Aquapod 24 150w HQI

[MiMiC]

Instead of turning my back sump into a fuge more then likely I am going to just purchase a soap holder, (I saw someone do this on the nano-reef.com forum) and put some chaeto algae in it, only downfall is it takes away from the display, so more then likely I will mount it behind the rocks, and every now and then you have to trim it up due to its very fast growth rates.

[MiMiC]

Today I went out and Purchased 4lbs of Live rock, I now have 24lbs of LR and 20lbs of Live sand.

I also puchased a Korlalia 1 which substantially increase my water movement in the Display, its placed behind my rocks at the moment.

I bought a thermometer and a mini heater to keep temps at a constant 78.

Ill let you all know if my readings start to head for the better.

[MiMiC]

Well my ammonia readings are off the chart, I am using Tetra Test and its showing more then 5.0 mg/l

my nitrites are 0.3mg/l

Salinaty is 1.024

PH around 7.8

my tank is still cycling and the people at the fish store said to just let it cycle and dont touch it, so im not going to do a water change but I am seriously contemplating it because of my extremely high ammonia, now my question is should I change out 50% or would this prolonge the cycle, and if I do, do you think it will actually drop my ammonia.

[MiMiC]

I went to petco and purchased this stuff called "Cycle" its supposed to help speed up my cycling time by providing "Nitrifying Bacteria" see if it works.

[MiMiC]

COOL! I woke up today and checked my parems..

PH: 8.0
SG: 1.024
Temp: 80f
Ammonia: 5.0mg/l (still the same ;( )
Nitrites: 0.8mg/l (climbed after adding Cycle) I suppose this is a great thing!!

By the looks of things my tank may be ready in a week or two, hopefully this hobby is addicting!! thanks for any further comments or input!

[MiMiC]

BROWN STUFF forming in the bottom right of my tank, which flow is at least... pretty sure its diatom. some spots on rock and other spots in sand bed along the glass wall.

nitrites still climbing, 20ppm nitrates, 5.0mg/l ammonia +

[MiMiC]

Yeah, definetly having my first Diatom bloom its pretty cool some of it is making brown algae some of it green i see little spikes of grass coming out of my rock anyways thought id just report

SG :1.023
Temp: 80
Alk: 300
Trites: 3.3mg/l very high
ammonia: 5.5mg/l very high
trates: 20-40ppm

[MiMiC]

Diatom everywhere, I like the color it adds to my tank, but it seems that in like 3 days it will be overwhelming this stuff grows so fast, im amazed...

just a couple of questions...

1. Should I do a water change since I have high ammonia,nitrites,nitrates, or just let it auto balance by itself

2. Its been 11 days and I just got my Diatom bloom, would it be safe to say in another 11 days my tank should have been at 0's already?

3. I am currently spiking right now, how long does it usually spike for? does it depend on water volume?

[MiMiC]

I might get flamed for it, but I did a 30% water change, and move around my sand to kick up all the sitting stuff, tank clouded up very lightly for about 10 mins, I picked up as much debrise as possible from my sand bed, still a little in there thinking about vaccuming it out right now actually, I dont need anything else in there contributing to my ammonia levels...

Also for topping off... Can I add the pre-mixed water that I buy at the LFS, its rated at 1.023SG and my SG lvls increase as they day goes on due to evaporation I added the glass top to see if it would help but it might increase my temps so i am testing it today to see how high it goes, without I do like 80, or 81 HIGHEST, I will let you all know whats up.

thanks.

[MiMiC]

Well, I went ahead and did some searching on ebay, found a good 6 stage RO/DI filter for like $135 so ill have that in for the top offs.

ammonia readings and nitrite readings still high, ill post up in another week.,

[MiMiC]

Finally got pics..

Also, my ammona readings finally diminished I still have high Nitrite and Nitrate readings though, hopefully my cycle will be complete in another week or two.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...h/IMG00449.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...h/IMG00448.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...h/IMG00447.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...h/IMG00446.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...h/IMG00445.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...h/IMG00442.jpg

[MiMiC]

cycle complete, everything reads 0 and I am getting many micro-bubbles coming off my rocks from the algae it looks pretty cool, how much longer till I can put maybe some hardy mushrooms or some pink pulsing zenia in my tank, bout another month?

[snow_man84088]

Have you had any heat issues with the HQI?

[kv2wr1]

Nice setup and love the aquapscape.