cycling?'s

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

I'm in the process of cycling my 47G tank. It doesn't seem like it's cycling normal. I do have 2 damsels in the tank (I have other tanks for them if the water parameters get too bad...I wouldn't hurt them) It just seems like instead of the numbers going up and comming back down, they are all over the place. Here are the results of the tests from the beginning. What do you suggest?

date ph temp salanity ammonia nitrite nitrate
7-22 8.4 74 1.024 .25 0 10
7-28 8.0 78 1.024 .25 0 5
7-31 7.4 78 1.024 .25 2.0 10
8-4 8.2 78 1.024 .50 0 5
8-7 8.4 76 1.024 0 .50 10
8-8 8.4 76 1.024 .25 .25 10


Thanks for any help.

Angie

[chrisl1]

I think the fact that the parameters are bouncing around is a good thing. I'm not sure on how long this tank has been cycling, but it will take at least 6 weeks for it to stablize, once that happens you may still have fluctuations to different degrees in your parameters. Unfortunately this is a period that takes some patience to get through and you'll just need to hang back and let the tank do it's thing. The one thing that is a bit strange to me is the PH fluctuations, have you been doing waterchanges during this cycling period?

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

The ph changes were due to the house being totally closed up and the AC on. It was 95-100 degrees for over a week straight here. Once it cooled off I opened the windows and let the fresh air in, the PH was fine after that. I have not done water changes on this tank.

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

Tests from today

Ph 8.2
Temp 76
ammonia 0
nitrites 0
nitrates 0


Woo Hoo......I will test daily for a few days to see if the parameters stay the same. If they do, I will add the 2 sea horses to the 47G tank. (after removing the damsels) Then I will use the nano for my baby lionfish (2 inches).

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

I have another dumb thing I did to the ever growing list of " what was I thinking?''.

Now that the tank is nearing the end of the cycle, I had to tear it all apart to get them damb blasted damsels out. Oh why didn't I think of that ahead of time. The worst thing about it wasn't tearing out all of the live rock, the worst thing was It's not the first time I've had to tear a tank apart to remove damsels. Most people would learn this lesson after removing 150 lbs of live rock and 30+ corals from a 125G reef tank. Like I said, MOST people. Not me. GRRRRR....Even with pictures I can't get the live rock stacked back the way it was. It just wouldn't stack stable enough for my liking. Go figure.

Sometimes I think I got less then my fair share in the brain dept.

Did you ever see the T-shirts tha say "I'm with stupid" and they have an arrow pointing left or right? I need one that points up!!!!!

SOOO the next time you do something really stupid, don't feel too bad, you could always be like me and repeat the stupidity and then tell everyone about it, lol.

Have a Nice Day

Angie

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

The damsels are good sized, they won't pick on the baby lion fish will they?

[Whoyah]

I can completely relate with doing dumb things. What kills me is when I know better and still do something stupid. I guess that is one of the things about being human.

[lReef lKeeper]

i would be more worried about the lionfish stinging the DAMNsels !!