125 Gal

I like the tank it is coming togther very nicely and it has alot a space for coral ;-)

 

Thanks.

We are seeing more brown algae growing in the refugium, and some starting on the glass in the DT....Yet, the NH3, NO3, NO2, PO4 all come in less than detectable... (when I run the above samples on the house well water, only the NH3 bumps up, which is in line with the last sample the city ran...) pH is about 8 and alk is 2.5 mEq/ml.

The brown algae tells me that there are nutrients available in the system...even if I cannot measure them...So, the cycle progresses....

 

Test...

Today's samples...still all less than detectable.

So, here's a quick test for you, the sample on the left is the DT...on the right is from the DI tank...

Now the samples we use are calibrated for salt water...but still it is interesting to see the results as there was some discussion earlier this week about ammonia show up in the DI storage for one of our members...

So, what do you say the ammonia level is, the shadows add a bit of challenge:





I called it 0 as I can see no shade of green, looks more dirty yellow...

 

grubbsj
Im seeing 0.2 - but maybe thats an eye sight problem for me?

Steve

 

I want to say 0 but a pic is soo hard to tell.


luna

 

That's been my challenge, there has not been a clear indication of a cycle, yet...

Well, the tank's been running for 5 weeks now, and even with a different test kit, I still have yet to see any more than this. The NO2 and NO3 are more 0 today than they were 2 weeks ago, when I call it 0...

We started the system with 3 blue/green chromas and 3 yellow tail damsels. One of the yellow tails die the second week in the tank...but that's been it. There is no CUC in the DT, or in the refugium, but some snails are in the sump.

We have to clean the DT glass about once a week. Yesterday, while cleaning the glass, we noticed coralline starting to show up on both the glass and rock work.

Next steps...a small CUC for the DT....maybe one of the 30g packages from Live Aquaria...

 

Joe tank looks really good as for the sand moving around , Thats the nature of the beast all you can do it allow it to settle out where it wants sorry to say like an anemone it never stays where or how the heck you want it to..

As for Ammonia looked like you had several chromis in there could not really see but it looked to be 4 or 5 ? and thats way more then needed . Just one is all required But the number will cause higher Ammonia spikes simply allow it the weeks needed to cycle and the ammonia and no2 will be gone .

It's noting to be done naturally about it I have never owned an ammonia or N02 test kit and never have I ever tested for it I simply add the one single fish feed it normally and then allow the 10 to 12 weeks and they just go as they are supposed to. There are some polymer's that will remove it but its never really stable . Feed less is about all I'd suggest if you are not already feeding very sparingly ?

Do not clean anything in the system allow the bacterial jelly to build up on everything for the first 3 months and get a clean up crew in place in the next few weeks as the diatoms fade out the algae will start . I'd also find me a source for some seeding sand from a established tank with coralline and cut pumps off add the coralline laced sand and allow it to settle out for a few hrs then turn pumps back on and no skimming or bright lights and use only the Actinic for the first 3 months . Kick the DKH up to 12 to 14 and Ca to 425 to 450 or so and let it ride . If you need coralline inoculation ? I can scrape and send you plenty ): But do not use the skimmer yet as it will retard the system from developing any coralline growth and also lengthen the cycling time I have found over the yrs .

As for the diatoms its all in the game they come at about 2 to 3 weeks stay until all silicates are consumed and then die out leaving their little brown dust looking exoskeletons behind as proof they where there , And unless silicate as a food source are re-added via bad water then they will remain history .. You now have about 1 to 2 yrs of algae issues and other problems as the systems starts to toddle and then grow and mature to full age

But it sure looks like a good job was done on it far better looking then the old,d 75 I think it was Good job there buddy and if you need anything just e/m or call me anytime .

Oh and get the NO3 and NO4 reactor and coil going if you have not already done so ?

 

Tonight's chemistry check:



pH is looking better after the water change but alk is running low... NO3, NO2, CU, PO4 are as 0 as they get...(I have 2 different test kits for NO3 & NO2...even the backup tests are 0...)

NH4 is still hard for me to read...but I'll call it 0...as it clearly is not changing from week to week...

 

We started the system with 6 fish, 3 chromis and 3 YTB damsles (one of these die right away). I'm banking on the efforts of running a "seed" tank for the sump and CDN for a year before getting this system up and running.

The Ca Reactor is not running, yet...sounds like a good project for this weekend...so the Reef Crystal salt solution is getting me about 360 PPM Ca and 7 dkh. I do have some 2 part dosing solution, but frankly, I'd rather see the Ca reactor up and running. This needs to be done so that the system has stabilized before adding corals....(woops, we added some mushrooms on Wednesday)

When we started up this combination of DT/Sump/Refugium 6 weeks ago...we ordered some 'live' mud for the sump. It came in 2 weeks ago and now we are seeing an out brake of coralline on the rocks and glass (I'd have been happy if it would not have started growing on the glass).

I'm sure I'm slowing down the startup cycle as the skimmer/O3/CDN/UV/canister filter have all been running from the start. I have a PO4 reactor running GFO from BRS along with their Carbon Reactor. But, the only NO3/NO2 'reactor' I have is the CDN you helped me with and in the Refugium, the back section is housing about 40 lbs of sand in a DSB which is ~8" deep.

Here is a 15 second clip of the 'drip' outlet for the CDN:



It might be a bit fast, but since it is over a year old, has 1 cuft of biobale, and 100' of tubing...it could probably be faster. If I ever see any NO2, I'll consider bumping up the flow.

Thank you for all of your help of the past 18 months.

 

New additions:

This guy is so shy he is very hard to get a pic of, so far this is the best I have...




And yet, this gal just likes showing off for the camera...