new 47G column H. Erectus tank

I tested the water today and I'm not sure what to think of the results. I thought the numbers would go higher before they started comming down? This can't possibly be at the end of the cycle can it? I did add 2 cups of sand from my 65G established tank on 7-16-06 and the rock has been curing in a rubbermaid tub since february so it was well cured to begin with.

Temp 74
ammonia 0
ph 8.2
nitrite 0
nitrate 5
salanity 1.023

I did the no no and added 2 damsels that were in my sump on another tank on 7-18-06. I know some think this is taboo, but the water parameters arn't bad so it isn't hurting them at all. I would take them out if they were stressed at all.

A tank can't cycle in 10-12 days can it? How long should it take for the levels to rise? I'm not putting the sea horses in there untill I know what's going on.

It's entirely posssible for a tank to cycle in under 2 weeks, just not as likely, perhaps the addition of LS and the 5 months curing of the live rock built up and retained enough denitrifying bacteria to automagically give you a light cycle.

May want to consider artificially increasing the ammo load with decomposing shrimp or something for a few days and see if you get a sharp spike in ammo and/or nitrites that do not zero back out in a day or two, if no changes then it's cycled, otherwise if you get any lasting spikes then you'll kick the notirogen cycle into high gear.

I did my water tests today. Results:

Temp 78 salinity 1.024
ph 7.4
ammonia .25
nitrite 2.0
nitrate 10

Wow the levels look way out of wack....

Temp.
I can't figure out why the temp is high. The tank is right next to the airconditioner. The tank is covered with a glass top so that could be contributing to the heat issue.

PH
Again the only reason I can come up with for the PH being so low is the glass tops on the tank. And the fact that the house has been closed up tight for the last 3 days due to the heat outside and having the airconditioners running. I have opened the glass tops and I will retest later this afternoon.

Nitrite
how how will it climb before comming back down?

Nitrate
again....how will it go before it starts to fall to 0?

That's it for now. At least I don't have to wonder why I wasn't getting a cycle anymore. It is underway......yeah!!

OMG...what an amazing system...and TRYING HARD not to sound like a scheming dawg... a really cute reefer too ;)

D

Sorry I've been MIA Lately, "happenings" in the world, and my "line of business" have kept me on TDY and otherwise busy.

Dave

That's my youngest daughter Heather in the pic with the tank. I can't believe my youngest is 12 yrs. already! Where did the time go?? I keep looking for the rewind button, but I can't find it.

I retested the Ph today. Much better at 8.2 I opened the window next to the tank and turned the ceiling fan on. Between that and the airstone, all is well with the ph.

I have a few more updates to add so here goes:

Since this is a brand new set up and I wanted to add a ton of macros and sea grasses, I had to figure out what was the best way to "age" the sand bed. The macros and grasses will need more nutrients than the tank can supply in the early stages. My biggest concern isn't as much for the macros as it is the sea grasses. After a ton of research and questions I was advised to add Fiji reef Mud directly to my sandbed. This will feed the plants from the roots and they will thrive. I gues it's kinda like a plant fertilizer.

The mud is too thick to add with a turkey baster so I took 5 tablespoons of mud and watered it down with tank water. (I had to pick out the pieces of shell that didn't fit in the baster.) I then sucked up the liquified mudd and injected it directly into the sandbed of my 47G tank. I injected it about 1/2 to 1 inch under the top layer of sand. I tried to cover the entire area that wasn't covered by LR. This is a messy process and I did get some on top of the sand....yup, looks like mud to me. So much for my nice white sand bed.

If I would have researched this earlier, I would have done it the easy way. Add 4-5 inches of sand then a layer of mud, then add the last inch or so of sand over the mud. Much easier. Since the tank is cycling, I figured I better do what I could before I have the tank full of goodies!

I have seen pics of tanks that have used this method and the sea grasses are very healthy.

I will let everyone know how well this works. Has anyone here ever done this?

Angie

Thanks DavidP...it's nice to see you here again. I missed your pony knowledge. See my other thread "POS BJ nano pump". All is well now.

Life and work do tend to get in the way of the things we'd rather be doing, lol.

Angie

I've used grasses in my systems that were planted in a new, sterile sand bed. What I did was use a turkey baster and suck up some of the sludge or mulm from the bottom of my sump and inject it into the root system. I only did this for a couple/few weeks and the good ol' bioload took care of the rest thereon.

One thing to keep in mind is that most true grasses need a very deep sand bed; one that is even deeper than what we reefers call a DSB.

Dave

FYI... I found that some of the "common" ricordia are fine with my ponies but that the brighter, multicolored and larger carib kind and frilly mushrooms irritated the tales and undersides of my Reidi. Standard, run of the mill shrooms, green star polyps, xenia, and zoas seem to elicit no reaction from my herd.

Dave