Saint's 40 breeder

[stAlphonzo]

Yeah, it really is. The store, healthy pet center, had a bunch of pieces, some nice some not as much and most too big. I happened to notice this little one buried under a big pile. Really perfect color and size, plus there's a little sponge growing off the side.

Makes sense about mentioning store names, just didn't want to break any rules. Some sites are odd about that stuff. I probably wouldn't post slander either but nice to give props where due. Healthy Pet Center is a great store and a great discovery, recommended by a friend. Sadly, they never showed up when I did Google searches for aquarium stores.

 

[mch1984]

Rock looks good!

 

[stAlphonzo]

Bringing things up to current. On Wednesday, Sept 26th I figured I would start the cycle. I added 2 ppm Dr. Tim's Ammonium Chloride. I didn't have a test kit yet so that amount is based on the specification on the label, 4 drops per gallon. I added a bottle of Dr. Tim's One and Only a little bit after. Unfortunately, shortly after that, I heard the test kit I ordered was going to be delayed. I didn't want to blindly add Ammonia, so I paused the cycle until today.

I just got the API test kit in the mail and did some tests. I am a bit surprised by what I'm seeing, but maybe shouldn't be.

Ammonia ~ 1.5 ppm
Nitrite ~ 1 ppm
Nitrate ~ 20 ppm

The Ammonia is actually pretty close to 2 ppm, but does look a little bit under. I am surprised because with the Ammonia about as high as my presumed initial dose and the presence of Nitrites and Nitrates, I would think the Ammonia would be lower. Could there be enough die-off from the piece of live rock I put in there to keep the Ammonia that high while it's being consumed? I do actually have 2 little pieces of dried up macroalgae and a small, 1in long sponge on the rock. The sponge looked good when I put it in but not is a bit fuzzy and brown at the tip. Could be that is causing it.

The Dr. Tim's instructions says that I should add more Ammonia after it and Nitrites get below 1 ppm, which it's clearly not. I guess I am going to wait and test tomorrow to see where things are.

 

[stAlphonzo]

Daily update. I took readings.

Ammonia ~ 1 ppm
Nitrite ~ 1 ppm
Nitrate ~ 20 ppm

Ammonia down a bit so I added another 2 ppm Ammonium Chloride. I also noticed the water had evaporated some and added back about 1 gallon RO/DI water. I probably should have done that before initial readings, but ... this is a learning process for sure.

After the ammonia add and an hour to settle in and mix, new reading was about 3 ppm. Tested Ph as well, 8.0

I am starting to see some diatoms, I think. Only on a few rocks with one of them carrying the bulk of it. None on the sand yet. Looks like a good start.

 

[stAlphonzo]

Hmm, I did post a picture of the rock with diatoms. Not sure what happened to it. Exciting I know, but better than just words

Not sure why my pictures didn't upload. Will have to look later

 

[stAlphonzo]

Take 3?

 

[NY_Caveman]

When I am posting and have issues with pictures, I always try clicking the “More Options” button on the lower right. I find adding them there seems to work better.

 

[stAlphonzo]

Thanks, that is what I finally ended up doing. It was odd, on the first page, I dragged all the images in so they would sit inline with the text. I did that last night and the message looked right. When I posted it though only the text showed up.

You'd think someone who writes code all day would have a better handle on this forum thing

 

[dantimdad]

Welcome to R2R!

Glad you are here.

 

[stAlphonzo]

Welcome to R2R!

Glad you are here.

Thanks dantimdad, I appreciate that!

 

[stAlphonzo]

I wasn't planning to post anything tonight because, well nothing really has changed. But, I came downstairs to stare at the tank for a bit and notices an odd looking worm swimming around. I have a funny feeling that at 3ppm ammonia, it may not even live that long, but looking for some id if anyone knows what it is. There's a pretty small group here so I might just post it to the wider forum in a bit. Still want it documented here though. Guessing it came out of that piece of live rock I bought.

The thing swims kind of odd. It's head is a frenzy of motion and its tail follows along..if the picture isn't clear. Trying to figure out if I should leave it or export it.

 

[stAlphonzo]

In the name of good record keeping, here is the thread I posted in the critter ID forum.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/small-worm.467461/

 

[stAlphonzo]

Not much to report today. Haven't seen the new worm since last night and didn't get much resolution on the thread in Hitchhiker & Critter ID. If I see it again, I will trap it for better pictures. The possibilities though (I think) suggest it's not a bad worm.

Nitrite and Nitrate are getting pretty high. I might do a water change tonight just to bring it down. I understand it can be hard on the bacteria if they get too high. Not much expansion of the diatoms either, which does concern me a bit. I was under the impression that they would be in full force by now. Oh well, patience.

Current readings:
Ammonia 2 ppm
Nitrite 5 ppm
Nitrate 40 ppm
PH 8.00

 

[ScottB]

I really wish I could find the additional pictures of the stand, but oh well. The great thing about this stand is, I didn't need to buy anything. I had enough scrap 2x4 and plywood around the house. One of the problems with this start/stop/start again approach of mine is, I lost the napkin that contained the stand's design and forgot that I designed the width to include 3/4 in plywood. When I found some 1/4 inch in the attic, I decided to use that for the sides since I didn't really need the heft of 3/4 in except for the top. Once I nailed it all together though, I realized that I was about an inch too narrow, panic set in. I ended up pulling one of the sides off and added the extra in, then replaced the plywood. It would be an ugly fix, but I'd already decided to paint the thing so no one would notice anyway. Here is the final stand in place with the tank now on it. Slowly getting somewhere. I painted the back of the tank black because I like the look and I didn't want to see wires or the wall behind. I also painted the bottom sand colored. I didn't really know how much sand I was going to add, if any and I figured if I went bare bottom or if there were areas that the sand wouldn't stay because of flow, then at least it would look like sand. Probably overkill, but seemed like a good idea at the time.

Also, quickly realized that the carpet under the tank was a terrible idea, so I took it out and replaced it with a waterproof rubber mat. That would keep spills and slops from rolling under the stand and ruing the floor.

You had me at "I lost the napkin..." We must be related somehow.

 

[stAlphonzo]

OMG, that's funny

I really am trying to get better, but yeah, that's where I'm at ... good to meet you cousin!

 

[stAlphonzo]

Ok, it's been about a week since my last post, probably time for an update. I didn't figure it was worth daily posts since nothing really was going on. When people say the dry rock cycle is slow, they aren't kidding!

Around the time of my last update. Ammonia was dropping and Nitrite was climbing but then everything came to a grinding halt. For about 4 days, nothing moved and the Nitrite read off the chart of the API test kit, for whatever value that holds. I did test against plain DI water just to get a baseline and everything did read 0, but I suspect the Nitrites start getting less accurate as they climb, plus it's just hard to distinguish shades of purple with that very ungranular scale of their's.

Anyway, at the risk of being hasty and impatient, I decided to do a small water change, about 4 gallons, 10%. That didn't do anything really so I did a 50% water change the next day. That brought the levels down but still nothing was moving. I wondered if the bacteria I had added died or went dormant, not sure. After 4 more days of stalled cycle, I bought some new bacteria, Seachem Stability. I liked it because 1) I could by it locally and 2) it was a few capfuls a day for about a week. I liked the incremental aspect of it.

The day after the first add, things started moving again. By the second day Ammonia dropped to nearly 0 and Nitrites were falling. I added another 1ppm Ammonium Chloride to start measuring how long it would take to get back to 0. Right now, it is still a couple of days. I will slowly keep up that experiment and keep adding the daily Stability. There is a little brown on some of the rocks, but really not much in the way of Diatoms. Not sure if that's a good thing or bad.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Diatoms are normal. They should recede on their own. I forget, are you running the lights? I would not during the cycle.

 

[stAlphonzo]

Diatoms are normal. They should recede on their own. I forget, are you running the lights? I would not during the cycle.

I'm not running the light very much. I do turn it on now and again when I'm near by because it's nicer to look at, but pretty limited.

So, I realize they are normal which is why I'm a bit hesitant that they haven't shown up yet really. The brown on the rocks is pretty minor. I was kinda hoping for an outbreak

It's really just over 2 weeks though it feels like months, I guess they will show up in time

 

[stAlphonzo]

The other thing I did was, finally hung my light. I bought 1 16" SBReefLight Basic. I figured the 16 basic was all I needed. If I need more light later, I will buy another. The 16's are also more versatile when the time comes to upgrade the tank. Funny, 2 16" basics are cheaper than the 32" basic. Probably because the 32 has the moonlight channel. I don't really care about that though.

Hanging the light was tricky since I can't attach it to the ceiling. I made a hanger out of 1/2" EMT Conduit which strapped to the back of the stand. I used 2 5' sections, each with a 90 deg bend and use the conduit fittings to connect a smaller section that connects. It came out ok, but next time I would probably use 3/4 in.

 

[stAlphonzo]

I was a little bummed though. I tried to use the hanging kit that came with the SB. It has 4 hooks, one for each corner, but they are all bound up to one hanging hook. When I hung the hook over the bar, it insisted on rotating 90 degrees. Sad. It would probably have been better if they used 2 hooks, one for each side of the light. I needed to improvise a bit and get some jack chain and drape it over the bar. It looks ok and holds well.

Now that I've sized it a bit, I will take it all down, trim the excess chain and paint it black so it blends in. After that, I can tie up the cables and start making some of this neat. Neat isn't really my speciality, but I'm trying something new here ;Hilarious