My 50 gallon slice of the ocean
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- Thread starter LEOreefer
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OP
OP
Here is how the program is laid out on my apex. I will be following it to a "T", once it concludes I will be maintain levels with BRS 2 part dosing esp since the KH out of the bucket it appears around 6. Here are some screen shots from my apex
Just read through your build, great work! I'm happy you decided to redo the scape. I think the asymmetric look works so much better in cubes, gives it a more spacious feel.
One thing I wasn't sure if you'd mentioned...are you planning to QT your fish? I know in your intro you mentioned that you lost fish last time. IMO, disease is so prevalent in the supply chain these days. You've been so patient and methodical so far, I'd hate for that to be wasted with a 76 day fallow period off the bat :/
One thing I wasn't sure if you'd mentioned...are you planning to QT your fish? I know in your intro you mentioned that you lost fish last time. IMO, disease is so prevalent in the supply chain these days. You've been so patient and methodical so far, I'd hate for that to be wasted with a 76 day fallow period off the bat :/
OP
OP
Thanks for stopping by! I will be setting up a small QT system. The plan is to stock about 6 fish eventually. The rough plan will be QT 2 pj cardinals together, then some sort of goby or blenny, then 2 clowns, and finally some sort of centerpiece fish. I want to keep qt with no more than 2 fish at a time. I have all the meds already that i might need
OP
OP
Cycle day 4. No noticeable change. I've been raising my salinity from 1.024 to 1.026 as well was my alk. I'm excited to see my first signs of life. I'm also to battling with a minor amount of micro bubbles from my skimmer. BTW said it was due to my sump being small and the good flow through the sump,but I'm not sure how to fix it
OP
OP
Cycle day 5. Still no noticeable growth here are the numbers
Salt: 1.026 (up from 1.023)
Alk: 8.95 (up from 6.72)
Ammonia : .25
Ca: 400
Mag: not tested
Nitrate : 40 ppm (up from 5ppm)
Phosphate: .61 (up from. 37)
I stopped the red sea mature program as I would need like 2 more boxes to follow there dosing plan and i dont want to drop that money. So I dosed my tank with Dr tims ammonia and will cycle that way. Here's a FTS
Salt: 1.026 (up from 1.023)
Alk: 8.95 (up from 6.72)
Ammonia : .25
Ca: 400
Mag: not tested
Nitrate : 40 ppm (up from 5ppm)
Phosphate: .61 (up from. 37)
I stopped the red sea mature program as I would need like 2 more boxes to follow there dosing plan and i dont want to drop that money. So I dosed my tank with Dr tims ammonia and will cycle that way. Here's a FTS
OP
OP
Late update today, I installed my wxm module and linked my mp10.. it's so nice to be able to see the pump and what it is running at any given time. Part of this process is for me to iron out the kinks in my system prior to livestock going in. Today for the first time I had people over , there was 4 of us total and the windows where shut and AC turned on. I got a notification saying my ph was low and took a look and saw it tanked. I can't run a airline outside and I was looking into co2 scrubbers but there seems to be a common theme of going through media quickly , and at $50 a bottle it gets expensive. So I'm not sure what I'm going to do about this issue. As you can see from my graph around 18:00 hrs the ph went into a free fall
OP
OP
So the overflow, I'm absolutely amazed buy the shadow overflow. I had it running wide open and it was making noise and I couldn't figure out why, it turns out that this thing was pulling so much water my 1350 gph pump couldn't keep up. Keep in mind this is on a 50gallon cube. I had to dial back the main drain to get the system silent. One its dialed its dead silent, and it wasn't hard to get tuned in at all!
OP
OP
The hum of my wave makers and return pump are louder than the overflow
OP
OP
Hey everyone I'll be posting a cycle update later today, for now I'm trying to get to the bottom of my salinity probe swing I'm experiencing on a daily basis (Pics attached). Also I've decided I'm going to does kalkwasser in the ato and see how that goes. I will also have the BRS 2 part on hand to adjust levels where I want them .
OP
OP
Cycle day 9: things are starting to happen ! Today I observed 2 or 3 spots of brown algae forming on the sand bed and one little spit on the rock work. I've been able to hone in on and stabilize my salinity. My Calcium and alk are not quite where I want them to be bit I plan on using BRS 2 part to bring them up and kalkwasser to stabilize. I'm also thinking of doing a small water change of 5% on Friday. These are the numbers as of today.
Salinity:1.026
Ca: 425 (up from 400)
Alk: 7.84 dkh ( down from 8.96)
Mag: 1275 ( up from 1170)
Nitrate: 40ppm (same as last reading)
Phosphate: .61 ( same as last reading via Hanna checker)
My skimmer is really starting to pull nasty brown sludge that stinks to high heaven!
I look forward to your comments. Cycling has always been a little confusing to me so any input on how you think is going would be great! Look towards to hearing from everyone !
Salinity:1.026
Ca: 425 (up from 400)
Alk: 7.84 dkh ( down from 8.96)
Mag: 1275 ( up from 1170)
Nitrate: 40ppm (same as last reading)
Phosphate: .61 ( same as last reading via Hanna checker)
My skimmer is really starting to pull nasty brown sludge that stinks to high heaven!
I look forward to your comments. Cycling has always been a little confusing to me so any input on how you think is going would be great! Look towards to hearing from everyone !
OP
OP
I am no longer doing the reed mature. I would have needed about 4 boxes to complete the program and i didn't want to pay for it. I started dosing Dr tims ammonia but have been trouble getting it above .50 ppm
OP
OP
@Barrett here is what my ammonia is reading. It's in the <.15 category maybe .25. As per the instructions on the ammonia bottle it reads "add 1 drop per gal (Or 1 ml per 20 gal ; cap =6 ml) of aquarium water to achieve an ammonia nitrogen level concentration of 2 "
So in a 60 gallon system i added 3 ml with no change in ammonia reading . Not sure what I'm doing wrong
So in a 60 gallon system i added 3 ml with no change in ammonia reading . Not sure what I'm doing wrong
OP
OP
Cycle day 10: I didnt grab a pic today but I have some greens showing up on the rocks. I also figured out my ammonia issue and was able to raise the tank up to 1.5 ish ppm. Things really seem to be progressing now. The rock is also starting to turn a darker tan almost light brown color
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