120 gallon slow build

[Lonny]

Right on Brando! Cycle that bad boy! Mine just finished cycling. Time to get the yellow out of the water and bring the phosphate down then coral city. I know people say fish less cycle but what I did was use a shrimp to get the ammonia then I got two fish after the ammonia went to zero and let it go from there. Never did see anything but zero on ammonia the whole time and nitrite isn't toxic to marine fish. Although I didn't know about dumpin pure ammonia in at the time. I would have gone that route had I known

 

[Lonny]

Oh by the way, tank looks awesome man!

 

[Lonny]

We need pics!

Srry for your mishap. As for signing up I just did. You can sign up for their newsletter, like them on Facebook and follow their channel on you tube and can sign up that way. Just did it it said it will take 24 hours to process

 

[Brandon42]

Finally clearing up after the day long sand storm and then te second day after moving it around again lol. Everything is holding tight and running good. Finally got the Durso silent. Only thing left is the lid that I just got ordered. Should be ready for pick up in a week or so.

What kind of shrimp did you use for that method? My ammonia levels are already high.

 

[Lonny]

Raw shrimp for about three days or more. I forgot you didn't cure your rock so you'll get ammonia from all the dead critters on the rock. I can't say for sure but the ammonia from the rock might be all you need.

You might post a question on how many ppm ammonia you need to get the cycle going good. I like the new aqua scape

 

[Brandon42]

Yeah I have no shortage on ammonia lol

but no I did not cure the rocks. I did however give them some heavy scrapping and a power wash along with soaking over night to get any debris off of them.

But as for the shrimp I'm not sure it will be necessary with all the ammonia I already have. I added live sand and plan on getting a live rock or two fairly soon. That just jump start the process a bit.

And I'm very happy with the aquascape as well. Gonna try and get a live rock with some coraline to get it looking a little more colorful in there.

 

[Salty1962]

Nice Build. Slower is much better than fast with regrets

 

[Lonny]

Yep that should do it. You can by a bottle of bacteria too. My lfs carries a couple brands. I used ATM colony. Still took four weeks to cycle.

 

[drstratton]

Nice build! I'll be following along!

 

[Brandon42]

Ammonia still through the roof. But nitrites and nitrates are starting to build. With out fish or anything in the tank is it normal for my skimmer to not be making as much skim mate or does it need adjusting? It was working great the first day and the level in the skimmer has dropped a bit sense.

 

[drstratton]

Yes, you shouldn't see much skim mate as you don't have a bio load in there yet!

 

[Brandon42]

Tank is definitely in full cycle mode now.
Ammonia - higher than 2ppm
Nitrite - between 0.5 - 1ppm
Nitrate - 5ppm

Raised the temp to 85degrees to help the bacteria bloom and plan on getting a live rock on Friday. Also may be getting a sponge from a friends established tank.

Still really puzzled by the purple spots that have shown up around the tank. I posted another thread about it and they think it's just discoloration of the rock but still odd there's some just about everywhere in the tank. Maybe from the live sand? I dunno I'll attach some pictures of it as well.

 

[Lonny]

Wow that's cool! I'm sure somebody would know on here. I have the same rock and one of them has a hole in it that is the same color purple on the inside. I don't have the spots like yours tho, just brown diatoms.
So cool your up and running now!

 

[Lonny]

Here's mine

 

[Brandon42]

Yup looks like the same stuff.

 

[Brandon42]

Ammonia - still above 2ppm but seems a little less dark.
Nitrites - more than 1ppm
Nitrate - between 5 and 10ppm

 

[Brandon42]

Also I believe I now have algae starting there are little brown spots all over the tank.

 

[Brandon42]

Managed to run my RO/DI hose behind around the trim of my living room directly into my sump. Gonna be so much nicer just kicking the water on instead of running the hose across my kitchen every day when I need to top it off.

 

[Brandon42]

Lots more algae today. Ammonia may be starting to lower but still a lot in the tank. Nitrites and nitrates both rising quite a bit.

Kinda hard to see but I dug out a made a small cave near the base of the middle rock. Hoping to pick up a piece of live rock in the next day or two to help speed the cycle a bit. Not that it doesn't seem to be moving at a good pace already but a little more wont hurt.

And I must say it is beyond nice not having to drag the whole RO/DI unit out every time I need to top off.

 

[Brandon42]

Super cloudy but I went and bought two small live rocks with quite a bit of coraline algae on both. Hoping it will boost the cycle a little.