Firthy's CADE 1500 from downunder
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Firthy13
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i know, and from what i have read, the people who have tried have had very little success in keeping it alive and removing the pests.
It is a 3D printed light shade. here is the link for anyone interested. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3698357
i'm very happy with it, prevents a lot of light spill on to my skimmer.
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Firthy13
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Well the cycle is progressing nicely. Day 24 and nitrite it finally detectable.
Installed a new inkbird ITC-306A temp controller which is working well. The wifi connectivity and temp warning alarms are a great addition.
Other then that, just been doing a bit of cable management and waiting for my 2nd MP40 to return from a warranty claim after my power supply started buzzing and crackling after a few days of running.
Installed a new inkbird ITC-306A temp controller which is working well. The wifi connectivity and temp warning alarms are a great addition.
Other then that, just been doing a bit of cable management and waiting for my 2nd MP40 to return from a warranty claim after my power supply started buzzing and crackling after a few days of running.
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Firthy13
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Well I think the cycle is done. I have now no detectable nitrite and ammonia. Nitrates have going through the roof. Over 100ppm, I'm struggling to understand how maintaining 2-3ppm of ammonia can result in such a high nitrate reading. Anyways, I'll verify with another test kit and do a couple of water changes.
Time to start thinking about what fish I'm going to start off with.
Time to start thinking about what fish I'm going to start off with.
Tastee
Valuable Member
That is indeed high Nitrates. I have been using Continuum Aquatics Bacter gen-MD in my new and existing tank recently and in the existing one I have seen a drop in Nitrates within a few weeks (6 ppm to 1.5). For the last 2 weeks my filter socks have been getting very full and last week the Skimmer worked overtime. Nothing else changed except for the bacteria dosing so I’m attributing it to that. This may be worth a try for you also. The new tank is now at 0 Nitrates (hopefully it won’t stay there as it get stocked but it does have some PO4 so I’m not too worried), and only went to 20 during the cycle. I’ll be interested to see how both tanks go longer term.
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Firthy13
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Nitrites are both 0 on API and salifert. I never really saw a nitrite spike, but I didn't test for 3 days, I'd be surprised if I got the spike in those 3 days and missed it. I had a small bottle of seachem stability that I have also been adding for the last few days.
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Firthy13
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The original Newcastle, the one that wasn't colonized by your convicted criminals.Following, this build looks awesome so far! I'm also from Newcastle.... the other Newcastle
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Firthy13
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Well i had my tests verified today.
Ammonia was 0.2ppm, nitrite was totally off scale, i suspect around 10-15 ppm, and nitrate was 20ppm.
I'm happy with these results and was more of what i was expecting. The annoying part of this is from 2 brand new sets of test kits i have purchased, both are inaccurate, With Salifert being the biggest disappointed. It was the first time trying Salifert and im not to sure if i will continue using it. the highest reading i can get out of the salifert nitrite kits is 0.05 by looking through the side of of the test tube and dividing the reading by 10. I may try Nyos kits from now on.
Ammonia was 0.2ppm, nitrite was totally off scale, i suspect around 10-15 ppm, and nitrate was 20ppm.
I'm happy with these results and was more of what i was expecting. The annoying part of this is from 2 brand new sets of test kits i have purchased, both are inaccurate, With Salifert being the biggest disappointed. It was the first time trying Salifert and im not to sure if i will continue using it. the highest reading i can get out of the salifert nitrite kits is 0.05 by looking through the side of of the test tube and dividing the reading by 10. I may try Nyos kits from now on.
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Firthy13
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the cycle is still progressing, now i don't have a nitrite test kit i trust, i'm just going to leave the tank for a week or 2 before getting the LFS to test my water again. I can't justify spending more money on test kits that will probably expire before i get to use the more then once or twice.
on the plus side, i picked up this media reactor. I plan to run a bit of carbon in it. its the MRC X3. its beautifully made, i'm really happy with. The included sponges are fine enough to stop the carbon falling through but will not clog up before the carbon in exhausted. They are also a nice tight fit inside the body which i have found to be an issue with a few other brands, the media get pushed past the edges of the sponge.
on the plus side, i picked up this media reactor. I plan to run a bit of carbon in it. its the MRC X3. its beautifully made, i'm really happy with. The included sponges are fine enough to stop the carbon falling through but will not clog up before the carbon in exhausted. They are also a nice tight fit inside the body which i have found to be an issue with a few other brands, the media get pushed past the edges of the sponge.
Peach02
Valuable Member
Not sure how long the cycle has been going on for, but I wouldn't run carbon while still cycling as bacteria loves to grow on carbon and carbon is changed removing a lot of bacteria. Maybe hold off on running it until the cycle has finished.
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Firthy13
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good advice. i'm still a few weeks off from adding the carbon. just want to get the reactor installed, get some water flow through it so i can calibrate my M2.
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