SCA 100 Gallon Reef tank build

[Xclusive Reef]

Day 25 nitrites remain high. ) ammonia so I decided to do a 25% water change. I hope It did not mess up the cycle lol I will test tomorrow nd see what kinda reading I am getting

 

[Xclusive Reef]

Day 26 and I had high nitrites, very dark purple. It actually higher than before I did a water change. FYI for anyone reading, DO NOT do a water change.. It will actually make it worse. Just have patience and let it be. I am not touching the tank until nitrites go down. due to work today, I did not have a chance to work on the stand.

 

[Xclusive Reef]

Today was busy so i manage to get the screen top installed. sits pretty flush with the top of the tank. Here it is. Also made some more Rodi water.

 

[Xclusive Reef]

Day 32.. I gave in and went to LFS and picked up some seachem prime and a piece of live rock. was talking to LFS guy and he said these bacteria bottle cycles usually take about 45 days, Also said I should not have done any water changes till nitrites and ammonia show 0. Well its good to know for next one.

 

[Instigate]

Don't worry about nitrites imo.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/rhf/index.php

 

[Xclusive Reef]

Don't worry about nitrites imo.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/rhf/index.php

I don;t know I don't tend to agree because more ammonia will increase nitrites and that's not good for fish. I will wait another week , test everyday and see where we are in a week.

 

[Instigate]

I don;t know I don't tend to agree because more ammonia will increase nitrites and that's not good for fish. I will wait another week , test everyday and see where we are in a week.

Unless your nitrites are in the 300ppm range it's not damaging to most marine fish, that was my take away from the article. If your tank can repeatedly process 2ppm ammonia in 24 hours it's safe to add fish. Another thing I found out is that ammonia-oxidizing bacteria can live at least a month with no ammonia source and bounce back almost immediately. I didn't save the articles on that but I could probably find them if you wanted.

 

[Instigate]

By all means, wait if you have the patience. I just remember the first tank I was trying to cycle, waiting and waiting for the nitrites to drop. Then after reading that article it seems I don't need to wait. And I didn't on the last two tanks I cycled with no ill effects. I am not very experienced but I have been obsessing about the subject for the past several months and have been spending the majority of my free time reading about it so I am relying on other peoples experience as well as my own.

 

[Xclusive Reef]

By all means, wait if you have the patience. I just remember the first tank I was trying to cycle, waiting and waiting for the nitrites to drop. Then after reading that article it seems I don't need to wait. And I didn't on the last two tanks I cycled with no ill effects. I am not very experienced but I have been obsessing about the subject for the past several months and have been spending the majority of my free time reading about it so I am relying on other peoples experience as well as my own.

I was gonna pull the trigger today and get some fish and the LFS talked me into waiting as the cycle is not complete yet in his opinion.

 

[Instigate]

I was gonna pull the trigger today and get some fish and the LFS talked me into waiting as the cycle is not complete yet in his opinion.

It's not complete until the nitrite drop. That's true. But what most people don't get is that it doesn't need to be done to get some fish in. But like I said, I'm new. I haven't been doing this for years or anything but according to my research and what little experience I do have, nitrites are a waste of time to even think about. Just my 2 cents.

/for saltwater anyway

 

[Liquid360]

Just food for thought. I lived in a downtown loft. I went one night to see a play and got out. Saw I had 20 missed phone calls and messages saying “water gushing into neighbors lofts. I raced him and my 130g system had emptied. I stool at my door not know what to do. Long story short, almost $50,000 in damage inc my loft and neighbors.
The point of the story? Check your insurance.

 

[Xclusive Reef]

Just food for thought. I lived in a downtown loft. I went one night to see a play and got out. Saw I had 20 missed phone calls and messages saying “water gushing into neighbors lofts. I raced him and my 130g system had emptied. I stool at my door not know what to do. Long story short, almost $50,000 in damage inc my loft and neighbors.
The point of the story? Check your insurance.

Sorry to hear man. I did starting Monday I will have insurance that does cover accidental insurance. will cover incase of a leak.

 

[Xclusive Reef]

Was looking at the qt tank today and noticed something on the tip of the rock like in the dark. Once I opened lights it hid inside. I also saw my ammonia batch on the bottom so picked it up and noticed something attached to it the size of 2 rice groans. After removing it, noticed it was a small snail. Ammonia patch had a lot of brown algae on it and snail was going to town. At this point either I dump it in trash or put it back in the tank. So being that it was a snail, put it back in the tank. Not sure it will hurt as it was eating algae. But this is why at the same time I am not a fan of putting live rock in a new setup. You just don’t know what you putting in..

 

[Crimsonvice]

At this point I would just leave it. It wont hurt anything, and probably isnt anything bad anyways.

Just as an FYI, I cycled my 120 about 3 weeks ago. I used Fritz 9. You dump the mix in add a cheap fish, and wait 4 days. It was cycled in that time. Hope you get it figured out soon. These minor set backs become very frustrating when all you want to do is get your tank going.

 

[Xclusive Reef]

At this point I would just leave it. It wont hurt anything, and probably isnt anything bad anyways.

Just as an FYI, I cycled my 120 about 3 weeks ago. I used Fritz 9. You dump the mix in add a cheap fish, and wait 4 days. It was cycled in that time. Hope you get it figured out soon. These minor set backs become very frustrating when all you want to do is get your tank going.

I think cycle is almost over, if the water was bad I don’t think a small snail and whatever is on the rock would live. My next cycle on my dt I will use ATM colony as I already bought it. I will fritz a try one day.

 

[Xclusive Reef]

So I got salifert tests kits this morning and tested nitrites and nitrates. Ohhh boy comparing both tests they could not be more off!!! On nitrites salifert showed barely any nitrites between 0-.01 and on api I was getting over 5 ppm. Nitrates were about the same at about 25. At this point I am just don’t know which test is correct. I might just add some fish this weekend.

 

[Brew12]

So I got salifert tests kits this morning and tested nitrites and nitrates. Ohhh boy comparing both tests they could not be more off!!! On nitrites salifert showed barely any nitrites between 0-.01 and on api I was getting over 5 ppm. Nitrates were about the same at about 25. At this point I am just don’t know which test is correct. I might just add some fish this weekend.

I think you will be just fine to add some fish.

 

[Xclusive Reef]

Cycle is close to finished if not finished. I have very high 80ppm nitrates.. doing 20% water change and will retest tomorrow for nitrites, nitrates, PH, and Ammonia. Deciding between 4 chromis or 2 clown fish in a 10 gal qt tank. These will also be the fish i will use to cycle DT in 3-4 weeks after QT is done.

 

[Xclusive Reef]

did 30% water change today and here is the results of the same water from both API vs Salifert. Nitrites were 0 on salifert and 5.0 on API.

 

[Xclusive Reef]

So Today id day 41 QT is setup and water was just good to go. Ammonia is 0 Nitrites is 0 and Nitrates it at 20. Worked on the stand today, added the last door and filled in all the wholes with wood filler. Went to Petco as I was in a hurry and picked up 2 1 inch clown fish. bought them home, drip acclimated and they have been in the tank for about 6 hours and no issues. Just feed them a little mysis shrimp and they ate some so we are off to a good start.