Coral reefer
Past President
Learn something new everyday
"The Lab" - Josh and Tiffany's IM Nuvo EXT 200
- Thread starter IOnceWasLegend
- Start date
Yeah, I was kinda surprised when I learned it; but it makes sense. According to Dr. Tim, for those interested: nitrifying bacteria are able to replicate and grow faster in hyposalinity because they don't have to spend so much energy keeping all the salt out. Also recommends keeping the bacteria at slightly elevated temperatures (~80 F) because it helps speed their metabolism/grow faster, too.
This thread is a good example of how to research, plan, and be patient that all new hobbyists need to see! Might have to start directing new members here Josh.
Everything Dr. Tim said is definitely correct, only thing to monitor is that your oxygen saturation goes down at higher temperatures and with increased metabolic activity, so likely want to make sure you have good water flow/gas exchange if you're running skimmerless right now.
Curious to see how your pH and alkalinity change during this if you have monitoring going now. Might indicate when you hit your bacterial carrying capacity or if CO2 is building up.
Everything Dr. Tim said is definitely correct, only thing to monitor is that your oxygen saturation goes down at higher temperatures and with increased metabolic activity, so likely want to make sure you have good water flow/gas exchange if you're running skimmerless right now.
Curious to see how your pH and alkalinity change during this if you have monitoring going now. Might indicate when you hit your bacterial carrying capacity or if CO2 is building up.
A lot of it learned by trial and error, but I really appreciate it!
I probably won't be monitoring pH during the cycle (I haven't started it yet, but my Apex is on the holding tank), but i have given consideration to that.
In addition to the return nozzles all being pointed at the surface, I'll also have at least one (possibly two) mp40s for surface agitation and to increase oxygen exchange. (Incidentally, this is why I haven't added the bacteria to the display tank yet, even though most of the rocks are covered by water now).
Plus, while you can't see this, my wife has probably thirty plants within ten or fifteen feet of the tank, so I'd wager that'll make a (modest) impact, too.
Got busy on Saturday, so got it filled some of the way...
Then most of the way...
Then all the way...
And now it's alive (with ammonia + bottle bacteria added, and tank salinity at 1.019*).
While the height of the tank is very slightly awkward for side-viewing, it's perfect for viewing from sitting on the couch, and nice to be able to do top-down viewing without a step stool.
Monitoring the cycle now and, if all goes well, we'll be adding a (small) one spot foxface, a red firefish, a purple firefish, a royal gramma, and a banggai cardinal in a few weeks, as well as a copper banded butterfly when Kenny gets one in.
My goal for the next week is to do cable management and get everything looking tidy under the tank.
*: Was going to do 1.015. However, I added 3 bags of salt, checked the salinity, and went, "Eh, good enough."
EDIT: Also, forgot to put this information earlier, but - in spite of ordering 160 lbs of special grade CaribSea Arag-Alive sand - we only used 120 lbs.
Then most of the way...
Then all the way...
And now it's alive (with ammonia + bottle bacteria added, and tank salinity at 1.019*).
While the height of the tank is very slightly awkward for side-viewing, it's perfect for viewing from sitting on the couch, and nice to be able to do top-down viewing without a step stool.
Monitoring the cycle now and, if all goes well, we'll be adding a (small) one spot foxface, a red firefish, a purple firefish, a royal gramma, and a banggai cardinal in a few weeks, as well as a copper banded butterfly when Kenny gets one in.
My goal for the next week is to do cable management and get everything looking tidy under the tank.
*: Was going to do 1.015. However, I added 3 bags of salt, checked the salinity, and went, "Eh, good enough."
EDIT: Also, forgot to put this information earlier, but - in spite of ordering 160 lbs of special grade CaribSea Arag-Alive sand - we only used 120 lbs.
Last edited:
My wife pointed out something I can't unsee: our rock structure has googly eyes.
I feel like I read somewhere that you should not use nitrifying bacteria with live sand when starting your tank. Following your build thanks for sharing. Very thorough
Kensington Reefer
Supporting Member
Looks like “Ollie“
from the Puppets Fran n Ollie
from the Puppets Fran n Ollie
PjFish
Supporting Member
Torch for the hair small frags for eyes
Attachments
You're welcome! And my assumption re: live and and bacteria was the possibility of more organics/ammonia from dead stuff added to the recommended amount of ammonia added during fishless cycles. I tested the existing ammonia prior to adding the bottled ammonia, and calibrated based on that.
I may have to try that... Though I'm laughing imagining the thought of putting a pair of favia on there and giving it compound eyes.
Also, quick update: tank has been chugging along for the last few days. Had a couple more pinhole leaks at a few elbows so I shut it down, removed the affected section,, reapplied cement around the joint, and turned the pumps back on 3 hours later. So far so good, and it's been 48 hours without any leaks.
Touching on earlier conversation with @Darkxerox regarding oxygen exchange: I'm fortunate that both my wife and I like the sound of bubbling/running water, so I've had both sets of return nozzles pointed right at the surface (with an MP40 providing additional agitation). Also, given I'm not running filter socks yet, I've gotten additional agitation and gas exchange from the water running through the filter sock holes.
I also went ahead and ordered a Feeding Portal for the top of the tank a few weeks ago, and decided to install it. Noting you can probably print one of these yourself, but I opted to go for the premade and installation was super easy: bottom half on bottom of screen, top half on top, screw it down to clamp it, and cut the screen out of the hole. Took about five minutes.
I've been busy with work and other obligations the past few days, but I've started working on cable management and control board layouts as well. I went ahead and ordered a cable management organizer kit to help me get everything nice and tidy behind the tank, so I'll have more pictures when I get that done later this week. Also, requesting input on where people mount their dosers/put 'platforms' inside their sumps. I'd like to minimize the amount of stuff I have sitting on the sump (paranoia about leaking stuff into the sump), so I'm looking for ideas.
But for now: full tank shot with crystal clear water!
You're very welcome. I spent a decade or so as a research scientist; one of my biggest pet peeves was reading another group's research and going, "Okay, I need THIS THING they used, but they didn't give an exact item/part #, so now I have to follow a daisy chain of publications (that, in one case, stretched back into the 1950's)."
Given how helpful other builds were for me making this one, I figured I should return the favor if anyone in the future is looking for ideas.
RandyC
Supporting Member
If the added cement doesn’t work, you can try clear silicon caulk. It’s not as pretty, but I have previously used it around a leaky elbow. With the pressures we deal with, silicon should be enough to hold on PVC. If you’re careful and use a wet finger/rag, you can make it look fairly clean/unnoticeable.
Every cycle I've had has progressed through a similar sequence of events: "Boy that ammonia got digested quickly" > "Wow that's a lot of nitrite" > "Man I really hope I didn't stall the cycle with high nitrites" > "Oh right, nitrites take a while to come down."
I hit the "Oh right" stage today. I added bacteria and ammonia to 2 ppm on 6/4; by 6/8 I had no detectable ammonia and nitrites at ~4 ppm. I was pretty sure nitrites have been in the ~2 ppm range for the past week or so (or at least the color hasn't changed appreciably), but they finally noticeably dropped today to sub-1 ppm. Success!
No huge updates, but a couple minor points/cool things:
Temperature controllers are important. I knew this already, and didn't really care about the exact temp of the tank, so I just set the built-in temp controller on my heater to 80. When I got my Apex set up, I saw the temp was actually over 83. Have a backup and a failsafe.
I got the iPad on the front of the tank connected, and loaded up Reef Tiles (by our very own @phatduckk !). I'm not too worried about the pH because 1) low salinity, and 2) the probe was shipped dry, so I don't really trust it. (BRS has already sent me a replacement, and I won't be using this one to monitor anything of importance).
We started some work on the backyard, which - in addition to the patio - also means the foundation for the shed (i.e. water storage/mixing center) will be poured tomorrow! The tank is on the other side of the window closest to the camera, and I'm still toying with whether I want to have a hole drilled in the wall for a direct feed or not for an ATO.
Finally: some cool pictures of the tank from the sides, since I don't think the frontal view does the rockwork justice.
I hit the "Oh right" stage today. I added bacteria and ammonia to 2 ppm on 6/4; by 6/8 I had no detectable ammonia and nitrites at ~4 ppm. I was pretty sure nitrites have been in the ~2 ppm range for the past week or so (or at least the color hasn't changed appreciably), but they finally noticeably dropped today to sub-1 ppm. Success!
No huge updates, but a couple minor points/cool things:
Temperature controllers are important. I knew this already, and didn't really care about the exact temp of the tank, so I just set the built-in temp controller on my heater to 80. When I got my Apex set up, I saw the temp was actually over 83. Have a backup and a failsafe.
I got the iPad on the front of the tank connected, and loaded up Reef Tiles (by our very own @phatduckk !). I'm not too worried about the pH because 1) low salinity, and 2) the probe was shipped dry, so I don't really trust it. (BRS has already sent me a replacement, and I won't be using this one to monitor anything of importance).
We started some work on the backyard, which - in addition to the patio - also means the foundation for the shed (i.e. water storage/mixing center) will be poured tomorrow! The tank is on the other side of the window closest to the camera, and I'm still toying with whether I want to have a hole drilled in the wall for a direct feed or not for an ATO.
Finally: some cool pictures of the tank from the sides, since I don't think the frontal view does the rockwork justice.
Kensington Reefer
Supporting Member
Prime reef real estate!
I will, in fact, be drilling the hole once I've got a few more things figured out.
Cable management is coming along. Got the secondary control board set up with the M2 and L2 controllers, and I'll be adding a second MP40 on the right when it arrives from Ecotech support. The third one is currently running the holding tank, so that one will need to wait until I break that tank down.
I also forgot about this cabinet I got from a fellow reefer, which matches the stand and can be tucked unobtrusively in this little corner. to minimize clutter, I'll probably run most of the power cords from the heaters, skimmer, etc. into this, and mount an EB832 in there on one of the preexisting mounts.
Shots with the hood open:
Also, nitrites hit zero a few days ago. Dosed ammonia again, and it processed to nitrate within 24 hours, so I'm comfortable moving forward now. First order of business: copepods and phytoplankton. I've gotten dinoflagellates in every single tank that I've started from dry rock (I suspect due to limiting phosphates), so I went ahead and ordered the 4-pack of Ecopods, 1 pack of GalaxyPods (free with my order), and some phyto from AlgaeBarn. My rationale is that the phyto should provide a source of to feed both the copepods and the microbiome, the copepods will help scavenge, and - as it'll be a couple weeks before I add fish - they'll have time to multiply free of predation.
And, speaking of fish: I should be able to pick up fish for the first wave from High Tide Aquatics on July 1st, so I'm excited! Additionally, as I have some fish I'm fond of (specifically, several green-blue chromis and a lawnmower blenny), I'll be taking my first foray into QT.
Starting this part off with a warning: formaldehyde (a major component of formalin) causes cancer. It is not "haha this artificial sweetener is 'known by the state of California' to cause cancer", it is an internationally recognized carcinogen. Be extremely cautious when handling it, wear gloves, work in a ventilated area, and label/do not cross contaminate anything used to measure or store formalin.
Several fish I've had for a while now were not QT'd. Also, given how prone chromis are to uronema, and that going fallow does not rid a tank of this parasite, I am being extraordinarily paranoid about it. My wife wants a larger school of chromis as well, so I figure this is a good time to QT everything at once.
My strategy, based on Humble Fish's recommendations, is as follows:
Day 1: 45 minute formalin bath. Transfer immediately into QT tank (20 gallon system pre-seeded with bottled bacteria, a HOB filter, AmmoniaAlert badge, with copper at 2.0 ppm) Dose 0.9 ml/10 gallons of formalin after adding fish.
Days 2-3: Raise copper to 2.3 ppm. Dose 0.9 ml/10 gallons of formalin every 24 hours. Feed food soaked in MetroPlex.
Days 4-18: Dose 0.9 ml/10 gallons of formalin every 24 hours. Feed food soaked in MetroPlex.
Day 19: Perform large water change and add CupriSorb to remove copper from the water. Begin monitoring, and (if the fish are healthy) feed API general cure + Focus-soaked food for prophylactic deworming.
Days 19-33: Monitor.
Day 34: Add to DT (hopefully!).
Tank is still chugging along; it's been about 3 weeks now since I added ammonia + bacteria, tank's been cycled for over a week now (confirmed with 24 hours of processing of ammonia > nitrate), but I have yet to see any diatoms...which is really weird. I'm sure they're coming, but nothing yet.
Excited about this coming Saturday, though! First round of fish are going to be added to the tank courtesy of Kenny @under_water_ninja , and will consist of:
Foxface
Bangaii cardinal
Fire fish
Bimaculatus anthias
Watchman goby + shrimp
Excited about this coming Saturday, though! First round of fish are going to be added to the tank courtesy of Kenny @under_water_ninja , and will consist of:
Foxface
Bangaii cardinal
Fire fish
Bimaculatus anthias
Watchman goby + shrimp
ShaunFresh
Guest
I like the aquascape and tank. please keep all the updates coming. Im literally taking notes.
Let there be light.
(Or at least 50% of the final amount...since I need to pull the other XR30s off the holding tank when I break it down )
(Or at least 50% of the final amount...since I need to pull the other XR30s off the holding tank when I break it down )