Quote:
Originally Posted by Myka
Welcome to Canreef!!
What kind of lights did you buy? Take a pic of the Zoas you found, and we can confirm they are Zoas. I'm just worried they might be some type of pest like hydroids, aiptasia or majanos. I'd also just like to see a pic of your new tank!! 
You should not have added any invertebrates to your tank yet with the ammonia at 4ppm. That would be like bathing you for a week in bleach. I don't think you'd like that! Those bacteria packets or bottle bacterias are a well done advertising scam. You could have bought dry sand for half the price and you wouldn't be any further behind. Sorry to break it to you. You should do several large water changes (like 50-75%) to bring that ammonia down under 2ppm. With the ammonia so high it will be killing off some of the biodiversity that's on the live rock you just paid a pretty penny for.
I would suggest you remove the Bio Loops from your filter because they are designed for freshwater tanks and will become a nitrate factory in your reef tank. Be sure to throw out and replace the rest of the media at least once a week but twice a week is better. You can keep costs down by using bulk sheets of filter media that will be about 1" thick or so, just cut to size.
Take a read through some of the guides in my signature, which simplify a lot of things for you.  |
I figured that the packet may be a wishful thing....I will do the water change, because that was gonna be my next question! What about the livestock in the rocks during cycling? Now, if I remove a bunch of ammonia, will it delay cycling? I thought the bacteria will consume it to create the nitrites and continue the cycle? No big deal, I just want to make sure its all working or I'll be chasing this problem for a while waiting for the whole cycle to continue.....
Filter media (the donuts) were always temporary, my intention with the whole filter is to just have foam and polisher, and occasionally run charcoal for clarity but not all the time. The foam is dirt cheap so no biggie, just keep the bigger stuff from hanging in the water, and let the biology do the rest (when established).
On another note, up to 6 feather dusters found, all sitting up out of the rocks proudly this AM. Also saw what I assume is considered a "pod"....Looked like an opaque spider about 2mm in size making his way up the coral? Neat to see.....I tried getting a picture of the things I think are Zoa's, but even with my photography skills there is waayyy too much distortion to get a good shot, including with my 90mm f2.8 macro lens....Maybe when it gets bigger
Thanks again for all the help, keep it coming!