NEW TANK SETUP

[nightrydaz04]

Well after great thought I decided to start the cycling process over completely and took out all the water and substate and replaced it tonight my ammonia is down to 1.0 ppm and my fish are still living happily in a bucket for now Im thinking about taking them to the LFS tommorrow and getting credit for them for fear they might sell them and tell me they died. Camaro do you think this was a good move or do you think i should of waited out the bacteria battle?

TANK STATS: DAY 1
PH - 8.4
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 0
AMMONIA - 1.0 PPM
SALINITY - 1.021

Camaro I really appreciate your opinion even though are thoughts on certain things collide sometimes.
*celebrate

 

[1979camaro]

lol...i dont mind butting heads a little, like i said somewhere...its often conflict of opinions which creates the best ideas.

I think it was a good idea to take the fish out, for their health, and i think taking them to the LFS might be a good plan also. i know it is tough to do, but it may be in their best interest. as far as replacing the substrate and all it probably wasn't necesary, but the water change is good. just keep testing every couple days to see whats going on and in a few weeks you will have a cycled tank...ready to add a small fish or maybe two. remember though, it can take 6 months or longer for a tank to completely stabilize...there is always a lot of stuff going on in there that you cannot see or test for!

best of luck and let us know how it goes

 

[nightrydaz04]

DAY 2 STATS:
PH - 8.2
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 0
AMMONIA - 4.OPPM
SALINITY - 1.020

* DO YOU THINK MAYBE MY LIVE ROCKS ARE DYING?
* THEY LOOK HEALTH EXCEPT ON THE BOTTOM THEY HAVE A BLACKISH SLIME COAT...???

 

[S.Reef]

Ammonia high, but normal for a cycling tank. The rock is not dying so to speak. Organisms on the rock that are dead are decomposing, thus the spike. Ths slime is probably a nuisanse algae that should go away after the tank cycles and stabalizes.

 

[1979camaro]

most people chose to cycle without substrate b/c it makes it easier to clean up die off...forgot to mention that before, my bad. as far as the dying stuff, if it gets too randy you can give it a nice rinse off in a bucket

 

[nightrydaz04]

I have about 2" of sand at the bottom and then i put about 2" of crushed coral on top of that, this way in my thinking the sand will hold alot of the bateria i need that will help eat the waste this way when the cycle is complete i can pull up the dirty crushed coral.

 

[S.Reef]

Its going to turn into a mess. You really should of stuck with just the sand. Crushed coral will be a problem later on.