A rookies first build | IM 25g

[RedStangGA]

Originally Posted by LuizW13

So, I did a few test last night a few hours after dropping another cube of frozen brine shrimp in the system.

Seachem
Free Ammonia: 0
It looked undetectable from my eyes

Seachem
Total Ammonia: .01-.02
Anywhere in between those to values

Salifert
Nitrite: also looked undetectable

Salifert
Nitrate: Had a very faint taint to it. At one point i wasn't sure if i was making things up with my eyes.

Hanna Phosphorous ULR
Phosphate: 0.10-0.11


How long does it normally take for various foods to decompose anyway?

It can take a long time. Many people drop a raw shrimp to start their cycle and take it out a few days later.

[LuizW13]

Originally Posted by RedStangGA

It can take a long time. Many people drop a raw shrimp to start their cycle and take it out a few days later.

I thought of doing that last night when i realized how many small brine shrimp i had everywhere..oh well. I figured brine shrimp would decompose faster than one large shrimp.

[RedStangGA]

Originally Posted by LuizW13

I thought of doing that last night when i realized how many small brine shrimp i had everywhere..oh well. I figured brine shrimp would decompose faster than one large shrimp.

Yep, most likely. And don't worry, it will be processed eventually. Just keep monitoring ammonia and nitrites, and nitrates. Once the first two are zero and you've seen a significant rise in nitrates it's time to do a water change. You can test if your cycle is complete by putting in a small amount of ammonia, get the plain kind, no scents are anything, and see if it gets processed within 24 hours. There are calculators to figure out how much to dose. Obviously, don't do this with anything living in the aquarium. Once the ammonia is getting processed you're good to get a clean up crew.

Advice on CUC, go small. The packages online are, IMO, way too big for the tank size and most will starve and die. For an aquarium your size no more than a dozen or so snails of various types should be necessary. A couple nassarius, some cerith, nerite, and dwarf cerith should be sufficient.

[LuizW13]

Originally Posted by RedStangGA

Yep, most likely. And don't worry, it will be processed eventually. Just keep monitoring ammonia and nitrites, and nitrates. Once the first two are zero and you've seen a significant rise in nitrates it's time to do a water change. You can test if your cycle is complete by putting in a small amount of ammonia, get the plain kind, no scents are anything, and see if it gets processed within 24 hours. There are calculators to figure out how much to dose. Obviously, don't do this with anything living in the aquarium. Once the ammonia is getting processed you're good to get a clean up crew.

Advice on CUC, go small. The packages online are, IMO, way too big for the tank size and most will starve and die. For an aquarium your size no more than a dozen or so snails of various types should be necessary. A couple nassarius, some cerith, nerite, and dwarf cerith should be sufficient.

Sweet man, I'm excited! How do you feel about buying some pods from algaebarn? How is a population of pods going to benefit my system?

[RedStangGA]

Originally Posted by LuizW13

Sweet man, I'm excited! How do you feel about buying some pods from algaebarn? How is a population of pods going to benefit my system?

Pods are definitely worth adding, once your system is established. Their benefit is primarily as a source of food, albeit a small one, for fish you put in and even corals. They do eat detritus but I'm not sure it's an appreciable amount. I'm just not familiar enough with their specifics.

As far as specific brand, that's all up to you.

[LuizW13]

I just read a little about them, looks like it's a good addition to the system. I guess i'll have to see.

[LuizW13]

Little update on the water tests. Ammonia is still undetectable, but my Nitrite and Nitrate are clearly present in the water.





Very little, but still something.

Maybe the bacteria additive is processing ammonia faster than i can catch it through the tests. Or maybe there isn't enough decomposing matter happening to cause a build up or back log for the system.



The other night i separated a few pellets with some salt water in a small container with the intent to dump the rotting water/pellets in the water. I figured if i dump that mixture in the water at once, i might be able to get an ammonia reading.

I'll check Phosphates tonight; my water is stinking a bit, and i think it's from the rocks.

Anyway, here are some day time shots of the aquarium!

[LuizW13]

Nitrites and Nitrates have been slowly on the rise, I believe i'm now at the peak of the cycle.





Phosphates have also been on the rise.

As of last night, i'm at 0.147

I'm currently cycling with the lights off, i really only have them on during the evening for a few hours.I plan to turn the lights on after the first post cycle water change. I'm expecting a fairly long battle with phosphates leaching from the rocks; good thing i have GFO on hand!

[LuizW13]

Nitrites have been sky high for a few days, so i decided to remove the decomposing food pellets from the tank. There's still a lot of tiny brine shrimp, i'll try to remove as much as i can- i assume this is why my nitrite levels haven't been lowering.

[LuizW13]

Checked Nitrites last night, almost at 0!



I realized that i may not have enough rock in my system to host beneficial bacteria, so I broke some small pieces from my left over rocks and started to cure them a few days ago. I plan to create a slim tower of rocks to go in the outer chambers of the sump.



I also put in my Aquamedic eco drift 4.1 a few days ago; i'm liking it so far




I've added a couple of small pieces, an island and some rubble around the DT. Still cycling with lights off, i just turned the lights on for the pictures. I'm also returning that Aquamaxx nemo light and purchased the new Aquamaxx Prism instead. Here's what the tank looks like right now.

[RedStangGA]

Looking good. If you want to be sure your tank is processing ammonia, pick up unscented ammonia from a hardware store or grocery store and dose the tank. Google and you should find a calculator of how much to dose. Get an ammonia alert badge from seachem and it should show the ammonia spike. Then you can wait for the nitrates to spike.

[LuizW13]

already have an ammonia badge, never saw any alerts or readings from Ammonia. My Nitrates have been sky high for a over a week. I'm hoping to do my first water change this weekend and get some inverts!

Should I wait for the algae bloom before introducing inverts? Or should I add them in anyway?

[LuizW13]

System is cycled! I went to the LFS Saturday afternoon and bought myself a small GSP frag. Poor little guy was not happy. I temperature acclimated it for a couple of hours, did a 20% water change and then dipped the GSP for about 10-12minutes in Coral Revive, rinsed it in some saltwater and placed it in the sand bed.
Sunday morning after i turned the daylights on, it started to wake up. It spent most of the day opening and closing polyps. As soon as the daylights starting to set, the polyps closed up.
A couple of polyps had started to come out before i left for work. I wonder what it looks like right now.

I did all of my water test except for phosphate yesterday.

No2: 0
No3: 5-10
MG: 1400
DKH: 7.0
Ca: 550
Salinity 1.025

Ordered a Tunze Osmolater and a Chalk Bass Sunday afternoon!

[RedStangGA]

Originally Posted by LuizW13

System is cycled! I went to the LFS Saturday afternoon and bought myself a small GSP frag. Poor little guy was not happy. I temperature acclimated it for a couple of hours, did a 20% water change and then dipped the GSP for about 10-12minutes in Coral Revive, rinsed it in some saltwater and placed it in the sand bed.
Sunday morning after i turned the daylights on, it started to wake up. It spent most of the day opening and closing polyps. As soon as the daylights starting to set, the polyps closed up.
A couple of polyps had started to come out before i left for work. I wonder what it looks like right now.

I did all of my water test except for phosphate yesterday.

No2: 0
No3: 5-10
MG: 1400
DKH: 7.0
Ca: 550
Salinity 1.025

Ordered a Tunze Osmolater and a Chalk Bass Sunday afternoon!

Congrats! Just remember to go slow!

[LuizW13]

Thanks! Man, I'm so excited to get some more corals, but I'm going to wait for the GSP to get acclimated and happy first.

still no algae bloom, last i checked, my phosphate were at .128. With my high phosphates and nitrates, i should be getting some algae soon; it's definitely taking longer than i expected.

[LuizW13]

This morning I received a special delivery! Introducing Chuck, the Chalk Bass!




The GSP is still very shy, last night it had a total of 10 polyps cautiously extended!

Chuck seems to be fairly out going, he immediately swam to the corner behind some PVC's. After about 15 minutes he became a bit courageous and started to explore the QT, slowly making his way to the other end of the tank.

The Aquamaxx Prism led arrives today and the Tunze Osmolator arrives Thursday, oh, the excitement!

[RedStangGA]

Originally Posted by LuizW13

This morning I received a special delivery! Introducing Chuck, the Chalk Bass!




The GSP is still very shy, last night it had a total of 10 polyps cautiously extended!

Chuck seems to be fairly out going, he immediately swam to the corner behind some PVC's. After about 15 minutes he became a bit courageous and started to explore the QT, slowly making his way to the other end of the tank.

The Aquamaxx Prism led arrives today and the Tunze Osmolator arrives Thursday, oh, the excitement!

Nice! What's the QT plan?

[LuizW13]

Originally Posted by RedStangGA

Nice! What's the QT plan?

Umm, I'm going to keep him/her in there for 2-3 weeks and i'll medicate with prazipro and Ich-x this weekend once it starts eating first. I figured i'll let it get comfortable before medicating.

I ordered the fish from Vividaquariums- it seems to be very healthy. I don't think i'll have much stress with it.

I'll say this much though. I think i was more stressed than the fish was this morning trying to match the salinity- keeping a constant eye on the stop watch, I felt like i was diffusing a bomb or something lol.

[RedStangGA]

Originally Posted by LuizW13

Umm, I'm going to keep him/her in there for 2-3 weeks and i'll medicate with prazipro and Ich-x this weekend once it starts eating first. I figured i'll let it get comfortable before medicating.

I ordered the fish from Vividaquariums- it seems to be very healthy. I don't think i'll have much stress with it.

I'll say this much though. I think i was more stressed than the fish was this morning trying to match the salinity- keeping a constant eye on the stop watch, I felt like i was diffusing a bomb or something lol.

Lol! I know the feeling. As an FYI, fish tolerate a drop in salinity much better than a rise. When fish are ordered online it's important to get them moved over quickly because as soon as you open that bag ammonia starts to build up.

In general, you can ask an on line vendor what the salinity of the bag will be at so you can match in advance. Then just a quick verification before moving over. Glad to hear he's doing well!

[LuizW13]

In the email i received they said to keep the salinity at 1.020-1.025, I make my saltwater at 1.025, but i was right at the limit they suggested so i diluted the water to 1.023. I figured i was right in the middle, no problem.

After i opened the bag and checked the salinity, it was at 1.025! then i rushed to match the water while at the same time using a pipette to squeeze some of the qt water in the bag( once it filled up, i emptied 3/4 of the water, and repeated). That all took just over 40 minutes!

Got the QT water to 1.024 and put the fish in. Man, what a rush lol.

[RedStangGA]

This is my own personal opinion, but next time if it's that close, just move the fish in. Try not to let store water into your QT.

I know this is counter to many published acclimation guides, including LA's, but given the speed at which ammonia builds up for fish that have had an overnight trip, they should be out of the bag in less than 5 minutes after the bag is opened. Float the bag for 15 min's, test the salinity in the bag, and if it's .01 either way then in they go. If it's a .02-.03 drop, then I transfer them. If it's a .02 or more rise I add QT water to the bag, add some prime, and get the QT to the right salinity quickly. Then transfer the fish.

Have to stress, this is my opinion and based off of my experience. I think if you do some research though, you'll find the same advice that I did lol!

[LuizW13]

No store water was placed in the QT. I was thinking of moving the fish in faster, but it was over thinking things too much! Oh well, next time, i'll be more prepared - fish seemed to be doing well, that's all that matters now!

[LuizW13]

Chuck ate like a beast yesterday evening! Those brine shrimp must be mighty tasty. He even ate some pellets after I stopped giving him shrimp.

So, when i bought the GSP frag this past weekend, I noticed that the LFS didn't super glue it to the frag plug all that well. The edges of the mat are loose and moving with the current. During the drive home, a couple of polyps fell off- i was able to glue it back, but only for a couple of days.
A couple of days ago, the polyps fell off; i thought they were going to get sucked up into the over flow..but, no! it attached to another rock! Now i have to chisel a piece of the rock and glue it to the GSP rock.

[dimasv]

beautiful! following your build

[LuizW13]

Originally Posted by dimasv

beautiful! following your build

Thanks for following along!


I just received the new Aquamaxx Prism LED - i think i might be the first customer to purchase one. I'm liking it way better than their nemo light so far.

I'll post pictures later!

I'm also starting to grow diatoms! I'm hoping i can get some hermit crabs and snails within the next few days. I think i'll also order some pods+phyto from Algae barn as well.