JayM
Valuable Member
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2023
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- 1,222
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- Location
- Inland Empire
- What state or country do you live in
- California
I'll try to keep it short, but I tend to get long-winded on occasion - so please bear with me.
I'm back into the hobby after about a 30 year absence. I kinda figured there'd be a "one size fits all" approach to getting a tank set up and ready to go by now, but there's not. In fact, it seems infinitely more complex now than it did then. Tons of information, and tons of opinions on what's gospel and what's not. I wasn't at all interested in waiting anywhere from 2 to 8 weeks to see what method works or what doesn't so I decided to go with the Lasse method (roughly) which is essentially what I did 30 years ago.
I set everything up, (80 gallon tank, 25 gallon sump) added water from the LFS, dumped a bottle of FritzZyme 9 and 2 days later added 2 Ocellaris Clowns. 3 small Red Legged Hermit crabs, a Nassarius snail and a Banded Trochus snail were introduced the day after. Everybody seems to be doing fine. Active, eating, swimming and crawling completely normal.
BUT........................
With all I've been reading I can't help but to be worried about test results. I'm using Fluval kits for NO2 and NO3, and a Seachem Ammonia Alert. The tank was up and running a few days before I hung the ammonia alert in the tank, but it's been in the yellow (<.02ppm) from day 1. NO2 is showing darker than the .3 mg/L, yet lighter than the .8 mg/L on the color chart, so unless the kit is complete garbage the real number is somewhere in between.
NO3 is similar. Darker than 10 mg/L, yet lighter than 20 mg/L.
I'm not currently testing for anything else, and have only done a couple of small top-offs - no water changes. Salinity is stable at 1.025 measured with a calibrated refractometer.
I'm about to stuff the test kits in the back of the closet and forget about them for a while as the results are making me think that disaster is imminent, yet the overall appearance of the inhabitants tells me otherwise.
Maybe just keep an eye on the ammonia alert?
Keep testing NO2 & NO3 to see if they rise or fall?
Are my NO2 & NO3 results worrisome?
Suggestions on what I should or shouldn't do at this point are greatly appreciated.
And FWIW, my Flame Suit is on so feel free if you think it's necessary - just make sure you pass along some useful info as well.
Thanks.
I'm back into the hobby after about a 30 year absence. I kinda figured there'd be a "one size fits all" approach to getting a tank set up and ready to go by now, but there's not. In fact, it seems infinitely more complex now than it did then. Tons of information, and tons of opinions on what's gospel and what's not. I wasn't at all interested in waiting anywhere from 2 to 8 weeks to see what method works or what doesn't so I decided to go with the Lasse method (roughly) which is essentially what I did 30 years ago.
I set everything up, (80 gallon tank, 25 gallon sump) added water from the LFS, dumped a bottle of FritzZyme 9 and 2 days later added 2 Ocellaris Clowns. 3 small Red Legged Hermit crabs, a Nassarius snail and a Banded Trochus snail were introduced the day after. Everybody seems to be doing fine. Active, eating, swimming and crawling completely normal.
BUT........................
With all I've been reading I can't help but to be worried about test results. I'm using Fluval kits for NO2 and NO3, and a Seachem Ammonia Alert. The tank was up and running a few days before I hung the ammonia alert in the tank, but it's been in the yellow (<.02ppm) from day 1. NO2 is showing darker than the .3 mg/L, yet lighter than the .8 mg/L on the color chart, so unless the kit is complete garbage the real number is somewhere in between.
NO3 is similar. Darker than 10 mg/L, yet lighter than 20 mg/L.
I'm not currently testing for anything else, and have only done a couple of small top-offs - no water changes. Salinity is stable at 1.025 measured with a calibrated refractometer.
I'm about to stuff the test kits in the back of the closet and forget about them for a while as the results are making me think that disaster is imminent, yet the overall appearance of the inhabitants tells me otherwise.
Maybe just keep an eye on the ammonia alert?
Keep testing NO2 & NO3 to see if they rise or fall?
Are my NO2 & NO3 results worrisome?
Suggestions on what I should or shouldn't do at this point are greatly appreciated.
And FWIW, my Flame Suit is on so feel free if you think it's necessary - just make sure you pass along some useful info as well.
Thanks.
