So got everything around to fire up this little cube. When I bought it I was told it was a 15 gallon cube. Well, they were wrong and shame on me for not looking more into it. It’s a 10 gallon cube. Not a bid deal, I was just happy with the idea of 15 gallon.
I got my aquascape dialed in and filled it up with RODI water. Hooked up my pump and put in the salt to get it mixing. I will check the salinity after a few hours and dial it in.
I picked up a bottle of bacteria that I will dump in and speed this cycling process up. The plan is to add a couple pellets of food every day to help with the cycle. HERE WE GO!!!!!
So I have been phantom feeding my cube a little bit, twice a day. After 48 hours my Nitrites, Nitrates, and Ammonia are all ZERO.
One of two things is happening, I think.
1) the tank has cycled. Remember the tank volume is only ten gallons and I used a bottle of bacteria to induce the cycle process.
2) the tank hasn’t done anything due to have ZERO waste.
At this time I am patiently waiting, which is very hard for me because I don’t do well with the “P” word. I will continue to phantom feed for another 2-3 days. If my levels all remain at ZERO, I may pickup a hermit crab and one fish this weekend.
In my opinion, not that anyone needs my opinion here, I think the tank has cycled. I just started a 125 gallon reef tank for a friend and used the same bacteria that went into this tank. The 125 started completely from scratch EXCEPT, 5 fish that were in a different tank. The fish include, a 2.5 inch yellow tang, a 3 in yellow tank, a 4.5 in purple tang, a 2.5 in clown, and a 1 in clown. I put the fish in as soon as the water tested good and was holding steady at 78*.
I agree here! You will not regret removing everything, painting with waterproof primer (at least), and setting it back up. It'll take you two days MAX but will save you a LOT of trouble in the future.
That said, I really like the shelf. Gives me an idea for the area near my own sump... would be nice if I could use that area. Hmm...
You guys are right. And I thought of this myself but I am very inpatient. After getting everything plumbed I ran the system and had to leaks..... water mess. LOL.
Tore it all apart and fixed the leaks. I will paint it soon.
Did a little rewiring over the weekend. It was driving me crazy. I started with everything outside of the cabinet for ease of access. Then tucked it all inside.
Had to get rid of my skunk shrimp. He wouldn’t leave my Black Widow Anemone alone. He would jump right in the middle of it and pick it. So bye bye to him.
I was continually trying to make the anemone happy by rearranging the aquascape. And yes I understand they move around until l they get happy. So I have made the decision to (finally) let it do its thing. Wherever it lands, it lands. It has now been in a cave for 4 days. The bad thing is my clowns love it soooooo much. They are also hanging out in the cave. So now they is no movement in my tank.
Because of all of this, I decided it was time to get my first set of corals. I have the names of each written down but right now I do not have the list. Here’s some pictures!
Added live sand this last week in the WB10. I think it made it look really nice.
Also still in the middle of planning the large system for my house. Right now the plan is to build my sump and build a shallow reef to sit above it. Started getting quotes for the acrylic. Going to build the sump first!