new to the hobby. did I do something wrong?

[tupes]

after a week of crystal clear water, it is cloudy again although i did nothing new. I can see a white mist moving in the water. frustrating

I usually wait about 5-6 weeks before adding anything, and testing my water every couple of days. Checking for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates. Usually during this time the water will cloud 2 times and then clear. It's all part of the cycle.

 

[efes]

thanks guys! that makes me feel better. I guess this hobby is making me a little paranoid :)

I was ghost feeding for a while instead of shrimp. Until yesterday, all tests showed zero nitrite and nitrate.
But yesterday I got about 0.25 nitrate. or something a like very little , salifert color chart is confusing :) It was very pale pink anyway. (I recently got ammonia test, used it yesterday and it was also zero)

No sign of diatom.

so, should i continue ghost feeding? I just got prodobio start up, should I use it?
I''m not in hurry, I can wait as long as necessary, I'm just not sure what is the best way to proceed.

Thank you for your advice.

 

[tupes]

If your test results are correct you have passed the cycle. I usually do a 10-15% water change after the cycle, blowing off all rocks to remove and debris that may have settled in, lightly clean the sand in areas of low flow. I then wait about a week before I introduce fish.

 

[Ronny Bello]

When my cycle ended I waited about 5 days and got two blue damsel. They're happy as can be now after a month after putting them in I can add something else. Patients is the key and a but load of testing lol.

 

[efes]

hi again. My water is still cloudy and I found the reason. Even though I washed the sand a lot, wave maker is disturbing the sand. This causes very little sand movement even with the lowest setting. to test this, I shut down the wavemaker a day and water cleared till I started it again.

Last night, I got frustrated and, put in some fiber filters stirred up the sandbed. Tank became super cloudy. This morning dust was settled but water is still cloudy. Not a lot but nothing like it should be. It will be worse anty time i touch the sand.

I'm feeling desperate. I need help. Is there any solution to this? I'm about to clear out the whole tank and restart.

 

[Hemmdog]

hi again. My water is still cloudy and I found the reason. Even though I washed the sand a lot, wave maker is disturbing the sand. This causes very little sand movement even with the lowest setting. to test this, I shut down the wavemaker a day and water cleared till I started it again.

Last night, I got frustrated and, put in some fiber filters stirred up the sandbed. Tank became super cloudy. This morning dust was settled but water is still cloudy. Not a lot but nothing like it should be. It will be worse anty time i touch the sand.

I'm feeling desperate. I need help. Is there any solution to this? I'm about to clear out the whole tank and restart.

What kind of sand did you get ?

 

[efes]

It came with the tank equipment. there was no brand on the package, but white gravel. not live sand. Gave up lots of white mist like dust while washing but it seems i failed get all out.

 

[Hemmdog]

It came with the tank equipment. there was no brand on the package, but white gravel. not live sand. Gave up lots of white mist like dust while washing but it seems i failed get all out.

Oh hm, I don’t like the sound of that lol. It could be something that is going to leech stuff into your water down the line. You want just good old reef grade aragonite sand. Did it look like sand? If it looked like gravel with white dust it could be anything really.

 

[efes]

yeah, the guys I bought the whole system from brought it. everthing else was good quality so I did not question him. that was my mistake.
but it sure looks like aquarium gravel :)

 

[Hemmdog]

yeah, the guys I bought the whole system from brought it. everthing else was good quality so I did not question him. that was my mistake.
but it sure looks like aquarium gravel :)

It’s hard to tell from the picture, I’m not sure.

 

[efes]

I'll post a new one later today.

 

[Matt Carden]

I did a sand change out while tank was running. I used a wet dry vac to suck the sand out.

 

[efes]

hello again,

I did managed to solve my sand problem for now at least with some fiber and active carbon. I'll probably get Seachem Purigen after my cycle is complete.
I keep ghost feeding. My latest test results (all with salifert)

ammonia : 0.5 - 0.6
nitrite : 0 -- is this normal?
nitrate : 5

Am i providing not enough ammonia? also no sign of diatom. Is it possible to complete the cycle without diatom?

I can't put any interesting photos since the tank is running empty but here are the pics of my sand :)

 

[Matt Carden]

I would say to just keep going the way u are.

 

[efes]

Finally added some small fish to the tank, 2 small clowns and 2 small damsels. I know damsels are supposed to be aggresive but they are also supposed to be hardy, so i guess they are ok to begin with.

First 3 days, i think they were doing ok. All of them eating food. I think clowns hosted the magnetic glass cleaner, they stay close to it or very close to the surface. (kind of annoying :))

the only incident happened yesterday when i was feeding, one of the clowns jumped out of the tank. I have no idea why, they showed no signs that they fear me. before. After that the little guy became a less mobile, started opening and closing its mouth. That worried me. Early this morning he was scared when i turned the light switch on so left him alone. I'll check this evening.

Here is a very amateurish first day video.

 

[efes]

Hello again,

the fishes are doing good so far. They are eating whatevere i give them and setteled in the tank. There is no aggresive behavior between damsels and clowns. also my water parameters are ok.
I plan to add one more fish to the tank and trying to decide. Also tring to come up with a complete list of fish to add overtime. I'm open to suggestions, (especially a middle sized coral safe fish for my tank size)

I intend to add corals after the summer.

I guess yellow tang is not a choice because of my tank size (80 cm x 60 cm x 50 cm)

- Dwarf Angelfish ( can i get 2 of these guys?)
- Yellow watchmen goby
- Anthias (3)
- Cleaner schrimp (1-2)

thanks in advance.

 

[Jon Fishman]

That's a great looking rimless tank..... wish I could have found one. Yeah, I'd get more rock, and also that was probably a major pain to dilute that much salt into the tank with the substrate etc. in there......

Edit, I would stick to one angelfish, and also probably get some little crab too..... there are some cool ones. I am picking up a couple Porcelein crab in the next few days.

 

[beaslbob]

sound like you're having normal start up issues and have dealt with them effectively.

FWIW I run my systems differently by starting the system with macro algaes to balance out and stabilize operation.

But that's just me and my .02