Chrispar Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 my readings so far are as follows: Calcium 420ppm KH 161.1 ppm Phosphate 0ppm Nitrate 10ppm Ammonia 0.50ppm and heres the pic also saw my first hitchhiker today Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 Off to a good start. One suggestion. You might want to move the rock away from the sides of the tank a bit more (on the left/right). Just make sure you have enough room to get an algae pad/your hand in the space to clean. It is easier to muck with the rockwork now. I didn't do this in my 24g tank, and always had this section of algae I could never get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrispar Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 thanks for the input, was nice to get some sorta feedback after almost 30 viewers lol. are my levels ok at this point in the life of the tank? Im dosing with TLC for saltwater as per Shane(fishybusiness) suggestion. (bottle was thrown in with purchase) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 Levels look good. I would also monitor Nitrite. Your ammonia will spike first, then nitrite, then both go down to zero. That will indicate the cycle has completed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrispar Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 been monitoring nitrite with dip test and its claiming .5ppm at the moment. this TLC says cycles in 3 to 7 days"safely yet rapidly" could it be coming close to finishing the cycle already? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 It is possible. You are basically adding in bacteria, which normally take the month to grow without the TLC stuff (I am assuming that what it is). I would take it slow though after all your readings go to zero. Every time you add livestock to your tank, the beneficial bacteria will have to re-adjust to cope with the new bio-load of the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrispar Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 then i guess ill check my levels every couple of days and see how things go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Razor Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 It took me about 10-12 days to get through my amm and trite spike, then the trate and phos set in. I remember watching in 15 min increments the diatoms blooming across my new clean rock. It was stressful, but when that happened my amm/trite had gone to 0. I got some good local live rock from vendors here, I did not order it, so my die off was very little but it still went through the full cycle. I've never used the test strips. I thought about getting them for PH just to see how close they matched up with my liquid test, but I never bought them. I agree totally with moving the rock off the side walls. I'd even suggest that if you're going to use a mag float cleaner go ahead and buy one now just to make sure you have the correct amount of space between the rocks and walls because once those diatoms set in they take over quickly then the algae starts and you don't want to have to mess with the rock then if you can keep from it. Something else, I had a problem with my nitrates not dropping so I added more live rock and now the trates are between .5 and 0 each test. I started with about 25 lbs, then put in another 20 lbs and it seems to be good balance so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrispar Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 Should i be checking levels daily during the cycle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 Personally, I would just do the basics (Ammonia, Nitrite, maybe pH). That way you could save the calcium and other tests for when you are closer to adding corals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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