Quick cycle (I hope).

[fishlips12]

Just wanted to share with others that I am up and running with my new tank now. With all of the research ., dumb questions, great feedback and help from others our family is now able to actually enjoy our new friends in the tank. Amazingly the tank had “cycled”in about two weeks. Now after 2 ½ weeks we have 3 emerald crabs 5 snails, three hermits, one cleaner shrimp (that had shed it’s skin) three damsels, and one clown fish, one yellow headed gobie and miraculously all is fine. I plan to add another clown but will wait at least a week allow the tank to stabilize. I now monitor every other day the levels and my ammonia and nitrates are a 0ppm.

Here is my setup and how I went about it .

55g corner tank with overflow
130W PC lighting
Skimmer: Sea Clone 100
70 pounds LR
Pump Mag drive 7 (700gph)
3” DSB
5 pounds live sand seeded on top of the DSB.
16 gal sump
Water Temp 80
Salinity 1.023

The uncured live rock created my amonia spike. I never turned the lights until after the parameters were at 0. I also added , to the sump, a small refugium with a bit of calupera sp? So I either have been lucky or maybe there is some science to what I did either way things are going good. The level of algae is very minimal and I see much coloration in the live rock. HTH as threre is light at the end of the cycle.

Thanks again all who have helped me. Especially Fishfreek and reefrunner69,steve-s etc....

 

[steve-s]

Great News!!

Even though it cycled on the faster side, make sure you are even more careful on how fast you stock the tank. The bacteria colonies are still on the lower side and will need a decent amount of time to catch up to every waste producing addition...

Good Luck!!
Cheers
Steve

 

[fishlips12]

Thanks my whole goal really is to get some "low light" corals in the tank once it is matured. WHich brings up the obvious question.

When is a tank considered matured enough for these sensitive creatures.

 

[steve-s]

When is a tank considered matured enough for these sensitive creatures.

Depends on the coral really but for most of the hardier shrooms and such, 4ish months is good. If you get any branching LPS they would do better if left to about 6-8 month, just be mindful of water chem as well.

Be careful which corals you choose as many soft would be fine but most stonies will not. The Fox and bubble coral would be fine but I would only suggest ones that can be placed safely mid-level or higher. Stear clear of brains and plates that do better on the substrate.

Cheers
Steve

 

[fishlips12]

Thanks for the advice. I guess the real question I have is what parameter/s dictate that the tank is mature. Is it basically the ability of the tank to correct itself with any spikes that may arise?

 

[steve-s]

The more mature the tank gets, the less likely these problems are going to arise, the key being stability. It also allows the reefer time to learn the maintenance/needs of that particular system. Even if you already have a tank and "know" what you need to do, I have rarely seen two tanks operate the same even if identical set ups. That includes my own.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Sam]

IMHO one added note is that the maturity of the tank relates to the equilibrium of the bacteria in the system, adjusting in quantity to the meet the waste production of the tank inhabitants. Until that point, the tank is still stablizing and you may have fluctations in the water chemistry. Once the bio-load is constant for a long enough period, the tank will be in equilibrium. This is why it is advised to wait until then to add the inverts, because if you add then when the tank is still stablizing, you have a greater chance of creating a condition that the coral would not like too well. So yes when the tank is stable, it is best able to quickly handle a change in the bioload with the introduction of new livestock. HTH 8)