+1 ^ look forward to seeing your ponies !
and nice post... I think that's why I always just used a deli shrimp :rainbow:
and nice post... I think that's why I always just used a deli shrimp :rainbow:
RSM 130D Rebirth for 2012
- Thread starter magnetar68
- Start date
magnetar68
Member
I am a little nervous about my cycle. I started this last Thursday, so tomorrow evening will be 7 days. Over the first three days after spiking the NH4Cl, the API test dropped from 1.0 to 0.25ppm. I then re-spiked it back to 1.0ppm (actually, I though I put enough drops of NH4Cl to spike to 2.5ppm, but the API test kit looked like just a tiny shade darker than 1.0), but it has been holding constant over the last three days. NO2 and NO3 have been rising, so I am hoping organic matter in the LiveSand is decaying and producing an additional source of NH4Cl; otherwise, my Nitrosomonas have gone dormant or died off (arrgg..). Patience is key. Since my NO2 levels are rising, I assume things are OK as that would not be happening if they did; but I would feel much better if the NH4+ was dropping.
ChrisY
Active Member
Ride it out. I am leary of dosing raw NH4. The shrimp method is pretty tried and true, but rememeber there are not just 2 kinds of bacteria you are growing to work on it, there are some that play with it and some that consume it (aerobic and anerobic of various different types) etc, its about getting the right bacteria levels up and seed the substrate and rock to deal with X amount of bioload. Stay the course I would say and see what happens.
magnetar68
Member
Ammonia came down to 0.25ppm this weekend: still cycling. I think things are going well. NO2 is at 1ppm and NO3 is at ~15ppm (between 10ppm and 20ppm anyway). It will be 2 weeks on Thursday, so it's still early and I am basically watching paint dry. My limited experience is that this type of fishless cycling -- even with the bacterial starter -- takes 4-8 weeks. According to Dr. Tim, he says to dose to 3ppm then measure every three days for two weeks. Once both ammonia and nitrite are at 0, then does up again to 3ppm. When your tank clears out 3ppm in 24 ours, you are done.
I wonder how much NH4+ your average few year old clown fish generates in a day assuming there is no excess food left in the tank?
I wonder how much NH4+ your average few year old clown fish generates in a day assuming there is no excess food left in the tank?
hehe just giving you a hard time. Enjoy the process. Looking forward to seeing the horses in the tank!
magnetar68
Member
Still cycling, but the NH4+ is 0 and the NO2 is coming down nicely. In the meantime, here is the spray bar mod I did for my RSM130D.
[video=youtube_share;K9AA_VAU04s]http://youtu.be/K9AA_VAU04s[/video]
[video=youtube_share;K9AA_VAU04s]http://youtu.be/K9AA_VAU04s[/video]
magnetar68
Member
OK, the tank has been cycling for 3 weeks now. It takes 2.5 days for NH4+ and NO2 to both go to 0 after adding 50 drops of NH4Cl solution (1 drop adds 2ppm to 1 gallon of water, so 50 drops in 30 gallons is about 3.33ppm). I think another week should get me to 0 and 0 in 24 hours. Then time to add some seahorses!
magnetar68
Member
The tank is finally cycled. I purchased these two guys on LiveAquaria last Friday (don't ask how much, but I could have bought a football team worth of wild ones for the price of these two). I assume they will ship this week. They are captive bred ORA red mandarins. The female looks a little thin, so hopefully this wont end up being an expensive disaster. I have Nutramar OVA and Piscine Energetics Mysis which are two foods they are fed from the beginning. They will be the only two guys in the tank until I purchase some seahorses in a few weeks, the flow of the tank is 5x turnover and fairly laminar with the spraybar and there are plenty of hiding places so they should feel safe. I setup the tank at an angle so that they can nice little places where they wont see people walking by. This should put them in a fairly low stress environment. I need to do a few water changes this week to get the nitrates down to about 10ppm, but other than that there are pods already living in the tank.
Congrats - I have been reading up on them from ORA site... let us know how they eat - very pretty !
ORA’s captive bred mandarins will accept a variety of prepared frozen and dry foods upon acclimation to their new tank. They may be offered Nutramar Ova, finely chopped Hikari Frozen Blood Worms, fish roe, frozen or live baby brine shrimp, frozen daphnia, and New Life SPECTRUM Small Fish Formula pellets. Some have also shown interest in Cyclopeeze.
ORA’s captive bred mandarins will accept a variety of prepared frozen and dry foods upon acclimation to their new tank. They may be offered Nutramar Ova, finely chopped Hikari Frozen Blood Worms, fish roe, frozen or live baby brine shrimp, frozen daphnia, and New Life SPECTRUM Small Fish Formula pellets. Some have also shown interest in Cyclopeeze.
magnetar68
Member
The little guys are acclimated and in their new home with the lights off for the night. The male was pretty lethargic; the female was more alert. I am always very nervous with new fish. Hopefully, tomorrow morning they will be alive and they will eat.
The parameters we pretty good when they went in:
The parameters we pretty good when they went in:
- Temp: 75.0F
- S.G.: 1.024 (Hanna Digital Refractometer reads 1.026, but my 2 different calibration fluids read 1.028, so I assume my real SG is 1.024)
- pH: 8.1 (API)
- Alk: 8 (API)
- Ca: 440 (API)
- PO4: 0.01 (Hanna Checker)
- NO3: 10 ppm (Salifert)
- NO2: 0.0 (API)
- NH4+: 0.0 (API)
- Mg: not tested.
magnetar68
Member
Both fish look healthy this morning. Neither fish is showing the swallowing signs that I have seen in stressed fish. The smaller female is out in the open, alert, and active and is eating Nutramar Ova. The larger male looks OK, but is hiding way back in the rock. I cannot tell if he is eating. He did come out a little to check me out when I was looking at the tank, but soon went back to being shy and hiding.
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magnetar68
Member
shot a quick video before heading out to work. this was about 1 hour afternlights on and the larger male was more active.
[video=youtube;6hbdFuxIAAc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hbdFuxIAAc[/video]
[video=youtube;6hbdFuxIAAc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hbdFuxIAAc[/video]
+1 ^
magnetar68
Member
It took a few days to get these guys to settle in and eat, but on day 4, they are eating in a small jelly jar (aka, Mandarin Diner).
[video=youtube;M1J0otA5a0c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1J0otA5a0c[/video]
[video=youtube;M1J0otA5a0c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1J0otA5a0c[/video]
Congrats great news !
magnetar68
Member
Seahorse came in yesterday from Ocean Rider in Hawaii. Really great company. The clearly care about their animals and go to great lengths to make sure their new owners are ready to keep them alive and well.
[video=youtube_share;SWJLa-Ge9Zw]http://youtu.be/SWJLa-Ge9Zw[/video]
Sorry for the poor video. My power supply went out on my Camcorder and my toddler pulled my SLR off the table and broker the lens, so all I have is my phone/tablet.
[video=youtube_share;SWJLa-Ge9Zw]http://youtu.be/SWJLa-Ge9Zw[/video]
Sorry for the poor video. My power supply went out on my Camcorder and my toddler pulled my SLR off the table and broker the lens, so all I have is my phone/tablet.
Wow Cool !!! Beautiful Ponies !!!
