OP
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saramachen
Active Member
Yes! Colour is needed badly!
Sara’s IM 25g Lagoon
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- Thread starter saramachen
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OP
OP
saramachen
Active Member
Jan 6 2022
Hubby got up to pee at 3:30am and guess what, water was low and pump was sputtering away. Added about 1/2g of water and went back to bed. Today my jug for my ATO arrived, and I just finished getting it all set up. No more early morning water top offs for me!
After the kids logged into school, I added the bottle of One & Only to the tank followed by the ammonia. So the fishless cycle has officially started.
I plugged in the lights today. I plan to leave them off while it cycles but curiosity got the better of me. So I joined a FB group for the AI primes and watched a bunch of YouTube videos and basically I have no clue lol. I think what I will do is watch for tank set ups similar to mine and copy their preset, then get a PAR meter (hope a store around me rents them) and do some mapping and figure out a good intensity and then I can buy corals that need what I have, instead of buying corals and trying to make what I have work.
and then last night started to read about algae growth. And I have now added the Hanna checker for phosphate to my aquarium depot wish list. That list is getting bigger every day!
Hubby got up to pee at 3:30am and guess what, water was low and pump was sputtering away. Added about 1/2g of water and went back to bed. Today my jug for my ATO arrived, and I just finished getting it all set up. No more early morning water top offs for me!
After the kids logged into school, I added the bottle of One & Only to the tank followed by the ammonia. So the fishless cycle has officially started.
I plugged in the lights today. I plan to leave them off while it cycles but curiosity got the better of me. So I joined a FB group for the AI primes and watched a bunch of YouTube videos and basically I have no clue lol. I think what I will do is watch for tank set ups similar to mine and copy their preset, then get a PAR meter (hope a store around me rents them) and do some mapping and figure out a good intensity and then I can buy corals that need what I have, instead of buying corals and trying to make what I have work.
and then last night started to read about algae growth. And I have now added the Hanna checker for phosphate to my aquarium depot wish list. That list is getting bigger every day!
Ksturg
Active Member
I ran gfo once the ugly stage set in for the phos and silicates and it was gone in 2 weeks then I stopped running it. I do have a bacteria bloom right now but it should pass soon. How high are your lights?
OP
OP
saramachen
Active Member
They are sitting 8” above the waterline. I got that info from a BRS YouTube video about AI primes in different size tanks.
I will read about gfo - I have no idea what it is lol.
I am waiting to get some algae growth to pick up some CUC. I am excited to have little critters in there, but I don’t want to starve them by doing it too soon.
Rmckoy
7500 Club Member
Time will come soon enough .
mad your cycle comes to end it will be time and you will have more than enough algae to support them .
But I’d suggest waiting
OP
OP
saramachen
Active Member
Oh! And I posted the photo of the tank with the lights on in the AI prime FB group, and got several compliments on the rock 
makes me happy. I know it looks like a bunch of blocks right now, but I have a vision, and it made me happy to know other people saw it’s potential!
makes me happy. I know it looks like a bunch of blocks right now, but I have a vision, and it made me happy to know other people saw it’s potential!
Rmckoy
7500 Club Member
I’ve never seen too much of themOh! And I posted the photo of the tank with the lights on in the AI prime FB group, and got several compliments on the rock
In setups until recently .
Once they get algae covered they will look a lot better .
I think of the old
Days when large odd shaped rocks stacked and interlocked to create a natural look. .
These actually could provide more spots to sit coral frags .
I wonder if they are easy to drill holes for plugs or if they crumble apart
OP
OP
saramachen
Active Member
I have seen people drilling them. I had to whack them pretty hard with the chisel. My guess is if you didn’t apply too much pressure and just let the drill but do it’s thing, it would drill easily. I had a moment where I thought about doing it.
I now know what GFO is
Ksturg
Active Member
At the end of the cycle you will get diatoms and maybe some cyano. It will clear up after a couple weeks then your cuc won’t have anything to eat and
gfo is granular ferric oxide it will lower phosphate and silicates to choke out algae growth. I don’t have a cuc at the moment since I don’t have algae they would just die off. I’m running my ai prime sol at 10” above. Not sure if that’s a good height but I’m gonna find out.
Rmckoy
7500 Club Member
After diatoms cyano isn’t always guaranteed .
but I’m sure after the initial
Nitrogen cycle is complete . Lights will
Be on , livestock will
Be added and contribute to adding nutrients.
Algae will come !
so will left over food , poop and anything else snails , crabs etc eat .
Ksturg
Active Member
I agree cyano isn’t guaranteed to come I got just a very little bit and it was actually gone before the diatoms were.
OP
OP
saramachen
Active Member
My fish plan is a Bengaii Cardinal (likely to be added in a couple weeks if this fishless cycle thing works lol). And a pair of clowns. I’m thinking Gladiator Ocellaris (that’s not how it’s spelt I’m sure). I wanted to add the cardinal first as I beleive it’s less aggressive then the clowns and having it as an established resident before the clowns made sense that way. Also I wanted to gradually increase the bioload, so start with a singular fish.
Once the tank is established, I want to add a fuge in the second (or fourth) compartment with Cheato, then start with pods and try a captive bred green spotted goby. And if the fuge thing doesn’t work out I will just bail on that and get a goby/pistol shrimp pair.
All the fish will be captive bred.
As for corals I want some zoas, Xenia, Kenya tree, hammer, goniopora, leather. But I haven’t dug deep enough into them to know what can live near what and where it is best suited. I can get some frags going once the water is stable I believe, maybe a month or so? I was thinking of online window shopping for frags and once I have a list, start planning.
I’m probably making it overly complicated. But my whole life I have half done stuff, and now the adhd is under control, I just want to do this right, and be proud of it.
Once the tank is established, I want to add a fuge in the second (or fourth) compartment with Cheato, then start with pods and try a captive bred green spotted goby. And if the fuge thing doesn’t work out I will just bail on that and get a goby/pistol shrimp pair.
All the fish will be captive bred.
As for corals I want some zoas, Xenia, Kenya tree, hammer, goniopora, leather. But I haven’t dug deep enough into them to know what can live near what and where it is best suited. I can get some frags going once the water is stable I believe, maybe a month or so? I was thinking of online window shopping for frags and once I have a list, start planning.
I’m probably making it overly complicated. But my whole life I have half done stuff, and now the adhd is under control, I just want to do this right, and be proud of it.
Rmckoy
7500 Club Member
Xenia are fairly easy and can go beside each other
.
most soft corals can go close to each other
be careful with leathers. .
They can shed toxins causing what’s like chemical warfare with other corals . hammers are part of the euphillia family. .And fairly aggressive with different corals
requiring around 6” around them
A lot of lps have sweeper tentacles which sting .
Goni used to have a bad rep for being hard to keep long term. .
The last few years more have reported successfully keeping them long term.
Hope
That helped a little .
When you’re ready for corals.
feel
Free to ask questions
.
most soft corals can go close to each other
be careful with leathers. .
They can shed toxins causing what’s like chemical warfare with other corals . hammers are part of the euphillia family. .And fairly aggressive with different corals
requiring around 6” around them
A lot of lps have sweeper tentacles which sting .
Goni used to have a bad rep for being hard to keep long term. .
The last few years more have reported successfully keeping them long term.
Hope
That helped a little .
When you’re ready for corals.
feel
Free to ask questions
TheWB
Valuable Member
I drill holes in my Stax rock all the time. You have to be careful but very rarely do I break one. TLF has slightly smaller ones called Little Feet that are cheaper and work better for frags.
OP
OP
saramachen
Active Member
I do!!
Rmckoy
7500 Club Member
To make a suggestion …
after the cycle , work on stability
Let the ugly stage come and go .
stabilize nutrients , as well as salinity , alk , cal and mag.
Water changes are your friend to maintain these levels until coralline algae and corals start consuming everything
after everything is stable , corals should be a lot easier to keep
after the cycle , work on stability
Let the ugly stage come and go .
stabilize nutrients , as well as salinity , alk , cal and mag.
Water changes are your friend to maintain these levels until coralline algae and corals start consuming everything
after everything is stable , corals should be a lot easier to keep
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