Booth2010's 40G Breeder
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booth2010
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The column is glued together and I leveled the sand some
I get a text from the wife this morning saying "I had a dream we had fish in the tank when can we have fish" so I told her the cycling process and she comes home with this:
I told her it'll help but we're still waiting a week or 2 lol.
I get a text from the wife this morning saying "I had a dream we had fish in the tank when can we have fish" so I told her the cycling process and she comes home with this:
I told her it'll help but we're still waiting a week or 2 lol.
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booth2010
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Added Dr Tims Ammonium Chloride Solution on the 1st to start the cycle. I added enough to get it up to 5ppm the max it recommends, I want my bacteria super ready lol. The rock had been cycling for a little over a month and I had added live sand so there was so bacteria already put in. I checked Ammonia Thursday the 2nd and the Red Sea kit said it was over 2, no shocker there as I added so much. Well Friday the 3rd I added the smart start the wife bought. I checked ammonia level yesterday the 4th and it was between 1.2 and 2, closer to the 1.2. I will check again today and test for the next part of the cycle I can never remember if nitrate or nitrite is next even though I have read it at least 100 times lol.
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booth2010
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Ammonia > Nitrite > Nitrate
Looking good though!!
Yea I looked it up yet again lol.
I hate the color things theyre all so similar lol. The wife wasnt home to help determine the color but it looked to me the Ammonia was at 1.2 or lower and the Nitrite was defintely present however the color pink it showed looked nothing like any on the card lol, but it was there!
SeahorseKeeper
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Looks like everything is moving along the way it should. Cycling a tank is not fun!
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booth2010
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Yea, just playing the waiting game
. I keep staring at the tank wanting to see life even though the only thing live that has been put in the tank is live sand and the quick start bacteria lol.
underwood
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I have a very similar setup - Petco 40 breeder. I built two columns kind of like your center column but not quite as tall. One thing I have regretted a little bit is making my columns so tall. If I could go back I would make the overall height lower to allow for more coral growth room and try to arrange the rock so it is not so vertical on the sides to minimize shading (I run LEDs).
Just thought I would toss it out there. It is obviously much easier to re-arrange things now without fish or corals in the tank.
Here is a poor pic of my (dirty) tank for reference -
Just thought I would toss it out there. It is obviously much easier to re-arrange things now without fish or corals in the tank.
Here is a poor pic of my (dirty) tank for reference -
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booth2010
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That a nice lookin tank. I was thinking about putting corals like zoas or something that wont grow tall on the tower and do branching corals on the smaller rocks. With my 6 bulb fixture I dont think shading will be and issues, only 2 bulbs are on atm and I dont see any. But yea I did not want the column that tall but I didnt feel like sawing through the rock lol
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booth2010
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So checked ammonia and nitrite today. Both have dropped, nitrite a lot more than ammonia kinda weird. Ammonia is around 1-1.2 and Nitrite is .2
squirrelieygrrrl
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Looks awesome! Following for sure. I like your scape a lot.
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booth2010
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Thank you. I might change it at some point but it would be a 100% remodel with all new rock so I would have to cycle it for a few months before moving the rock over. My LFS has a good selection of dry rock about the size of softballs that I could do just about anything with. Just more money to spend though
UABsleeper
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Tank is looking great I don't think you should change anything unless your not happy with it!?! Would be much easier to change now before corals are added! Great build though
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booth2010
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Not much to report on lately. I am watching the numbers drop slowly, I checked ammonia and its right around .4 maybe a tad lower. I was having a problem with my ATi fixture 2 bulbs were firing. Turns out I had a bad bulb and the awsome company ATI is sent me a brand new bulb, all 6 fire up now. I have a thermometer right by the input to the tank and the temp seems to hover around 72-74 so not too bad.
I am seeing what looks like diatoms or maybe algae on the rocks, but the strange thing to me is that it is not in the light. It is in the crevices and bottom of overhangs were the light does not hit.
I went ahead and purchased pods since they were bogo. I had a few people tell me they added them in before the cycle was %100 complete and they were fine. I just want to see the culture as early as possible.
I will check my levels again on Sunday as I will be out of town Saturday. I want to do a 10g water change but I dont have enough space to store 2 5g buckets with saltwater/heater/powerhead for 24hrs. I have been looking for a 10g water tank but they are all like $50 or more. Kinda crazy if you aske me. Maybe I will convice the wife to let me buy 2 10g aquariums and store them in the closet.
My skimmer is still going crazy. Its already above the recommended level, but I am gonna raise it another inch to see if that calms it down to a functional level.
I guess thats about it for now.
I am seeing what looks like diatoms or maybe algae on the rocks, but the strange thing to me is that it is not in the light. It is in the crevices and bottom of overhangs were the light does not hit.
I went ahead and purchased pods since they were bogo. I had a few people tell me they added them in before the cycle was %100 complete and they were fine. I just want to see the culture as early as possible.
I will check my levels again on Sunday as I will be out of town Saturday. I want to do a 10g water change but I dont have enough space to store 2 5g buckets with saltwater/heater/powerhead for 24hrs. I have been looking for a 10g water tank but they are all like $50 or more. Kinda crazy if you aske me. Maybe I will convice the wife to let me buy 2 10g aquariums and store them in the closet.
My skimmer is still going crazy. Its already above the recommended level, but I am gonna raise it another inch to see if that calms it down to a functional level.
I guess thats about it for now.
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booth2010
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Checked ammonia and nitrites last night. Ammonia is down to .2 and nitrites are down to .4so im thinking really soon I will be able to add fish. I will probably do a water change this weekend and maybe go get a fish or 2 this week.
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booth2010
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Well heres a good update! My skimmer is pulling some nasty stuff! Its a little watery but dark brown gunk. I checked the levels saturaday moring and it all looked great so I did a 10g water change and headed out to the LFS. I bought just what I went for, some chaeto and 2 Black and White Ocellaris. The larger one is about an inch long and the smaller is around 3/4". The seem happy and look to be doing fine. They havent eaten yet, I dont think they like the food I have. I will be getting something different later today.
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booth2010
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This was supposed to be posted at 8:43 idk what happened lol.
Soooooo.... I cant find one of the clowns... Last night they were both swimming by the rocks where the usually go at night and this morning I can find the smaller one. So im thinking its 1 of 2 things. It either is hiding in the little cave network of the column or it got into the overflow and then sucked into the sump. I didnt have time to really look this morning so I will check when I get off work. I did check the sump really quick before I left and didnt see it so maybe its stuck in the pvc. I hope it makes it.
Soooooo.... I cant find one of the clowns... Last night they were both swimming by the rocks where the usually go at night and this morning I can find the smaller one. So im thinking its 1 of 2 things. It either is hiding in the little cave network of the column or it got into the overflow and then sucked into the sump. I didnt have time to really look this morning so I will check when I get off work. I did check the sump really quick before I left and didnt see it so maybe its stuck in the pvc. I hope it makes it.
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booth2010
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Well I went home on break and instead of eating I decided to try and find it. Im glad I put 2 unions on both the main and backup drains this time, it made rmeoving them soo easy.
I took them completely off, nothin. I looked in theparts that I cant remove, nothin. I poured 1gal of water down the emergency drain cause I thought "hey maybe it jumped in there", nothin. I mean he could be stuck in there so maybe after work ill actually take it off and check. I tunred off all my pumps thinking maybe it got stuck to the skimmer or return pump, nothin. I shined my flashlight in the column hoping maybe to catch a glimpse of it, not a darn thing... :mad:
There are only 2 places I have not checked yet, the live rock rubble in the fuge (there are some decent sized pieces, softball size is largest but still). So I will remove the LR to see if maybe it is hiding under there. I also did not check under the sand, there is a new little sand pile that was never there before but I do not know how it would have gotten covered. The pump would not have blown that hard there to cover it so IDK!!?!?!??!?!!
Im not sure what might have happened. The two never fought, in fact the seemed best of friends. Granted the one missing was the one that hadnt eaten but we was swimming strong last night and up close showed no signs of anything wrong.
I took them completely off, nothin. I looked in theparts that I cant remove, nothin. I poured 1gal of water down the emergency drain cause I thought "hey maybe it jumped in there", nothin. I mean he could be stuck in there so maybe after work ill actually take it off and check. I tunred off all my pumps thinking maybe it got stuck to the skimmer or return pump, nothin. I shined my flashlight in the column hoping maybe to catch a glimpse of it, not a darn thing... :mad:
There are only 2 places I have not checked yet, the live rock rubble in the fuge (there are some decent sized pieces, softball size is largest but still). So I will remove the LR to see if maybe it is hiding under there. I also did not check under the sand, there is a new little sand pile that was never there before but I do not know how it would have gotten covered. The pump would not have blown that hard there to cover it so IDK!!?!?!??!?!!
Im not sure what might have happened. The two never fought, in fact the seemed best of friends. Granted the one missing was the one that hadnt eaten but we was swimming strong last night and up close showed no signs of anything wrong.
