New beginner 30 gallon setup - dark start

[TheoScapes]

Hey all,

Started a new 30 gallon 2.5 weeks ago.
I'm combining my lfs recommendation of starting with clean ocean water, and mixing that approach with Ryan's 5 min series advice of keeping the lights off for a while.

So, step by step: added 100% ocean water, added a bit of shrimp, and kept lights off.

Saw an ammonia spike to 1, now dropping at 0.5. Nitrates jumped to 60! No uglies yet.

Doing a big 50% water change tomorrow to get the nitrates down. Not using ocean water for the water change, using Red Sea blue bucket.

Do you guys think I'm on track? This is my first saltwater tank.
Got my RO/DI system today so mixing my first batch of saltwater tomorrow! Excited!

Cheers,
Theo.

 

[Waters]

Hey all,

Started a new 30 gallon 2.5 weeks ago.
I'm combining my lfs recommendation of starting with clean ocean water, and mixing that approach with Ryan's 5 min series advice of keeping the lights off for a while.

So, step by step: added 100% ocean water, added a bit of shrimp, and kept lights off.

Saw an ammonia spike to 1, now dropping at 0.5. Nitrates jumped to 60! No uglies yet.

Doing a big 50% water change tomorrow to get the nitrates down. Not using ocean water for the water change, using Red Sea blue bucket.

Do you guys think I'm on track? This is my first saltwater tank.
Got my RO/DI system today so mixing my first batch of saltwater tomorrow! Excited!

Cheers,
Theo.

Sounds like you are on the right track! What type of rock did you start with?

 

[TheoScapes]

That's good to hear.
I used dry rock.

 

[Dcloser12]

With dry rock your looking at about 2 to 3 weeks to get a good bio film on the rocks.

 

[ABQ_CHRIS]

Sounds like you're on the right track to me.

 

[Cheeze]

Welcome to the world of salt water tanks!

Sounds like you are off to a good start! Can't wait to see how your tank turns out, especially given you started with ocean water (very cool and unique approach!).

What's the salinity of the ocean water you used? With your first water change, adjust it while the tank is cycling to the level you want, and keep it consistent once you start doing routine water changes.

 

[OfficeReefer]

@TheoScapes Interesting concept with the ocean water. I do agree that this is a well thought approach, however if you are leveraging totally dry reef rock (such as marcos rock) you'll have a different experience than dry rock that was once alive, especially very porous dry "real reef" rock such as pukani.

The biggest challenge is that ugly stage, you'll get it no matter what, even if only lightly. What I would do is make sure you test your water and understand what alkalinity and salinity one is targeting. If you only plan on fish only, then your salinity can 1.019 but if your seeking softies, LPS, SPS or NPS; you'll want to go 1.023-1.026 for the latter. Also, some of the fixes for treating those ugly stages (UV sterilization) is detrimental to NPS, like gorgonias, sinularia, scarcos and the like. If this is 30g, you'll be hard pressed for the herbivores to do the work in that growth stage ahead, therefore start planning for this now.

FYI - RedSea salt and its parameters are likely totally different that your ocean water. The main thing you'll get from this is live bacteria needed to seed the tank and possibly minor amounts of coraline and other desirable, plus undesirable hitchhikers. Start testing you water now for the following:

• Salinity
• pH (this has a relation to Alkalinity, keep it reasonably stable but don't chase it)
• Ammonia perhaps for now but once cycle is complete (sounds like your ocean water may have helped, do you have sand or did you get some with the ocean water?) test for Nitrite/Nitrates
• Phosphates
• Alkalinity
• Calcium
• Magnesium

Later you may be interested in other parameters and if this is a fish only or FOWLR tank, you'll care about the first four but all seven are crucial to this hobby. As you advance, you'll pick up more testing gear but whatever tools or kits you use, just be consistent in process and quantity and record your results.

Enjoy your tank and please share some pictures when possible!

 

[tankstudy]

I would let ammonia drop to 0 ppm before doing a water change. This will let you have the maximum amount of bacteria that can convert ammonia into nitrite. Nitrate is of no concern if your tank is empty so there is no need to do water changes at the current time. Once ammonia hits zero you can do the water change to get the nitrate levels to where you want it.

 

[TheoScapes]

@Cheeze Yeah really excited. The salinity was 1.024 when I started. I've upped it to 1.026 now with the water change. Want to set myself up properly from the start in case I want SPS down the line.

@OfficeReefer Thanks for the long message and advice. The rock I used was once live I believe. At least according to my lfs. I'll definitely chase those parameters yeah as I'm 100% going for a mixed tank. I'll add a pic below and update when the uglies hit.

@tankstudy Now you mention it... I see what you mean. I read your message right after doing the water change. Oh well- I'll add some more bacteria and just be patient.

I'll update where we're at next week. Thanks for all the reassurance- I can imagine that many readers get impatient at this point...

Cheers!

 

[OfficeReefer]

@TheoScapes That's some nice rock man! You'll absolutely wish to be aware of hitchhikers. They are and will be there inside those rocks.

 

[OfficeReefer]

@TheoScapes I forgot to add one important item. This one is absolutely mandatory after watching the latest BRS Investigates series on microbiomes. With this setup, you'll get lots of diversity for sure, some of the best actually, but it will not be balanced and will result in some serious dinos and/or diatoms of the worst type. Find some long term dark reef rubble (such as out of another well-established tank sump) and introduce this into your sump now. This will avoid most of your issues, even after lights on stages.

 

[TheoScapes]

Thanks so much for the advice and it is actually very good news because when I started the tank I got 50% new bio brick in my sump and the other 50% of my biobrick comes from an established tank at my lfs's sump. That'll presumably be the same thing right?

And now you mention the latest brs series: how awesome is it!?! I've reached all he released episodes like 3 times. So interesting. Ryan and the team did an awesome job!

 

[TheoScapes]

The ugly stage is here... Rocks are turning orange and there's some orange on the sand. Day 36 of dark cycling. It does get some natural light though (not direct sunlight, just ambient light coming in through the window that lights the room).

Was hoping to bypass the uglies by doing a dark start but alas. No worries though- all exciting and part of the journey.

Let's see how long it takes to clear up.