Braeden's 22 Gallon SPS Dominated Cube

Aquaticguy11 · #1 03-29-2012, 02:18 AM

Here is where the fun part began for me. Watching the tank grow into a small piece of the ocean.

New aquascape. This I believe is my permanent scape. A new powerhead for the time being since the Koralia 750 was blowing my sand around a little. I will be putting a Koralia 550 in here along with this Maxi Jet 900. In the future I will hopefully get 1 MP10 which would be ideal since the 2 power heads that are in there now don't look the nicest.

View from my chair

View from the front. On the front right rock there will be a neon green torch coral. I will also have 2 True Percula Clowns that will hopefully host the torch.

A couple of close-ups of my rock work

The Koralia 550 is now in and I also got a fan to blow over the water surface.

Also bought a Reef Keeper Light to control my metal halide, Koralia, heater and fan. I absolutely love this thing!! It keeps my temperature perfect. Between 78.4 - 78.6

Will be posting some more pictures a bit later, SPS and Zoas!! Stay tuned.

Snaz · #2 03-29-2012, 02:33 AM

Looks great so far. How do plan to cycle?

Aquaticguy11 · #3 03-29-2012, 02:40 AM

There was an instant cycle from adding the 40lbs. of live sand. The Nitrates looked like this for the first 5 days

Day 1: 3ppm
Day 2: 2ppm
Day 3: 2ppm
Day 4: 1ppm
Day 5: 0ppm

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think this is a full cycle, right?

Nano · #4 03-29-2012, 02:43 AM

I would still wait, dont be surprised if you see an ammonia or nitrate spike.. wait your not usin any live rock? technically you have no real biological filtration, I would add a chunk or 2 of live rock even just in the sump to add the filtration, that will also ensure a cycle happens.

Snaz · #5 03-29-2012, 02:52 AM

Yes don't count on live sand to cycle your tank. If you are not interested in damsels or clowns to cycle then a bit of rotting uncooked shrimp will get things going along with a seeded rock.

Aquaticguy11 · #6 03-29-2012, 02:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nano

I would still wait, dont be surprised if you see an ammonia or nitrate spike.. wait your not usin any live rock? technically you have no real biological filtration, I would add a chunk or 2 of live rock even just in the sump to add the filtration, that will also ensure a cycle happens.

I forgot to mention, I added a few handfuls of good quality sand from an established tank about a month ago. The cycle definitely happened because I am keeping Hermit Crabs, Snails and SPS in the system right now and they are doing great. Thanks for the heads up though.

Snaz · #7 03-29-2012, 03:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aquaticguy11

I forgot to mention, I added a few handfuls of good quality sand from an established tank about a month ago. The cycle definitely happened because I am keeping Hermit Crabs, Snails and SPS in the system right now and they are doing great. Thanks for the heads up though.

Don't rush. The quickest thing in this hobby is failure. Take the time tonight or soonest and read how the Nitrogen cycle works in a reef environment. It takes 2 - 4 weeks AFTER you have added an ammonia source to your tank and frankly you have not added one yet. The live sand you added might contain some of the needed bacteria to get started but it certainly is not a cycled tank. Ask away and we can help

Nano · #8 03-29-2012, 03:06 AM

Agreed ask anyone here take it slow, i didnt and crashed my tank. Mind you in my case there were other factors involved but still. Our motto is "go slow, let it grow"

I would get someone to hold the livestock for you temporarily and toss a shrimp in to rot and cycle the tank as well as a peice of live rock, rather be safe then sorry

Snaz · #9 03-29-2012, 03:07 AM

http://www.rusticgirls.com/animals/n...cle-fish-tank/

Right now your tank is around day 1-5 on this graph. Once the Nitrites start to build up your sps and possibly your CUC will perish and well you will certainly have a nice ammonia source to finish the cylce at the cost of your tankmates.

Give your tankmates to a buddy or back to the store until your tank is properly cycled. Oh and turn off your skimmer as it will slow down your cycle.

axe_man16 · #10 03-29-2012, 03:43 AM

Just a question for you. Maybe i missed something in the write up, but i noticed that the water level in the sump is almost at the top. Have you checked to see what happens when there is a power outage and your pump syphons water from display to sump. Just a thought, i have my water level only half way up my sump so that it will not overflow incase of power outage and just incase my floats malfunction.