Started a 125 Gallon Salt Water Reef Tank

[Firaymark]

I just started a 125 gallon salt water reef tank on Oct 8th. I have completed one week of cycling which included two jumbo raw shrimps. I have two wave makers, 30 gallon Emerale sump, and very good Hydra LED lighting. I have very good flow in the tank. The lights are turned off and heater is around 80F. After one week the shrimp is almost dissolved. I have about 30 pounds of live rock. After Day 4 I have not noticed an ammonia spike or nitrite increase. They are both at 0ppm. I may have missed in between Day 0 and 4. I have noticed a Nitrate increase of 10ppm. pH is at 8 and salinity is at 1.025.
Is everything progressing well in the cycling stage? The water is nice and clear. I plan to do a water change in the next few days. Any suggestions on the next step.

 

[CleverBs]

I just started a 125 gallon salt water reef tank on Oct 8th. I have completed one week of cycling which included two jumbo raw shrimps. I have two wave makers, 30 gallon Emerale sump, and very good Hydra LED lighting. I have very good flow in the tank. The lights are turned off and heater is around 80F. After one week the shrimp is almost dissolved. I have about 30 pounds of live rock. After Day 4 I have not noticed an ammonia spike or nitrite increase. They are both at 0ppm. I may have missed in between Day 0 and 4. I have noticed a Nitrate increase of 10ppm. pH is at 8 and salinity is at 1.025.
Is everything progressing well in the cycling stage? The water is nice and clear. I plan to do a water change in the next few days. Any suggestions on the next step.

Well for 125g tank you are going to need more then 2 shrimp to get a good ammonia reading on fresh clean water. Dont bother with a water change until the tank is fully cycled you will just waste salt.

Take 4 shrimp put them in a filter sock and leave them in for 1 day, test ammonia, leave them in another day and test ammonia. They shouldnt be left in there for a week after 2-3 days swap them out with new ones.

 

[Firaymark]

Well for 125g tank you are going to need more then 2 shrimp to get a good ammonia reading on fresh clean water. Dont bother with a water change until the tank is fully cycled you will just waste salt.

Take 4 shrimp put them in a filter sock and leave them in for 1 day, test ammonia, leave them in another day and test ammonia. They shouldnt be left in there for a week after 2-3 days swap them out with new ones.

OK. I will remove the old shrimp that is decomposing and add four more jumbo shrimps. I will test after day 1 and day 2. I will let you know the readings. Any reason why my Nitrate level is at 10ppm? I would think my tank is cycled since I have nitrate showing up.

 

[Sniperhank]

If your rock was live with a bacteria base in it already, it is possible to not detect any ammonia or nitrites due to them consuming it and converting to nitrates.


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[Firaymark]

If your rock was live with a bacteria base in it already, it is possible to not detect any ammonia or nitrites due to them consuming it and converting to nitrates.


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OK. Then the cycle is working. So you want me to add four jumbo shrimps after Day 1, test for ammonia. If none is present then test for Day 2. If we see a spike we want to see how long it will take for ammonia to come down to 0ppm. I was told it should drop within 24 hours. Then check for Nitrites after. Please explain.

 

[CleverBs]

OK. Then the cycle is working. So you want me to add four jumbo shrimps after Day 1, test for ammonia. If none is present then test for Day 2. If we see a spike we want to see how long it will take for ammonia to come down to 0ppm. I was told it should drop within 24 hours. Then check for Nitrites after. Please explain.

I would continue to do this and let them multiply. They may be able to consume the amount of ammonia from the shrimp in that volume of water but they may not be able to handle a heavy fish load. If it was me I would see if it converts again in 24hrs if so I would had a very small bioload and add slowly. Remember that you will basically be doing a "safe" fish in cycle becaues yes the tanks cycled but the number of bacteria arnt there for a large amount of conversion. So be careful with how much you add. if you over whelm the bacterial population you will start seeing ammonia and ammonia kills saltwater fish easily.

To me its concerning that you have 10ppm Nitrate already. I could go a month without a water change in my sw tanks fully stocked and not have 10ppm nitrate.

 

[Firaymark]

I have added four raw shrimp and I will measure for ammonia tomorrow evening. I will let you know what the reading is. I hope to get a spike if not I will measure on day two. I do see small stuff forming on the live rock. I have good circulation of water and the pump is cleaning the tank well. My skimmer is also skimming as I can see small brownish dirt inside the cup. The tank is progressing well just like to see some reading on the ammonia and nitrite. Keep you posted. Thanks for the advise.


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[CleverBs]

You may not be seeing any ammonia because your skimmer is running. I would turn the skimmer off.

 

[spoonman]

I would dose with pure ammonia and then test every day. That is the only way to be sure what your levels of ammonia are....That's just my take on it.....

 

[Firaymark]

You may not be seeing any ammonia because your skimmer is running. I would turn the skimmer off.

OK. I will turn it off this evening. I will do a quick measurement to see what the ammonia level is at. I will do a check on Day 2 with protein skimmer off.

 

[Firaymark]

I tuned off skimmer. There is four raw shrimp decomposing after day 2. The ammonia reading is around 0.25 ppm. I am hoping this number for ammonia will increase to 4.0 ppm. I am currently on day 9 of the cycle. Am I progressing well? I can see a light brown film on the glass. The live rocks are also showing some stuff growing on it. When do you think I will see an ammonia spike?


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[Sniperhank]

It isn't a spike really when it comes to the shrimp...it is more of a continued release.

 

[Firaymark]

Ok. Will I see a increase in ammonia or will it be a gradual increase. I also added some cotton material into my sump from an established tank. I was told this will help with the cycle since your adding good bacteria into the new tank. I also plan to add substrate in the sump. The ammonia level is starting to change from 0.25ppm to 0.5ppm. I can see the colour starting to get more on the green side. I am using a API Ammonia test kit.


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[spoonman]

If you use pure ammonia, you can dose to exactly 4ppm, then you will know what you are dealing with.

 

[Firaymark]

If you use pure ammonia, you can dose to exactly 4ppm, then you will know what you are dealing with.

Your right! I will pickup a bottle of pure ammonia. I will figure out how many drops it will take to change ammonia to 4ppm with 1 gallon of water. Based on that information I will determine how many drops it will take to add into 125 gallon tank. How often do I dose? What procedure do I follow? Once I get the tank up to 4ppm of Ammonia then what should I do? Would my live rocks be effected by the current bacteria building up?

I plan to add a few more live rocks this evening and add about 5Ibs of crushed coral in my sump which is full of bacteria.

Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.

 

[spoonman]

My 120 gallon with 30 gallon sump took 2 capfuls to reach 4ppm. Then test every day to see how long it takes for it to come down. You should see the nitrItes come up and the nitrAtes come up last. When you can process 4ppm of ammonia to 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrItes and large number of nitrAtes in 24 hours, you are cycled. Then do large water changes to get the nitrAtes down and you are ready for fish! I dosed back up to 4ppm ammonia every day if it was going down, but not all the way to 0ppm. Make sure the bottle is pure ammonia (no surfactants). I found it at Ace Hardware.

 

[Firaymark]

My 120 gallon with 30 gallon sump took 2 capfuls to reach 4ppm. Then test every day to see how long it takes for it to come down. You should see the nitrItes come up and the nitrAtes come up last. When you can process 4ppm of ammonia to 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrItes and large number of nitrAtes in 24 hours, you are cycled. Then do large water changes to get the nitrAtes down and you are ready for fish! I dosed back up to 4ppm ammonia every day if it was going down, but not all the way to 0ppm. Make sure the bottle is pure ammonia (no surfactants). I found it at Ace Hardware.

Is it possible that my tank is already cycled? I have 0.25ppm of ammonia, 0ppm of Nitrite and 10ppm of Nitrates. I have about 30 pounds of live rock. I have been cycling for 11 days now. pH = 8, salinity is at 1.025 and temperature is at 28C. The first two shrimp decomposed after one week. I added four more after. There is currently 4 raw shrimps decomposing in tank.
Just wondering if my tank can handle a small bioload of inverterbraes and coral. I will eventually do fish one or two at a time. I will add every two weeks.

 

[spoonman]

I would dose to 4ppm and see what happens in 24 hours. If you are cycled it will go to 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrItes and some nitrAtes. Then you will know without a doubt you are cycled. I would remove the shrimp also.

 

[spoonman]

When the cycle is done, you will have to do water changes to get the nitrAtes down.

 

[Firaymark]

I checked my API test kit expiry date and realized they are all over 10 years expired. I was testing for Ammonia and barely getting a reading. I used another API bottle which is around 4 years expired and it gave me a reading of 2ppm for Ammonia. This was after I added 20Ibs of live crushed coral in my sump. This was taken from a good established tank. The tank got very cloudy however it is clear this morning. I have also removed the shrimp. My pH is 8, Salinity: 1.025, Temp: 28.2C. I am also using Aquavitro - Salinity which is a very good salt mix sold a Big Al's and other retailers. I will test for Ammonia this evening to see what the reading is. I plan to buy a fresh bottle of API test kit for saltwater.

What is your suggestion about the amount of live rock that I would need for a 125 gallon tank? There is mixed reports I am getting where some say I should have at least 1Ibs per gallon. I have a 30 gallon Emerald Sump with 20Ibs of live crushed coral. I also have about 35Ibs of live rock. I have them mounted across the tank on a PVC pipe. There is good flow of water above and below the live rocks. I personally don't want to pile my tank full of rocks. I am happy with the quantity that I am using. Is this OK? If I had to add live rocks I don't mind putting it in the sump however I am OK with it right now. Any suggestions.