Recent content by rubikcube

Ahh, the dig up old posts approach to proving someone wrong. Still as fallacious as ever. That's your response to me asking for non-anecdotal evidence? Forgive me for remaining skeptical. I don't claim to be a guru of anything. However, I still don't see how I was wrong in that thread...

There isn't any evidence(beyond hobbyist experience) or reason to think that ammonia would be toxic to nitrosomonas.

The thing about ammonia is that it is extremely toxic at levels even below 1ppm. Water changes at this point will take you from extremely toxic to slightly less, but still extremely toxic. I've never heard of excess ammonia inhibiting a cycle either.

When I cycled my tank with LR, I didn't do a water change. I had pods, corals, worms, and all sorts of algae make it through the cycle.

I would get an alkalinity test. This could definitely be the source of your problem.

What is your alkalinity? Those products that raise your pH are really just temporary fixes. In reality, they are alkalinity supplements for tanks with low pH. I would steer clear unless you have an alkalinity problem.

I know it seems like I'm splitting hairs, but the difference is important. O2 has nothing to do with pH. An aquarium with inadequate aeration usually has an excess(when compared to the atmosphere) of CO2 due to fish respiration. When you aerate, the excess CO2 is driven out resulting in a...

My point is that the pH shouldn't change in a covered bucket due to gas exchange because there isn't any gas exchange in a closed system. In any case, it definitely shouldn't change by that much, even with a very high concentration of CO2.

A few notes... 1. pH isn't affected by O2 concentration. 2. pH is affected by CO2 concentration. When CO2 is dissolved in H2O, it becomes carbonic acid. This lowers the pH. 3. CO2 is absorbed during photosynthesis. Thus the longer the lights are on, the more CO2 is absorbed. The less CO2...

How do you define "fine"? How can you measure "fine"? I can give you a very strict definition of Reverse Osmosis or Deionized. I can also measure water from an RO/DI system with a Total Dissolved Solids meter to give you an idea of how pure the water is. For example, my tap water is probably...

The wastewater from an RO/DI filter isn't really a big deal. In my area water rates are about $4 per 1000 gallons. I doubt it's that much more expensive where you live. If you are still concerned about it, you can use the waste water for all sorts of things. Watering plants and animals are...

Without anything decaying in the water, you tank probably won't cycle at all.

It's the skimmer. The whole idea behind a protein skimmer is that it removes the dissolved organics before they become NH4, NO2, or NO3. If you turn the skimmer off, they become NH4 in the tank. The bacteria in the tank haven't caught up to the ammonia spike yet.

Your stocking list will require at least the 29 gallon. Don't buy live sand. It's worthless. If you are looking to save money, buy half live rock and half dead base rock. For water movement, I'd get two powerheads for a total of 10x per hour flow. As far as the canopy goes, you don't need to...

dKH and meq/L are both units of alkalinity. 2.8 dKH is equal to 1.0 meq/L.