Smooth's 29 gallon build!

SmoothSmoke · Apr 14, 2014

Thanks! To cycle I used lightly rinsed live sand, one piece of live rock and dosed 6ml of pure ammonia.

I want my CUC in there now!

SmoothSmoke · Apr 15, 2014

Cycle Day 6

Ammonia is dropping and nitrites are going up!!!! Ammonia is at 2.0ppm and nitrites are between 2 and 5ppm. I'm going to call it 3.5ppm

SmoothSmoke · Apr 16, 2014

Cycle Day 7 update:

Ordered the Jebao WP10 wavemaker. Hopefully I'll have enough flow with the wp10 in combination with my Sicce 2.0 which is rated at 568gph before head loss.

Ammonia is about 1.5ppm
Nitrite is at minimum 5ppm if not higher

vlangel · Apr 16, 2014

I bet in 4 days you will be cycled!

SmoothSmoke · Apr 16, 2014

vlangel said:
I bet in 4 days you will be cycled!

I was thinking another 7 days. I will take your prediction! I want my clean up crew in there lol.

vlangel · Apr 16, 2014

I could be wrong but nitrites go down fast once they spike!

SmoothSmoke · Apr 16, 2014

It would be perfect if its cycled by monday so I can order the CUC package from reef cleaners.

SmoothSmoke · Apr 18, 2014

Cycle Day 9 update:

Ammonia dropped again, now between 0.5 and 1.0ppm, Nitrite is hanging above 5ppm. I expect ammonia to be 0 withing 48 hours.

This is how the tank looks now. That piece of live rock does not fit in with the rest of the scape. I'm just leaving it there for the time being. Will probably remove it once the cycle finishes.

SmoothSmoke · Apr 18, 2014

Installed the skimmer today. Should break in by the time the cycle is over.

SmoothSmoke · Apr 20, 2014

The Jebao WP10 showed up rather quick. Not sure what to make of it just yet. Hard to really determine if it will provide enough flow when their are no corals in the tank. I uploaded 2 videos showing the flow at the highest setting. W1 mode with S1 speed mode, with the dial turned all the way to the left (short pulses). One video with the pump placed in the center of the tank. The other with the pump placed on the left side. Do you think I'll have enough flow with this pump?

Left side

Center

SmoothSmoke · Apr 21, 2014

Cycle day 12 update:

Ammonia has finally dropped to 0! Nitrites are still high. Maybe a week left?

vlangel · Apr 21, 2014

Sorry I let you down, I thought you'd be cycled by now. It won't be long now though.

SmoothSmoke · Apr 21, 2014

No problem at all! Im anxious to get it finished but am not in a real hurry either.

SmoothSmoke · Apr 23, 2014

Photon 24 showed up today. Very bright it is! Great spread at 8"

SmoothSmoke · Apr 24, 2014

Day 15, at a stand still.

iReef86 · Apr 24, 2014

Nice light! Looks like progress is going well! Thumb up!

SmoothSmoke · Apr 25, 2014

Day 16: Nitrite is dropping! The color of the sample is right between 1 and 2ppm. I will be testing again late afternoon. As I know nitrites should drop rather quickly now. If it gets to 0 this evening, I will dose 1ppm of ammonia and check tomorrow if both ammonia/nitrite get to 0 in less than 24 hours.

SmoothSmoke · Apr 26, 2014

Looks like I'm ready for fish?!?! Nitrite was 1.5ppm yesterday in the morning. Yesterday afternoon it went to 0. I proceeded with a 23% water change, used red sea coral pro salt.

Specific Gravity = 1.025
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 20ppm
Calcium = 500
Phosphate = 0.25ppm
Alkalinity = 12 dKH
PH = 7.9 (taken in the morning)