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- Nov 30, 2017
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ULM cycling to me would be to do just that, let it cycle. Add your chaeto, pods, a little bacteria and leave it untouched.
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Update... http://m.liveaquaria.com/product/39...l-reef-salt?pcatid=3912&c=3753+3756+3834+3912
I got the water parameters done
Salinity is 1.026
Calcium 400 ppm
Magnesium 1360 ppm
Alkalinity 10 ppm
Ph 8.4
This card is what they say the levels will be... and it's a bit better.
I'l be switching now.
I believe surface area is key to a cycle in a ULM tank. Since I believe that bare bottom tanks are best for the ULM tanks, you must find ways to add more surface area for the nitrifying bacteria to reproduce. What I would do is put some Marinepure bricks and plates anywhere I could in the sump. I would put a brick at the bottom of the refugium and plates between baffles. The brick will give an area for the anaerobic bacteria to convert the nitrates to nitrogen gas and the plates between baffles will allow more area for the nitrifying bacteria to get populated and get the ammonia converted rapidly. I know others believe sand is a must but I just don't believe this to be true. In the long run maintenance will be much less with the marinepure bricks.
Also very important to a cycle is keeping the lights off. The same components that the bacteria will be consuming to build their population also feeds nuisance algae and without the light for photosynthesis the algae will be outcompeted by the bacteria. This is a very important step in the long run of a successful ULM tank. The bacteria only need heat and food source to reproduce rapidly.
To get the cycle started I would put a shrimp in a media bag and place it somewhere in the tank that it will be easily removed. Let it sit there for about a week and check for ammonia. Once ammonia is present in the system I would put in a bottle of Biospira, replace my decaying shrimp with a new one, and start checking ammonia daily. I would replace my shrimp weekly and do this process until I can put a shrimp in and I get an ammonia spike and have it drop within 24 hours. This should take 4-5 weeks. At that time I would do a large water change and add my cheato to the refugium with good lighting over the fuge like the Kessil H380 on grow setting. Once the cheato takes off I'd add some pods to the refugium and the display tank. After giving the pods a few days to start populating I would add a small clean up crew and feed small amount to keep them from starving and a week later, the tank will be ready for a short lighting period and a small fish or 2. I personally like adding 2 juvenile clowns at this point
I just read over the reviews for the Neptune auto topoff. I’m in the market for two new units and I wanted to compare it to Tunze after watching your latest show.
Was this really a wise choice? The reviews are brutal and consistent with other problems I’ve had with Apex. I know we’re not here to look backwards, but what do you know the reviewers don’t?
RE: ATOs - I'd like to warn all those considering the Neptune ATK - it's a great concept but if you dose kalk you'll be cleaning sensors multiple times a week. I have two and BOTH need constant cleaning multiple times weekly. I nearly ran a return pump dry because of it. Contacted Neptune and their recommendation was to move return line upstream of sensors. Problem w/that - you lose the redundancy of float.
I have never seen precipitate build up on an optical sensor before. We will be dosing kalk in at least one of these tanks so I will be sure to explore that.