Tank cycle

[jlg]

Back after a break but with a significantly smaller tank a red sea max nano set it up with live sand and caribsea dry rock Started my cycle 17 days ago now and I can ad 15-20 drops ammonium chloride and its gone by the next day but my nitrites are off the Red Sea test kit which only goes to 1 my nitrate's are at 0.2 I added dr Tim’s on day 1 then Fritz turbo start on day 15 does it sound like it’s ready for a clown to be added testing was done with Red Sea test kits for everything up to day 15 then I swapped to a seneye for ammonia

 

[Cell]

Good to start stocking slowly. Nitrites are not harmful to marine fish. Ammonia being processed is our concern. Stop testing nitrate until your nitrite goes down, it interferes with the nitrate test.

@brandon429 would probably love to see your seneye data.

 

[brandon429]

100% I do

Seneye cycles from day one are rare bigtime. I'm knee driving in downtown Austin reading this thread lol I need to pull over and park and check the logs to see how the seneye registered the big initial ammonia input

 

[brandon429]

Describe the process by which the fish was added to the tank @jlg

People acclimate differently wanting to know how u did it

 

[jlg]

Describe the process by which the fish was added to the tank @jlg

People acclimate differently wanting to know how u did it

Was added in a drip water was tested fine shop refunded fish it was a 1/2” long clown just think it was the fish one thing is the shop won’t sell me another fish until I put snails in for some reason I’ve had fish in the past from the same place and all but one of them died fish was dead in under 6 hours so not thinking it’s the water as was 0 ammonia hence me adding another 1ppm ammonium chloride the day it died to check it would be removed

 

[jlg]

I can add 20 drops of dr Tim’s amonium chloride and its gone within a day

 

[jlg]

Good to start stocking slowly. Nitrites are not harmful to marine fish. Ammonia being processed is our concern. Stop testing nitrate until your nitrite goes down, it interferes with the nitrate test.

@brandon429 would probably love to see your seneye data.

I can ad 20 drops ammonia and it’s gone in under a day

 

[jlg]

100% I do

Seneye cycles from day one are rare bigtime. I'm knee driving in downtown Austin reading this thread lol I need to pull over and park and check the logs to see how the seneye registered the big initial ammonia input

So would you say running for 18 days a bottle of dr Tim’s at the start with ammonia and @ day15 a bottle of Fritz turbo start would say it’s cycled and ready for a clown or two? Each of the spikes on the seneye chart pictured was 20 drops of ammonium chloride which works out about .7 ppm ammonia added

 

[brandon429]

For sure I think it’s ready to reef

that’s two doses of two different bottle bacs and + 10 days and seneye confirmed multiple ammonia controls

that’s beyond what we use on a daily basis to claim ready

read on acclimation in the disease forum

next time you’re in a pet store it would be neat if you took your salinity meter and verified the salinity they hold their clownfish at vs just taking their word what they keep it at, be sure relative to your gear. Big salinity shocks can kill small weakened fish

95% of pet stores hold them in low salinity, to mask diseases inherent in pet store fish
They may or may not admit to that


then when we do essentially what is a ~45 min (if that) acclimation for something designed to take three days, to reef salinity much higher, harm can happen and that’s not even accounting for ammonia buildup and harm while in the bag being held or drip acclimated



you will see most people skipping preps for disease and acclimation but I’ll put those as #1 and #2 fish killers early on while cycling errors are zero instance, these bottle bac handle the tiny waste from a small fish or two without challenge.

 

[jlg]

For sure I think it’s ready to reef

that’s two doses of two different bottle bacs and + 10 days and seneye confirmed multiple ammonia controls

that’s beyond what we use on a daily basis to claim ready

read on acclimation in the disease forum

next time you’re in a pet store it would be neat if you took your salinity meter and verified the salinity they hold their clownfish at vs just taking their word what they keep it at, be sure relative to your gear. Big salinity shocks can kill small weakened fish

95% of pet stores hold them in low salinity, to mask diseases inherent in pet store fish
They may or may not admit to that


then when we do essentially what is a ~45 min (if that) acclimation for something designed to take three days, to reef salinity much higher, harm can happen and that’s not even accounting for ammonia buildup and harm while in the bag being held or drip acclimated



you will see most people skipping preps for disease and acclimation but I’ll put those as #1 and #2 fish killers early on while cycling errors are zero instance, these bottle bac handle the tiny waste from a small fish or two without challenge.

I think that’s what happened with the first clown at under a inch long I don’t believe it was at the same salinity they told me but didn’t think to check

 

[jlg]

Fish added from somewhere I used to use and all is fine the store salinity is the same as my tank as well at 1.024 only reason I used the other shop where the fish died in under 6 hours was they were closer but guess it’s worth the hour-hour and a half drive for better quality fish