would you mind pls ?

[reefpodge]

hi all,
I am starting in the life of a reefer and have a few worries if you could help that would be great thanks

i have a 180 L saltwater tank with a good 3"/7cm sand and 16kg of dry live rock, it is running 2 weeks and currently on day 11 of the red sea reef mature pro kit. I have been following the program exactly in the book and also watched many videos on the kit. it says on day 10 to introduce your clean up crew, we ordered an assortment of snails set to arrive tomorrow being day 12 of the red sea rogram.but i am worried because my water parameters are not right and i am not sure i hav enough algae yet to feed them,
should i do a big water change to get the water levels down for the snails? but in the book i am not due another change until day 14
i do not hav an amonia test kit and my nitrate seem to be reading at the highest on red sea test kit , i am new to this and really don't wanna harm any of the team, could i put them in a seperate container and feed them until things settle ,
my tank is now steadily being taken over by diatoms , the sand and rock is 50% covered in dark brown and mainly all areas being hit directly by my lights,

some advice would be greatly appreciated ,
thanks

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

to ReefSanctuary, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members

Start a new tank thread & share your tank with us so we can follow along - we love pics

Never have used the the red sea reef mature pro, but several members have & might can advise...

I have always cycled my tanks "old school way..." added a raw deli shrimp (prawn) and let it rot... if this helps any

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 - add cuc, 1st fish, 1st coral

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...

 

[reefpodge]

thanks nanoreefing

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

You are very welcome !

If you want to read... the best read I have ever read on what happens in the "cycle" this great read by RS member prow, is fantastic...
http://reefsanctuary.com/forum/inde...on-cycling-breaking-in-a-new-reef-tank.26180/

 

[reefpodge]

as to your diagram above i would hav to say i am between day 30 to 36 going by my nitrate levels , what will happen with my snails that arrive tomorrow? should i put them in the tank or can i put em in a different container and feed them , what will i do?

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

If your cycle has completed... you can add the cuc (snails) 1st fish or pair, 1st corals - then wait another month before adding more fish (bioload)

your snails will have enough to eat, don't worry about that... you can always add a sheet of nori (seaweed) if needed, but you won't have too... how many hours a day are you running your lights?

nitrAtes are not very toxic & you can reduce them with water changes - many do a 35-50% wc once the nItrates and ammonia hit zero... ammonia and nitrites are toxic to anything alive

hope this helps !

 

[reefpodge]

as advised in the red sea reef mature pro kit im running lights for 10 hrs a day , at the moment i hav just 2 t5 90cm lights as came with the tank, i plan to add 2 more in time

 

[DaveK]

What are the exact readings your getting? Statements like "all readings are normal" or "Nitrate is high" do not convey any information.

What have you added to the tank so far? This includes additives and items to start the cycle.

Normally, I'd say that you need ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH test kits to correctly cycle the tank. However, if you have already ordered the CUC, your rather stuck. Once you receive it, you will need to add it to your tank, ready or not, or sell or give it away until the tank is ready. You can not keep them in the shipping water or another container, since that will be a system that is not cycled.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

fyi... Dave he is using this... "method of cycling"
http://www.redseafish.com/reef-care-program/marine-care-program/reef-mature-pro-kit/

part of it is carbon dosing... and "Red Sea timeline" is saying to add a cuc at day 10, so I am guessing they are "controlling ammonia & nitrites"

ones I have tried to help... using this, seem to have "masked test results" like other "quicker cycle" products...

but I have seem several post of members that used it with seemly good results...

If any of this helps...

 

[DaveK]

Yes, I have seen that web page and reread it before I made my post.

Now if we were talking about the best method to cycle a tank, I would have serious questions about this method, mostly because there is nothing on the web page about what they expect to have going on each day of the cycle. If fact, if it wasn't Red Sea, I'd even tend to think "snake oil".

So this gets us back to the original my original post. The op may not see the traditional ammonia and nitrite spikes, but there still should be some evidence of the tank being cycled. You can't really know unless you test for ammonia and nitrite. Note that on the Red Sea web page they even recommend their test kit which does all the tests I mentioned plus KH.

A final point, you will seldom have a problem with cycling a system by going too slow or waiting longer. You can have a real disaster if you go too fast. Every system is different, and for various reasons they can cycle at different rates.