quarantine for fish, but since I will be doing this only once or twice with this tank, I figured it isn't worth it right now. Maybe once I get a larger system it will be. Once the cycle is done and I have decided on a fish or two, I will either use a bucket (yes that's right a bucket with HOB filter/heater combo) or if I can find a small cheap tank (~5.5g+) that should suit my needs for a temporary QT/Treatment tank.

 

I do plan on later having a coral quarantine/frag tank in the future though. I'm thinking Chris can whip me up something pretty nifty. That's not 100% at this point though.

 

As for cycling a QT, since water changes will be done regularly due to medicating (which will kill a lot of beneficial bacteria anyways) I don't plan to cycle it. I have done quite a bit of reading on this subject, and as long as I am monitoring ammonia, I will probably be using Prime or something. Thanks for the question.

[Hexadron]

Hi JDH. I am just finished with a cycle in my 125 g. My ammonia never got above 1 ppm according to API test. I would have missed it completely if I had not started testing right away and everyday b/c it was only present (detectable) for 2 days.

 

Unless I am missing something my understanding of the Nitrogen cycle is that bacteria takes NH3/NH4 and process it into NO2 and then another set of bacteria takes the NO2 and excreets NO3 which can then be processed by macro algae and other organisms in the system. In order for you to have measurable NO2 and NO3 you must have had a small amount of ammonia in there. So your bacteria are already working. It takes time to build up the microbiological life in the system but it may be that you are farther along than you think!

 

Good luck!

 

Thanks That's one of the things I considered. Maybe my bacteria population is truly awesome from the start! My test kit doesn't expire until August, but it could be it's not doing accurate readings either. It's an ELOS BTW. Yeah, the thing is my other levels NO2 and NO3 have both been rising steadily, but ammonia at zero. I have been testing since the day after I set it up though.

 

I just want to be sure. There have been no diatom bloom, or algae growth though. Unless I'm extremely lucky and have no phosphates or nutrients? Haha, it's so hard to tell sometimes?!

 

Somebody called?

 

I agree with no QT in this case as long as both fish are bought from the same store at the same time and introduced to the tank at the same time.

 

A clean up crew must have something to clean up so waiting is entirely logical.

 

Well it may be overkill, but a bucket won't break the bank

 

Yes, I don't want to rush anything (except the cycle!) LOL, but CUC can wait. I'm still undecided on snail population anyways.

[Deckoz2302]

Diatoms will come when your nitrites are 0....and the tank is lit every day

 

Speaking of diatoms....since I removed 10lbs from my current tank I had a mini cycle and my half dinnerplate size monti cap is covered in diatoms. Tank is on a 4 day time out with no lights except the fuge and a sheet over it. Hopefully all the display algae dies and ill do a big watee change

[Hexadron]

Diatoms will come when your nitrites are 0....and the tank is lit every day

 

The tankhas been lit every day for about 10 hours, But still NOTHING! I figured I would have some sort of algae growth by now? There's me being impatient again...

 

Haha, I bet whaen I get some growth, I'll be "Why god, why?!!"

[eitallent]

The tankhas been lit every day for about 10 hours, But still NOTHING! I figured I would have some sort of algae growth by now? There's me being impatient again...

 

Haha, I bet whaen I get some growth, I'll be "Why god, why?!!"

 

I have had my new lights setup since Friday. I am getting a little film on the glass, PHs and other surfaces but nothing like the diatom bloom I had in the nano, in which I used LR from LFS and dry sand. But so far this is barely noticeable. We will both see what happens with a lot of time and little patience!

[Hexadron]

I have had my new lights setup since Friday. I am getting a little film on the glass, PHs and other surfaces but nothing like the diatom bloom I had in the nano, in which I used LR from LFS and dry sand. But so far this is barely noticeable. We will both see what happens with a lot of time and little patience!

 

We shall see!

 

On another note, Look what I got today!

 

[Deckoz2302]

What?

[Hexadron]

I can't take more pics until after work. Until then...

 

/ninja mode activate!

[Deckoz2302]

Damnit

[Hexadron]

Damnit

 

Only about 4 more hours to go

[Deckoz2302]

Dont make me velcro you to the wall upsidedown....im gonna take a guess and say that its overflow covers