Hello all,
I am a returning member of the reef community after years off, and new to the site! Please excuse me while I learn the etiquette and how to ask what I'm thinking in my head. I've set up a 20G Nuvo Peninsula tank in my office and so far here is what I've done.
I'm mainly concerned with my cycle process right now, so I'll explain what I've done thus far - I'm doing the cycle process with two snowflake clowns currently - and they seem happy and eating, exploring more each day.
When I originally set the tank up about 5-6 days ago (after making RO/DI and scape and everything like that) I made the mistake of adding the carbon and GFO right away. After research most say you shouldn't run these during a cycle, so since I had already added the Dr. Tim's I didn't want to bank that the bacteria didn't host in the carbon or GFO. So tonight I took out the carbon and GFO (put them both in pure RO/DI water, was told that would keep them until needed) and added another bottle of bacteria, this time of Bio-Spira because it's cold where I'm from and I couldn't get any other live bacteria shipped to me without it freezing. I'm hoping that this works out. I'm going to test the ammonia tomorrow and do a 20% water change tomorrow or the next day.
I am looking for feedback on any of that backstory, constructive criticism as one would say since I'm a born again noobie. I've been watching a lot of guides from Bulk Reef Supply, and they seem really good and informative.
My main question is this. I know until you get past the cycle you shouldn't really have your REEF/TANK lights on since it could promote algae growth (I want to avoid that "ugly stage" as they put it as much as possible, I've even pre-purchased some Microbacter Clean). I'm curious about room lighting in general - SPECIFICALLY during the cycle, my tank is not in direct sunlight, but my office is small and the light I have in there is a very bright LED that has very cool tones, I would assume a lot of blue light then possibly (correct me if I'm wrong). Is my normal office light, even as bright as it is, an issue for lighting during my cycle process? I don't have a par meter or anything like that. I've been living in as much darkness as I can for a couple days in that room, wondering if it's all being over paranoid and silly.
Are "normal" bright LED room lights (not tank lights) ok during the cycle, or will it also cause algae growth?
Bonus question - when do I actually put my carbon and GFO back into the tank, right after I see no ammonia?
Thank you,
Jon
I am a returning member of the reef community after years off, and new to the site! Please excuse me while I learn the etiquette and how to ask what I'm thinking in my head. I've set up a 20G Nuvo Peninsula tank in my office and so far here is what I've done.
I'm mainly concerned with my cycle process right now, so I'll explain what I've done thus far - I'm doing the cycle process with two snowflake clowns currently - and they seem happy and eating, exploring more each day.
- CaribSea Live Sand - Special Grade
- CaribSea LifeRock Shapes - glued some of the pieces together with some additional rubble - made something I thought looked cool - rinsed it in RO/DI
- MarinePure Gems - those small octagon looking marine pure tucked in bag in the rear compartment in the "unusable" space in the pump chamber below the other chambers. Testing this out - no issues whatsoever right now after a few days.
- RO/DI water used for everything - including at least rinsing every piece of equipment to even come in contact with the tank.
- Reef Crystals for Salt (salinity at 1.025)
- Cobalt 75w heater (set to 78)
- Provided Media for Nuvo kit (cotton ball like filter floss, rox carbon, bag of GFO)
- Dr. Tim's for cycle start
- I've already installed an Duetto ATO because I didn't realize the evaporation on these style tanks - and I felt like i needed my salinity spot on at all times.
When I originally set the tank up about 5-6 days ago (after making RO/DI and scape and everything like that) I made the mistake of adding the carbon and GFO right away. After research most say you shouldn't run these during a cycle, so since I had already added the Dr. Tim's I didn't want to bank that the bacteria didn't host in the carbon or GFO. So tonight I took out the carbon and GFO (put them both in pure RO/DI water, was told that would keep them until needed) and added another bottle of bacteria, this time of Bio-Spira because it's cold where I'm from and I couldn't get any other live bacteria shipped to me without it freezing. I'm hoping that this works out. I'm going to test the ammonia tomorrow and do a 20% water change tomorrow or the next day.
I am looking for feedback on any of that backstory, constructive criticism as one would say since I'm a born again noobie. I've been watching a lot of guides from Bulk Reef Supply, and they seem really good and informative.
My main question is this. I know until you get past the cycle you shouldn't really have your REEF/TANK lights on since it could promote algae growth (I want to avoid that "ugly stage" as they put it as much as possible, I've even pre-purchased some Microbacter Clean). I'm curious about room lighting in general - SPECIFICALLY during the cycle, my tank is not in direct sunlight, but my office is small and the light I have in there is a very bright LED that has very cool tones, I would assume a lot of blue light then possibly (correct me if I'm wrong). Is my normal office light, even as bright as it is, an issue for lighting during my cycle process? I don't have a par meter or anything like that. I've been living in as much darkness as I can for a couple days in that room, wondering if it's all being over paranoid and silly.
Are "normal" bright LED room lights (not tank lights) ok during the cycle, or will it also cause algae growth?
Bonus question - when do I actually put my carbon and GFO back into the tank, right after I see no ammonia?
Thank you,
Jon