New Cadlights 34G with pics

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Rod013

New Member
Hello

My new Cadlights 34G has now been set up for 6 days. I started testing the water after day 3 and now it is day 6 and I have no trace of ammonia, nitrites or nitrates. Is this common when cycling with cured LR? I thought I would have at least seen some type of spike in my water? My SG is 1.022 and PH is 8.2.

I have been running lights for at least 6 hours a day.

How long should I wait before adding my CUC?

Here are some pics of my progress. Comments and suggestions please.

My set up:



A few hours after set up:



36 Hours later



Comments and suggestions good or bad welcomed.
 
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NanoReefaholic

New Member
Invest in a turkey baster and blow off those rocks. I see substrate on them and they need to be unplugged to allow water to reach the low oxygen zones within it.

Is that the 6055? Are you using the Reefkeeper2 and the nanostream as a wavemaker? I hope you have (if I remember right) 2 min off time if you are.

Can't say I'm a fan of the mud sand mix but hey whatever works.

I can't tell the skimmer make from the pic, what model is it?

The rock almost looks like seeded baserock, how much is in there? You should have ~1.5lbs/G if you're going to be using it as filtration of any sort.

You could help it out by starting the cycling with an uncooked and unseasoned shrimp.

Also, if you're going to run a reef your sg is a bit low, should be more like 1.025 but if your running a FOWLR then you may be ok depending on the fish.

Just wondering but why didn't you sue the orgional stand?
 
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Rod013

New Member
Okay, will get the sand off the rocks ASAP.

I have the 6025 but I do not have it on the wavemaker function as it will not work at all. Everytime the Tunze restarts it runs in reverse.

My substrate is call Indopacific Black Sand.

The skimmer came with the tank package, I believe it is a CA brand. Not sure what that is?

My LR is cured Figi and does not appear to be base rock. I have 45 pounds total including the rubble I have in chamber 1. Cahmber 2 is skimmer, chamber 3 miracle mud and cheato and chamber 4 is heater and return pump.

It is going to be a reef tank and I am working on getting the SG up slowly.

I was not impressed at all with the stand and wanted more room than the stock stand offered. To me it was very cheap and I did not feel like it would very long at all.

Thank for the comments and I post more pics as there is something to show.
 
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KidNano

New Member
The spike will come soon enough and you should keep your lights off until the cycle is complete. they won't help anything except algae growth.

The rocks look great. Really clean looking setup. I'm excited to watch this tank mature.

you can add the shrimp like nanoreefaholic suggested or just wait. Avoid putting any of those quick cycle products in, from what I've heard they aren't that great.
 
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Rod013

New Member
I will just sit back and wait even though I REALLY want to add my CUC. :)

I will get some more pics posted as soon as there is more to show.
 
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KidNano

New Member
If your the impatient type like I am then just add the shrimp..... or a little fish food. Something that will create a small amount of ammonia and get the good bacteria growin. It won't hurt anything to do so from what I understand.
 
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NanoReefaholic

New Member
In time it'll come, but it'll feel like forever watching a 'tank of water' lol.

Good thing it's not in a wavemaker setup. The 6025 's life is drastically reduced as it wasn't designed for that.

Just an FYI in case you didn't already know, the term cured or cycled liverock is a bit incorrect. Generally it only means that the die off that the rock would have had from the farm to the tank has already been scrubbed away or removed. It has gone through one cycle in aquaria and often labeled as cured. Truth is that the rock will cure or cycle again once you put it into your tank. It's a never ending equalization process. Most feel that although there may be a bit of cleaning involved from the die off of 'uncured' liverock you get more life at a fraction of the cost.

Ok, possibly useless tidbit time over lol.

Not sure about the brand, doesn't ring a bell. Post a pic and we'll see what info/mods/tips we can come up with.
 
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Rod013

New Member
Checked water this morning and still all zeros across the board. Starting to see a few things pop up but VERY tiny at the moment. As soon as they get big enough to see in a pic I will get some posted.

I have very little algae growing at the moment as you can see in the pic. Not sure what type this is and what type of critter should I add to take care of it? Is it still too early to be adding any CUC?

 
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KidNano

New Member
turn off your lights man :!: :!: :!: I'd wait for your initial spike to come and go before adding anything. I've found that hermits can live through the cycle and they're like little lawn mowers.

Wait for some one with more experience to pipe in however keep your lights off. you don't need them on for any reason right now. Algae needs light to grow. That stuff is gonna get out of control.
 
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NanoReefaholic

New Member
Ok, more possibly useless tidbit time.

There are a few reasons why we want a spike in the beginning of the tanks life; to control when it happens so it doesn't happen later, To maximize our biofilteration capacity, and simply because we're told to.

Basicly we cause the spike in the beginning so that it won't happen when we start adding livestock in turn stressing or even killing that livestock. Because we caused this spike in the beginning we increased our biofilteration capacity to the maximum level possible so that it could handle the waste of the livestock without causing another spike.

What most people don't realize is that this is a balancing act and alot of the bacteria that were created during the spike will in fact die off. The reasoning behind this practice is so that the remaining bacteria will be able to process the die off and the new bioload without causing any harm or stress to the livestock. Just part of the balancing act.

Using livestock to cycle or adding any livestock during a cycle is extremely frowned upon. It only causes senseless harm to the specimen. If your rock is base rock you may never see that spike but you can still cause one on your own. You could also go down path number two and slowly, very slowly stock your tank allowing time for the bacteria to populate between additions but I don't recommend this approach for people unless they've been in the hobby for some time.

Cause a cycle and run a short phyto period with only actinic on. This will keep the hair algae at bay while your tank cycles yet give you some nice purple rock when it's done.
 
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Rod013

New Member
Day 12

Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 0
pH 8.2
Ca 420
Temp 78.5F – 79.5
Salinity 1.021

I think everything is looking pretty good except for my salinity. I am having troubles keeping up with my evaporation. The pump I ordered would not work with my ATO so I am topping off manually. I let it go too long and had to add about 2 gallons of RO/DI to get it back where it belonged and I am assuming this is why my salinity took a dive. I know I have to do a much better job keeping on top of this so I don't have such big swings. Should I do my first 25% water change to try and get it back up or simply top off with a cup or two of SW each day? Also, did some more aquascaping, I like it better but still looks too boxy and too much like a pile of rocks? What do you think?

Skimmer is working much better and actually starting to remove a little foam. Everyone was right about the break in period. It really gave me fits the first couple of days, but now is working well.

Took out my Tunze 6025 today and put in a new Koralia 1. Not sure which one will be my final choice until I start adding some corals. I do like the function of the Koralia better, but only time will tell.

My Reefkeeper 2 is the best single piece of equipment I purchased. I honestly to not think I could do this without it.

If I can get control of my salinity I was thinking about adding a clown and a couple of blue leg hermits this weekend. Too soon? Too much? Too fast?

 
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NanoReefaholic

New Member
Evaporation will increase your sg, not lower it. When water evaporates only pure H2O is evaporated and the salt left behind. If you ever get salt spray you'll see this in action.

The reason for water changes are to replace the trace elements and such as well as to remove waste in the water column. As you don't have any you really don't need to yet, but I'd do one with a high SG to raise the tanks SG level. It's a pita but it's one way to do it.
 
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Rod013

New Member
Day 14

Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 0
pH 8.0
Ca 480
Temp 78.5F – 79.5
Salinity 1.024
dKH 10.4

Water was cloudy for some reason yesterday and today I think I know why. I seem to have an outbreak of copepods. Tiny white specs all over the place. From what I have read this is not a bad thing, right? Still thinking about adding a small clown and maybe two blue legs hermits this weekend.
 
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KidNano

New Member
I haven't heard of copepods clouding the water. probably something different. in my tank tiny white specs all over the place is usually air bubbles.

Doesn't look as though your tank has even spiked yet. How long was your LR out of water before you put it in the tank? My friends cycle on his 12 gallon was really minimal because the rock was only out of water for about 20 minutes so it's possible yours was minimal as well or your cycle hasn't even really begun. Considering the fact all of your numbers are still 0 I'd say you haven't started your spike yet. If this were my tank I'd wait another week or two just to make sure. usually from what I've seen here, tanks are taking between 4-8 weeks to complete their cycle. however I can be impatient so I might add a couple of hermits. Don't tell anyone I said that though.
 
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Rod013

New Member
These bubble have legs and tails..... :D

The LR was only out of water for maybe 30 minutes at the most. I think I will only add a couple of crabs and few snails this weekend.
 
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