cycling.... few questions

[moldrik]

Yeah, I'm happy to hear that you've done a significant ammount of water changes, your parameters are looking a lot better than before.
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vapor genie vaporizer

[e46er]

i use seachem reef salt i use a few of their products for my planted tank and am happy with them hence why i chose their salt

i threw the rock in a month ago and nothing happened for 2 weeks then the ammonia trama happened could thecycle possibly be open as soon as next week? i was under the impression it would take close to 2 months?

also this is the LFS http://www.jlaquatics.com/info/250/Reef+Custodians.html what do you reccomend as far as a clean up crew??

i have a 120 G tank with a 40 G sump but their 100-150G package seems crazy excessive 115 hermits and 90 snails?

[moldrik]

I would add them as you see fit. Do you have a lot of algea in the tank? Are there any problems that bringing in a clean up crew is required? I would suggest adding some snails, maybe 1 per 5 gallons, or something like that. Add enough for 1/2 of the tank, if they aren't maintaining it properly, add more later. There is no sense for you to bring in a ridiculous number of new critters into your system. It might throw your cycle off whack, since it's a young tank. As I've heard, I probably wouldn't even add cleaners unless you're trying to solve an issue.

Start with a small, hardy fish for your tank, possibly some snails. You want to add your smallest fish first, biggest fish should be the one you add last so that the territories work out. Corals, add later. If you're gonna add any clean up crew, add snails. Crabs will attack other critters as well, so you don't want too many otherwise they'll fight. You want to balance things out.
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Yamaha TY250

[moldrik]

Here's a link to a thread discussing J&L's clean up crew package.

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=46769
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vaporizer guide

[e46er]

yea thank you i read that after i posted my question and then my wireless kicked out so i didnt bother to try and get it back and edit...
i have a little bit of red looking algae which i assume was from huge amounts of ammonia or lack of flow but since then i grabbed a few loc line tees and now i have 4 outlets from my sump return and 4 from my CL and it seems to be doing the trick.


that makes sense on 1 per 5 G for half tank why waste money if unnessessary

[ElGuappo]

Have you only added the rock from the barrel? did you add any live snad or rock to seed the rest of this rock? chances are after being stagnant for that long are that all your organisms have died off therefore there is no good bacteria to cycle this tank which would be why you didnt see anything when you added the rocks. in my experiences i notice the tank starts to cycle on the second day after adding rock .

Please soemone correct me if i am wrong.

[moldrik]

If his nitrites and nitrates were high and they are coming down that means that there are denitrifying bacteria in his tank. Which is technically what we're trying to achieve (minimally) from a cycle.

I've been wanting to really put some fish in my tank ( all my stuff is at 0 ) and my dKH is at a good level, etc.. But a hitchhiker feather duster that was in my tank split yesterday into 2, I noticed a lot more brittle stars and there are now what they seem like copepods swimming and running around the tank.

So, I'm gonna let the tank sit there, growing on its own for a while further. In the end, I think that's what we want to achieve before adding anything, creating that microcosm where there are a lot of different types of organisms, all playing different parts.
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maryjane

[Myka]

Originally Posted by e46er

i use seachem reef salt i use a few of their products for my planted tank and am happy with them hence why i chose their salt

i threw the rock in a month ago and nothing happened for 2 weeks then the ammonia trama happened could thecycle possibly be open as soon as next week? i was under the impression it would take close to 2 months?

also this is the LFS http://www.jlaquatics.com/info/250/Reef+Custodians.html what do you reccomend as far as a clean up crew??

i have a 120 G tank with a 40 G sump but their 100-150G package seems crazy excessive 115 hermits and 90 snails?

I'm not familiar with the SeaChem salt. I use Instant Ocean. It lacks a bit in calcium, but it's still the cheapest even after adding the needed calcium. I've tried many other brands over the years, and never noticed a difference, so I always went back to the IO. IO has an alkalinity level of about 10-11 dKH when mixed at 1.026, so that works for me. Just be sure to up your alkalinity before you add corals, or if you're noticing algae issues.

The red algae you're getting is likely cyanobacteria. It's not actually an algae. It is a sign of excess nutrients (as with all algaes), likely caused by the huge amount of nitrate you had in there recently. Take aread through the Hair Algae Guide in my signature for advice on dealing with all algaes and cyano.

LFS's ideas of a cleanup crew are to make money. You don't need that many critters. If you buy that many, then many of them will perish from starvation. Be aware that hermit crabs will often eat snails to steal their shells, or if the hermits are hungry from lack of food in the tank. I prefer snails to hermits, so I don't keep hermits in my tank. My personal reccommendation for your tank would be:

10 Astrea
15 Cerith
15 Nassarius
2 Brittle Stars


Then in 3 months add:

3 Cleaner shrimp (added benefit of cleaning some of your fish of parasites)
3 Peppermint shrimp (added benefit of eating small aiptasia that may grow in your tank)
2 Fighting or Orange Lip conches
More snails if needed


I just put a couple green Emerald crabs in my tank to hopefully help with Bubble Algae, and I have noticed they sure spend a lot of time picking at the rocks and eating several different types of algaes, so I may add these to my "must have" list of clean up crew. so that's another thought as a hermit crab replacement. Ring Cowries are another "snail" I really like. J&L often has them in stock. Wait until your tank is a few months old at least though as they can be sensitive.

[e46er]

ok thanks for the replys guys!!

[e46er]

ok my ammonia is at zero nitrite at 0 and nitrates are 5 ppm looks like the cycle is complete!!