New custom tank build

jedidad · Mar 18, 2013

I'm on vacation in Orlando right now. When I left Friday the tank was still cycling but I think it should be done when I get back this Sunday. I was starting to get some diatoms on the glass and rock so I went lights out while I am away. Hopefully I can add the clownfish when I get home.

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grumpy-crab · Mar 18, 2013

jedidad said:
I'm on vacation in Orlando right now. When I left Friday the tank was still cycling but I think it should be done when I get back this Sunday. I was starting to get some diatoms on the glass and rock so I went lights out while I am away. Hopefully I can add the clownfish when I get home.

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Did u make it to coralcon sense your down there haha

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jedidad · Mar 18, 2013

Unfortunately no. I heard that it didnt go over very big though. I did go to world wide corals yesterday and wow what a coral collection. I may have to bring back some goodies with me.

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jedidad · Mar 24, 2013

Will this cycle ever end? I bought some coral frags while I was on vacation thinking that the cycle would be done when I got back. The ammonia and nitrites were dropping when we left and that was nine days ago. Sadly that was not to be. Ammonia has dropped to zero but my nitrites are still at .25 ppm. Luckily Bill at Custom Reef Creations loaned me some room in his frag tanks to keep the frags I purchased. I plan on adding some cuc to see how it does and hopefully a pair of clownfish soon.

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Tank Girl · Mar 24, 2013

Did you try to do small water change?

jedidad · Mar 24, 2013

Would that help? My understanding is that if I did even a 50% water change it would only drop my nitrites from .25 to .125. Besides it is coming down on its own I'm just impatient. If their is a way that it can help I am more than happy to do it.

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Tank Girl · Mar 25, 2013

Why Water Changes During Cycling Are Good - Tropical Chit Chat - Tropical Fish Forums

jedidad · Mar 25, 2013

Thank you for the link. Very interesting. Do recommend fish less or fish cycling? I have been doing fishless, but this got me thinking that there is nothing adding to the ammonia levels at this point.

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Saltynoob · Mar 25, 2013

When I fishless cycle, I continue to maintain my ammonia levels up until my nitrites go to zero, and I begin to show nitrates.

jedidad · Mar 25, 2013

Well my nitrites were at zero today.:clap2: Saltynoob, I did keep my ammonia up until I started to see nitrites fall and nitrates start to climb. In fact I got my ammonia higher than I originally intended because I was reading the test kit wrong. I will keep your advice in mind if I decide to do another tank though. Ammonia and nitrites both at zero and nitrates slowly falling. I decided to go ahead and add one of my pairs of clowns to the tank tonight and watch to see how things go. If everything goes well I will then proceed with other additions. Maybe add the coral frags I got later this week and then the other pair of clowns still sitting in the qt tank next week. Here is a pick of the pair I added. One is a Tangerine Clownfish and the other is a DaVinci Clownfish. You can see some sand blowing around in the tank because I was playing with the powerheads some a little earlier and they kicked up some sand.

Tank Girl · Mar 25, 2013

jedidad said:
Thank you for the link. Very interesting. Do recommend fish less or fish cycling?

I did fishless, but I used prodibio's start up. Nice clownfish.

jedidad · Mar 25, 2013

Thanks Tank Girl. It appears the tank cycled but I will be testing each day for a while to make sure. I plan on doing a water change in a few days as well. After the reading assignment you gave me I figure it can't hurt anything.

jedidad · Mar 28, 2013

So far the tank is doing really well. I have added a few corals that I picked up at Custom Reef Creations and thought I would share a few pics.
First a nice sized rock of zoanthids. The orange ones are much brighter in person, and have a nice glow to them.

Next is the brain coral I got.

A purple and green tube anemone.

And best for last this sick plate coral. First with flash second without flash.

jedidad · Mar 29, 2013

Here's some pics of the corals under the blue led's.

jedidad · Mar 29, 2013

I will try to get some top down shots later. I am currently having some trouble with the return line blowing micro bubble into the tank and don't know where they are coming from. It's not coming from the skimmer. There not alot of bubbles but I need to figure it out. Anyone have any ideas?

CustomReefCreations · Mar 29, 2013

That plate is sick under leds
OK on the micro bubbles. It can be sucking air from any point in your return line. So anywhere there is a fitting is potential. You would think it would leak water but more tine than none it sucks air instead