Previously Going, Now Went Marine

[Straydum]

gave it a wipe a couple of times. hope it stops soon though. anyway just tested ammonia, zero whats next?

 

[seffieuk]

gave it a wipe a couple of times. hope it stops soon though. anyway just tested ammonia, zero whats next?

Wait for an ammonia spike then a nitrite spike and then a nitrate spike - do a big water change, test again and if nitrate is under 10 add you cuc however, you will not be able to add your cuc because you are still adding rock and will probably keep getting mini cycles until it is all added that is why it is best to add all at once - you just get the one cycle The less colourful lr will mature soon enough, so don't worry, go buy some more yippeee

Seffie x

 

[Straydum]

ammonia is still zero but nitrates high as ever. the test color was near 160ppm which i attribute to a nitrate spike as seffie mentioned. will the level go down by itself? (i read in a book, Marine Reed Aquarium Handbook Second Edition by Robert J.Goldstein that nitrate levels will first peak and then plummet as anaerobic bacteria attain maximum population size) or need i keep doing water changes?

and i think i see a tiny nudibranch (3x1mm) climbing up the front glass to the surface

 

[Crazy fishes]

Don't bother doing a water change until you have added all the rock otherwise you will be wasting money and time. Once it is all in then wait for ammonia and nitrite to be zero then massive water change to get the level of nitrate below 10. Read up on deep sand beds for further information on anaerobic bacteria and denitrification. Try reefkeeping magazine online for further articles it contains everything you may wish to know to get you up and running. Once your nitrate is below 10 check your phosphate can be more important than nitrate if you plan on keeping corals.

Regards

 

[SkiFletch]

Agreed on the waiting and massive water change. Consider doing as close to a 100% change as possible

 

[jeasko]

also are you running any phosphate remover at this stage?

 

[Straydum]

thanks guys, i'd do just that. and reefkeeping magazine online is really helpful, thanks Crazy Fishes nope i've done nothing to do with phosphate up to this point. no phosphate test kit either since i won't be having corals anytime soon until everything is settled. would phosphate affect fishes or inverts as well?

 

[Straydum]

and pictures,

no flash

flash

 

[Straydum]

after letting the tank run for three days, ammonia is still zero, and so are nitrites. i'd take this as the end of the cycles? got to do something about the nitrates though, which would be a close to 100% water change and i'd be heading down to get my first (bought) livestock in there.

i'm thinking of two cleaner shrimp and a couple of snails. is it possible? searching online told me that its possible to keep species of the Lysmata genus better

 

[SkiFletch]

Sounds like a good plan to me

 

[Straydum]

thanks ski

just want to double check with you guys before i do anything, have i got an Aiptasia overrun in my tank? (for a awhile now i thought they were just some other hitchhiking corals)

 

[rabbut]

Not Aptasia, but deffinately a pest Manjos mebe? Only pest anenomies multiply that fast to my knowlage

 

[Straydum]

not aptasia? yeah they do spread quite abit. i'd watch them for now and get a peppermint shrimp when i have the chance.

update, currently in are one skunk cleaner shrimp, and three turbo snails. i initially got two shrimps but one died half and hour into the tank while the other is feeding on pellet(s) already. its quite saddening to throw away something that pretty. and snails are pretty much moving faster than i thought, working their way through the rock. pictures probably tomorrow.

anyone has an id on the corals posted above?

 

[SkiFletch]

If they're not exactly Aiptasia anemones they're REALLY close. Either way you've got quite the outbreak. If I were you, I'd get out a blowtorch or butane cigar torch and start cooking them. Good thing you don't have corals yet.

 

[Straydum]

Good thing you don't have corals yet.

technically i didn't buy any corals but a small colony of Zoanthus sp came together with the latest pieces of rock, which also had more of them (the Aiptasia look-a-likes), but with better coloration. some had a green center or green ends etc. some which i do believe to be Epicystis sp. instead.