[quote=“michaelangelo, post:38, topic:1842”]
more bad news on the cycling tank, apparently teh back up heater doesnt really work that good, a cheap thing and the temp dropped to 76, i found like 3 dead britleworms on the rocks, my poor tank.
I just hope after today when i go buy that new stealth or get it free, ( lifetime warrenty ) my tank will go back to normal, now it feels the cycle i gonna take even longer.[/quote]
No worries, if you are sticking to your original cycle plan, you’ll be fine. Heck some people have even put cookies in there tank and it still cycled fine…
Be careful with how many water changes you do, you could end up prolonging the cycle time. The worms probably died due to an ammonia spike rather then a temperature issue.
hmm, ammonia spike, ok i can see that. The orange dusters are still alive, not fully out but alive. prolonging the cycle im not so worried about, im really in no rush, i just dont want prolonged effects from the plastic vinyl. but the water is crystal clear today, just gonna get a new heater and raise that temp up and just forget about it for a few days.
def. would not sweat temp dropping to 76… SLIGHTLY low, but nowhere near detrimental. def. no reason to lose the worms. i agree with cdangelo… most likely ammonia. which is great for the cycle!!! lol grab a 6 pack and forget about it for a few weeks. (well, maybe some t/o water here and there) :BEER
Tim’s right many pods do eat plankton. Zooplankton(aka amphipods, copepods, mysis shrimp and so on) often eat phytoplankton. Adding might help the “pods” slightly, but in a tank with 0 predators you should have no problem growing pods at all. It can also easily be overdosed adding too much nutrients to the tank, so I too would suggest against it.
Also “dripping” of phyto might seem simple, but isn’t easy. More then likely if you are buying phyto from a fridge you are getting stuff that is just about or already dead. If it sits at room temp waiting to be dripped it will turn rotten and not only pollute your tank but stink up your whole house. I’ve known of one person who figured out how to drip out of a fridge, but that is a mechanical nightmare to figure out how to do safely and efficiently.
If you want to see a lot of pods in your tank stop cleaning your glass. At least three sides. Many of the pods will eat the algae or eat other animals that eat the algae. It bugs my girl friend a lot when I tell her I won’t clean all the sides of the glass, but we both know it is healthier for the aquariums not to. Now when I get my green house and have a 10 foot refugium attached to my tank… then I’ll probably… eh maybe clean all the sides of the tanks ;-).
jon ur nutz lol. 10 foot fuge!!! crazy, you can scoop out pods and fill bottles with them. they are expensive stuff to buy! Yea after that heater thing im a little down about the life in teh tank, eeing alot of worms at the bottom not all dead but not looking good. I am holding the WC for at least a week. patience i guess, patience.
I’d swap out the carbon again. Typically bristle worms live through a lot. In a week or so if you don’t see any more worms dying you can move a rock from your other tank into this one to reseed some microfauna. Also make sure the worms are for sure dead. Try shining a flash light on the ones you think are dead and see if they move.
at least 5 dead worms i see. 2 dies the first night and 3 last. they were alive squirming last night, they are still there today and not moving. should i get all the decomposing stuff outta there?
So i will change the carbon filter today, should i do a WC? any other suggestions? its seeming all very counter productive since the heater thing
Ok ive decided to do tests and here are my readings. Also i used live sand) as well, dont know if that makes a huge diff, also the fuge has been set up and is functioning well. I also have a marineland HOB filter the 200b i believe.
pH-8.2
Amm-0.25
Nitrate-low range 10-high range 50?
Alk- low range
Nitrite-0.05
Temp is 76 at night and roughly 79 mid day. Anything to help make some conclusions, I’ll post just let me know.
Your levels indicate you are going through your cycle. Keep in mind when you see 1 dead worm on the sand it means you have 20 loie ones you don’t see. More then likely they are now starving as there is no food source in the tank. It’s OK - some will survivie and you will be fine.
If not I’m sure someone has the MartinFamily Worm Trap and can get you a few to put in to your tank.
Don’t worry so much about the microfauna and other itmes at this point. We realize that having potential catastrophies like a heater breaking causes stress but since the tank is only just now starting it’s cycle I don’t see a need to worry about anything yet.
What are you using to test your levels? Are you using the “all in one” test strips? The Nitrate reading bothers me as you should be able to isolate it a little closer then between 10 and 50 ppm.
im using the red sea test kit. on the card it has different colors, 5 colors and on the left side it says high range and the right it says low range. so im not sure what that means, its the third color out of 5.
im not familiar with the kit specifically, but i imagine it is the same for all kits.
essentially, if your nitrates are above 10ppm(usually, might be different with different kits) then you use the high range colors. if its below then you use the low range colors. its a simple method to get more precision from a low range reading. read the directions carefully.
what kind of metal components were in that heater? im not saying it for sure but if there was copper you could be in trouble, the first sign of copper poisoning is worms surfacing to get away from the contanimated substrate, copper bonds to calcium carbonate quickly and can totaly ruin all rock and sand (hope its not the case but something to consider) check that heater for the metal type, and i’ll say i seriously doubt they put copper in there but its worth looking at.
i’ll say again, i seriously doubt they use copper, just the worms jumping ship concerns me, i’ve cycled my tank USING the worms as part of the cycle… i put a few pints of my nano’s substrate worms and all in my new tank along with a few blocks of frozen mysis and viola cycled tank (over some time) and no worms left the sand due to the cycle at all.
i jut hope whatever it is it’s reversable with time. i did call and they do not contain copper. some1 said perhaps starvation? i dont know. i guess ill find out when i add a CUC in a month or so