IM 25 Mangrove Lagoon: Invert Heavy Build

[BurlyWizard]

One additional update on the back chambers with all the recent additions. See pic below.

From top to bottom:
- Chamber 1: inTank Media Basket - Currently only filter floss
- Chamber 2: Live rock rubble (well, not live yet, but will be with tank)
- Chamber 3: Same pumps on their own 1/2 inch hose to the outputs (stock IM 25 pump & Tunze 1073.008). Also got the ATO float valve and return hose added.
- Chamber 4: Both Jager 50W heaters - still working out the kinks here. Heaters were set to 79, but tank is constantly reading 80.1-80.4. Turned down heaters to 77 and no change in temp. Not sure why the tank temp is so high, but I'm going to use the rest of the cycle to figure it out.
- Chamber 5: Stock filter sock for now

 

[Saline]

Tank looks awesome! I’d love to do one but the dang cat won’t allow me!

 

[BurlyWizard]

Day 9: Continued progress

More waiting, but after dosing ammonia last night, wanted to test and see how the tank processed it in 24 hours (or more accurately, 23 hours).

1 day later, readings are:
- Ammonia: 0.25 ppm (Yay)
- Nitrite: 1.5 ppm (Meh)
- Nitrate: 100 ppm
- SG: 1.024

Ammonia dropped from 2ppm to 0.25 in a day, so we're close. Nitrite is still hanging around. I thought about re-dosing ammonia to keep the train rolling, but I think I'll just give it another day and see if the nitrites continue to come down.

We could be just a few days out from our first livestock!

 

[Luciferene]

Following, excited to see the first wave of livestock

 

[BurlyWizard]

Day 10: The waiting game continues

Ammonia dropped to 0.15 (or less) this morning. Nitrites were still around the 1.5 mark. Didn't test nitrates.

I went ahead and re-dosed ammonia and will check it after 24 hours to see how fast the tank is processing it with all things considered. Knowing that ammonia is down and the first critters will be just a few inverts, may give it a go here in the next couple days. But if it's still hanging around tomorrow, no sense in rushing anything.

Speaking of critters, here's the updated stocking list, in order of introduction:

Wave 1:
- 1x Cleaner Shrimp
- 2x Emerald Crabs

Wave 2:
- 3x Camels/Peppermints
- 2x Pom pom crabs

Wave 3:
- 3x Damsels: Leaning Azure, but potentially Springeri
- 2x Sexy Shrimp

Wave 4:
- 2x Porcelain crabs
- Marine Plants (Mangroves, shaving brush, pencil cap)

Wave 5: When algae is present for urchin & all other shrimp are in
- Tuxedo Urchin (Small)
- Fire Shrimp (As small as possible)

Waves won't necessarily be introduced all at the same time, but just in general laying out how I plan to introduce the livestock.

 

[BurlyWizard]

I also went ahead and ordered some Tisbe and Tiger pods off eBay. Not sure if they'll live up to their hype, but hopefully when they get settled, they'll provide some food, some filtration, and some proactive defense against dinos.

Also planning to cut the frame for the screen lid tomorrow if all goes well. This will allow me to get a cover on the tank as well as cut down the metal needed to hang the Mars Aqua light.

And last but not least, grabbed some PE pellets (mysis). I went with the 2mm pellets as I'll be trying to feed via tweezers and the 1mm pellets are just so tiny. Should be receiving them in a few days.

It's all coming together!

 

[BurlyWizard]

Day 11: Exciting Updates!

Well, the water continues to process ammonia in 24 hours, and despite Nitrites hanging around, the general consensus on the forums is that our cycle is complete.

We did a 50% (~10 gallon) water change, changed out filter floss, swapped out filter socks, and added Chemi-pure blue.

We also added our first tank mates! A skunk cleaner shrimp and 2 emerald crabs. Wave 1 of our stocking list is complete. They're all eating the PE Pellets hungrily, and enjoyed a temp float & drip acclimation for an hour or so. My SG is 1.025 and the LFS's was 1.024, so not much off to reconcile.

I'm sure there will be plenty more pictures to follow, but here's just a couple to get us started. Enjoy!

 

[BurlyWizard]

Day 12: Tank stuff.

With our first critters in, it's time to finish all the odd-job projects outstanding on the tank.

Went ahead and got the Mars Aqua hung...and it doesn't look great. Lots of wires (hanging & power), and the "low profile" mounting bracket I used looks great until you hang the light, and now all you see is 2 thick power cords draping around the mount. I'll try to clean them up somehow, but we may change course.

Aside from the light I got the sunk-in fitted lid cut down to size and cut the mesh screen to fit. This includes a hole cut in the middle to fit the exposed rock. This was all part of the plan, and I actually enjoy the protrusion of the rock through not only the water but also the lid. These cuts will get expanded with the mangrove sprouts when they are purshased.

Outside of those items, we received the 15" tweezers to feed, which is great in a tank of ~9" deep water. Everyone is happy and seeming healthy, and we're really enjoying the new additions.

Only puzzling thing is that Nitrites are still hanging around. Despite the water change and Chemi-pure. Nitrites are still at 1.5ppm. Ammonia is at 0. Nitrates are reading high as well, but I forgot that if Nitrites are present, Nitrate tests are inaccurate. I assume the Nitrites will be processed soon given the cycle being complete, but I may do another 5 gallon water change if that seems like the right thing to do.

Here are a couple shots of the lid, and in the second, you can see the extended tweezers in relation to the tank.

 

[BurlyWizard]

Day 13: Not a lot going on. Nitrites continue to be high. This makes me a bit nervous, but given only 3 tankmates and ammonia being gone, I'm going to continue to monitor.

For now, enjoy some full tank shots as well as top-down shots with and without the LEDs on!

 

[DeanB.reef]

Tank looks really good! Would it be worth getting another test kit to verify your high nitrites or even get your LFS to check them? I’d maybe watch doing constant water changes now that live stock is in the tank because the swings may harm them.

In my latest tank set up I had a spike in nitrites after adding live stock so I added some Fritz bacteria and more bio-ball media. I cycled the tank with Dr Tim’s like you but maybe the Fritz gave a bit more diversity to process the nitrite as it slowly came down over 2-3 days.

Hopefully you get it figured out soon!

 

[BurlyWizard]

Tank looks really good! Would it be worth getting another test kit to verify your high nitrites or even get your LFS to check them? I’d maybe watch doing constant water changes now that live stock is in the tank because the swings may harm them.

In my latest tank set up I had a spike in nitrites after adding live stock so I added some Fritz bacteria and more bio-ball media. I cycled the tank with Dr Tim’s like you but maybe the Fritz gave a bit more diversity to process the nitrite as it slowly came down over 2-3 days.

Hopefully you get it figured out soon!

Yep, I did a series of about 9 tests today to isolate the problem and I very much think the Nitrite test may be an issue. I do have a small bit of Fritz left, but I was going to save it for when I add 3 damsels at the same time, as I think it'll be the biggest bio-load hit to the tank out of the entire stocking list.

I appreciate the response though, and will continue to monitor as days go on before adding to the livestock.

 

[BurlyWizard]

Day 14: Troubleshooting continues.

Now that we're post-cycle and the tank-mates are all eating & appearing happy, I wanted to finally run the additional 25% water change I had mentioned before, as well as take the time to test my water...like all of my water. After the water change, there were still a few quarts of water in the bucket, so I was able to get samples from that, my ATO, and my tank.

I ran an Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate test on my pure RODI water, freshly mixed saltwater, and tank water. The results below:

RO/DI Water (Reads 0 TDS out of In & Out probes):
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrites: 0.2 ppm
Nitrates: 0 ppm

Instant Ocean Reef Crystals (Freshly mixed):
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrites: 1 ppm
Nitrates: 2.5 ppm

Display Tank:
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrites: 0.3 ppm
Nitrates: 25 ppm


So, most importantly, tank Nitrites have dropped significantly, which also either directly or indirectly has resulted in the Nitrate test reading 25 ppm for the first time since mid-cycle. It's still hard to say if this Nitrate reading is legit, as there are Nitrites present which could be skewing it, but at least Nitrates are down. I'll keep monitoring, and plan for another 5 gallons in a week or so when I have a better idea about the Nitrites.

Next up, RO/DI. So this water is reading 0 TDS and Ammonia & Nitrates are flat at 0, but there was still a hint of pink to the water, and Salifert lined it up with a 0.2 ppm reading of Nitrites. This is an obvious outlier, and in my opinion, a leading indicator that the Nitrite test may be flawed. This specific test was purchased off Amazon, and their favorable return policy may just take all of this evidence as enough to swap me out a new test kit.

And finally, freshly mixed salt water. This was also a bit strange, but at this point, numbers are bouncing around a bit on all fronts. Ammonia read 0, but Nitrites read the highest of all 3 water samples at 1 ppm. Nitrates didn't jump as high as they are in the tank, which leads me to believe the nitrates in the tank may be more authentic than flawed. One last puzzling piece is that I would have expected a poor test kit to have shown the same Nitrite value on both RO/DI and fresh salt water, but I'm not going to over-analyze this. Time will shake it all out.


So next steps...Like I said, water change for later this week, and keep monitoring Nitrates in the tank. Next up on the stocking list is 3 camelback shrimp and 2 pom pom crabs. I'm a little nervous to add anything else given the uncertainty of the water, but I also feel that the conditions are either as they seem or more favorable, which I think puts us well within additional stock after another 25% water change. I will of course get the water tested by the LFS the next time I'm in there and keep piecing together the breadcrumbs.


TLDR: Parameters improved after water change. Some are still sketchy, likely a faulty Nitrite kit. Proceeding with caution and looking forward to Wave 2 of inhabitants soon!

 

[Luciferene]

Yea it does seem like there's likely an error with your kit. RODI should be very effective in removing ions such as nitrite.

But if you know someone with a freshwater system, they might have a Seachem Prime that you can borrow. A few ml of that'll bind ammonia and nitrite from being toxic - for peace of mind.

You can also confirm with distilled water from a grocery store. They're around $1/Gallon here and you can use it for top off or saltwater.

 

[BurlyWizard]

Day 16: A special delivery!

I received my shipment from ReefAndFins of Tisbe and Tigriopus pods to get this tank seeding. I am horribly afraid of having to deal with dinos in this tank as we're using dry rock and a brand new tank. This is part of the reason I've left Nitrate parameters as they are instead of fighting them down to 0 as quickly as possible.

Nonetheless, pods are in and hopefully reproducing on a massive scale!

 

[BurlyWizard]

Day 17: It looks like we're into steady state now.

I went ahead and started the return process for the Nitrite test, but I'll keep using it while I have it at least. As of today, Nitrites dropped to 0.1 ppm and Nitrates remain at 25 ppm since the water change. I've got another water change slotted for a few days to hopefully bring them down to the 10 ppm range, but I'm comfortable with where they are for now.

Also, our very first critter, a small red leg hermit that came over with the LFS live rock is getting brave. Up at the water line on the exposed rock. I'd love to see him climb out for a moment or two, but not holding my breath...

 

[jarviz]

Tank looks awesome! I’d love to do one but the dang cat won’t allow me!

trade in the cat for some corals

 

[fishlover1478]

I love the aquascape.

 

[BurlyWizard]

I love the aquascape.

Thanks! It's been a desire for a while to have both a central column and exposed rock. We'll see how it goes!

 

[BurlyWizard]

Day 20: Updates!

So I know on the stock load plan, sexy shrimp came further down the path. However, these things always change. Next up WAS going to be camelback shrimp. However, by the time the sexies went in, there would already be 4 shrimp, and sexy shrimp are of course the smallest of the whole bunch.

It was advised to get the sexy shrimp in before the camelbacks so they have the best chance of establishing and holding their own in the tank.

So... as of day 20, we have added our 2 sexy shrimp to the tank! So far, so good. Everyone is getting along and they're readily eating the PE pellets as well.

 

[BurlyWizard]

And this is what it's all about. The scarlet hermit has been flirting with the water line several times, and finally "took the dive" above it and has been scooting around on the exposed rock. This was a major reason I wanted the exposed rock above the water line, and it was so cool to watch. Admittedly, I was a little worried he was stuck up there and I was going to watch him dry up without being able to make it back into the water, but all was well and he scooted right back in. Super fun to watch and hopefully that becomes more regular.