rdriggett
Guest
What is the intended outcome of multiple WCs if ammonia is reading near zero and nitrite is irrelevant? Prevent a possible mini cycle spike? I thought WCs are for nirate/contaminant export.
I'll keep some prepared water on hand.
Ryan’s 40G first reef
- Thread starter rdriggett
- Start date
I'll keep some prepared water on hand.
Kensington Reefer
Supporting Member
The desired outcome is a stable system dynamic within a tolerable range.
By performing the water changes you dilute the the undesirable wastes and, dilute toxic ions and replenish the depleted ions pulled from solution during biological processes.
Coral reefer
Past President
You do water changes when cycling a tank?
rdriggett
Guest
I thought you only WC a cycling tank if it’s parameters are too out of whack or when it’s done and you’re ready to add livestock.
Kensington Reefer
Supporting Member
I do
Oh man, you're going all in! I thought I was living dangerous when I tossed in a GSP right after my tank cycled.
Go for it! Just don't toss in anything you'll be sad when it dies, and don't abuse freebies/DBTCs by tossing them in an unproven tank. Those $9 frags at Neptune's? Why not.
rdriggett
Guest
I paid @H2OPlayar an agreed upon amount for some test SPS for my buddy and I. The euphyllia is bought from a friend.
I couldn't find anything about corals caring about nitrite so I threw em in after ammonia was cycled. The hammer was nearly fully extended after an hour and the purple stylo was super fluffy. Corals are just fine in trade show tanks that are either not cycled/quick cycled/cycling/live rock transfer so I'm not sure how that's any different from my tank (bottled bacteria + established tank media)! I like to find hacks that save waiting time
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Kensington Reefer
Supporting Member
Water change in 3 days
Think of a fart in an elevator...
Changing the air
Assuming new “air” ideal
Don’t chase numbers
Keep a clean environment
Think of a fart in an elevator...
Changing the air
Assuming new “air” ideal
Don’t chase numbers
Keep a clean environment
Sounds good. Just remember your view now that they're tester corals and you're ok losing them, if/when you find the ugly cycle algae kicks in covering stuff, or an unexpected parameter spike happens, and you're stressing about how to keep them alive. I did sort of the same as you, but with $9 Neptune frags that I put into a second isolation tank first, along with dipping things to keep hitch hikers to a minimum.
I didn't have any major issues, but I also had the benefit of having done reef tanks before. I did however have stress from getting attached to my "starter, junk" frags and having the expected algae stages and param swings when getting the first fish in. It was hard to remember "it's just $50 in coral, it would be ok if it died" in the moment, and get demoralized. But definitely more interesting than trying to leave a tank bare for 6 months while doing medicine man dances around it with shrimp guts in my hands.
Again, it's not the $50 or whatever that's the killer IMO, it's the morale hit in seeing the corals looking ugly out dying and feeling like it's an infinite PITA looming ahead. Maybe toss a GSP or something else super hardy in there too so you can always have one to fall back on.
The coral show tanks have the benefits of having fully cycled rock they're bringing, access to copious amounts of water they can switch with, and the people going having the experience with the exact equipment they're setting up. If you're going to a handful of shows a year, and setting up the same tanks with the same lights and the same filters, for only a couple days where you don't even need to add fish or a clean up crew, you have much easier constraints than a home aquarium getting setup with everything new for the first time.
I didn't have any major issues, but I also had the benefit of having done reef tanks before. I did however have stress from getting attached to my "starter, junk" frags and having the expected algae stages and param swings when getting the first fish in. It was hard to remember "it's just $50 in coral, it would be ok if it died" in the moment, and get demoralized. But definitely more interesting than trying to leave a tank bare for 6 months while doing medicine man dances around it with shrimp guts in my hands.
Again, it's not the $50 or whatever that's the killer IMO, it's the morale hit in seeing the corals looking ugly out dying and feeling like it's an infinite PITA looming ahead. Maybe toss a GSP or something else super hardy in there too so you can always have one to fall back on.
The coral show tanks have the benefits of having fully cycled rock they're bringing, access to copious amounts of water they can switch with, and the people going having the experience with the exact equipment they're setting up. If you're going to a handful of shows a year, and setting up the same tanks with the same lights and the same filters, for only a couple days where you don't even need to add fish or a clean up crew, you have much easier constraints than a home aquarium getting setup with everything new for the first time.
rdriggett
Guest
Ammonia is hovering at 0.1ppm according to redsea which I’ll take as a false positive. My seachem nh3 indicator badge is the same color as my friend’s cycled tank, yellowish beige. Nitrites will probably take 1-2 more weeks to come down.
Test frags seem to be doing well but I need to borrow the par meter asap.
Test frags seem to be doing well but I need to borrow the par meter asap.
Another thing I learned recently, the badges measure free ammonia versus total ammonia. It's expected they differ in results if ammonia is present. Free ammonia is what hurts things. Free versus total is based on ammonia presence and things like pH. Ideally both are 0. Total is free + bound.
I can't comment on the accuracy of the red sea kit, though I coincidentally used the same.
RE the par meter, also keep in mind a totally clear, nothing in it, tank is liable to have a bit higher par then one with some normal levels of life floating in it (phyto, random debris, ...). Still useful to have numbers though.
rdriggett
Guest
The badge measuring toxic free ammonia is precisely why I bought it!
BRS taught me how much par yellow water pulls out so I plan to start running 24/7 ROX carbon soon.
Be careful running carbon on a freshly cycled tank that has no / minimal nutrient sources. You're liable to exacerbate cyano uglies because of stripping all the nutrients out. At this stage you want a bit of algae and such to get hold, so there's some more nutrient cycle available. That then gives you food that you can start adding your clean up crew to eat, and gives pods something that they can consume, once you get your first influx of them in.
Also if you do have a watchman goby and bicolor blenny on order, you also want some algae growing. The blenny is an algae eater, and the Goby ideally has pods and some sand algae to eat while sifting.
If you want to keep doing stuff to the tank versus letting it chill, now is a good time to get a bottle or two of various pods and maybe a bit of phyto to add in. The pods act as a bit of a clean up crew as well, but just as importantly a fish and coral snack. Live phyto also will pull nutrients out, and all phyto will give the pods (and coral) something to eat.
If you dose both before fish, you can have a metric butt ton of pods get established due to no predation.
rdriggett
Guest
Thank you for the heads up about carbon! I stopped by Neptune today for pods but they were out. I’ll check Clearwater for pods when I pickup my fish. I plan to have a 3D printed pod hotel made for me too.
rdriggett
Guest
Clearwater is also out of pods. I did a 15G WC today (first time premixing and temp matching, a bit more work than freshwater). Params are: 0.1ppm? ammonia (false positive from my RedSea) and 0.3ppm? nitrite. I feel completely safe about adding fish this week with these readings.
Thanks for the rubble tip! I have access to free 3D printing so I'm going for the pod hotel.