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LeftFootedJedi
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Well.. maybe it was losing my power & the water temp dropping about 20 degrees.. but it appears I am cycled.
PH: 8.0
Ammonia: 0-.25 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 40 ppm
If only one of my LFS’ were open I’d do the water change tonight & move my shrimp & crab to there new homes.
PH: 8.0
Ammonia: 0-.25 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 40 ppm
If only one of my LFS’ were open I’d do the water change tonight & move my shrimp & crab to there new homes.
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A solar powered "generator" is just a solar panel and batteries. Going to have a real hard time finding that in the $200 range. You can find small cheap solar panels in that range probably, but not the electronics and batteries also(at least not one worth having). You may want to look into a "jackery" or similar brand battery. Can get those for around $200 or less (without the solar panel). Depending on the model you get they are designed to be charged by solar, DC (ie running car), or plugged into an AC outlet. Obviously if you are out of power you cant use the outlet at the house, but easy to charge ahead of time. Obviously power is limited, but should give you several hours of use for a small heater and wavemaker (possibly quite a bit more if the heater is not running constantly).
Before I had a generator I also used the car with an AC converter as my "generator". It is far from efficient, but it did work.
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LeftFootedJedi
Active Member
Another week down the tubes & it’s one I’d like to forget.
I live in Dallas, TX & like most was w/o power for the better part of 3 days. I wrapped my 20G AIO w/blankets, bought a battery powered air supply.. but couldn’t keep it warm & lost everything (livestock/coral) outside of a cleaner shrimp, 1 nassarius / 1 astrea snail & 3 hermit crabs. With or without the losses, my plan was transfer everything over this weekend regardless so I plowed ahead. After a 40% water change on Saturday morning, my parameters were as follows;
PH: 8 ppm
Ammonia: 0 - .25ppm
Nitrate: 20 PPM
Nitrite: 0
Nitrates were a little higher than I expected but.. I turned the lights on, dosed some beneficial bacteria, transferred everything over & brought home two black storm clowns. Today, I’m seeing brown diatoms in the sand.. which while not the prettiest, is a good sign. Hopefully that will die off soon.
Looking back I don’t think I allowed my 1st tank to really cycle properly so I’m trying to take this one slower. My plan was to let the diatoms do their thing, blow it off w/a turkey baster daily & do weekly water changes (20%) until that clears up. My question is, how long should the diatoms last or how long should I wait before maybe… adding another member to my CUC, i.e. a fighting conch? I’m thinking long-term stability and while my n. snail is medium sized, it’s a much bigger tank. As tempting as it is to buy a full CUC, I’d rather work up to that this time around.
Thoughts/suggestions?
I live in Dallas, TX & like most was w/o power for the better part of 3 days. I wrapped my 20G AIO w/blankets, bought a battery powered air supply.. but couldn’t keep it warm & lost everything (livestock/coral) outside of a cleaner shrimp, 1 nassarius / 1 astrea snail & 3 hermit crabs. With or without the losses, my plan was transfer everything over this weekend regardless so I plowed ahead. After a 40% water change on Saturday morning, my parameters were as follows;
PH: 8 ppm
Ammonia: 0 - .25ppm
Nitrate: 20 PPM
Nitrite: 0
Nitrates were a little higher than I expected but.. I turned the lights on, dosed some beneficial bacteria, transferred everything over & brought home two black storm clowns. Today, I’m seeing brown diatoms in the sand.. which while not the prettiest, is a good sign. Hopefully that will die off soon.
Looking back I don’t think I allowed my 1st tank to really cycle properly so I’m trying to take this one slower. My plan was to let the diatoms do their thing, blow it off w/a turkey baster daily & do weekly water changes (20%) until that clears up. My question is, how long should the diatoms last or how long should I wait before maybe… adding another member to my CUC, i.e. a fighting conch? I’m thinking long-term stability and while my n. snail is medium sized, it’s a much bigger tank. As tempting as it is to buy a full CUC, I’d rather work up to that this time around.
Thoughts/suggestions?
LgTas
Well-Known Member
My diatom bloom didn't last too long, I think a couple weeks at the most. I added a couple locally caught test CUC at this point and have slowly been adding to the CUC team since. Once diatoms receded I had the beginnings of some GHA (due to my high nutrients) but the CUC have kept that in check.
From what I've read you dont want GHA to get too established as most grazers only eat new algae growth.
From what I've read you dont want GHA to get too established as most grazers only eat new algae growth.
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LeftFootedJedi
Active Member
That’s my concern.. I thought I had diatoms in my tank about 3 months after it cycled.. let it go thinking it’d go away on its own & ended up with something that looked like a combo of cyano/dino’s, diatoms & red hair algae.
For my next CUC add.. I’m thinking something to target the substrate or scape specifically. I had really good luck with Trochus snails but can’t find them. Never had a conch before so a little unsure on that one.
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