mattgee's 130c

[mattgee]

Hi

Thought I would start a new thread regarding my first journey into marine's.

Had my tank delivered Friday and set it up over the weekend using LFS Salt Water and adding 15kgs of live rock. Brought some RSM


Red Sea Coral Pro Salt 22Kg and Free Reef Energy A and B
Ecotech Coral Glue 295ml
Red Sea Seawater Refractometer
Red Sea Marine Care Test Kit [In Stock]
Red Sea Reef Foundation Complete Pro Test Kit
CaribSea Arag-Alive Fiji Pink Live Sand (20lb)

Will post some pictures shortly.

Just done my first tests and here are my results

SG - 1.022 (31ppt)
PH - 8.2
NO2 - 0.2
NO3 - 10
Ca - 350
MG - 1320
dKH - 2.9 (8)
NH4 - 0.8

Do these readings seem in the ball park for a 4 day old tank or am I missing something horrible. Think I need to bring my SG up but just trying to work out how.

Thanks

 

[Joeys Tank]

Congrats on the new setup. I am looking forward to following along on your journey.

Get ready to sit back and watch a tank cycle

SG is a little on the low end. Slowly adding reef salt will help. If you are using LFS water and not making your own, then I would suggest testing their water first before putting it into the tank. If the SG is low, add a little bit of salt to it and stir with a small powerhead or airstone until you bring it up. Temp plays a part in SG but it will take a few degrees to bring it up 0.001. During the tank cycle, this may not be that big of an issue since you will do a major water change (WC) at the end of the nitrogen cycle. Calcium looks a bit low also for the LFS water.

 

[Mark9]

+1 on everything.
I'd suggest to get the SG up to 1.025.
Roy had issues with his red sea refractometer.
Have you verified it's accuracy?

 

[mattgee]

What's the best way to raise the the SG. I have the RSM Coral Pro Salt, as its a new tank with no live stock can I just add some in. If so is there a way to judge how much?

 

[Mark9]

With no inhabitants, i'd just remove a bit of water, add some salt, mix it up, put it back in.
My guess would be 1/2 a cup? Try a 1/4 and see what it does.
Tank is looking real good.

 

[Joeys Tank]

^+1

 

[mattgee]

Got given a Jebao WP25 today. My thoughts are its too powerful for the 130C ..... would you concur?

 

[Mark9]

May be a bit powerful, 20X is approx 650, its min is 800?
Maybe run it with a foam sleeve to slow it down a bit?
I'd try it.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Cheers for starting a tank thread - nice looking LR

 

[mattgee]

Day 2 tests

SG - 1.024
PH - 8.2
NO2 - 0.1
NO3 - 10
Ca - 380
MG - 1400
dKH - 3.6 (10)
NH4 - 1.0

Hope im still on the right track......

 

[Mark9]

Numbers look good, ca came up as it should have with the sg increase.
You stopping or trying for the 1.025/1.026?

 

[mattgee]

Going to do another salt mix at the weekend. Definitely going until I reach the 1.025/1.026

 

[Mark9]

Going to do another salt mix at the weekend. Definitely going until I reach the 1.025/1.026

Just curious, how much salt did/will it take?

 

[mattgee]

Used 10 lts LFS water I had left from initial fill. Added 1/2 cup mixed, heated and then did water change. Will look at repeating at the weekend

 

[mattgee]

Day 6 tests

SG - 1.026
PH - 8.5
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 10
Ca - 410
MG - 1520
dKH - 2.5 (7)
NH4 - 0.3

Any thoughts? Hope I am still on the right track.
Also I have RSM Foundation A+B+C when should I start using this? Still only have live rock in the tank

Thanks

 

[mattgee]

Morning All

2 weeks into my first marine tank so thought I would post some more photo's

will add latest test results later

Hope you enjoy

 

[mattgee]

Week 2 Results

SG - 1.026
PH - 8.2
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 7
dKH - 2.5 (7)
NH4 - 0

Is it CUC time ? Any ideas please

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

on the cuc... you don't want to add anything alive until your cycle is finished

Cycling tank:

Watch for the ammonia to soar then fall to zero, then the nitrites soar & then fall to zero, then the nitrates soar, once this happens, do water changes to get rid of the nitrates - tank cycled

Depending on the state of your LR (how cured it was & how much die off it had), in general it will look something like this...

once this has happened ^ you can add your cuc, 1st coral & 1st fish or pair

on the fish, go slow, they add bioload, one a month is a good rate (or a pair once), corals you can add a few a month they are pretty much bioload neutral, cuc bioload posative

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

oh... if interested, some of your green growing on the rock in the one pic is Neomeris annulata - reef safe

http://www.melevsreef.com/critters/neomeris-annulata

sidebar - if you ever would like me to change your threads name to something like mattgee's 130c or whatever, I could make that happen, if you like

 

[Mark9]

oh... if interested, some of your green growing on the rock in the one pic is Neomeris annulata - reef safe

Reef safe? Not exactly.
If you truly have Neomeris annulata, I suggest you remove the rock and eradicate it now.
It can become invasive, I would not risk it.
Just google it.