Nano tank off to a bad start?

[micl10]

On my third go around into reefing, I've decided I'm gonna go with a nano reef. I have a 20g JBJ AIO, and i'm trying to do all the "best practices" when starting a tank. Unfortunately, I've already made 1 boneheaded mistake, and another one that I'm confused by.

1) I bought a 20g rubbermade trashcan from home depot to mix my salt water in. In my excitement, I forgot to clean it XD. I'm already in the middle of my fishless cycle, and i've already zero'd out my ammonia, and now just waiting for my nitrites to drop. I'm getting ready to get my first fish, and I'm not sure if i've polluted my tank with whatever chemicals the rubbermade ships with. Are there any tests I can do, or maybe steps i can take to ensure my tank is animal safe? Carbon?

2) My fishless/coral-less tank is already reading at 7.78 Ph (according to apex) and 7.8-8.0 according to red sea test. The colors in the card makes it impossible to distinguish 7.8 and 8.0, but I suspect i'm closer to 7.8 than 8.0. I'm using tropic marin pro reef salt. The tank has pretty low evaporation, and is ~80% lidded. Skimmer is currently off, and I have the Innovative Marine Spin Stream nozzle agitating the water surface intermittently. Again, the display tank portion is mostly lidded.

I have about Liferock rocks and Caribsea fiji pink sand.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I would not worry about not having rinsed the can before making saltwater. It should be fine. If you are the worrying type, then it might make you feel better to run activated carbon, or empty your tank and start again, but I would keep going forward.

I would say there is no need to measure ph during a cycle, in fact I would suggest against it since it might cause confusion and concern. PH of 7.8 to 8 is just fine anyway, don't overthink it.

 

[micl10]

Decided to take acclimate some mollies to salt water to be my "canaries in the coal mine". After a 4 day slow acclimation, waiting for my tank to finish cycling, I finally added them today.

And much to my surprise, they're sand sifting the algae from the excess NO3 from the fishless cycling process.

They've been pecking at the sand the who day. I'm starting to wonder if I even need a cleanup crew. What a happy accident. Not to mention the fact that I feel comfortable introducing new fish.

Another added bonus are these mollies wont have any salt-water diseases so my fish order from Dr Reef is gonna be safe.

As far as utility fish goes, these are definitely less destructive than diamond gobies. No sand hurricanes from these guys.

 

[Propane]

Picture did not work but keep updating.

 

[fishywishy]

On my third go around into reefing, I've decided I'm gonna go with a nano reef. I have a 20g JBJ AIO, and i'm trying to do all the "best practices" when starting a tank. Unfortunately, I've already made 1 boneheaded mistake, and another one that I'm confused by.

1) I bought a 20g rubbermade trashcan from home depot to mix my salt water in. In my excitement, I forgot to clean it XD. I'm already in the middle of my fishless cycle, and i've already zero'd out my ammonia, and now just waiting for my nitrites to drop. I'm getting ready to get my first fish, and I'm not sure if i've polluted my tank with whatever chemicals the rubbermade ships with. Are there any tests I can do, or maybe steps i can take to ensure my tank is animal safe? Carbon?

2) My fishless/coral-less tank is already reading at 7.78 Ph (according to apex) and 7.8-8.0 according to red sea test. The colors in the card makes it impossible to distinguish 7.8 and 8.0, but I suspect i'm closer to 7.8 than 8.0. I'm using tropic marin pro reef salt. The tank has pretty low evaporation, and is ~80% lidded. Skimmer is currently off, and I have the Innovative Marine Spin Stream nozzle agitating the water surface intermittently. Again, the display tank portion is mostly lidded.

I have about Liferock rocks and Caribsea fiji pink sand.

Ive never really rinsed anything ive put in my tank so you should be fine with the Rubbermaid, I doubt I washed mine either. But if your worried you can do a few water changes before you get your fish in.

 

[micl10]

I just got to the "seed copepod" phase of the tank. Waited till night time, mollies were chillin at their corner, disturbed by me dumping 5 bottles of algae barn's galaxy pods. Now i'm worried i just fed $100 worth of copepods to my $6 mollies. Heheh

Maybe i'm not cut out for this hobby after all.

 

[Propane]

I just got to the "seed copepod" phase of the tank. Waited till night time, mollies were chillin at their corner, disturbed by me dumping 5 bottles of algae barn's galaxy pods. Now i'm worried i just fed $100 worth of copepods to my $6 mollies. Heheh

Maybe i'm not cut out for this hobby after all.

Lol. I feel ya

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What's done is done about the Brute. I wouldn't do anything special about it at this point.

Why is the skimmer off?

I would not be worrying about those pH values at this point.

 

[dbroncos]

What's done is done about the Brute. I wouldn't do anything special about it at this point.

Why is the skimmer off?

I would not be worrying about those pH values at this point.

Question why skim during cycle. Wouldn't
you want all filtration off just circulate the tank - no carbon, no filter floss, etc..

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Question why skim during cycle. Wouldn't
you want all filtration off just circulate the tank - no carbon, no filter floss, etc..

That's fine, but there's no reason it should be off. pH will likely be altered by skimming. I'd start it before adding fish for its aeration benefits.

 

[micl10]

What's done is done about the Brute. I wouldn't do anything special about it at this point.

Why is the skimmer off?

I would not be worrying about those pH values at this point.

It was off because I was fishless cycling. I didn't want the ammonia im dripping into the system to be removed. (By the skimmer anyway).

After the cycle, I turned it back on.

And ya, I was worrying a little too early. My pH stabilized at 8.1 now so worrying was not necessary