The last 3 tanks I have done, I’ve basically done the same way, almost. But, the ingredients were all the same. Live sand from the gulf + live rock from the gulf (both shipped on a SW plane). I’m gearing up to have some fun (2 new displays, one replaces the frag connected to my main display). The first step is to get all the coral out of my sump and frag tank connected to my main display. So I am building this crazy cool 48x48 look down tank.
In the look down’s sump(s) there is around 80 pounds of TBS rock, 60 pounds of TBS sand and 40 pounds of sand I pulled from my main display.
In the display itself there is 100 pounds of rock that has been in a temperature controlled brute, fed weekly, half of which was left over tbs from my big display build. And also some rubble that sat in my sump for 8 months.
There is life galore everywhere. If I shut the lights off and get a flash light, it’s pod central. Feather dusters everywhere. Those things that live on rocks and filter water, etc. I’ve had it running like this for about 2 weeks. I have had the sump running between the two sumps an additional 2 weeks. I wanted to get some lights up this weekend and put in all the coral from my lowboy and break that down (what a waste of a bare bottom biome-rich tank, man I had to fight the uglies bad on this connected frag tank).
So, in my past, at this point I never looked back. Meaning, I slammed it with a high fish load and tons of coral. If you followed my last build, you know that’s exactly what I did. And I had no issues with fish or coral. Pure insta-tank. Healthy too.
So for some reason unbeknownst to even me, I grabbed this never used bottle of Dr. Tim’s ammonia chloride and put in maybe 3/4 of the suggested amount. I think I put in 50 mil. As Dr Tim states, I didn’t use my fancy number generator I looked for color yellow or green. And, if this was the strip club, I’d be making it rain! That test was 12 hours after I dosed the ammonia.
Now, I’m a little worried about perhaps not having a strong enough biome in the tank to handle a fish load? Should the ammonia have been digested by now? I am worried that I now need to perform a cycle (which, dang, I honestly cannot recall the last time I cycled a tank). Thoughts anyone? System is around 200g.
In the look down’s sump(s) there is around 80 pounds of TBS rock, 60 pounds of TBS sand and 40 pounds of sand I pulled from my main display.
In the display itself there is 100 pounds of rock that has been in a temperature controlled brute, fed weekly, half of which was left over tbs from my big display build. And also some rubble that sat in my sump for 8 months.
There is life galore everywhere. If I shut the lights off and get a flash light, it’s pod central. Feather dusters everywhere. Those things that live on rocks and filter water, etc. I’ve had it running like this for about 2 weeks. I have had the sump running between the two sumps an additional 2 weeks. I wanted to get some lights up this weekend and put in all the coral from my lowboy and break that down (what a waste of a bare bottom biome-rich tank, man I had to fight the uglies bad on this connected frag tank).
So, in my past, at this point I never looked back. Meaning, I slammed it with a high fish load and tons of coral. If you followed my last build, you know that’s exactly what I did. And I had no issues with fish or coral. Pure insta-tank. Healthy too.
So for some reason unbeknownst to even me, I grabbed this never used bottle of Dr. Tim’s ammonia chloride and put in maybe 3/4 of the suggested amount. I think I put in 50 mil. As Dr Tim states, I didn’t use my fancy number generator I looked for color yellow or green. And, if this was the strip club, I’d be making it rain! That test was 12 hours after I dosed the ammonia.
Now, I’m a little worried about perhaps not having a strong enough biome in the tank to handle a fish load? Should the ammonia have been digested by now? I am worried that I now need to perform a cycle (which, dang, I honestly cannot recall the last time I cycled a tank). Thoughts anyone? System is around 200g.
