New 14Gal bio build!!!

[Paramecium]

And the carbon filter as well should be trashed? My understanding is that it all gets trashed and some LR rubble goes into the middle chamber. I'll upgrade the stock pump to the 900 with a hydor flow and add the hydor nano PH on the other side. Some people seem to think that the skimmer isn't needed until later on when you add some bio load to the tank. What am i missing?

[Paramecium]

So I got the MJ 900 and koralia nano PH in the tank. Any advice on a way to fix the MJ in the chamber? Right now I have it hooked up to the hose and outlet that came with the tank. I couldn't seem to figure out a good way to get in in with a suction cup of any sort so it is just sitting at an angle in the bottom with the hose holding it down. I also removed the bio balls and sponge and rinsed the filter with RO-DI water and put it back in for another day. I moved the rock a bit so I stirred up a lot of loose stuff and wanted to catch some of it to clear the tank up.

I got a thermometer as well and the tank currently is running about 82 degrees which seems a bit warm. I did tests for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate to get a baseline so we'll see how things progress.

~Danny

[YLChik]

lookin good!

[Paramecium]

So when I got home from work today the tank temp was sitting at 86. Any ideas for cooling this thing down? Not sure how high it may have gotten during the day.

~Danny

[reginanmc]

Originally Posted by Paramecium

And the carbon filter as well should be trashed? My understanding is that it all gets trashed and some LR rubble goes into the middle chamber. I'll upgrade the stock pump to the 900 with a hydor flow and add the hydor nano PH on the other side. Some people seem to think that the skimmer isn't needed until later on when you add some bio load to the tank. What am i missing?

Putting LR in the center chamber can end up doing the same thing as the bioballs.....breed nitrates. One option is to add some filter floss on top of the drip tray, that will catch extra stuff as if flows through the back.

I went with the fuge in the center chamber, I'm happy with it.

Keep a carbon filter on hand in case you need one, but reality is, they are no good after a week, use them as needed if your dosing chemicals like Flat worm exit or something.

Originally Posted by Paramecium

So when I got home from work today the tank temp was sitting at 86. Any ideas for cooling this thing down? Not sure how high it may have gotten during the day.

~Danny

Do you have AC??? if your ambient temp in your house is going that high, you're going to have trouble keeping your temps down. You can lift the feeding hatch and set a fan aiming at the tank, that will help keep temps down. You can also get new lighting and make it an open top.

[Paramecium]

Well I went with a fan overnight and today to see how much difference it made. Was 86 when I went to sleep and with the hood open about an inch and the fan on high it was down to 76 this morning. The girly just texted me that it was at 70 when she went to work so she had turned down the fan. I have no AC so other than a chiller this may be the way to go for the summer months. in the winter I don't see it being a problem. I was thinking of getting a stealth heater and using the fan to control the temp.

I took everything out of the back. I ran the charcoal for a couple days to grab a lot of the big stuff that was stirred up initially but now the water is pretty clear. i may try the floss on the overflow tray to filter out any particulates and just change it every few days. So I need to have anything back there or is it ok to run with nothing like that? I was thinking about getting one of the nano skimmers but wasn't sure how effective they really are.

The tank has only been up and cycling for 3 days so i'm hoping the erratic temp swings won't be too big of a deal. I'm going to try and grab the heater tonight so hopefully I can get the temperature thing under control.

~Danny

[Paramecium]

The fan seems to be working although evaporating a ton of water. That's worakble though so no big deal, I'll just top it off every day. Salinity is sitting at 1.026. I haven't retested the ammonia, nitrite and nitrates yet but I plan on doing that tomorrow. The temp was up from 70 to 74 on the tank when the girlfriend got home so she turned the fan off and it was at 78 when I arrived. I picked up a stealth heater on the way home and put it in the 1st chamber after I pulled out the bottom tray. I turned the fan back on low with the heater set for 77 and hopefully they will balance each other out. The few shrooms had perked back up and were looking happy.

I also got some floss and cut out a piece that I put on top of the overflow tray for the 2nd chamber. Hopefully that will pick up some of the small particles floating around in the tank. I'll post some pics later.

~Danny

[Paramecium]

The tank seems to be holding right about 78 degrees so i think that issue has been resolved. I do have a few questions though. The rocks I bought from the LFS were in their tank and I imagine are either cured or partially cured depending on how long they had been in the shop. The sand was a 20lb bag of live sand. Will the tank still make a full cycle or do I need to bury a dead shrimp in the sand etc to kickstart it? I plan on checking the ammonia, trite and trate again tonight. Just wondering if in the long run it is better to trigger a full blown cycle.

I took out the carbon filter and just put some floss on top of the overflow tray in chamber 2 to polish the water a bit. I read on one site that you needed some activated carbon in the tank for the cycle, is this true and should I buy a bag to stick in the back or should it be ok without it? I have the lights set for the actinics to come on an hour before and stay on an hour after the compacts and the LED's are on at night when the others are off. Is this ok during the initial cycle?

I also am seeing more and more tiny snails that look like miniature snails from your home garden. Should I just leave them in there and let them keep eating at this time? Not sure I could get them all out anyhow, they really only come out at night and there are a lot of them haha.

~Danny

[Paramecium]

So I tested the tank again today and the results were the same as on Monday. I don't expect it to cycle in a week but am I wrong in thinking there should be a spike happening somewhere? The temp is holding steady at 79 though so that seems good.

.50 Ammonia
.25 Nitrite
20 Nitrate

~Danny

[YLChik]

Originally Posted by Paramecium

The tank seems to be holding right about 78 degrees so i think that issue has been resolved. I do have a few questions though. The rocks I bought from the LFS were in their tank and I imagine are either cured or partially cured depending on how long they had been in the shop. The sand was a 20lb bag of live sand. Will the tank still make a full cycle or do I need to bury a dead shrimp in the sand etc to kickstart it? I plan on checking the ammonia, trite and trate again tonight. Just wondering if in the long run it is better to trigger a full blown cycle.

It sure won't hurt. I would just put a cube of frozen food or some flake food in the tank, but a shrimp if ya got it will work too. The shrimp should really ramp up your good bacteria.

I took out the carbon filter and just put some floss on top of the overflow tray in chamber 2 to polish the water a bit.
This is a good idea, just remember to change it out every few days.

I read on one site that you needed some activated carbon in the tank for the cycle, is this true and should I buy a bag to stick in the back or should it be ok without it?
You'll be fine with out it. I run carbon to clean up yellow water, or to help reduce chemical warfare with soft corals.

I have the lights set for the actinics to come on an hour before and stay on an hour after the compacts and the LED's are on at night when the others are off. Is this ok during the initial cycle?

Sure, the cycle doesn't need light, but we do to find all those cool things in the tank!

I also am seeing more and more tiny snails that look like miniature snails from your home garden. Should I just leave them in there and let them keep eating at this time? Not sure I could get them all out anyhow, they really only come out at night and there are a lot of them haha.

hmmm can you describe them more. I am not so good with the hitchhickers, some are good some not so much But it sure is fun to look for life on the rocks isn't it!

~Danny

Originally Posted by Paramecium

So I tested the tank again today and the results were the same as on Monday. I don't expect it to cycle in a week but am I wrong in thinking there should be a spike happening somewhere? The temp is holding steady at 79 though so that seems good.

.50 Ammonia
.25 Nitrite
20 Nitrate

~Danny

What test kits are you using... just helps us get a better handle on what you are reading

That seems like a good start to me though.

[Paramecium]

API test kits for the moment.

I'll try to pull out a snail tomorrow and get a good picture.

~Danny

[Hop]

Actually the API test for the most part IMO are just fine. Comparing them to some of the other kits I have seem to have fairly similar results

I have a mix of API, salifert and redsea. I'm thinking about trying out some elos and a few others. I like to have a back up for each kit, pH, ca, mag, alk, po4 and no3. Although I really only test for ca, alk and mag with any frequency.

[Paramecium]

So it seems the snails are Collonistas and are not a problem. Stole this pic from someone here, they look just like this.

http://static.keebali.com/thereeftan...12612Snail.JPG

~Danny

[Paramecium]

So I got the hydor flow deflector the other day and everything in the tank seems happy. Tested the water again and still no change, ph was about 8.0. Starting to get some brown algae on the rocks and glass along with some green groing on the glass. Saw what I believe was a bristle worm tonight really quickly. He snuck off pretty quickly though. I'll take some pics tomorrow!

~Danny

[Paramecium]

So today the tank tested at.

PH- about 8
Amm- somewhere between 0 and .25 kinda hard to tell.
Trite-0
Trate-20
Salinity was 1.027 so I'm going to bring that down tomorrow.

I do have plenty of brown stuff on the glass and some rocks as well as green plant looking things all over the glass and some of the rocks, is this normal? They look like little tiny bushes bout 1/4 inch long on some of them.

~Danny