[quote=“icy1155, post:34, topic:596”]
No you should be fine with the MH. You have no corals to acclimate so no worries.[/quote]even though you dont have any corals i woud still acclimate the tank to the new setup! the point of acclimating the tank to the lights is so it doesnt re-cycle. when it does re-cycle it will spike ammonia, then nitrites then nitrates then back to zero again. if acclimated you will have a smal cycle and be able to stock faster and your tank will have slower swings which to me anything you can do slower you should because sudden changes in anything will result in sudden changes in the area’s you dont want it too. just my 02. my largest mistake as a newb ( i still am one just learned a few things the hard way) was just slapping stuff on there and going full force with it. even adding a protien skimmer to early will slow down the process of growing benificial bacteria in the early stages of a tank imo.
Well, I’m kinda trying to get it to cycle again. Because I “missed” it the first time. I actually just put some food in to do a force cycle to make sure my tank will be ready for my first inhabitants. I can’t really stock it until september any ways. However if I’m ready (and my mom bugs me about the tank being filthy) and I know it is safe I will add my CUC. How soon after adding the CUC should I wait to add my first corals or fish. I have someone offering me some pretty pink zoanthids on nano-reef and I don’t want to kill them and make sure my tank is ready. 
I just kind of want an estimate of it and/or how I will know I am ready for my first coral or fish. Don’t want to mess up by one newb mistake.
what is cuc/ a cucumber
you can add corals and a few small fish once the levels are in the good range like nitrates and ammonia are 0, calcium alk ph all that goo stuff.
if you want your tank to cycle. that light will do it you will have a diatom bloom ( brown algea prob didnt spell rite) and super high nitrates then everything will settle down. it will take about 4 to 6 weeks. i cheated and about a week into my cycle i added ( bio-sphira ) and it speeded up my cycle because its bacteria in a bag. i also used to use (tlc) from petkare which is the same thing as bio-spira but not as potent imo
CUC = clean up crew
there really is no need to run a light while your tank cycles and once it cylces it shouldnt have any ill effect. the lights may trigger an algae/diatom bloom but only if you have sufficient nutrients
in the water to sustain it.
i wouldnt really worry about any parameters other than your ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. the food you added should give you a big ammonia spike in a couple of days. then just monitor your water. once ammonia is 0 and nitrites are 0 and nitrates are at least <20 your good to go. i wouldnt even worry about calc, alk, mag etc right away. frequent water changes with a good quality salt should keep your levels sufficient enough to add corals. once you have your system in its beginning stages you can begin to dial in your parameters and decide how you want to dose.
I’ve had a diatom bloom for the past week pretty much. I didn’t have the lights on then but I figured I’d leave them on now in the hopes that maybe the mushroom hitch hiker will make it… or whatever it is. The diatom bloom though seems to be running out of steam, it is starting to dissipate. My ammonia and nitrites have been 0 for awhile although the Nitrites spiked one day this past week but went down. Nitrates are at 5-10. So are you saying I’m ok to get a clean up crew? I am so confused, so many differing opinions. I am going to wait and if sunday I still don’t have an ammonia or nitrite spike I might go in to get some nassarius snails to get that sand bed stirred up a bit, the glass hasn’t been bad enough to worry about anything else. Maybe some hermits too. I only have 10 gallons of water in now and no RO unit yet. Do I need to do a water change before adding the clean up crew? I heard I do, which I can’t until I get the RO unit. hahaha lots of questions!
you can put in a crew will help alot. just accimate them for sure inverts can be sensitive
typically a cycle isnt something you have to “do”…its something that happens. in the process of purchasing your live rock there can be a considerable amount of die off in the rock. As the organics begin to decompose your nitrogen cycle begins. Depending on the amount of die off you may have a soft or hard cycle(as mentioned earlier in the thread by someone). If you feel you didnt have a significant cyle you may not have established a susbstantial source of beneficial bacteria, and as a result, when you introduce livestock you may trigger another cycle. I think this is what was assumed and that is why it was suggested for you to force a hard cycle by introducing more organic material. If you have already put the food in the tank i would wait becuase your probably going to see a spike in your ammonia shortly. Lastly, a water change before you put your CUC in would probably be a good idea.
i hope this adds a little bit of cohesiveness to all of the advice you have gotten.
Yes I understand. I was just getting confused with the differing opinions. Plus it was late when I was reading/posting. I will watch the ammonia and nitrite levels daily now so that I don’t not see it. The earliest my RO unit should get here is Tuesday. I’m probably not going to use it though until I get home. Unless I can figure out a way to get/put a top on my 5 gallon jug that my friend gave me then at least I can have some water ready.
There could also be another reason why you didnt see a nutrient cycle that hasnt really been mentioned, and that is if your rock/sand has a healthy supply of bacteria and it is efficiently processing the waste. If you already have good bacteria colonies that didnt die off then you may be ready to go. The pellets you added should let you know if this is the case. If you dont see any jump in ammonia/nitrite then this could be why.
Just a thought.
That is actually what I’m starting to think but at the same time I don’t know how I got lucky enough not to have any die-off or enough bacterial counts. Maybe since I bought the live sand it helped more? I tested the ammonia and nitrites late last night and still nothing (maybe a 0.25 in ammonia but only if the vial is in the shadows does it match the sheet) I’m goign to try again today and I guess if the nitrates have jumped when nothing else did then I should be ready. If it is still clean by Wednesday and what not I may do a water change and go out to get some nassarius snails and blue legs to do some prelim work.
Tests for today show ammonia and nitrites are still 0 and nitrates are still 5-10.
if your still in the area, your more than welcome to help yourself to some of my nassarius. They are on their way to becoming a pest in my tank.
Yeah I’m here til Friday! That would be great if you don’t want yours any more. I was looking to get 5 I think. Let me know. Thanks.
Its not that i dont want them, i simply have too many. They reproduce in my tank. My days off are T, W, and R so you can PM and lmk when you want to pick them up. I live about 3 or 4 miles off campus.
Tat: “the point of acclimating the tank to the lights is so it doesnt re-cycle”
"if you want your tank to cycle. that light will do it "
I really have to disagree with both statements. If you add new lights and your tank recycles then what happened was that you had significant die off of algae and coral which started the cycle. You want to avoid the death or sickness of things on any magnitude. Some people when adding new lights kill off one coral which is not very likely to start a whole cycle in a stable system.
Using the light is debatable during the cycling period. It could just be helping to grow algae, but at the same time it may help a healthy sucsession of algae start and get your tank quicker to a more stable place. I would for sure run the light for at least 24 hours to make sure the bulb goes through it’s burn in period. Even once the bulb has burnt in by running for a little while you are still going to need to light acclimate all new corals unless you are sure you have known the exact lighting conditions they have been in for two months. All new corals should start at the bottom(or somehow be shaded), then brought to the top(or shade removed).
I wasn’t sure what the cuc was at first, but I picked up after it being mentioned a couple times that it is a clean up crew. Despite what has been suggested over and over again by the retail stores I think most people who are planning for a full out reef should hold off a bit before adding a significant cuc. People get into trouble when they hear the next step is adding snails which are only a couple of dollars and try to rush them and the snails die and will encourage a stronger then normal cycle.
My advice would be if you want to add a couple of cheap blue leg hermits once the tank has matured a month and you have added a fish safely then go ahead. I would not suggest adding snails until you are sure the tank has been stable for a little while. Some people who have had tanks running for over a year sometimes lose snails. Also don’t forget to acclimate inverts. I would recommend a 30-45 minute drip acclimation being careful that during this time period your temp stays the same.
I would probably add the corals first and foremost as some of them will be the hardiest animals you will ever add. Start with softies such as zoanthids or mushrooms.
Logan’s_daddy and I have an on going debate about Nitrates, but I would say your Nitrates should be 0 before adding any fish. If you haven’t added any large animals(read any animal that wasn’t on your LR) then you shouldn’t be feeding at all and your tank should be able to pull the Nitrates down to 0. If you and your tank are having trouble getting Nitrates down to 0 with practically no bio load then issues need to be resolved. I would say way till all levels involved in the Nitrogen cycle are 0 and at least 3 weeks have passed since then with continuous levels of 0. Again just my opinion.
Bug huge piece of advice, if it is getting late and you are having differing opinions, sleep on it and come back and re-read the next day. Also force people to clarify if you don’t understand, or read other sources to reiterate anything you think you are missing.
I will be in Premium Aquatics all day tomorrow(Monday 11-8) and Tuesday(11-5+). You’re welcome to come by and we can talk more there about any specific questions you have.
Ok I might pop by after work to chat.
It seems like every one has differing opinions but so far I know this much:
- My RO unit is in on Tuesday and I if ammonia and nitrites are still 0, I’m going to attempt my first water change and retest to see if something happens. (i.e. nitrates drop)
-I do want to put some nassarius snails in because there is a significant amount of gas being produced in my sand bed and I would like them to kind of stir it up.
-The only major hitchhikers I have found are 5+ feather dusters, a couple worms that come out at night (I think they are spaghetti worms), 1 maybe 2 smallish brittle stars, and that coral which is starting to grow at a pretty good pace and gain it’s color back.
-When getting new corals start at the bottom and work them up towards the light gradually unless you are aware of what lighting they were under.
From all the reading I have been doing it says clean up crew comes first then fish. I was going to do piece of Clean up crew, fish, then kind of alternate. Well if I don’t hear from you tonight I will probably pop in tommorrow. Maybe pick up some tubing for acclimation and maybe a heater but I’m still trying to remember if I still have the old heater or not.
Any updated pictures of the coral… I’m interested in what it is.
The only issue is he is sitting on what looks like old featherduster tubes and so he has kinda formed around them. He has turned red though. He has grown at least a couple mm in diameter. Which is my idea of substantial. I pulled him out of the hole he was in after I realized I could move the tube.
I will see what I can do tommorrow when the lights come on, maybe he will be bigger. lol but I will try very hard to get a good one.
Ok, reposting this because my computer is a POS and crashed.
A suggestion on taking good pictures with a point and shoot camera, try using a magnifying glass (sold as a reading lens at walmart for like 7$) for taking clearer pictures. Hold it between the camera and the subject and you will be amazed by how much better the camera focouses on the subject. Also dont hold the camera in your hand. People tend to shake alot and if you have the camera set on something (Organic chemistry book worked well for me… at least it got some use that year) and just press the button.
Just using these hints and a little practice my shots went from this…
To this…
Careful when you use the words growth especially with softies. I have heard many people new to the hobby swear that their mushrooms have “doubled in size in a weeks time, so they are healthy and growing well”. Probably not the case. Mushrooms will shrink down really small when they are irritated and not doing well. They will also open up very large to absorb more light if they are not receiving enough. Growth can be a complicated thing to measure. Important thing though, your getting color, and it is changing in size. Good sign we have a rebounding coral. Being red it is most likely you have a mushroom, but we shall see.