10 Gallon Saltwater Journal

[Dekz]

Well I figured I may as well document this as I go along. I should have started this a few days ago so let's get caught up:

March 11, 2010 - Day 1: Filled tank with water and appropriate amount of Instant Ocean Sea Salt.

Day 3: All parameters looking good - Temp 75 F
SG 1.022
pH 8.1

Day 4: Time to add some base rock

Day 5: It was a bit of a drive, but I found a pet store with some Live Rock.

I know that bagged "live sand" is BS, but the 5 lb bag of it was cheaper than the 15 lb bags of regular sand so I figured I might as well, since I certainly don't need 15 lbs of sand. Unfortunately the tank is now VERY cloudy, should clear up overnight.

As you can see, I threw a raw shrimp in to get the cycle going, after only 5 hours, ammonia levels are already ~1.5 ppm

 

[Hinds04]

looks good man. This will give new people a good idea of how to get started.

 

[JustOneMore20]

Good start so far. I like to see journals from the start of the tank. Keep us updated!

 

[Dekz]

Day 6
Ammonia: 2 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm

 

[Mitchell0605]

Nice. Your rockwork is very good. Open with swim through areas.

 

[Zer0]

I don't see any pictures.. :'(

 

[Mitchell0605]

Aww poor Zero. Let me play you a sad song on the worlds smallest violin.

 

[Dekz]

So the shrimp is doing a great job of producing ammonia, but it's starting to REALLY stink. I don't think I can put up with this for another 2 or 3 weeks.

Now I've heard of people just using pure ammonia to cycle freshwater tanks, but for some reason none of the saltwater articles mention it. Could I do that instead?

 

[Mitchell0605]

I don't see why not but I'd wait for other people to speak about it first.

 

[harmy4993]

the reason its not mentioned as offen i believe is because you have to dose every day where as the shrimp sitting in your tank is a leave it and forget it type deal.

 

[Etunes]

Figure i would tag along.

 

[Mitchell0605]

the reason its not mentioned as offen i believe is because you have to dose every day where as the shrimp sitting in your tank is a leave it and forget it type deal.

Minus the smell apparently, although no one else has ever complained of smell that I know of.

 

[harmy4993]

lol you get the smell every time you open the bottle. when i started my freshwater tank i did that over the shrimp. it was a tad frustrating cause i was at first over dosing. so i was getting a super high reading and it wasnt ever going down. im sure at some point it would have cycled but the high ammonia took a long time. i finally did 2 large 75% pwc and dosed smaller and it cycled quick.

 

[Dekz]

Well I tested the water today and the Ammonia was 8.0! I tossed the shrimp but is this too much, should I do a PWC?

 

[fishboy444]

Do you have live rock in there?If not you should add some it speed s up the cycling but you still have to wait the normal cycling time.

 

[Dekz]

Do you have live rock in there?If not you should add some it speed s up the cycling but you still have to wait the normal cycling time.

Yes there is some live rock.

 

[harmy4993]

personal id leave it alone at 8 ppm. if it goes up higher then do a 50% change and bring it down to 4-5ppm. it it stays at 8 just let it sit and it will drop on its own really soon

 

[austinsdad]

Gonna add any more lr? If so, now's the time to do it. I'd have removed the shrimp at 4ppm or so.

 

[Dekz]

Unfortunately I never saw 4 ppm as it went from 2 to 8 in 24 hours. I did a 1 gallon pwc and the ammonia was still 8 (the top end of the chart) so I changed two more gallons but didn't have time to test agan before I left.

Doing the water changes was good anyway because it gave me a chance to get my salt amounts dialed in for future changes.

 

[harmy4993]

Unfortunately I never saw 4 ppm as it went from 2 to 8 in 24 hours. I did a 1 gallon pwc and the ammonia was still 8 (the top end of the chart) so I changed two more gallons but didn't have time to test agan before I left.

Doing the water changes was good anyway because it gave me a chance to get my salt amounts dialed in for future changes.

a 1 gallon water change on a 10 gallon tank is roughly 10%. so your only taking out 10% of the ammonia. so at 8ppm you take out .8ppm which can read 7 or 8ppm.to get it to drop from 8 to 4 you have to do a 50% water change.