A little help for a newbie with a 29g BioCube

[TampaBC]

Hello all. I'm new to the hobby and have read many threads by you folks which have been most helpful. I have a few questions that I'm sure you guys can answer and I'm sure can also provide some good feedback. Please don't hesitate on the constructive criticism, I am all ears.

So here are my issues. I have a new 29 gallon Coralife Biocube. I took out the bioballs and put in the intank media basket with filter floss on top, purigen in the middle chamber and chem elite in the bottom chamber.

My friend has a 200 gallon tank and he gave me his tank water to shorten my cycle time. I went and bought 25 lbs of live rock and added about an inch on the bottom of live sand and then added his water. I know there will be some type of cycle period regardless. I checked the parameters at that time and they all checked good but I did anticipate some changes for a cycle. It has been running for 3 days and since then the ammonia has went up a good amount, the nitrate has went up and the salinity is now down to 1.021. I noticed some evaporation yesterday so I used some distilled water to top off.

I do have about 2 gallons of salt water I picked up when I bought the live rock and sand. I'm wanting to be patient but also want to know that I'm not making any mistakes. I'm trying to find out if I should just let it sit and keep testing or should I do a simple water change with the salt water I picked up which is only about 2 gallons. Sorry for the lengthy post and thanks for the pointers. Also, is it ok to use distilled water for evaporation?

 

[mr_X]

Tank water will not shorten cycle time. You need to leave the tank be and let it completely cycle. Don't do a water change until there is no detectable ammonia or nitrite. I would raise the SG up to .025-.026 also.


Btw, welcome.

 

[TampaBC]

Thanks Mr. X... I kinda had the feeling that there must be some sort of cycle period for it to go through regardless of the water that was put in. I will wait for the levels to go down but I see where you mentioned to raise the salt content. As mentioned, I only have 2 gallons of salt water that I picked up at the store. Should I do a simple 2 gallon change with that water? I don't have any reef salt and haven't done that yet as far mixing goes and all of that.

Couple more questions for you... Due to evaporation, is it ok to do water top offs with distilled water? And if not, what should I be using?

In regards to the filter system I am currently running (intank media basket with filter floss on top chamber, purigen in the middle chamber and Chem elite in the bottom chamber).. would this be ok for the cycle? Will that make the cycle last longer than if I didn't have that media in there?

Thank you again!

 

[Breakthecycle2]

When I started my Biocube 29 in January, I did not experience any cycle. I used about 20 pounds of live, good cultured rock. I tested a few times a day or every other day for a week. If it cycled, it cycled in between testings. The key is to have GOOD live rock.

 

[TampaBC]

Yea I have about 25 lbs of some good rock that came with some coralline on it. The ammonia now is pretty high and the salinity went down to 1.021. I only have about 2 gallons of saltwater I bought when I got the rock and sand..

Should I just watch the ammonia and do a 2 gallon water change with the saltwater that I have or just leave it? ( I don't have salt to mix btw).

Also, I currently have the media basket in chamber 2 with floss, purigen and chem elite in bottom storage and have taken out the sponge between chamber 2 and 3. Thanks, I'm a little list at this point if you cant tell, lol.

 

[Breakthecycle2]

Add about another 10 pounds of good live rock and you're cycle will be completed

 

[spoonman]

If you are trying to raise the salinity I would just top off with the saltwater until you get to the level you want. After that you can top off with plain ro/di water

 

[TampaBC]

Thanks spoon .. Dumb question. Is distilled and ro/di water the same thing? and once I get to doing normal top offs after the cycle is done, can I use just distilled water or should I be using saltwater?

 

[mr_X]

When I started my Biocube 29 in January, I did not experience any cycle. I used about 20 pounds of live, good cultured rock. I tested a few times a day or every other day for a week. If it cycled, it cycled in between testings. The key is to have GOOD live rock.

As opposed to bad live rock?
To find already cycled rock is one way of starting a tank, but dropping some cycled rock in a cycling tank with ammonia present is not going to stop the cycle.
The ammonia present is from rotting debris in the rock you added. Adding more rock isn't going to stop that stuff from decaying.
You want the tank to cycle now. You want bacteria to cover all surfaces, not just some of the rock.

 

[TampaBC]

Thanks guys. Yeah I don't think I'm going to add anymore live rock in there. I took a picture so that you can see how its starting to form and you cant see but its starting to form a little on the sand.

 

[Breakthecycle2]

As opposed to bad live rock?
To find already cycled rock is one way of starting a tank, but dropping some cycled rock in a cycling tank with ammonia present is not going to stop the cycle.
The ammonia present is from rotting debris in the rock you added. Adding more rock isn't going to stop that stuff from decaying.
You want the tank to cycle now. You want bacteria to cover all surfaces, not just some of the rock.

Well, my results beg to differ. In one tank, I had an ammonia/nitrite spike for two weeks. It would not go down no matter what. It was only a 16 gallon with about 12 pounds of live rock. I added another 10 pounds of good, cultured rock and within 4 hours, everything leveled off. When I started my biocube, I started with 15 pounds of rock. Over the course of several days, I added 15 more pounds, and I never saw any spikes at all. I tested the water twice a day for three weeks.

 

[Ingy]

Break, I don't think you're differing from Mr_X at all. 2 weeks is just the start of a good cycle and I certainly wouldn't expect nitrites to be dropping in that time frame. I suspect your first 12 lbs of "live rock" in fact wasn't. The BB was probably dead, or never there in the first place and you were in the stages of a "from scratch" cycle. Once you added new live rock you kick started the cycle, even having it completed in a few hours.
In your other tank adding 30 lbs over several days resulted in no cycle being required, which is to say, it was already cycled.
The OP was questioning whether adding some LR to his currently cycling tank will cause the whole process to restart and MrX says, basically, no, go for it. He is even going as far as to say add it all now so it all cycles (gets covered in BB).

 

[Breakthecycle2]

Break, I don't think you're differing from Mr_X at all. 2 weeks is just the start of a good cycle and I certainly wouldn't expect nitrites to be dropping in that time frame. I suspect your first 12 lbs of "live rock" in fact wasn't. The BB was probably dead, or never there in the first place and you were in the stages of a "from scratch" cycle. Once you added new live rock you kick started the cycle, even having it completed in a few hours.
In your other tank adding 30 lbs over several days resulted in no cycle being required, which is to say, it was already cycled.
The OP was questioning whether adding some LR to his currently cycling tank will cause the whole process to restart and MrX says, basically, no, go for it. He is even going as far as to say add it all now so it all cycles (gets covered in BB).

Yeah, I think I was misunderstanding the whole thing,

 

[Rutrag]

Thanks spoon .. Dumb question. Is distilled and ro/di water the same thing? and once I get to doing normal top offs after the cycle is done, can I use just distilled water or should I be using saltwater?

Yes and no.

RO / DI stands for reverse osmosis deionized water. Without getting too technical, the water is pushed through a series of filters to pull everything out of the water that isn't water.

Distilled water is made by turning the water to a vapor and then letting it condense back to a liquid and collecting it. Presumably all the impurities are left behind and only pure water is collected.

In the end, the results of either process should be the same - pure water. So the answer tot he question is yes, you can use distilled water for top offs, or as your water when mixing saltwater.

 

[TampaBC]

Thanks! Today is the 7th day of the cycle and I noticed today what appear to be copepods. There are a ton of them but too small to get in a picture. Is this good or bad that they are appearing in the first week of the cycle? And, is this in indication of what stage the cycle is in? Thanks.

 

[Ingy]

They're fine, but it doesn't mean your anywhere in the cycle.

 

[TampaBC]

Cool .. that's what I was thinking... So, for the past 4 days, my ammonia is 0, my Nitrite is 0 and my Nitrate is at 80. Being a 29 gallon tank, should I do a 10 gallon water change do help bring the nitrates down?

 

[TampaBC]

So a little update to the biocube ... My levels have all gone done and the diatom bloom has started to go away (thank to the CUC I added) and now some green algae. I added 3 green chromis, sand sifter star fish and a cleaner shrimp. All have been in the tank for about 5 days and seem to be doing well.
My question is, how long should I wait to add a couple clowns?

Thanks.

 

[mr_X]

That sand sifter is going to starve to death. You need a large established sand bed to keep them. I would wait another week before adding the clowns.

 

[TampaBC]

Mr. X, that's what I was thinking .. The more and more I read, these guys need at least 3-4 inches of sand bed and I only have about 1 inch... The guy at the LFS gave it for free with the cleaner shrimp but didn't read about it until at home... I guess I will keep my eye on him ...