Q's on tank cycling

[rmaurin]

Hi All,

I just added fish/live rock to my first saltwater tank. The filter was circulating the water for a few days.

- 30 gallon tank
- 10 lbs live rock
- 5 Damsels (3 blue + yellow tail, 2 white + black stripe)
- Temperature 76 F
- Specific Gravity 1.0215
- Water is crystal clear (for now)

During the cycle,

1.) What do I do if pH is too high? Too low?
2.) What do I do if Specific Gravity is too low? What is the best way to bring it back to 1.0215? If it gets too high, can I just add some distilled fresh water to bring it back down?
3.) Should I be doing water changes during the cycle? If so, how much? 5%, 10%, ... How often?
4.) When do I know I have reached the end of the cycle? Is it when Ammonia and Nitrite are 0?

Thank you,
Rich Maurin

 

[Great Lakes]

Hi Rich. A little more info would be nice. What kind of filtration, pumps, are you running?

And to answer you Q's

1) You can use a buffer. We can cover that in depth later. Your hardness will also affect the PH levels. Help steady it that is.

2) Add salt or water accordingly

3) No

4) Yes

Be very very very patient. The reef tank is one of the most frustrating yet rewarding hobbies one can have. Research everything you do with great care. You need to start looking at getting a clean up crew real soon. Half dozen snails and crabs to start. I know it is pricey, but you should get another ten to twenty pounds of LR in there if you want it to be your primary source of bio filtration.

 

[rmaurin]

Hi,

Thank you for the response to my questions.

I am using an Eheim 2028 filter. The top compartment of the filter has no media in it. It can be filled with EFHISUBSTRAT to add more biological filtration but my dealer told me to leave it empty since I will have the live rock. Only other device is a 150W EBO-JAGER heater maintaining the temperature at a rock steady 76 F. No other devices in the tank.

Since I have the Eheim, do you still think I need the extra 20 lbs of live rock? My plan was to add the another 10 - 20 lbs.

If the Specifc Gravity falls below 1.0215, what would be the best way for me to add salt into the system? Can I just the add salt directly to the tank, or is there a better way to do this?

I just checked the chemistry. Here is what I got

pH - 8.2
Ammonia - .25 ppm
Nitrite - .25 ppm
Nitrate - 10 ppm
SG - 1.021

So....the plan is to ride it out. No matter how high Ammonia or Nitrite levels rise, just let it go and let nature take its course.

Looks like the tank is on its way.

Thanks again,
Rich

 

[ashpont]

Or alternatively to adding more rock and a clean up crew you could add more sand and thousands of smaller ''clean up crew"

A 4 or 5 inch deep sand bed will remove all the ammonia and nitrite it will also remove nitrate.

Ten percent of the sand should be live sand.

Don’t worry about detritus build up and DONT stir the sand, after a couple of months your tank will be teaming with fauna, millions of small clean up crews.

Don’t add hermits or shrimps just a couple of snails as hermits and shrimps will eat the fauna.

The reason not to worry about detritus build up is that the fauna clears that.

I have no hermits and shrimps my tank is heavily stocked and detritus just doesn’t build up and water quality is impeccable.



Read this http/www.rshimek.com/reef/sediment.htm