The 40 gallon cube rebuild

[Arkayology]

For anybody who may be watching this thread, where are you all getting fish online? I've shopped live aquaria in the past, and there used to be a guy locally who got stuff in, but he isn't in the hobby anymore. The only thing local is Petco unless I drive a couple of hours. Just looking for other solid options besides live aquaria, never had any issues with them but just wondering. Thanks

I haven't purchased from ReefBeauties.com yet, but I've emailed a few times back and forth. They seem nice and are highly rated from what I've found. They drop updates every Saturday afternoon.

 

[mch1984]

I haven't purchased from ReefBeauties.com yet, but I've emailed a few times back and forth. They seem nice and are highly rated from what I've found. They drop updates every Saturday afternoon.

I'll check them out for sure. Thanks

 

[mch1984]

Salt water is still cycling but I have my wife’s little tank to distract me. Planted tanks are great since waiting on a cycle isn’t an issue. So fish have been ordered.

 

[mch1984]

My cycle seems to not be moving at all. I know it takes time and I didn't believe the 8 days, but my ammonia and nitrite has been unchanged for a week now.

 

[JustinP.]

Great thread so far! Following

 

[mch1984]

Great thread so far! Following

Hopefully there is more to see soon.

 

[mch1984]

Well good news, got done with some school work and decided to test. Ammonia has came down, still a little high but it has came down. Nitrite is still through the roof but we are progressing.

 

[mch1984]

Went on a little road trip today, town about two hours away. They have a nice pet store there so we stopped in just for the fun of. Ended up coming home with a couple of pounds of seeded rock rubble and some cheato for the sump. The cheato came from their 10 year old tank. My tank is almost done cycling but I figured it couldn't hurt to add more bacteria to it from an established tank. I still have some room for some tampa bay rubble after they open.

 

[mch1984]

Ammonia is down to .5 but nitrite is still high. It's finally doing something.

 

[mch1984]

So last night I tested and ammonia was 0, nitrite still pegging the test out at 5ppm. I added more ammonia to the tank to see what would happen. Tested again tonight and the ammonia is at zero again. So the tank is processing ammonia but my nitrite is still reading 5ppm. So I guess I'm getting closer, just need to see the nitrite drop before I move on.

 

[mch1984]

Cycle has stalled, Nitrite wont come down. So I'm doing a 30% water change and well see if that helps me. On a good note, I am processing ammonia quickly.

 

[mch1984]

@Randy Holmes-Farley, I’m sure you get tired of being tagged but I’m hoping you’ll answer. I started my cycle with dr Tim’s and ammonia chloride a few weeks ago. I have since added seeded rock from a LFS and some cheato. My ammonia is processing great, add to the tank and it’s gone the next day. My nitrites however are staying high. I did a large water change and still high. My test goes to 5ppm and I have a feeling it’s significantly higher because the color change happens almost immediately after mixing. After reading your stuff on nitrite I’m not sure I should even be concerned, but I’m nervous to put any fish in there. Any thoughts?

 

[mch1984]

I've read enough stuff on r2r and a few others to quit worrying about my nitrites. My ammonia processing is good so I'm going to let it go. So, I have ordered my first inhabitants. I was planning on setting up a QT tank, but I will probably just stick to ordering from pre QT websites. With that being said, I ordered a bonded pair of black ice clows. from Dr Reef. Ready to have a little life in the tank. I also plan to order the jar package from Tampa bay rock this Friday during their sale.

 

[mch1984]

I had to take advantage of some more black Friday going on. I got some pods and phyto coming.

 

[mch1984]

There's not much to update here. I finally have nitrite down to zero. The Dr. Reef invoice has been paid, so from my understanding, the clowns should be shipped soon. I'm super excited to finally have some life in the tank. I'll give them some time to settle in and make sure nothing strange pops up, and then I'll get some tester corals going.

 

[rc8t6353]

Following along! Just read thru the thread. That's what I call a come back lol

 

[mch1984]

Following along! Just read thru the thread. That's what I call a come back lol

Thanks! Might as well go all the way with it.

 

[rc8t6353]

Thanks! Might as well go all the way with it.

I agree! My wife was making jokes cuz I ordered a bunch of stuff for my little nano lol

 

[mch1984]

I agree! My wife was making jokes cuz I ordered a bunch of stuff for my little nano lol

This does feel excessive but I told my wife, I could move a bigger tank in its place and still use the cabinet and controller.....so it ok.

 

[mch1984]

I forgot to take some pictures, although I'm not sure they would have been very interesting. I received some pods and phyto from Reef by Steel today. Hopefully, this will get the population going strong.