Started a 125 Gallon Salt Water Reef Tank

[Firaymark]

You are on your way! Keep it up. Shouldn't be long now. It is good that you are processing the ammonia fast. Now the nitrite will start to process and you will be done!

Great happy to hear. I will keep dosing. I noticed critters on the glass, live rocks and sump. I am building a good bio-load at the moment. My Emerald Sump is providing a good home for the bacteria. There is lot of bubbles for oxygenation for the bacteria. I will wait for the Nitrite to drop.

 

[redsea]

Hey there Firaymark, I'm following along for the build. I'm starting up a new 125g soon too!

 

[fish wrangler]

I'm also going to be following, hope to learn for if I jump to coral

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[bribo12]

I might be jumping ship a bit here but what kinds of corals are you looking to keep?
Also I'll be following along


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[Firaymark]

Glad you all are following along. I am 23 days in my cycle and things are progressing very well. My ammonia is dosed to 4ppm and dropping to 0ppm in 24 hrs. My Nitrite was at 2ppm last night however I checked today and it's at 0ppm. My Nitrate is at around 5ppm. I have not done any water changes. I have seeded with crushed coral from an establish tank and added filter floss from an established tank. I also added more filter floss from Big Al's. The key is to change the filter floss only if it's falling apart. Add new filter floss next to the old this way the bacteria can form on the new filter floss. Do it in small portions and never change all filter floss at once. Most of the bacteria is found in your sump and on the filter floss.
I went to Big Al's to buy some dry rock and green plant which is placed in my sump to help keep phosphate levels down.

I will be adding some pictures soon to show how the tank is looking. I should be ready to add invertebrate and coral in the next few weeks. Any suggestions on easy to keep corals or fish?


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[Firaymark]

I found an interesting link for proper dosing requirements if you plan to go the fishless route. Check out link below. Go to "Fishless Cycling - Ammonia Required".

http://www.fishforums.net/aquarium-calculator.htm

I just realized based on the calculator I have been only adding 5mL which is equivalent to ~2.6ppm. I would need to add 7.8mL (~8mL) to be at 4ppm for a 125 gallon + 25 gallon sump (150 gallon tank size). Dose ammonia based on calculator. I will see if I can now bring 4ppm down to 0ppm in 24hrs. I am quite sure my fish tank can do this. Keep you posted.

 

[Firaymark]

Here is two great articles worth reading:


Ammonia Instructions For A Fishless Cycle - 19627


Nitrifying Bacteria Facts


Read both to truly understand the fishless cycling method. Running a salt water tank is not hard just follow the basic rules in fishless cycle, use good grade of salt (Aquavitro - Salinity), changing filter floss only when required (seed new filter floss next to old one to allow bacteria to build on new filter floss) and regular water changes. I have learnt a lot just by reading. Please message me for any help.

 

[Firaymark]

Tested Saltwater

I just tested water this evening after spiking with ~3ppm of Ammonia last night. After 24 hrs, Ammonia = 0ppm; Nitrite = 0ppm and Nitrate = 80ppm (shaked both bottle of API Nitrate for ~2 mins before using). I have dosed again with ~8mL of Ammonia or 4ppm based on calcualtion above. I will measure in ~9 hrs. I am going out of town for a few days so I will make sure to dose 4ppm daily. It looks like I am almost done cycling. I would like to convert 4ppm in 12 hrs which I think I can do. I will do a major water change ~90% once I see consistancy with Ammonia/Nitrite of 0ppm & lots of Nitrate for the next few days.

 

[spoonman]

Sounds like you are right there! Good job! Fish in the tank soon!

 

[Firaymark]

I am able to convert Ammonia and Nitrite in 24 hrs with lots on Nitrate (more than 80ppm). I plan to do a big water change tomorrow. My pH has been very stable at 8. I would like to bump it up to 8.2. Any suggestion on what I should use?


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[Firaymark]

I am on my 33rd day of cycling. Ammonia, Nitrite are at 0ppm. I am dosing about 1ppm of ammonia daily to keep the bacteria active. I have changed water in two parts (55 gallons per day). I have taken out ~100 gallons of water. My Nitrates are around 60ppm. I am hoping to do two more water changes to bring it down to around 10ppm or less. Plan to buy more salt mix this evening.
The tank is starting to look crystal clear. I have also turned on my sump. I have not changed my filter sock or filter form. The bacteria is nicely building on it. Some of the pieces are darkish brown. I will change one filter socks with a clean one and leave the other dirty filter sock in. This is for Emerald sump which carry filter socks.

 

[Firaymark]

I took my water sample to Big Al's yesterday and here are my results:
Ammonia: 0ppm (added 1ppm the night before)
Nitrate: 0.25ppm (Nitrate in the process of being converted to Nitrate)
Nitrate: 20ppm (I was told it will usually be around 10-20ppm. It will never be close to 0ppm)
pH: 8.1
Salinity: 1.024
I know for a fact I can convert ammonia and nitrate to 0ppm in 24hrs based on 4ppm dosing. Based on my results I can start adding fish or clean up crew (invertabrae). I changed ~150 gallons of water in the last week. Things are really looking good. There is no algae build up since I left my lights off. The water is crystal clear. I have started my protein skimmer and the bubbles are slowly rising to the top. Its close to skimming some waste. I continue to does 1ppm of Ammonia daily. Some areas of my filter floss are nice and brown with good indication of bacteria buildup.
Please make sure you check your expiry dates for API test solution if your using this brand. If they are expired don't use them and buy fresh bottles. My Nitrate bottle was determined to be expired and I was getting high readings of 60-80ppm or more even after doing big water changes. The bottles were mixed for 2 minutes before use. I bought this from a private salt water dealer and one bottle had an expiry date and the other one had no expiry date. Seems like these bottles were mixed up. I will not do this again. I decided to buy a fresh bottle of Nitrate and I threw out my old Nitrate bottles.
I will start testing for phosphates and calcium soon.

 

[Firaymark]

Sounds like you are right there! Good job! Fish in the tank soon!

Planning to add cleanup crew first and maybe one or two fish. My Nitrate levels are around 20-30ppm. Everything else is good. Is it possible to bring it down to 10ppm or less? The guys at Big Al's told me that 20-30ppm of Nitrate is as low as you can go. Is this true? I have done about 150 gallon water change in the last week. Any suggestions?

 

[Firaymark]

My Phosphate reading is around 0.25ppm. I have no algae build up. I cycled with light off and there is no sunlight near tank. Water looks crystal clear.

 

[Firaymark]

Just found out some information. The API test kit is not the best out there for testing. They are other brands (Salifest, Hanna, etc.) which are better. Anyways please go to API website and click:

Welcome to API Fishcare: SALTWATER MASTER TEST KIT

Go to Salwater Master Test Kit Instructions and click Learn More. Here is what they say for Nitrate:

"This test kit reads total nitrate (NO3-) level in parts per million (ppm) which are equivalent to milligrams per liter (mg/L) from 0 ppm to 160 ppm, in either fresh or saltwater aquariums. This kit includes two Nitrate Test Color Charts — one for freshwater aquariums, and one for saltwater aquariums — so be sure to use the correct chart for your type of aquarium when interpreting test results. The Freshwater Nitrate Test Color Chart is the appropriate chart to use for testing freshwater aquariums to which salt has been added. This test kit measures nitrate as nitrate ion or “total nitrate.” Other nitrate test kits that measure “nitrate-nitrogen” (NO3-N) will give readings 4.4 times LESS than this test kit."

When I take my 30ppm of Nitrate and divide it by 4.4 I get 6.8ppm which is less than 10ppm. With the amount of water changes I have done this makes sense. I read another post where API was compared to Salifest and the results were similar when you do the calculation.

Please read instruction from API regarding Nitrite and Nitrate testing. This would be very helpful regarding your test results if using this brand.

 

[melosu58]

Thanks for sharing. Looks like everything is going along fine.

 

[Firaymark]

I had a issue with diatom bloom or brown algae. I decided to change all filter floss, lower intensity of light to low and increase power heads to highest setting. I also bought six Green Chromis, six Hermit crabs and eight Mexican Turbo Snails. The fish are happy and the Turbo snails are cleaning up all brown algae on rocks. I was told its normal to have a diatom bloom in a new tank it will eventually go away. I continue to do 10% water change weekly using high grade salt (Aqua Salinity). My skimmer is also skimming well. All my water tests are good. Nitrate are around 10-20ppm (this is normal). My Phosphate are around 0.25ppm. I am going to monitor the activities for the next week or so before I add some cleanup crew for the sand. The tank is shaping up nicely. Trying to keep it simple and maintain good water quality. Time will tell.