| Reef Builders Forums » Saltwater Aquariums » New to the Hobby (Getting Started/Setting Up) » Tank readings and dates |
|
| New to the Hobby (Getting Started/Setting Up) Think you can upgrade to saltwater? Your probably very confused, but remember ask questions and you'll get your answers on here! |
| Notices |
|
 |
07-10-2007, 08:47 AM
| ||||
| ||||
 Tank readings and dates Ok just so you guys and gals know where I'm at with my tank here are the dates any changes made and readings of my tank. Hope this doesn't bore yah, June 30th 8:08 pm 29 Gallon Biocube Water temp 79 Water mixed in with 1.02 specific gravity with Instant Ocean Live sand added 30lbs. (I should have done rock first, now I know) Live rock added, 8 lbs. Water params okay today, everything was flatlined.. except PH, PH was around 8.1-8.2 July 1, 2007 11:30 a.m. Went to the store because 8 lbs of LR isnt going to be enough.. bought another 23-25 lbs of the LR from my lfs (ended up with a Nassarius Snail hitchiker  )Water temp 80-81 and holding PH levels 8.1-8.2 Nitrite 0.00 ppm Nitrate 0.00 ppm Amonia 0.00 ppm July 2 2007 1:00 p.m. No major changes today made to the aquarium, just swapping out different ways to buildup LR scape. PH levels 8.1-8.2 Nitrite 0.00 ppm Nitrate 0.00 ppm Amonia 0.00 ppm July 3 2007 5:30 p.m. Went to store bought a starter fish a percula clown he is a georgeous little fellow. Added a chem for parasites to his bag and to my tank to make sure he doesnt get or bring in a nasty parasite. Acclimated him to the tank and released him into the aquarium. He is as happy as a clam today. He eats well and chases his reflection. I noticed after about 3 hours or so a small spike in ammonia 0.00 to 0.25, but all other readings were flat. July 4th 2007 Not too much accomplished today, no major changes made to the tank. Readings flat, ammonia spike had gone down to 0.00 PH 8.1-8.2 July 5 2007 Nothing done to the tank. Fish feeding fine, snail roaming the scape PH levels 8.1-8.2 Nitrite 0.00 ppm Nitrate 0.00 ppm Amonia 0.00 ppm July 6 2007 Again no major changes to the tank PH levels 8.1-8.2 Nitrite 0.00 ppm Nitrate 0.00 ppm Amonia 0.00 ppm July 7 2007 no major changes to the tank, fish feeding fine, snail doing his thing. PH levels 8.1-8.2 Nitrite 0.00 ppm Nitrate 0.00 ppm Amonia 0.00 ppm July 8 2007 Temp. steady 80 to 81 degrees Went to the fish store this afternoon and picked up 2 turbo snails, 2 red legged hermits. Acclimated to the proper temp. everything all good so far. Clown eating well and he chases the hermits until he realizes they are not a food item. No changes in levels whatsoever PH levels 8.1-8.2 Nitrite 0.00 ppm Nitrate 0.00 ppm Amonia 0.00 ppm July 9th 2007 Temp. 81 Fish eating well and chasing his reflection.. I think it needs a friend (the buddy system) hermits are roaming the sea floor, and the turbos are moving along the glass. Levels again are a consistant 8.1-8.2 with 0.00 ppm in all other areas. I added some Calcium about a half tsp. and the same for Iodine. in preperation of the corals. My initial Calcium readings were around 350 ppm, and from what I have read to gain proper growth in corals is 450-550 ppm. This is where I am at. If you guys see anything wrong with my regimen or something else I need to be doing please let me know as this is a first for me. And I want to definatley stay on top of things before they get out of hand. As for the Iodine and Calcium is there anything else I should be doing t the water? ie. changing out a certain amount of water, adding other additives to the water. I appreciate anyone who read this and gives me feedback.
__________________ The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening, the third memory, the fourth practice, the fifth teaching others.  |
| Sponsored Links |
 |
|
07-10-2007, 09:16 AM
| ||||
| ||||
| Re: Tank readings and dates Stop!! Stop adding fish & live stock. Stop adding calcium & iodine. Your tank hasn't cycled. It's going to take 4 to 6 weeks to cycle. You don't have anything in there to be using up iodine or calcium. Just sit back & enjoy what you have. Patience! Patience! Patience!
__________________ Gone to greener pastures! |
|
07-10-2007, 09:19 AM
| ||||
| ||||
| Re: Tank readings and dates Oh... the only thing I added was a clwn and hermits.. i didnt know that was a problem.
__________________ The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening, the third memory, the fourth practice, the fifth teaching others. |
|
07-10-2007, 09:20 AM
| ||||
| ||||
| Re: Tank readings and dates The guy at my lfs says its okay to do a starter.. so its not okay? It will ruin my tank?
__________________ The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening, the third memory, the fourth practice, the fifth teaching others. Last edited by Salt-lick; 07-10-2007 at 09:23 AM. |
|
07-10-2007, 09:23 AM
| ||||
| ||||
| Re: Tank readings and dates The other thing is someone on here sid it was okay to add those chems as it would get me prepped for corals..
__________________ The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening, the third memory, the fourth practice, the fifth teaching others. |
|
07-10-2007, 09:34 AM
| ||||
| ||||
| Re: Tank readings and dates Kevin, The guy at the lfs store just sees $$$ everytime you walk in. You can get lucky when it comes to starting your tank & not kill any fish if you elect to use them to cycle the tank. However there is a good chance you will kill them by adding a number of fish/livestock before the cycle completes itself. Slow down. Enjoy what you have. There is really no need to start adding stuff before you start putting corals in.
__________________ Gone to greener pastures! |
|
07-10-2007, 09:41 AM
| ||||
| ||||
| Re: Tank readings and dates Okay, I was misinformed, After my spike I thought everything went flat ans I was fine. So what is the minimum time it takes to cycle the tank as I have had conflicting answers, from after it spikes and drops to after the tank turns brown..I havnt read anything else about that. But I will look into that further to find out exactly when the tankis done cycling. Thanks for the advise.
__________________ The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening, the third memory, the fourth practice, the fifth teaching others. |
|
07-10-2007, 09:57 AM
| ||||
| ||||
| Re: Tank readings and dates Each tank is different but it generally takes 4 to 6 weeks for a tank to cycle. You can & will get the brown diatoms as your tank is cycling. Watch your test #s - you'll see the ammonia go up, spike & then go down. The nitrites will start going up after the ammonia does. It will also spike & go back down. Then you'll see nitrates start going up. You are cycled once your nitrites go back down. All your results are showing 0. Either your cycle hasn't started or your test results are bad.
__________________ Gone to greener pastures! |
|
07-10-2007, 10:04 AM
| ||||
| ||||
| Re: Tank readings and dates We should make it a common practice to drop a cocktail shrimp into the tank on the first day of the cycle. It will cause a sizeable ammonia spike and will take weeks to cycle out and get readings back to zero, keeping people from dumping in fish too early. Ammonia is converted to Nitrite. Nitrite is converted to Nitrate. Nitrate is converted to nitrogen gas and used by algea/plants/fish. As the dead stuff decays, the ammonia level should go up. Then as the ammonia level starts going down, the nitrite level should go up. Then as the nitrite level starts going down, the nitrate level should go up. Once the nitrate level goes down and your ammonia and nitrite levels remain at 0, your cycle is wrapping up. If all three of your levels didn't go up and then back down, you haven't completed a good cycle. **edit** ECHO Echo echo.... Last edited by swinginbeef; 07-10-2007 at 10:05 AM. Reason: glampka types faster than I do. |
|
07-10-2007, 10:44 AM
| ||||
| ||||
| Re: Tank readings and dates The die off from the live rock should've started his cycle, or he could've used BioSpira which is what I did...it's a package containing millions of denitrification bacteria. Using starter fish is cruel.
__________________ 75 gallon mixed reef |
|
07-10-2007, 02:04 PM
| ||||
| ||||
| Re: Tank readings and dates Glampka and Beef thanks for your advice, I will only be taking your opinions into consideration from this point forward as I was misinformed by another user on here. There are alot of other things that I can think of that are cruel, but hey thats your opinion.
__________________ The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening, the third memory, the fourth practice, the fifth teaching others. Last edited by Salt-lick; 07-10-2007 at 02:05 PM. Reason: whoops.. |
|
| Thread Tools | |
| |
