[ncdiablo]

Ok I had 40lbs of live rock in the tank for about 2 weeks before the 160 lbs arrived. I figured the 40 lbs would go through a mini spike and help kick start things when the 160 arrived. It's been 3 days since the 160 was in my tank so I have done my first tests and will do tests every 3 days to see how things go. So far my results are the following

Salinity 1.025
PH is 8.0
Ammonia is at 4.0-5.0
Nitrates at 20
Nitrites at 2.0
Calcium at 400

[sanjaypawar]

I like the rock and sand bed. The rock arrangement against the back wall is great! Also the sand bed should help the water a lot. Suppressing nitrates, ammonia etc.

[ncdiablo]

3 days since my last test and things are improving dramatically. I noticed today the smell emanating from the tank had dropped signifigantly. I also spotted a few places where coralline algea is starting to come back. So I went to test and here are the changes.

Ammonia is down from the 4.0-5.0 range to the 0.0 to .25 range

Bad news is my Ph is still dropping:
PH is down from 8.0 to 7.8 which so in a week and a half it has dropped .4 points.
Nitrates holding steady at 20 ppm
Nitrites have moved up from 2.0 to around 5.0

The calcium is still 400+
The salinity is staying constant at 1.025

So it looks like the cycle is moving along nicely. Once my son goes to bed I will post some pics.

Very happy to see some changes moving along.

[sanjaypawar]

Guys!

On a separate note, there is bad news from my side. While NCdiablo is starting his tank I have decided to give away my 180G. I can't find the time for the up keep and there is unfortunately other stuff that's going on which I can't talk about. I have posted the details under "Corals & Livestock Trading Thread".

I put in a lot of effort in the tank and it hurts to give it up but I HAVE TO.

[ncdiablo]

Sanjay,

I am so sorry you had to give that up. I hope whatever is going wrong gets worked out quickly. Down the road when you are able to come back to it. If my corals at that time have grown out and split I will try to help you get back into the swing man. You have been supportive and least I can do is lend a helping hand.

Steven

[sanjaypawar]

Steven:

Thanks for the kind words. I hope to get back into it some day. I don't know when. If you need anything from my tank please let me know. I'll give it away to you. You can take care of only the shipping.

Goodluck with you tank. I think you are doing it right. Make sure you have great arrangements for water change and cleaning the protein skimmer (make sure you can take it in and out easily. Also you have to have Lunar lights (I think you do......there nothing like a tank in blue and white lunar lights.)

Peace,
Sanjay

[ncdiablo]

Just to keep my parameters up to date.

Ph holding steady at 7.8
Ammonia has now dropped to 0.0 so that's finally good.
Nitrites have dropped dramatically to .25 so almost done with that spike.
Nitrates have dropped to 10
Salinity is at 1.024
Calcium is still at 400+

So the cycle is almost done. The diotomatious (sp?) bloom is done. Going to monitor for the rest of the week daily.

[sanjaypawar]

Howz the algae growth. Do you have lights running. Next thing to take care of is algae growth . You may have a lot if you have the lights on. Get lots of turbo snails and a Lawnmower blenny. Emerald crabs work well too but the only problem is that create a lot of crumbs when pulling out algae from the rock. Also, sometimes turbo snails stampede the polyps (no permanent damage just a nuisance for the corals I guess). Bumble bee snails although pretty are too small to control algae, same goes for hermit crabs but they are very pretty.

But you mentioned that your tank temperatures are low 77 degrees. If your phosphate levels are low you may not have a big algae bloom.

Enjoy!

[ncdiablo]

Sanjay,

Yeah my tanks algea growth is at a real minimum. Right now it wouldn't be enough to feed a clean up crew. My lights have been on for around 4 hours a day. Hence my temps are low. Once my lights are set to their full time my temps will be around 78-79. I was just wanting to clear though my diotom bloom quickly.

For me I know this sounds strange (and it is). Even though I have a 120g tank. It's really going to sorta be like a nano tank. I love small things and I love the minutea. So I will be keeping dwarf hermit crabs and small snails. So virgin nerites, bumble bee, etc. As far as a blenny I am going with the less common Starry blenny. Will do as good as a job but just a change of pace from the lawnmower. I will have tons of small gobies.

For me it's sort of the fact that I like the small guys because you can't see them the moment you walk in and view the tank. I want to come in and stare at the tank and see what I find after 15 mins, 30mins or so. It helps me destress from work. So it will be how many dwarf crabs can I find... or something like that. Sorta a where's waldo type tank, but everyone's a waldo.

Steven

[sanjaypawar]

Steven:

I prefer small livestock as well. I think they will look good around the corals and Live rock. I suggest you look at a few big pieces of Marshall Island rock (if you don't have them already). I think it will complement the look of smaller livestock well! Just a thought.

Sanjay

[ncdiablo]

Well last night I came home to a pod explosion. Tiny white specks all over the glass. I went to clean the small algea tufts that were starting to grow on the front side of the tank but then noticed hundreds if not thousands of tiny white specks congregating on and around the algea. So I will let things go for a bit giving the pods time to grow before I order my clean up crew this week.

Happy days, more pods to stare at hehe. (gives me something else to stare at as I look at my live rock and what's growing back)

[ncdiablo]

Just did a 25% water change in preparation for my incoming reef cleaner team (1st part of the team). Going to another LFS that I have heard massively good things about from others locally. It's 1 town over about a 30 min drive. But they have electric blue hermits, zebra snails, and they ordered for me some halloween hermits as well.

Hopefully I will get 2-4 electric blues, 2-4 halloween hermits, 10 scarlet hermits, 10 zebra snails, cernith snails, astrea snails, and any other snails that catch my attention.

[robe25m]

Your almost there...

Myself, I bypassed the whole long cycle process, let tank run for 2 weeks, When I saw some pods in my fug i said screw it...

I have a fully stocked tank now, 2 tangs, goby,angel and just picked up a skunk clown last night..also bought a range of corals...

Man its amazing, took me long time to aquascape the LR but other then that all is well...

Waiting on a new diggy cam and I will share my results...

Cant wait to share and see your updated pics..

Best of luck...

[ncdiablo]

Went to a LFS 40 mins away, picked up 4 scarlet hermit crabs, 10 dwarf zebra hermit crabs, 4 halloween hermit crabs, 1 electric blue hermit crab (will get 2 more when they get some more in), 8 bumblebee snails, 5 astrea snails, 5 cernith snails. Going to pick up some more snails here soon. I want 8 more bumblebee snails, 2-3 Tonga conch snails, more cernith snails.

Oh and last but certainly not least. A cute small Starry Blenny. He was the main reason I went there.

So my first fish and my first group of cleaners.

[Lightsluvr]

Cool. Let us know how they do.

Did you research their compatibility with your future fish and coral acquisitions? Thanks for any pointers or references that you used...

LL

[ncdiablo]

I have definately researched all of these hermits. Since they are hermits there is a chance of having an aggressive one. However these hermits I had pulled from LFS were in tanks with things like corals and a bunch were in with tons of feather dusters and none were bothering them. The dwarf zebra's and the scarlets should be very reef safe via most experiences. The Electric blue and the Halloweens are reputed to be very reef safe as well. I will be watching them as things develop and if anyone gets aggressive they go into my refugium.

[robe25m]

I would pick up a few Turbo Snails> If you ask me there the ones that do all the REAL cleaning.....

Man what a diff 12 hours makes> I went home last night to brown covered rock>>>>I will be beefing up my cleanup crew soon....

[RyanG]

Two threads have been merged.

[sanjaypawar]

Steven:

A few turbo snails should really help especially in keeping the back wall clean if you can't get to it.

[ncdiablo]

I am not a big fan of Turbo's. Just too big for me in terms of snail size. My Astrea's seem to be doing a great job mowing down the brown algea. So while I bought 5 of them yesterday, I am going to go buy 5 more. The bumblebee's are great and active eaters too and when my lfs gets them in again I am buying 8 more of those. As far as the hermits go they are active but of course can't clear things as cleanly but they are active eaters and so far have been very very peaceful toward the snails and each other.

[sanjaypawar]

The hermits in my tank are pretty docile too. They can't take the turbo's coz they are too big and bumblees are too small to take their shell.

[ncdiablo]

Personally I love the bumblebee's, because of their size, and their colors, but especially their little active nose/mouth that goes searching along while they look for food.

The astrea's are nice vaccuum cleaners. I can easily see where they have been along the live rock.

The cerinths aren't as active or as great at clearing a path but do a decent job and make a nice change of shell.

Going to try to get a Tonga Fighting Conch because it's just a bigger version eater like the bumblebees. I saw one at the LFS and loved watching him go around sniffing for stuff to eat.

Will get some abalone down the road too when I have hair algea issues. Don't have any issues with it right now.

Will try to post pics tonight after I get home, if the wife will let me use the camera.

[RyanG]

Originally Posted by ncdiablo

Personally I love the bumblebee's, because of their size, and their colors, but especially their little active nose/mouth that goes searching along while they look for food.

The astrea's are nice vaccuum cleaners. I can easily see where they have been along the live rock.

The cerinths aren't as active or as great at clearing a path but do a decent job and make a nice change of shell.

Going to try to get a Tonga Fighting Conch because it's just a bigger version eater like the bumblebees. I saw one at the LFS and loved watching him go around sniffing for stuff to eat.

Will get some abalone down the road too when I have hair algea issues. Don't have any issues with it right now.

Will try to post pics tonight after I get home, if the wife will let me use the camera.

Where are those pics we were promised?

[ncdiablo]

Sorry son got pretty sick last night and is pretty sick today too. Will try here this weekend to get some pics up. At least this gives the clean up crew some time to beautify everything.

Steven

[ncdiablo]

Ph now at 8.2 after I did my 25% water change waited 2 days to do tests and add CUC
Ammonia 0.0
Nitrites 0.0
Nitrates hanging around at 10
Salinity is at 1.024
Calcium is still at 400+

Now starting Reef Builder added some on Tuesday at 1/2 the directed amount. Will add full amount today.

Says to use 2 times a week anyone familar with it? Do you use the directions amounts or smaller amounts?