New Tank and I have some questions

[Leighton79]

The waste in the skimmer should have colour, the darker the better, (darker = more crud) if you stick your nose in the collection cup and it stinks like rotting matter then it's doing it's job.

As for your next step, if it were me I'd be taking all the livestock back to the lfs to house until it is cycled.

[sgonzal6]

How and when should the skimmer start pick out crud?

Ever since the tank started there has never been any color to it. Are fish not required to produce protein waste?

How long does a cycle take?

[Tmyboy]

Originally Posted by sgonzal6

None taken.
The protein skimmer does have a little bit of white colored waste in it.
I emptied it right before I picked up my fish.
How long does it take to re-fill so to speak?

Acclimate what? The tank had salt water and live rock in it for 8 days in it before I took the sample. We added Stability each day for those 8 days.

So if the tank has not cycled yet why I am getting zero reading on the test on two separate days?

If the tank is indeed not cycled which it appears as not what is my next step.

Thanks

i was referring to the clownfish. You said you drip acclimated it...how fast did you drip it? 1 drip a sec? 3 drips a sec? I guess its prb not that huge a deal b/c clown are fairly hardy and I'm assuming they were tank raised.

ok then...now I know what you mean when you said the intake pump for the sump. There's no intake pump...that pump is your skimmer pump which pumps water thru the skimmer unit.
You should also know that the skimmer will produce dark STINKY murky nasty stuff. I've never seen any skimate that was white. I'm assuming it was left in the cup from when you rinsed it during setup? Dont know what to tell ya there. Who helped you set this system up? It's reasonable to assume that you didn't. I only ask b/c they should be able to tell you what type of skimmer you have and what it's rated for.

There reason why it's possible (just possible) that the tank hgasn't cycled and ur not getting any ammonia readings is b/c either it hasn't started to spike ammonia yet. It it hasn't spiked ammonia, it wouldn't any nitrite or trates in the system yet. That's like the chicken before the egg.
you need ammonia first to get the other 2.

Now...clowns are hardy and while I'm not proud to say it....i cycled with 2 clowns once before. It was a major pain in the *** b/c i had to check ammonia levels every day (they would be 2 and 4!) and have to change out 20-25% water change every single day to bring the ammonia levels down to where the clowns would endure it. My wife got jumpy and bought them before cycle was over.
It sucked big time, BUT.....they survived and I have them now. They look great, but if the ammonia levels weren't kept at a lower level, they wouldn't have made it.

I really hope your cycled brother b/c those really are cool looking coral pieces and I highly doubt they would have a chance.

All this might be jumping the gun And you may b e cycled. Just trying to figure it out.

[Tmyboy]

Originally Posted by sgonzal6

How and when should the skimmer start pick out crud?

Ever since the tank started there has never been any color to it. Are fish not required to produce protein waste?

How long does a cycle take?

usually there is a "break in" period to a skimmer which could be up to a month. My previous coralife took about 2-3 weeks to start producing a foam. However my octopus started producing foam within hours.

Fish will produce waste. period.
just like us all...we eat, we ****.

With fully cured aged live rock...a cycle could be pretty **** quick and that's why it is possible that you did cycle. maybe not 8 days, but maybe 2 full weeks. (14 days)

[Tmyboy]

Originally Posted by sgonzal6

How and when should the skimmer start pick out crud?

Ever since the tank started there has never been any color to it. Are fish not required to produce protein waste?

How long does a cycle take?

This is along the lines of what if skimmer will/produce when it's broken in. Even this is a bit light. I have it on a wet skim bc I just got over a slime algae problem! U get the idea

[Leighton79]

I think it depends on skimmer quality, I always use deltec skimmers, expensive but it's an area I won't skimp in. As above, you see skimmate instantly.

What brand is yours?

I'd be tempted to throw a bubble magus in that sump when you have a bio load big enough.

Maybe you had an instant cycle.

Keep testing ammonia and nitrite and see if you ever get detectable levels.

IMO the Api test kit isn't great, salifert all day long for me.

[sgonzal6]

I was told that this was fully cured rock; which is why I assume that they told me that I could add fish and coral so quickly.

I attached 2 pictures of the skimmer top as it has appeared since I put the rock in it. I may have to adjust the level of the skimmer to get more water flow.

There is a youtube video of how to set up the sump which i followed.
http://www.youtube .com/watch?v=sGJ3Wy1fvz8 Just remove the space if you are so inclined to watch it.

It is a CPR cyclone bio-filter. I got some feedback saying that it was a good sump.

Thank you.
I will test the ammonia tomorrow and give the store a call.

[Tmyboy]

Originally Posted by sgonzal6

I was told that this was fully cured rock; which is why I assume that they told me that I could add fish and coral so quickly.

I attached 2 pictures of the skimmer top as it has appeared since I put the rock in it. I may have to adjust the level of the skimmer to get more water flow.

There is a youtube video of how to set up the sump which i followed.
http://www.youtube .com/watch?v=sGJ3Wy1fvz8 Just remove the space if you are so inclined to watch it.

It is a CPR cyclone bio-filter. I got some feedback saying that it was a good sump.

Thank you.
I will test the ammonia tomorrow and give the store a call.

Ok that's not that unusual. I get exactly that when I rly stir up the tank. Like rescape .

I got a LOT of that when I swapped from my smaller tank to the one I have now. Mostly substrate debris and what not. That's not skimate. Some skimmers can b really finicky so I wud agree when u say Ull have to adjust till u get it right. It's prob not set right.

Be sure to check that it's sitting in the right depth of water too. If that's off.....won't work properly.

[sgonzal6]

So I took a quick peek and made some small adjustments.
But how soon should foam appear? It is instant?
I just adjusted the skimmer gate to the max height and am getting very little foam.
I emptied the collection cup and hopefully there will be more of a tea substance in there tomorrow.

[Tmyboy]

Cud take a couple hrs...cud take a couple weeks but u shud def see the microbubbles no matter what. Glad u got that adjusted. Some skimmers......constant battle.

[sgonzal6]

If there is no fish in the tank should I have been getting a dark product from Day 1 or does it require fish in the tank to produce waste for the skimmer to get heavy action?

[Tmyboy]

Originally Posted by sgonzal6

If there is no fish in the tank should I have been getting a dark product from Day 1 or does it require fish in the tank to produce waste for the skimmer to get heavy action?

no. the Live rock has living things on/in it. The fish is needed (producing waste) to keep the cycle going, but the rock is one of the primary reasons for the skimmer. At least from what I've read anyway.

[sgonzal6]

Sorry for the delay.
We tested the water again yesterday and the ammonia levels were also 0 and a the tank has an SG of 1.025.

But I am happy to report that the fish are swimming around great and not just hanging out under a rock worrying me. We have chalked it up to stress and being the only two living fish in the brand new environment.
The corals are looking good too.

Now I was informed that a tank requires fish or other waste producing organisms for the skimmer product to be dark colored. I am not sure of this 100% but it seemed the consensus with the people who I talked to.

I appreciate your help and talking me though all this.
Do you have any recommendations for specific literature that I should read?
How do you go about getting RODI water? Because buying it by the gallon is pretty expensive here.
Right now I am just crushing up a flake or two and sprinkling it in the tank, when the clowns see it they swim very fast up to it but don't seem to eat it. Should I just hang in there and see what happens? We totally spaced asking what they were fed in the store.

Thanks for all your help.

SMG

[Supra]

When I first got my clowns they didn't eat either. Tried 3 different kinds of food then asked for advice on here. I forget who recommended it but marine flakes with garlic has been working for me. (omega one)
Supra