Tank Journal Archive

[Cryxblade]

I just put the salt in a bucket, add water and circulate it with a spare power head I have. Need to get a heater for the main tank though as the temp is on the cold side at the moment so hard to get a decent salt reading.

 

[daveH]

What water are you using?

 

[Cryxblade]

Until I get an RO system I've got a Britta jug that I use. Takes a while to fill the tank but since I work from home it gives me an excuse to stop working from time to time

 

[daveH]

You must be giving that Britta jug a bit of a workout!!!! Sounds like you're getting there.

 

[Cryxblade]

Yeah the jug has been worked to death. Going to need a few more filters next week when I work on the water change.

Just got some macro today from daniel and put that in my refuge section. My light hood is finally built, wired and painted. Will be taking pics and doing updates on the progress tomorrow.

 

[daveH]

Looking forward to the pics

 

[Cryxblade]

12/05/2012

Picked up some base amd live rock and set to work setting the tank up. I first placed several flatish pieces on the bottom of the tank to act as support points for the rest of the rocks. This should stop anything in the sand knocking things over later. I used CalGrit which I found at a local produce store for the substrate. Will see how well it performs as all the things I found out about it say it works just the same as aragonite sand. Not a pristine looking but I think that adds character to the tank.

So I let the kids organize the tank layout and this is what they went with. When they had settled on their design I filled the tank up slowly so not to make too much of a mess.

 

[Cryxblade]

14/05/2012
After sitting on the couch I decided to rearrange things a little. Wanted it to be less of a wall and so I went with this layout.

 

[Cryxblade]

Testing Lighting Hood

17/05/2012
Macro and Finished Hood Added

 

[Cryxblade]

Main Lighting

Reverse Cycle Lighting

Did a blog in the DIY section for the lighting hood

Now just to let the tank cycle and see what happens.

 

[daveH]

You've certainly put some work into it. :)
Keep the progress reports coming.

 

[Cryxblade]

Well it's been 2 weeks and my wife thinks I'm insane that I'm happy my tank is turning brown. Started out with a few spots on the rocks and gravel and is now slowly growing larger. Not sure I like the hair algea strands starting to pop up in places but it is helping me identify good lighting spots in the tank.

The main plus is the carbon/filter section. Due to that getting light almost 24hrs (there's enough light shining through from the main tank to light it) the filter is becoming a mini-algae scrubber. The filter pad was a solid dark brown when I looked at it today. Going to see how long it takes to grow more algea on the filter wool this time.

 

[daveH]

Have you done any water tests yet to see how the cycle is going? Ammonia, nitrites, nitrates?

 

[Cryxblade]

Now see that's the part that has me bugged. I did a test on friday and they all came up 0. I'm going to do another test on thursday. If my tests come up 0 again I'll be taking a sample to my LFS and get them to test it just in case my test kit is defective.

 

[daveH]

Have you done a test before this and had an ammonia reading at all?

 

[Cryxblade]

I'd done just an ammonia test a few days after I put all the water in and it came up as 0. I just assumed the cycle hadn't kicked in. I've got a few tiny snails wandering the tank and noticed a dozen or so copepods in amongst the macro

I'll test again later this week and see what happens

 

[Cryxblade]

Water test 29/05/2012

PH - 7.8
Ammonia-0ppm
Nitrite-0ppm
Nitrate-5.0ppm
Phosphate-0.5ppm

 

[macca_75]

That Phos seems high for a new tank - what brand kit are you using? I'd also be testing the water after you filter it - no point starting behind the 8 ball.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Cryxblade]

Using the API phosphate test.

Did a test again on the filtered water and the tank this morning. Both came up as 0. It might have been something else in the tube perhaps that gave the odd reading.

As for the filter wool it's already gone dark brown with algea so it looks like my make shift scrubber works nicely.

 

[macca_75]

Can you get your hands on a Hanna. I have no experience with any PO4 kits other than the Hanna, but from all my reading the "color matching" kits are questionable at best, esp when trying to detect really small numbers.

Someone local might have one if you took a sample to them they might be willing to test for you. Or even a LFS?

0 on a color match kit doesn't mean 0