New Tank - Advice Needed

Don't put rings or bio-balls etc in the sump. They are only good for fish only setups as they can cause the nitrates to go up too high which is not good for keeping corals and invertebrates.
Ammonia sponges is not usually added to a marine tank. If the filtration in the tank is matured for eg the live rock or DSB, then there won't be any ammonia if the tank is stocked within limits and good nutrient export is maintained via skimming and water changes. The bacteria will take care of that.
Also make sure you add good quality carbon like Maxizorb etc. Stay away from bone charcoal sold at "fresh water" petshops :p - they break up causing corals to close and make everything black in the tank.
 
Just tested and my Nitrates are up to 5 - 10. Salinity is pretty good at 1.024.

Ammonia and Nitrite at 0
 
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Thanks Tobes.

Had my water tested and my tank is fully cycled. Turns out the LR I got from Oceanson was properly cured and had already done a cycle before I got it so we are good to go if I can get the temperature down.
 
There is also a marine safe start product for about R400 which loads the bacteria in your system. Simply add this to the sump where the biofilter is (between the entry and return pump. Nitrites will shoot up and then should stabilise. I would also add some flow pumps just to circulate the water over the live rock in the main tank as well so everything moves correctly and is oxygenated. For mine, I did not have the skimmer on at all until the intial 4 weeks passed as this was used to help "build up" some material that the bacteria can work on
 
Complete Tank Cycle sorted out in 2 weeks thanks to LR that was fully and properly cured.

Tank as it is currently:
img00037201101052239.jpg
 
2 weeks NOT in this live
 
Really?

Well water has been checked by 3 different people and they all say the same thing.

So Max what you saying is that if you move your LR from a stable tank to a new tank it takes the normal period of time to Cycle and you see the normal peaks in Ammonia and Nitrite?
 
Yes really, i also put cured rock with bio shit in mine to help the organisms and had a low spike and then i nailed it, believe me it doesnt work that way.

Ive been doing this for almost 4yrs Monde and believe me go and do your thing ill be looking at your thread closely.
First of all this is a small setup and things happens fast and very fast in smaller tanks as the water volume leaves no space for error or little to say the least. The brown on the rocks looks like die off to me - maybe im mistaken but from where im sitting and watching it does, have a look at my first pics on my thread and when i was clever and youll see the colour is excatly the same, i was clever once just like you when i was a newbie and i have close to 700lts to play with.
Ride it out take it slow and reap the rewards my friend - go fast and you will replace most your purchases with new ones soon. Believe me i did. And it not only costs money but at the expense of the livestock.

Water has been checked ok fine and all the organisms or bacteria still has to fill the tank and die off ITS a process and more cases than mine six weeks and up will be a full cycle doesnt matter how much cycle you chuck in the water, cause when you over doooo it you have die off of bacteria as they tend to not have food if you add too little you tend to have spikes, but if you say you ready good luck and all the best.

sean koekemoer go read up on his posts i hope you have 3mnths cause he has plenty and plenty answers, oom hennie go read up on his, and many others that was doing this hobbie way before i even thaught of it i think i was still in my dads bag and oom hennie was doing it, but do it before you add stock.

O yes and mek he has an awesome small tank read his. Sorry forgot your stunning beauty Mek.

Take in what you read and see what will work on your tiny system afore you set sail. Hard crackers like me also dont take advise easily and sitting down but AT a price.
 
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Not trying to be clever in the slightest, I am here to learn. But "2 weeks NOT in this live " does not help me learn. Came across as a smart comment, no reasons or explanations. So was really not trying to be smart, your next post was much more helpful. Thanks.

I was going on this post from The Reef Tank:
New tanks go through cycling in terms of developing the bacteria for deammonification pretty quickly. Usually by the end of 4 weeks, your values for nitrogen cycling should be at the point of rising nitrAtes and zero detectable levels for ammonia and nitrIte. In that sense, your tank prolly has finished "cycling".

Is the tank mature though? Definitely not. You will see growing and developing food chains building from the base of primary production up. This usually means the initial golden brown of diatoms will develop first, then some of the initial autotrophic blooms will occur (usually photoautotrophs like cyanobacteria and related bacteria that initially colonize the benthic and rock surfaces.) Following this is a bloom of the heterotrophic bacteria and protists that eat cyanobacteria, but usually not visible to most aquarists. Next will be some of the green photoautotrophs like hair algae, absorbing nitrates and phosphates as they are released back into the water column as a result of cyanobacteria consumption/digestion by the heterotrophs. Hopefully you'll have some top-down grazers by the time the tank gets to this point (snails, hermits, etc.) This would mean that not only will there be grazing from the microorganisms in the system (bottom up trophisms) and competition throughout this microcosm for the nutrients that feed the initial blooms of visible microalgal growths, but the additional top-down grazing to control the spread and growth of the visible microalgae and coming macroalgal growths as well. This process develops over several months and will depend on the level of nutrients in the system, current and circulation, gas exchange rates at the surface, and the photoperiod as well as the diversity of organisms available to fill each food chain niche as the tank matures. It is a normal chain of events for a developing new closed marine system, and indicates that all is progressing in your system as it should.

And that makes sense to me.

My plan was to put in a clean up crew and let them do their thing for a while and provide more of a bioload to get the bacteria going.

I have added in 5kg's of Fiji LR and my Ammonia went up to 0.25 for a few days and then then dropped off, nitrite did the same.

The Brown Algae only started when I put in a (food not live) shrimp to decompose. All I saw was a slight spike (no more than 0.5) and then all went back to normal again except for the Brown algae growth.

BTW: Awesome tank Max. Really great.
 
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I am with Max, time, time, time..........;)
You didn't get to 5 years of age in six months.
HAVE FUN. It's not about the tank, but about the living, breathing organisms in the tank. They live, just like you.:thumbup:
 
Not trying to be clever in the slightest, I am here to learn. But "2 weeks NOT in this live " does not help me learn. Came across as a smart comment, no reasons or explanations. So was really not trying to be smart, your next post was much more helpful. Thanks.

I was going on this post from The Reef Tank:


And that makes sense to me.

My plan was to put in a clean up crew and let them do their thing for a while and provide more of a bioload to get the bacteria going.

I have added in 5kg's of Fiji LR and my Ammonia went up to 0.25 for a few days and then then dropped off, nitrite did the same.

The Brown Algae only started when I put in a (food not live) shrimp to decompose. All I saw was a slight spike (no more than 0.5) and then all went back to normal again except for the Brown algae growth.

BTW: Awesome tank Max. Really great.


OK ill apologise with my short reply. In short when a newbie on this site says its good to go they mean business, stocking it with 10000 bucks worth of stock my friend and i have seen it 1000 times, and it is the stock that takes the rap as we just go buy new ones. I hate replying as a rule but i guess i read you wrong and i usually get into huge debates as i feel all life needs a fair chance as they have no control over what we do.

If you read lots about keeping marines it is good hopefully you stick to the basics as with the piece you so corrected me in my statement. No punn intended for starters, cycle in short from a newbies perspective is as follows:

And i aint talking shit even i saw it like this to say the least, not all of us is marine biologists are we:
1. We read that we add water and rocks etc.
2. We wait 2 weeks and if all the readings we can possibly take is zero the cycle is over and we can overstock.
3. Now we add everything that we think is beautifull and that the LFS stocks, and if it dies the LFS has sold us either half dead fish or he just sells D-grade stock and we sure as hell insisted on A-grade pure grain fed beef.
4. We lay our hands on all the other types of additives we can possibly get our hands on because everyone else has it, and we chuck it in. We add one drop of X to cure this then we have to add 2 drops of Y to counteract X and on and on we go until we are so gatvol of all the problems and at the end we blame the LFS all the gurus at masa and the rest of the world, BUT it aint never us.
5. O yes and we have to prove the gurus wrong - dont we.

My recipe:

1. Keep it simple
2. Decide what you want to do and what you want to keep, maybe now and then the long run.
3. Look at what setup you require to sustain what you are about to keep.
4. Wait for the complete cycle to finish before you start stocking except for the cleaning crew that can be added IMO during the coarse of cycling to assist like you said its time for some cleaners to come and help now.
5. Dont do impulse buying it is more likely than not a balls up from the beginning.
6. Dont FIDDLE and leave nature to take its coarse its been doing it for billions of years we cannot perfect something that is perfect already, we merely assist it because we overstock IT.
7. Dont always think that the most expensive piece of equipment is the best for your operation or piece of ocean _= IT AINT. A 10000lt skimmer only serves its full potensial on BOB the reef builders system as it is a huge system and to add it to my 700lt system would be stupid, it can only remove so much skim mate and then it will idle so you would defy the object. If you add a 400w Metal halide onto a 200 x 200 cube you sure as hell going to be eating fish for dinner that same evening as you will be cooking them. Try fitting a V8 to a mini it can and has been done and it works with great effort and expense but it wasn't designed for that so why do it.
8. Last but not least everything you read isn't always for your system, ALL systems differ regarding stocking, water quality, salt added, husbandry, circulation etc. So make sure you make the right choices - A planned decision is more often than not a wise one. Make sure what you are about to do or change on your system will benefit it or is required and at least that the change is necessary.
Happy reefing and welcome.:1:


 
New tanks go through cycling in terms of developing the bacteria for deammonification pretty quickly. Usually by the end of 4 weeks, your values for nitrogen cycling should be at the point of rising nitrAtes and zero detectable levels for ammonia and nitrIte. In that sense, your tank prolly has finished "cycling".

Is the tank mature though? Definitely not. You will see growing and developing food chains building from the base of primary production up. This usually means the initial golden brown of diatoms will develop first, then some of the initial autotrophic blooms will occur (usually photoautotrophs like cyanobacteria and related bacteria that initially colonize the benthic and rock surfaces.) Following this is a bloom of the heterotrophic bacteria and protists that eat cyanobacteria, but usually not visible to most aquarists. Next will be some of the green photoautotrophs like hair algae, absorbing nitrates and phosphates as they are released back into the water column as a result of cyanobacteria consumption/digestion by the heterotrophs. Hopefully you'll have some top-down grazers by the time the tank gets to this point (snails, hermits, etc.) This would mean that not only will there be grazing from the microorganisms in the system (bottom up trophisms) and competition throughout this microcosm for the nutrients that feed the initial blooms of visible microalgal growths, but the additional top-down grazing to control the spread and growth of the visible microalgae and coming macroalgal growths as well. This process develops over several months and will depend on the level of nutrients in the system, current and circulation, gas exchange rates at the surface, and the photoperiod as well as the diversity of organisms available to fill each food chain niche as the tank matures. It is a normal chain of events for a developing new closed marine system, and indicates that all is progressing in your system as it should.

VIPER MEK JACQUESB CANT YOU MAKE THIS A STICKY BLIMING AWESOME PIECE OF ADVISE FOR NEWBIES AND ITS SHORT AND SWEET OR IS IT IN THERE ALREADY. CALL IT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CYCLING AND MATURITY.
 
All life is important........... especially a small Neon Tetra with one eye, he rocked the house.

I would never put life at risk just for a pretty tank.

Thanks for the Welcome and the advice.
 
Live rock.....................at least 1kg per 7.5 liters

Sand...........................4.5kg per .5m2 of tank bottom =25mm deep

snails..........................1 per every 5 - 7 liters

hermits.......................1 per every 9 - 18 liters


and most of all the water you use and what is the TDS reading

O and this is how i work out my stuff
 
Got a LOT more sand and a little less LR than your calculation at the moment but in the process or getting some more LR and then we should be good to go.

Have bought a chiller as my temperature is fluctuating MUCH too much. From 24 up to 32 and then down again......this is with the lights off. Got to love Cape Town weather and a flat roofed house. Tank is, of course, out of direct sunlight and in the coolest corner of the house but with the dog in and out the doors are almost always open. :(
 
Just to add to the cycling time. I know you get bacteria and additives these days that can decrease cycle time, but I believe in the natural process. I cycled my last tank 4 months before putting in my first fish. I know it is not nessecary, but I wanted a lekka pod population and a fairly mature sand bed before stocking. I did feed the pods small amounts of food once a week or so.
So ja, patience is good ;)

PS - just remember a sand sifting goby and a sand sifting starfish are NOT part of a clean up crew and even if your tank is matured, it is still too small for one - just a heads up :)
 
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PS - just remember a sand sifting goby and a sand sifting starfish are NOT part of a clean up crew and even if your tank is matured, it is still too small for one - just a heads up :)

What size tank do you need for a Goby?

I am not even close to fish to be honest. Thinking more of the crew and in a while some corals. But doing the research on them first.
 
You get different types of gobies, but I would not put any sand sifting goby aka, a orange spotted diamond goby, a sleeper goby, yellow cheek goby,etc in a tank smaller than a 4ft that has been running at least 9 months. Even then he can deplete the goggas very quickly. Remember they sieve the sand for critters, not fish poo.
Some guys are lucky and their goby eats marine pellets. Mine ate pellets and grated hake/shrimp. But it's not always a guarantee and he will slowly starve to death :(

go look them up, sometimes the same goby have 3 different names :p.
 
lol yeah been looking around but the info is scattered and sometimes not very informative.

Now there is an idea for a website. Basic information per fish, coral and invert in an easy to search database. Water quality, temp, basic requirements....etc.
 
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