New Saltwater Tank

threesixright · 02/19/2015, 05:50 PM

I am currently about 6 days into starting my new saltwater tank. It is a 40 gallon breeder with T5HO and a reef octopus skimmer with a maxspect gyre 130. I used a piece of raw uncooked shrimp to get it started. The ammonia levels are spiked. about 1ppm and i have some brown algae on the sand and some of the rock. i used about 30 pounds of live sand and some argonaite sand. Is this normal. I also used RODI water and the TDS is reading 0. Any advice if this algae is good or not and what should i expect. I also used dry rock and one piece of live rock, i also put some macro algae in the refugium.

AmberLee · 02/19/2015, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by threesixright

I am currently about 6 days into starting my new saltwater tank. It is a 40 gallon breeder with T5HO and a reef octopus skimmer with a maxspect gyre 130. I used a piece of raw uncooked shrimp to get it started. The ammonia levels are spiked. about 1ppm and i have some brown algae on the sand and some of the rock. i used about 30 pounds of live sand and some argonaite sand. Is this normal. I also used RODI water and the TDS is reading 0. Any advice if this algae is good or not and what should i expect. I also used dry rock and one piece of live rock, i also put some macro algae in the refugium.

Look up Diatoms. They are generally a part of your cycle

threesixright · 02/19/2015, 09:07 PM

but right as ammonia spikes?

AmberLee · 02/19/2015, 09:27 PM

I used cured rock, so mine never hit above .25ppm, but that seems like a spike to me!
Maybe do a reef central search on cycles and have a look at the results some others have experienced

02/19/2015, 05:50 PM	#1
threesixright Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 2	New Saltwater Tank I am currently about 6 days into starting my new saltwater tank. It is a 40 gallon breeder with T5HO and a reef octopus skimmer with a maxspect gyre 130. I used a piece of raw uncooked shrimp to get it started. The ammonia levels are spiked. about 1ppm and i have some brown algae on the sand and some of the rock. i used about 30 pounds of live sand and some argonaite sand. Is this normal. I also used RODI water and the TDS is reading 0. Any advice if this algae is good or not and what should i expect. I also used dry rock and one piece of live rock, i also put some macro algae in the refugium.

02/19/2015, 09:27 PM	#4
AmberLee Eager to learn Newbie Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Australia Posts: 339	I used cured rock, so mine never hit above .25ppm, but that seems like a spike to me! Maybe do a reef central search on cycles and have a look at the results some others have experienced __________________ - Amba Current Tank Info: 275 Litre Cube (72G) Slowly becoming a mixed reef. So far only 2 Ocellaris Clownfish + CUC + 3 Linckia Starfish hitchikers+ a few softies & LPS

02/19/2015, 09:07 PM	#3
threesixright Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 2	but right as ammonia spikes?