Hello All,
I would like to start by saying a big thank you to for all the valuable and experienced info supplies on this forum.
After months of research and scrolling through the posts on here, I finally decided it is time to start with this hobby, and I know I will probably still learn a lot going through this "phase".... right?
I bought a standard Boyu TL550 from a member on the MASA FB page for the mere reason that it have most of the basic equipment required, and can easily be upgraded as time goes by. It was also sold at a reasonably fair price and in excellent condition. I had to keep in mind that space is limited where I planned to have the setup standing, and the Boyu fits perfectly into the spot I had in mind.
Currently everything running in the system is still stock standard, with the exemption of the UV lamp (not working) and that I have added an additional 100w heater to run together with the existing one.
I am fortunate enough to have a friend who helped me out getting started, together with all the help received so far reading through this forum and hours spent on Youtube and Google.
Substrate has been added (properly washed with RO water and been left to dry out in the sun) as well as a couple of pieces dead rock (cleaned etc) that came out of his old tanks. A total of 100L water was required after rock etc has been added to fill the tank.
10L from the water came out of my friend's established tank (he only keep fish, with no reef) and the rest was self mixed salt water (which he helped me with) at 1.024 salinity.
The cycling process started last week Tuesday, 07 June 2022. As per advise received from our LFS as well as a member on this forum, I started the cycling process with Seachem Stability as well as AquaVitro Seed bacteria. I followed the instructions pretty much to the point, to avoid any possible mistakes (I normally hate reading user manuals and labels).
I have not been cycling with lights on, nor with the skimmer running.
Yesterday (14/06/20222) marked 1 week of cycling, so I decided it would be a good idea to do some testing (first time).
I bought the Red Sea Multi Marine test kit from the LFS together with a refractometer advertised on the forum.
Test results as follow:
pH - 8.2
Amonia - 0.04
No2 - 0
No3 - 5
KH - 3.5
Salinity - 1.022
Now, I know this is not a process that can be rushed, so I decided I will post weekly updates of the test results here, mainly to hear opinions and to seek advise on what to do better, or what to be changed in order to get everything to the correct required levels.
I'm thinking of starting the system off with some softies as well as a hermit or two, snails or something simple, before eventually adding fish, but would obviously only do this once all parameters are within an acceptable level and is stable.
Based on above results, what do you guys think about this, achieving these figuires within the 1st week of cycle? Am I getting excited about nothing?.......as yet?
What concern me most is the salinity levels that went a bit down. I was thinking of topping the tank up with a little bit of pre-mixed salt water, but I'm also scared that if I do that, the other parameters will be thrown way out again? Maybe a small 10% water change.....or do I leave it as is whilst cycling?
Any other info or suggestions will be highly appreciated......
Pic taken yesterday, after week one of cycling (light only switched on for photo purposes).
Christo
I would like to start by saying a big thank you to for all the valuable and experienced info supplies on this forum.
After months of research and scrolling through the posts on here, I finally decided it is time to start with this hobby, and I know I will probably still learn a lot going through this "phase".... right?
I bought a standard Boyu TL550 from a member on the MASA FB page for the mere reason that it have most of the basic equipment required, and can easily be upgraded as time goes by. It was also sold at a reasonably fair price and in excellent condition. I had to keep in mind that space is limited where I planned to have the setup standing, and the Boyu fits perfectly into the spot I had in mind.
Currently everything running in the system is still stock standard, with the exemption of the UV lamp (not working) and that I have added an additional 100w heater to run together with the existing one.
I am fortunate enough to have a friend who helped me out getting started, together with all the help received so far reading through this forum and hours spent on Youtube and Google.
Substrate has been added (properly washed with RO water and been left to dry out in the sun) as well as a couple of pieces dead rock (cleaned etc) that came out of his old tanks. A total of 100L water was required after rock etc has been added to fill the tank.
10L from the water came out of my friend's established tank (he only keep fish, with no reef) and the rest was self mixed salt water (which he helped me with) at 1.024 salinity.
The cycling process started last week Tuesday, 07 June 2022. As per advise received from our LFS as well as a member on this forum, I started the cycling process with Seachem Stability as well as AquaVitro Seed bacteria. I followed the instructions pretty much to the point, to avoid any possible mistakes (I normally hate reading user manuals and labels).
I have not been cycling with lights on, nor with the skimmer running.
Yesterday (14/06/20222) marked 1 week of cycling, so I decided it would be a good idea to do some testing (first time).
I bought the Red Sea Multi Marine test kit from the LFS together with a refractometer advertised on the forum.
Test results as follow:
pH - 8.2
Amonia - 0.04
No2 - 0
No3 - 5
KH - 3.5
Salinity - 1.022
Now, I know this is not a process that can be rushed, so I decided I will post weekly updates of the test results here, mainly to hear opinions and to seek advise on what to do better, or what to be changed in order to get everything to the correct required levels.
I'm thinking of starting the system off with some softies as well as a hermit or two, snails or something simple, before eventually adding fish, but would obviously only do this once all parameters are within an acceptable level and is stable.
Based on above results, what do you guys think about this, achieving these figuires within the 1st week of cycle? Am I getting excited about nothing?.......as yet?
What concern me most is the salinity levels that went a bit down. I was thinking of topping the tank up with a little bit of pre-mixed salt water, but I'm also scared that if I do that, the other parameters will be thrown way out again? Maybe a small 10% water change.....or do I leave it as is whilst cycling?
Any other info or suggestions will be highly appreciated......
Pic taken yesterday, after week one of cycling (light only switched on for photo purposes).
Christo
