First cycle Red Sea reef mature kit help.....

[Rscott]

Fun fun

 

[vetteguy53081]

Keep in mind, you are still cycling and trying to reach a point if stability. Chasing numbers or acquiring numbers now is not as critical as they will be once livestock is added

 

[vetteguy53081]

Well update from tonight’s testing

Ammonia = <.25

No2 = .2

No3 was strongly in the 50 range

Now the kit does call for a 5% water change tomorrow

I also pulled the trigger on a skimmer today

Which is promptly going insane in my sump

Water level looks high for skimmer. Lower or elevate skimmer and lower pump output a little

 

[IslandLifeReef]

The skimmer will break in in a few days. Take the lid off and let it overflow until the bubbles reduce.

Follow the instructions for the reef mature program. If they tell you to do a water change, do it. If they tell you to add something, do it.

 

[Rscott]

Thanks

The sump water level is non adjustable
It either is high enough to reach the next compartment or it’s not one or the other

You would think Red Sea in their infinite wisdom would make a skimmer that works with the stock sump

I read today it likes 7-8 inches of water

The stock sump is over 10 inches
I shut it off when I went to work today because all it did was make a huge mess last night

Tank was crystal clear this morning with not a single sign of algae or any kind of growth



I didn’t want my tank to turn “ugly” but was hoping for a sign of dang near anything by now.

I did a small 3 gallon water change last night which was not in the instructions simply because I put salt water in my ATO by accident like an idiot and my salinity was at 37.

Small water change with RODI has me back at 35 now
The kit calls for a 5% change tonight I think anyway

It also calls for CUC this Monday which I’m skeptical on .....

I also noticed with my littler 3 gallon water change last night my water was fairly acidic with a pH of 7.4
The 3 gallon change seem to bring me to 7.8

 

[denniscahill]

My suggestion is to hold off on the clean up crew, there is nothing there for them to clean up!! You mentioned that you are seeing zero growth so no need for the CUC.

It sounds like your tank is doing the same thing mine did. Progressing slowly and cleanly. The only growth I saw was diatoms when I had the wrong lights. Now, there is nothing.

I looked at my logs this morning. I started my cycle on May 5th. I will put the first living thing in my tank today, June 20th. A lot longer than the timeline in the booklet. BUT.. I am positive the tank is cycled and my water chemistry is stable. I stopped testing every day and only tested evey 10 days or so. ( Well.. I did check salinitry every other day or so, refractometer is so easy).

A suggestion for the skimmer..put a brick of ceramic biomedia under it. https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/marinepure-ceramic-biomedia-plate.html It should lift it up a bit as well as provide more surface area for the good bacteria.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Just give your skimmer a few days. I see bubbles in the neck and not water, so I think it will be fine once it breaks in.

As far as CUC goes, you could go either way. No CUC, or a small on of 5-10 snails. Once you start seeing the algae, especially GHA, it can sometimes be too large for the snails to eat. If it were me, I would try a few snails and add more later.

 

[Rscott]

Might just be fun to add a few small guys to have something more interesting to watch as long as the tank is safe for them.
With no Ammonia and me lowering nitrates it couldn't hurt right?
Although, i might need to feed them if there is nothing for them to eat.

 

[Rscott]

Slight update

Skimmer
Still going insane. I made an acrylic stand for it, it’s in exactly the recommended water

Up-Ed the flow in the tank quit a bit

Ammonia approaching .25-.5 which is odd?

Nitrite is .2

Nitrate is 50

Kit calls for a 5% change today so will do that and hopefully get the nitrate down
Skimmer going nuts so it’s fairly useless

Not impressed with the noise so far
Wish I held out and got a reef octopus regal instead. Was same price

 

[Rscott]

Just as an update

The cycle seems to be going well.

Nitrite is .1
Ammonia < .15

Nitrates are around 25

Now!

Dispite the constant abuse I have already gotten for this

A whooping 2 days earlier then suggested by the reef mature kit, I added 2 sapphire damsels.

They are doing well, eating and swimming like normal although they don’t venture far from the part of the tank they call home

The skimmer is finally not blowing crap all over the place but not below the neck yet.

The tank is looking clear however I never saw any diatoms or algae

Not sure what the is an indication of.

pH is a tad low at 7.8 so I added another power head to the surface for more agitation

All in all from what little I know , things look ok

Curious about the lack of diatoms and algae not that I’m complaining

All the comments about how I won’t last in this hobby because I couldn’t wait two more days can take their nonsense elsewhere

My LFS is a significant drive and I happen to be down there in the area for a different reason. My LFS thought I would be fine so I went for it

Other then that it seems to be going well.

Thanks to everyone for the continued support and advice especially those that have followed this since the beginning and offered advice